Review of Game Alan Wake 2: Night Springs expansion pack – Eviralnews

In this review, we will look at the Alan Wake 2 Night Springs expansion pack and put it under the microscope to see how it expands on this successful work.

The title of Alan Wake 2 is considered one of the best works of the last few years, which was not only a direct and all-round improvement compared to its predecessor, but it was able to establish new ideas and even new standards in terms of narrative dimensions. Now, after nearly a year has passed since the release of this title, we are witnessing the release of its first add-on package called Night Springs, which takes us to different scenarios during three episodes that not only expand the story of the main work, but also very important connections between it and Remedy Studios’ other franchises create, however outside of the narrative discussion this expansion pack doesn’t necessarily appear perfect.

From romantic comedy to parallel worlds

The most prominent part of the Night Springs expansion pack is its story, just like the base game, which still bears the signature of Remedy Studios. This DLC contains three different episodes, each telling a distinct story, and are actually edits of Alan’s stories centered around different characters that he wrote in order to escape the Dark Place. During this DLC, you will be in the role of different characters, which, of course, are not limited to the AW world; Each of these characters tells a different story that doesn’t necessarily have a direct connection to the main story of AW2, but they act as a general expansion for the world of this franchise.

The first episode, Number One Fan, puts you in the role of Rose Marigold, a character we met in the original game at the Oh Deer restaurant and found out to be a big fan of Alan Wake. In terms of tone, the episode portrays a humorous, albeit very bloody narrative, during which Rose receives a secret message from Alan, in which she realizes that Alan is trapped in his house while the Haters, or so-called those who read from the writings They hate him, they are trying to destroy him. Aha! It’s worth noting that this message is delivered by a talking fish on the wall of Rose’s secret room.

After that, Rose decides to save the love of her life by killing each and every opponent who tries to destroy her. The way this episode delivers humor blends well with its over-the-top action to truly deliver a highly entertaining and distinct experience.

It should be noted that since these episodes are relatively short, we don’t necessarily see a very deep character development for the characters of the game, which of course is completely acceptable considering the purpose and format of this add-on package. This episode actually completely removes the elements of fear from the Alan Wake 2 experience, both in terms of atmosphere and narrative tone, as well as in terms of gameplay, and replaces them with pure action, which aligns well with its narrative and purpose.

The second episode, North Star, puts you in the role of Control’s protagonist, Jesse Faden, as his quest to find his brother brings him to the Coffe World amusement park. Unlike the first episode, this episode has returned to the serious and fear-oriented tone of the original game, and this issue is also evident in the atmosphere.

During this episode, Jesse meets a familiar face from Bright Falls who guides him on his way forward. North Star and its overall rhythm is much calmer than the previous episode and focuses more on the puzzle-oriented process that we will talk more about in the gameplay section.

Finally, we come to the last part of this add-on package called Time Breaker, which definitely offers the best, most interesting and special experience not only in this add-on package but also the whole experience of AW2. At the beginning of this episode, we are placed in the role of the original game’s Sheriff Breaker actor, Shawn Ashmore, as he prepares to star in a new game from Remedy Studios, directed by Sam Lake, called Time Breaker.

We see the presence of Sam Lake himself and a conversation between him and Ashmore about this new work and its story. During this conversation, Sam talks in a very self-conscious way about the strange and so-called “Over The Top” story of the next game and asks Shawn Ashmore to rest a little before continuing the filming process, but the moment Shawn returns to his room, he is suddenly attacked by a mysterious character. Mr. Door is transported to another world.

In order to maintain the element of surprise and avoid spoilers, I will refrain from further explaining this episode, but for the general narrative of this episode, I must say that in an artistic way, we are witnessing a change in the narrative format of this episode of Night Springs.

During the Time Breaker experience, you will constantly see the narrative format change and even the way it is presented, from entering a hotel with the style of 50s movies to turning the narrative into pages of a comic book! To say more about this experience would definitely spoil the element of surprise, so I’ll limit myself to this description, but know that Time Breaker will give you one of the weirdest minutes you’ll ever have in a video game!

As I mentioned, the modeling of the cinema and even various references to it are very evident during this DLC, so that each of these episodes has an intro by Mr. Door has started and even the opening title of each of them is exactly like the first part of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween or other horror works of the 70’s and 80’s, which was very attractive and interesting to me personally.

The subject of storytelling in Night Springs is in line with the excellent performance of the base work, with the difference that now we are facing a very high narrative variety in this DLC, which really makes the experience of each episode more interesting. In general, it can be said that Night Springs and its narratives have truly completed their mission and well implement the connections of various Remedy franchises and the concepts of parallel worlds, we have to wait and see how this idea is used in future titles of the studio .

One step forward, Two steps back

In terms of gameplay, I have to say that I really expected more from an expansion for this game; While the narrative topic still works great, but in terms of gameplay, it can be said that Night Springs not only does not introduce a new idea, but also removes previous ideas at times. The Number One Fan episode is immune to this criticism due to its specific style and purpose, and ironically, I think it offers an extremely enjoyable experience because this episode is the only experience in this DLC that really changes the overall gameplay approach of the original game. And it makes it totally action-oriented.

During this episode, you have access to a Shotgun and a Rifle, and since this experience focuses more than anything else on the high number of enemies at the same time, the speed of gunplay has increased significantly, so that you can automatically pump with the Shotgun. Use the one in Rose’s hand.

Ammunition is also found in abundance during this experience, and in fact, it can be said that the increase in speed and the number of enemies compared to the base game is the biggest change in the gameplay of this episode. Thanks to this gameplay change, the game is faster as well as a lot bloodier as you are constantly seeing different body parts of your enemies being thrown around. This episode’s purposeful change from Night Springs to provide a more action-oriented experience makes it feel very different from the original game, but unfortunately, this is not the case for Episode 2.

Among the three episodes in this DLC, in my opinion, North Star was the weakest. I was really excited when I saw Jesse’s character in the trailer of this DLC, because I expected some of the special features of this character from Control to this DLC. but unfortunately this is not the case.

During this episode, not only does Jesse not have his powers, but the creators didn’t even try to add his distinctive and iconic weapon to this experience, and this is exactly one of the biggest problems of this DLC! In general, none of these episodes add new or distinctive weapons to the original game, which is very disappointing.

Also, the second part, unlike the previous part, focuses again on the fear dimensions of the original game and bringing back the element of light, but forgets to bring back its approach to ammunition. While the base effect experience doesn’t necessarily portray the survival elements in a hardcore and difficult way, it still doesn’t completely abandon it.

During the second episode, you only have one pistol, which is not only not a good variety, but also causes a lot of ammunition, so that by the end of this episode, I personally had more than 400 pistol bullets! This number of bullets is even more than the amount of ammo needed to clear the environment of enemies, and this DLC doesn’t even allow you to choose a difficulty level to balance this!

On the other hand, the element of light and its effect on shadow enemies, like in the original game, were always considered one of the vital dimensions of survival and required the reasonable use of flashlights and batteries, but now in this DLC, this issue has been completely abandoned, because with a little Searching around you can find dozens of flashlight batteries. This issue not only completely kills the element of survival in this experience, but also reduces the effectiveness of fear stimuli.

But if we pass this issue, we will get to the essential and core part of the second episode, and that is its puzzles; As I mentioned, North Star has a different approach compared to the previous part and is close to the main profession game, with the difference that the main focus and driving force in this part is to solve the puzzles that are played in Coffee World. Some of these puzzles are simple, while others require a bit of thinking and exploring the environment, and in general, it can be said that considering the scale of this episode, the puzzles are implemented in a very favorable way and are actually part of the integration of the experience.

Finally, it is not bad to talk about the third episode, Time Breaker; This episode also has the same conditions as North Star, so that it does not necessarily add any new elements or features in the mechanical dimensions of the basic gameplay, but the feature that separates this episode from the previous episodes is that the whole experience of Time Breaker serves its narrative.

In fact, it can be said that this scenario is completely based around the idea of ​​environmental changes of the base game and generally has fewer fight sequences. However, the most general variation of the gameplay process is in this part, and the reason for that is the changes in the way it is presented and in line with that, the way you interact with the gameplay.

Time Breaker can be considered an excellent narrative-oriented interactive experience, which under the banner of this narrative portrays the variety and distinction of its gameplay, which directly turns this part of Night Springs into the best part of its experience, both in interactive and narrative dimensions. . However, as an overall package, Night Springs doesn’t do much to improve the core of the base experience, and in many parts of its gameplay, it just repeats the base game, which comes across as somewhat disappointing.

Back to Bright Falls

In the environment design department, unfortunately, Night Springs does not offer any innovation and new content, and perhaps the biggest problem of this content as an expander is the full use of the assets of the main game and the lack of creating new environments and parts. Among the three episodes in this expansion pack, Time Breaker is the only episode that contains one or two distinct and new environments, although these environments are also very minor and small.

The only difference between the environments of this DLC and the base game is the use of different color palettes, and while these environments still look detailed and sometimes beautiful, their complete repetition for the majority of the Night Springs experience is really disappointing, and when We put that next to the lack of new mechs and weapons.

However, it has been tried to be in line with the general theme of each part, the atmosphere and the atmosphere, and this is where fresh color palettes and distinctive lighting come into play in each familiar environment.

The most disappointing episode in this regard was again North Star, because it was expected that in order to use Jesse, a different environment would be built for him, but unfortunately, part of the Coffee World environment has been used again in this episode without even distinctive and effective twists in it. Create its general layout. Also, in this experience, not only enemies with new abilities are not introduced, but even their appearance designs are not particularly different from the original game.

But on the other hand, Night Springs still contains some of the biggest quality features of the base game, and that is the wonderful voice acting and the exclusive music for Night Springs. The overall sound of the game, including the environment-oriented sounds, were still implemented as the main effect, the voice actors also do their work to reflect their characters in exemplary embedded scenarios and contribute greatly to the narrative process and its immersion.

If you have experienced the base game, we know that Alan Wake 2 was full of many musics based on the story and its events, now in Night Springs we also see a new and exclusive music for this expansion pack, which well defines the overall identity of this DLC. The original experience feels different, giving it a bit of a TV series feel that ends with its iconic music at the end of each episode.

This DLC has been tested on PC