Alan Wake 2 Release Date Set for October

Alan Wake 2‘s release date rumors have been swirling for the last few weeks and that finally culminated at Sony’s PlayStation Showcase where the team at Remedy officially announced that the sequel is dropping on October 17 on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The short trailer doesn’t give too much away, but it definitely sets the tone for another horrific tale in Alan Wake’s universe. Plus, we get a look at the second playable protagonist Saga Anderson, who should be a fun addition with a new perspective on all the terror that infects Wake’s world.

Anderson is an FBI agent who has been brought into the fold after another agent has seemingly been murdered while searching for Wake. It also seems that her tale is being written by Wake, with him narrating her activities in the trailer. For his part, Wake seems to be trapped in the Dark Place, though we do see him team up with Anderson toward the end of the trailer. That could mean you’ll be fighting alongside the other protagonist at points, but that’s not immediately clear. Either way, it’s sure to be another trippy journey through Remedy’s world. 

Toward the end of the trailer, we start to see some gameplay, which looks similar to other Remedy games. That means lots of over-the-shoulder shooting against enemies that seem to have special powers. Most exciting for Alan Wake players is that it looks like light will continue to play somewhat of a role in combat. In the original game, Wake had to use light on his opponents before they would take any damage. We see Anderson using a flashlight to seemingly damage some of her enemies, confirming that you’ll need to get them out of the dark once again.

No matter what though, this is exciting news for horror fans everywhere. Alan Wake 2 might not have as much gore as other horror games, but its brand of survival horror does a great job of playing on the psyche. Another thing to watch out for is if any characters from Control make their way into this game. We know the two universes are connected after Control‘s second DLC, so we may see Jesse Faden pop up here if Remedy wants to continue that connection when Alan Wake 2 ships on October 17 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.