Summary
Remedy Entertainment has yet another badge of critical recognition to add to its collection, as the company’s 2023 survival horror gameAlan Wake 2just won a Game of the Year award at a recent event. Since its release, the Finnish developer’s latest title has received widespread praise from reviewers and players alike. With the game continuing to get its flowers more than half a year after launch, it’s evident thatAlan Wake 2has maintained a lot of staying power in the eyes of its fans.
Despite being released during one of gaming’s busiest years in recent memory,Alan Wake 2managed to stand out and make a name for itself among critics when it launched in October 2023. As a long-belated sequel to a former Xbox 360 exclusive, the game had a lot to live up to in order to not disappoint fans of the original cult classic. Fortunately,Alan Wake 2exceeded the expectations of many gamers and ended up becoming one ofthe best games of 2023. Remedy Entertainment’s latest release garnered nods in several categories from a plethora of awards ceremonies, including the BAFTAs, the DICE Awards, and The Game Awards 2023. It seems that accolades season forAlan Wake 2isn’t over just yet, though, as the title just received another major award at a recent showcase.
At the recently-aired Nordic Game Awardsshow in Malmo, Sweden,Alan Wake 2went home with three accolades. Not only did the title win Nordic Game of the Year, it also received the awards for Best Art and Best Audio. With how many accolades it won,Remedy Entertainment’s critically-acclaimed gamewas, by and large, the star of the show. Given that the fellow Nordic-developed titlesBramble: The Mountain King,The Finals,Ikonei Island,Rytmos, andCocoononly received one award each,Alan Wake 2’s sweep at the showcase is all the more impressive.
This Game of the Year Award is Just The Latest Feather in Alan Wake 2’s Cap
Given that it was released in the same year as hits likeThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomandBaldur’s Gate 3,Alan Wake 2had tough competition in the Game of the Year department. Even still, the title managed to win several awards for its narrative, art direction, writing, and lead performances at a handful of events. In addition,Alan Wake 2surprisingly ended up tying with the aforementionedBaldur’s Gate 3by receiving the mostnominations at The Game Awards 2023, a total of eight nods.
The immense praise the game has received from fans unfortunately hasn’t translated into commercial success, however, asAlan Wake 2is still struggling to make back its budgetseveral months after release. In the US, the game didn’t even rank in the top 150 games with the most active users in October 2023, and that’s in spite of it selling 1.3 million copies. Hopefully, Remedy Entertainment will soon be able to recoup the costs ofAlan Wake 2’s development and continue to provide the experiences that its fans love without further financial woes.
Alan Wake 2
WHERE TO PLAY
A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
