HomeNewsAlan Wake 2
Alan Wake 2’s latest patch adds a kind of jump scare intensity optionPlus the ever-useful chapter select
Plus the ever-useful chapter select
Image credit:Epic Games Publishing
Image credit:Epic Games Publishing
There’s life in the ol’Alan Wake 2yet. Last year’s multimedia horror extravaganza game has a new patch, and of note is that it includes chapter select but, interestingly, also the “much-requested option to tune down the horror flashes”, according to the noteshere. What is a horror flash, you ask? It’s that thing where ahorrorgame or film or TV show suddenly flashes up a semi-transparent image of like, a monster, or a screaming woman, or a big weird eye. A jump scare meets the Kuleshov effect.Conventional news reporters may tell you that this is an update for loser babies who have no horror chops. I myself do not conform to this view. Different horror is horrifying in different ways for different people. In my opinion horror flashes are some of the more annoying and, dare I say it, cheaper tools in the horror maestro’s kit, like bad comedians saying “fuck” a lot to disguise that they don’t have actual jokes. Oh you want me to associate this forest with death and worms, do you? Why not just write it on a big road sign and save us all time? Actually, I would like an experimental horror game that just did that, someone get on it. I’m not against horror flashes entirely though, and in any case, the Alan Wake 2 option is a toggle for normal or low horror flashes, so you can’t totally get rid of them.I’m a fan of horror games adding, in a sense, horror difficulty options, because yeah, enjoyment of horror is a learned thing. I’m still working on figuring out what I can tolerate (body horror: yes, unless it’s eyes; creepy close whispering in the diegetic soundtrack: no). One of my favourite games full stop,Soma, is a great experience and a meditation on the nature of the self and so on, as well as having monsters. The option toremove the monsters chasesdoesn’t make itnota horror game, but it does make it a different kind of horror game. I think that’s cool. Need I point out that the Alan Wake 2 patch notes refer to the horror flash option as “much requested”!The chapter select option is also a cool one to add. You can select any previous chapter of Alan Wake 2 you’ve already played, but the patch notes do caution you to always have at least one manual save of your current progress, or you’ll be autosaved into the past. I don’t know why more games don’t chapter select as a default thing. Not to get too inside baseball, but not only is it great for just doing bits you like again, but alsoindescribably usefulfor a hack games journo who needs some screenshots of a specific bit.The rest of the options are pretty standard patch notey stuff and bug fixes - you can check them all outhere. Next add a toggle for Sam Lake (low Sam Lake toggle would maintain the normal amount of Sam Lake, while the high option makes everyone Sam Lake).
There’s life in the ol’Alan Wake 2yet. Last year’s multimedia horror extravaganza game has a new patch, and of note is that it includes chapter select but, interestingly, also the “much-requested option to tune down the horror flashes”, according to the noteshere. What is a horror flash, you ask? It’s that thing where ahorrorgame or film or TV show suddenly flashes up a semi-transparent image of like, a monster, or a screaming woman, or a big weird eye. A jump scare meets the Kuleshov effect.Conventional news reporters may tell you that this is an update for loser babies who have no horror chops. I myself do not conform to this view. Different horror is horrifying in different ways for different people. In my opinion horror flashes are some of the more annoying and, dare I say it, cheaper tools in the horror maestro’s kit, like bad comedians saying “fuck” a lot to disguise that they don’t have actual jokes. Oh you want me to associate this forest with death and worms, do you? Why not just write it on a big road sign and save us all time? Actually, I would like an experimental horror game that just did that, someone get on it. I’m not against horror flashes entirely though, and in any case, the Alan Wake 2 option is a toggle for normal or low horror flashes, so you can’t totally get rid of them.I’m a fan of horror games adding, in a sense, horror difficulty options, because yeah, enjoyment of horror is a learned thing. I’m still working on figuring out what I can tolerate (body horror: yes, unless it’s eyes; creepy close whispering in the diegetic soundtrack: no). One of my favourite games full stop,Soma, is a great experience and a meditation on the nature of the self and so on, as well as having monsters. The option toremove the monsters chasesdoesn’t make itnota horror game, but it does make it a different kind of horror game. I think that’s cool. Need I point out that the Alan Wake 2 patch notes refer to the horror flash option as “much requested”!The chapter select option is also a cool one to add. You can select any previous chapter of Alan Wake 2 you’ve already played, but the patch notes do caution you to always have at least one manual save of your current progress, or you’ll be autosaved into the past. I don’t know why more games don’t chapter select as a default thing. Not to get too inside baseball, but not only is it great for just doing bits you like again, but alsoindescribably usefulfor a hack games journo who needs some screenshots of a specific bit.The rest of the options are pretty standard patch notey stuff and bug fixes - you can check them all outhere. Next add a toggle for Sam Lake (low Sam Lake toggle would maintain the normal amount of Sam Lake, while the high option makes everyone Sam Lake).
There’s life in the ol’Alan Wake 2yet. Last year’s multimedia horror extravaganza game has a new patch, and of note is that it includes chapter select but, interestingly, also the “much-requested option to tune down the horror flashes”, according to the noteshere. What is a horror flash, you ask? It’s that thing where ahorrorgame or film or TV show suddenly flashes up a semi-transparent image of like, a monster, or a screaming woman, or a big weird eye. A jump scare meets the Kuleshov effect.
Conventional news reporters may tell you that this is an update for loser babies who have no horror chops. I myself do not conform to this view. Different horror is horrifying in different ways for different people. In my opinion horror flashes are some of the more annoying and, dare I say it, cheaper tools in the horror maestro’s kit, like bad comedians saying “fuck” a lot to disguise that they don’t have actual jokes. Oh you want me to associate this forest with death and worms, do you? Why not just write it on a big road sign and save us all time? Actually, I would like an experimental horror game that just did that, someone get on it. I’m not against horror flashes entirely though, and in any case, the Alan Wake 2 option is a toggle for normal or low horror flashes, so you can’t totally get rid of them.
I’m a fan of horror games adding, in a sense, horror difficulty options, because yeah, enjoyment of horror is a learned thing. I’m still working on figuring out what I can tolerate (body horror: yes, unless it’s eyes; creepy close whispering in the diegetic soundtrack: no). One of my favourite games full stop,Soma, is a great experience and a meditation on the nature of the self and so on, as well as having monsters. The option toremove the monsters chasesdoesn’t make itnota horror game, but it does make it a different kind of horror game. I think that’s cool. Need I point out that the Alan Wake 2 patch notes refer to the horror flash option as “much requested”!
The chapter select option is also a cool one to add. You can select any previous chapter of Alan Wake 2 you’ve already played, but the patch notes do caution you to always have at least one manual save of your current progress, or you’ll be autosaved into the past. I don’t know why more games don’t chapter select as a default thing. Not to get too inside baseball, but not only is it great for just doing bits you like again, but alsoindescribably usefulfor a hack games journo who needs some screenshots of a specific bit.
The rest of the options are pretty standard patch notey stuff and bug fixes - you can check them all outhere. Next add a toggle for Sam Lake (low Sam Lake toggle would maintain the normal amount of Sam Lake, while the high option makes everyone Sam Lake).
