Alan Wake 2: Night Springs – Brilliant DLC with DLSS 3.5, RTX all-in and a play of colors from piggy pink to raven black

1 - Pink to death in episode One and lots of RTX On 2 - The two other episodes and my conclusion

First of all, I have to apologize a little, because in the end I also played Allen Wake 2 through to the end with growing enthusiasm. This may also have been due to the fact that patches and driver updates turned the performance from “Can it run Crysis?” to “Can you play it?”, even if the protagonists’ motor skills were rather syrupy until the end. However, the end of the game also left a sea of burning questions. Who is Alan Wake any more? Does he still possess the power of the Dark Presence? Can his words still change worlds?

As befits Remedy Entertainment, the now released sequel “Alan Wake 2: Night Springs” naturally provides no answers. Instead, it gives us even more puzzles. Obviously they think that’s great at Remedy and the customer pays for it anyway, as it should be. incidentally, “Night Springs” consists of three unique episodes that deal with minor characters from the Alan Wake universe. Well, surprise surprise: none of the chapters are set in the same universe or location as the main game – no, they unfold in a fictionalized version of Alan Wake’s world, aptly named Night Springs. Alan Wake himself is the author of these episodes, which of course only complicates things further.

As the name suggests, the DLC is inspired by the fictional TV show “Night Springs”, a nod to “The Twilight Zone”. There are three episodes, each an alternate world version of existing characters and locations in the Remedy Extended Universe. “Number One Fan” takes you on a journey as a version of Roses, everyone’s favorite waitress, as she tries to save her beloved writer from danger. “North Star” features a woman based on Jesse Faden from “Control” searching for clues about her missing brother in Coffee World. Finally, “Time Breaker” takes you on a wild journey through Remedy’s version of the multiverse with another version of Sheriff Tim Breaker. But more (a little) about that in a moment, because I’m certainly not going to give everything away.

But: there’s a certain abstraction to the “Night Springs” DLC, as none of the characters are actually called by their character names (instead they’re called the Waitress, the Siblings and the Actor), and that supports the meta nature of it all. Remedy writes multiverse to it. Each episode is a self-contained story that wraps up in about 30 to 60 minutes, all with their own version of classic Remedy charm. Up to 3 hours, if you’re not too stupid, is not a lot. But there are also shorter DLCs.

But before I go into detail and deliberately spoil NOTHING that could make it easier to play, let’s take a quick look at the technology, because Remedy has once again upped the ante with Jensen-like features.

DLSS 3.5 and the full ray tracing drone

Admittedly, the target group for the new features is virtually NVIDIA-only this time, which will make some gamers with different hardware green with envy. Or make them laugh derisively, depending on the dark power of the graphics card used in the Jensen cosmos. Because below the RTX 4000 series is also the end of the line. Yes, DLSS 3.5 is a welcome gesture to tease half a horsepower out of a lame horse without the image degenerating into a pixelated freak show. With Ray Reconstruction, Pathtracing and various settings, you can get pretty much everything out of the feature set graphically. Provided you have the right graphics card.

01 Settings

02 Settings

Three parts and lots of clichés: kitsch, riddles and puzzle pieces

The first chapter, which follows the waitress Rose (an obsessive follower of Alan Wake, by the way), undoubtedly contains the brightest moment of the entire series. Here, a romanticized picture of her everyday life is painted, in which she is a waitress at Nite’s Diner. This action-packed little story follows Rose through a day viewed through metaphorical rose-colored glasses. Customers who greet her are overly friendly and full of praise; everyone adores her for her idealized self: the devoted follower of Alan Wake who would do anything to please her favorite author.

When Wake asks for her help through a talking fish statue, Rose must set out to find him and face the forces of his evil brother at the same time. Rose’s episode is thus the most obviously fun of the three parts, presenting a world in which she is a pillar of the community and famous for her award-winning fan site. When she hears that “the writer” is in danger, she grabs her shotgun and rifle and goes on a bloody but hilarious rampage to save him. This episode is the most explicitly action-packed, with several combat encounters with “Haters”, this episode’s version of Taken, while following the forest path of the writer’s evil twin.

There are some hilarious moments, especially during the hilarious final boss fight, which sets it apart from the other episodes while still being consistent in tone with the larger Alan Wake universe. Depending on how much you like the combat in the game (thankfully, I do), this episode can play like a pure power fantasy. You get way more ammo than you need, which makes it forgiving enough to see the absurd story to its conclusion. And there’s also plenty of kitsch as a pink and red topping.

In many ways, the chapter is a love letter to the fandom. It lovingly pokes fun at obsession and parodies the world of fanfiction in a bizarre, unbelievable final battle that brings the whole chapter together. Rose, who acts here as a heroic figure with a shotgun, can also be seen as a direct tie-in to “Alan Wake 2”. It illuminates and expands on Rose’s motivation to help Alan in the game, showing the strength of her love and character. It doesn’t poke fun at her obsession, but explores how fandom can empower and encourage people looking for a guiding figure. Though short, it’s an incredibly concise story that seems well-rounded and well-executed. That will have to do for now.