Movies News Talk
Released on December 11, 2023, Remedy Entertainment's highly regarded survival horror film, Alan Wake 2, debuted a mesmerizing New Game Plus mode called The Final Draft This mode explores the game's legacy, adds fresh components, and suggests possible future expansions, so transcending simple rereading of the story.
Alan Wake's whole story revolves on The Final Draft, not only as a rereading choice. Remedy intended it to improve the current narrative instead of merely provide a retelling of events. Like Bethesda's Starfield, The Final Draft offers a fresh viewpoint on the main campaign's events.
On the PlayStation Blog, Creative Director Sam Lake clarified that players move from the main campaign to The Final Draft causes minute changes. On each level, new lore snippets abound on video and manuscript page forms. Though these events are brief, even Alan Wake's narration has changed subtly to highlight his increasing consciousness of past events.
Recurring from the original Alan Wake's Nightmare mode, these additional manuscript pages greatly affect the story in Alan Wake 2. They actively change the narrative to give the whole experience complexity and mystery.
The challenge of the Final Draft's Nightmare fits exactly Alan Wake 2's central story. Alan's 13-year ordeal imprisoned in The Dark Place has produced a nightmarish cycle. As Alan notes in the game's epilogue, the Final Draft enables players to break out from this cycle and push farther into the "spiral."
The blog post by Sam Lake notes that Alan's wife, Alice, will help him in this pursuit. After Alan saved Alice from The Dark Place, Alice had been looking into the events in Bright Falls, getting closer to solving the riddles of the other dimension, according to the epilogue of the game.
The Final Draft presents a new "true" ending while Alan Wake 2's basic campaign did not feature many endings. Up until Saga calls her daughter Logan, the ending reflects the first playthrough. From this point on, though, the fates of important characters differ, highlighting the effect of Alan's rewritten ending for Return.
Most importantly, Alan wakes up following Saga's headshot, the bullet shining in his head as he announces Mr. Scratch is dead. Alan has been freed from the control of the Dark Presence by Saga's Bullet of Light, so returning him to the real world. Alan discovers via a vision only seen to him that Alice stayed imprisoned in the Dark Place after jumping in to save him, not taken her own life.
While many conjectured that the expansions Night Springs and The Lake House would provide answers regarding Alan's search to save Alice, Night Springs, released in June 2024, followed a different path. Based on stories Alan wrote in his attempts to flee the Dark Place, Night Springs runs across three episodes of a Twilight Zone-esque show.
Every narrative centers on an other character from Remedy's shared universe. While the second episode, "North Star," largely references Remedy's Control with the return of Jesse Faden actress, Courtney Hope, the first episode, "Number One Fan," follows Rose Marigold from the Oh Deer Diner. As they work on a video game called "Time Breaker," a nod to Quantum Break's time-bending powers, Shawn Ashmore returns, playing himself alongside a real-life version of Sam Lake, for a studio called Poison Pill Entertainment.
Night Springs explores Alan's past efforts at self- emancipation, but it has little effect on The Final Draft. But given Alice's mention of interacting with an unidentified company during her inquiry, The Lake House expansion might be a crossover with Control, directly tying to Alan Wake 2's story as they try to save Alice. Alternatively, it might show Alice's interaction with the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) preceding her arrival into the Dark Place.
Previously featuring a crossover with Alan Wake, Control's AWE DLC included interviews whereby Alice discussed being haunted by a figure now identified as her husband in the Dark Place.
Though it keeps its setting in a secret government research facility, the synopsis for The Lake House DLC purposefully stays vague, most likely to avoid spoilers. This fits the FBC's possible involvement, particularly given Control's AWE DLC revealed their thorough study of Bright Falls. Should this be the case, The Lake House DLC might show Alice researching alongside the events of Alan Wake 2.
Players keep all weapons, charms, and Words of Power character enhancements gained for Alan and Saga during their first playthrough as is usual with New Game Plus modes. These weapons must be found from the first accessible shoebox for every character; they do not begin in the players' inventories.
These unlocked weapons will be quite helpful for negotiating The Final Draft's difficult Nightmare difficulty and support the idea that Alan Wake 2's spiral rather than loop Alan is caught in is rather important.
For returning players, Alan Wake 2's The Final Draft presents a singular and fulfilling experience. It enhances the lore of the game, offers an other viewpoint on the narrative, and prepares the ground for next developments. The Final Draft is a must-play for every Alan Wake 2 enthusiast whether your interests are in exploring the secrets of Bright Falls or just want to challenge the game on a new level.