The Lake House is a welcome return to Alan Wake 2

After a year, Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment has opened the gates to a mysterious location in the 2023 third-person horror hit Alan Wake 2known as The lake house. In this short DLC, released just in time for Halloween, players take on the role of Kiran Estevez, the long-suffering agent of the mysterious Federal Bureau of Control who we meet and form an alliance with in the main game Alan Wake 2 Protagonists: Alan Wake and Saga Anderson. Imagine the events of Alan Wake 2, The lake house Kiran tells of a terrible event in the titular setting of Saga, but the plot is almost firmly removed from the main game itself.

This is both a blessing and a curse, depending on what you were looking for. But as a bridge to the continuation of Remedy's great tale about the connected universe – which also includes the supernatural thriller control — it's ideal. Instead of waving goodbye to Alan and Saga, Remedy extends his hand to take us on the next strange journey.

Kiran investigates a research station where FBC researchers, doctors Jules and Diana Marmont and their teams are studying the effects of Cauldron Lake. In Remedy's lore, there is a connection between the power to create “art” and the power of otherworldly forces to abuse such gifts.

The Marmonts are experimenting with a painter, Rudolf Lane, who some may remember from the main game. Lane's creativity has a tendency to illustrate – and possibly create – the future, much as Alan's writings did. (God forbid these two ever do a comic together.) I don't want to give away what the Marmonts did, other than to say that they were monsters long before otherworldly forces came into play. Regardless, the Lake House is suddenly cut off and unresponsive to FBC headquarters, leading Kiran to investigate with a small team.

Image: Remedy Entertainment

Since then, Remedy has been playing with a connected universe controland the Lake House is a solid bridge back and forth to that history. Of course, being a Alan Wake DLC, players can expect the solid third-person survival horror of the main game.

The Lake House is as unsettling a setting as most of the rooms in ALan Wake 2. However, the focus is more on the brutalism and office space aesthetics of controlwithout the outdoor or natural environments that dominated about half of the main game. The eerily quiet office space features visual wonders like winding hallways and rooms filled with countless typewriters programmed to “write” like Alan Wake.

This last quirk seems to be a clear dig at AI-Slop by the Remedy authors, as one page of Alan's real writing states: “The art wasn't art.” I'm just happy with the experiment.” In fact, the whole thing is Thesis of The lake house is the misuse of art for the purpose of acquiring an end product rather than enjoying the beauty that art can create. This becomes even more apparent when you find out who the villain is and who created the new fearsome humanoid color beasts that emerge from the walls. Remedy is not subtle in its disdain for the corporatization of creativity, the remaking of art into a harvest field of dull capitalist passion. There is no love lost and much hate gained House by the lakeis the story that outlines the interaction between artistic freedom and corporate control: a golden hand wrapped around the throat of imagination.

Image: Remedy Entertainment

Saying too much about this already short game would spoil it, so I won't go into detail about the clever set pieces that I would feel comfortable with control. Let's put it this way: light switches and motels are a welcome return, as is a familiar and powerful character.

Unfortunately, despite her years of work as an FBC agent, Kiran shows no mechanical skills in fighting otherworldly beings. Playing no differently than Saga or Alan Wake, it once again uses a flashlight to dismantle enemies' shadowy armor before firing a satisfying number of bullets into their bodies. There's also only one new enemy type: the aforementioned long-limbed paint creatures, which can only be destroyed with a new weapon that Kiran discovers late in the story.

I would have liked a new ability or mechanic that showcased her years of experience dealing with the uncanny. Instead, this is limited to her interactions with the strange object/entity, her ability to quickly control her fear, and knowing how to deal with recurring “objects.” control Veterans like me know this all too well.

The most fun at the Lake House is finding out what happened and experiencing the few floors for yourself. The DLC takes approximately two hours to complete. But in that short space of time, it was not only a satisfying farewell to one of my recent favorite games, but also a bridge back to the world of control.

All signs point to Remedy taking the major plot of this connected universe to an almost apocalyptic level. We can probably expect to see plenty of recurring characters, including Kiran himself, as Remedy takes us through its spooky, strange sea of ​​stories.

The lake house Extension for Alan Wake 2 is available now.

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