Review of Alan Wake 2: Night Springs – into the depths of the multiverse

At the Summer Game Fest event on Friday, we saw the reveal of the first story expansion for Survival Horror Alan Wake 2. The Night Springs DLC, named after the fictional TV show in the Remedy Connected universe, came out just about 12 hours after it. the end of the entire conference, and I, of course, did not hesitate. I basically finished it in one sitting and so can share with you my impressions of this… very unique experience.

Night Springs is divided into three episodes, in each of which you take on the role of one of the famous characters, but not directly them. Only their “echoes”, alternative versions, whose stories reflect Alan’s unsuccessful attempts to get out of the Dark Place. One could say that this is a prequel to the base game, but in RCU that is quite a bold thing to say. Either way, each episode is very different, so I’ll look at them individually.

• Platform: PC (reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
• Publication date: 08/06/2024
• Developer: Entertainment Tool
• Publisher: Publisher Epic Games
• Genre: Survival Horror
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Download data: 15 GB
• Game time: ~3 hours
• Price: 528 CZK (Epic Games Store)

Played with:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
• FRAME: 32 GB DDR5 6000 MT/s
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB VRAM)
• Storage: Solidigm P44 Pro (NVMe PCIe 4.0 2TB SSD)

Fearless fan with shotgun

The first is called “Number One Fan” and in it you play as an alternate version of waitress Rose Marigold, a big fan of Alan’s books. Here, Rose, as she already states in the trailer, is armed with a shotgun as well as a sniper rifle, which in itself is probably indicative of the tone of this episode. It’s all one big satire, from the dialogue, to the acting, to the action itself on the screen, where Rose mows down one enemy after another.

The mood has changed a lot from the base game, but to be honest, I really enjoyed this whimsical adventure thanks to the absolutely fantastic performance of Jessica Preddy as Rose, who already shined in the base game. This episode is definitely not for everyone, but if the light-hearted style suits you, you won’t be disappointed.

Coffee cult

In the second episode, entitled “North Star”, you take on the role of Jesse Faden from Control, or rather an alternate version of her who is still searching for her brother and is not yet the director of FBC. While the first episode takes place mostly in the woods around Bright Falls, “North Star” takes you to the World of Coffee theme park in Wateree, which has been taken over by a very strange cult… coffee. While the dark setting can create a creepy atmosphere, this episode is also very light-hearted.

First of all, he ridicules various cults, as well as conspiracy theories, which have a relatively large overlap with reality. On the other hand, it is perhaps the most boring in terms of gameplay, which is also due to the fact that you move over a very limited surface. A few of the puzzles were good, but the weird hidden passage and return wasn’t that great. It’s still a good addition, but it doesn’t live up to the level of the first episode.

Multiverse in full force

After two volumes, I knew roughly what to expect from the third. Again, something lighter, focusing mostly on humor rather than any actual story. But how wrong I was… The third episode, Time Breaker, is by far the best of the three and offers perhaps the most information about the lore of the entire RCU that Remedy has ever given us.

Here you will take on the role of Shawn Ashmore. Yes, this actor literally plays himself in Night Springs. At first, he’s simply filming a scene for a new video game from Poison Pill Entertainment, an alternate version of Remedy itself, with director Sam Lake on set. But soon something goes wrong, and Sean begins to travel through the multiverse to other realities.

“Quantum Break 2”

Remedy didn’t hold back and made so many obvious references to Quantum Break that Time Breaker can easily be called a continuation of this 2016 adventure game. Perhaps Finnish developers don’t even mind the fact that they don’t have a license. for the game because they got away with it.

The third episode explains the workings of the entire multiverse and alternate versions of people, the backstory of Warlin Dore/Martin Hatch, the roles of Jesse Faden/Beth Wilder and Shawn Ashmore/Jack Joyce/Tim Breaker, but even the founding of the entire FBK and the creation of the Oldest House. And all this with a completely addictive combination of classic AW2 gameplay with a comic book, arcade shooter and text game. This episode has it all and if you’re an RCU fan you’re in for a treat. Even after beating the game, there will be plenty to explore.

Addition for fans

Night Springs is definitely not a perfect DLC. It mainly suffers from reworking the environment from the base game or from too low a difficulty, because there is never a shortage of ammo or first aid kits and thanks to this you are practically immortal in all episodes.

But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very good addition, offering three very different episodes. Everyone will find something here, although it must be said that the vast majority are those who excel in knowledge of the entire universe. And of course, Quantum Break fans too! As it turns out, Remedy definitely hasn’t forgotten about this game, and it’s essentially the key to the entire connected universe.

Farewell to James McCaffrey

It’s a pity that in the end there were no more than three episodes. There were almost certainly others in the works, including one for Alex Casey. But we won’t see it again, likely due to the sudden death of actor James McCaffrey, who voiced the FBI agent. At the end of the DLC, he at least received a small tribute in the form of a few lines, likely from an unfinished episode.