The biggest ways Alan Wake 2 has changed since launch

Important takeaways

• Alan Wake 2 has seen significant post-launch updates with added story content, photo mode, accessibility options, and DLC expansions.
• Players can enjoy a photo mode, Night Springs DLC, accessibility options, more manual saves, chapter selection, The Lake House DLC, and New Game Plus.
• The Lake House DLC connects Alan Wake 2 to Control, adds depth to the Remedy-connected universes, and offers a new Nightmare difficulty in New Game Plus.

Alan Wake 2 is a single player experience through and through. In this age of near-ubiquitous online connectivity, however, even single-player titles receive post-release updates and improvements. The survival horror game 2023 from Remedy is no different.

In fact, Alan Wake 2 has seen more drastic changes and improvements in patches than many other similar titles. The patches and changes since the game's launch not only make it a great time to jump into the modern classic, but it also gives fans who played it at launch a reason to play through it again. Unlike many post-game patches, lots of story content has been added Alan Wake 2 also.

7 Photo mode

Unleash your inner Dorothea Lange

Such a beautiful game as Alan Wake 2 asking for a photo mode. The developers promised it would eventually arrive early before the game was out, but that didn't stop early adopters from lamenting its absence at launch.

Photo modes weren't common even just a decade before Alan Wake 2is released, but now it feels almost criminal for a game to be missing one. When it eventually arrived, players had a lot of fun taking the best shots they could, showcasing the game's beautiful and often grotesque visuals.

6 Night Springs DLC

What-if stories

Remedy promised two DLC expansions for Alan Wake 2. The first of them was Night Springs. The stories in this expansion are what-if scenarios with various characters such as Rose Marigold and Jesse Faden. Some fans might not like the fact that these stories aren't canon, but others will probably just be happy for more Alan Wake game.

Also, these stories can still be interesting and compelling even if they aren't canon to the main game. This is a game about manipulating reality, so canon isn't exactly a stable thing to begin with.

5 Accessibility options

Make the game open to more players

Alan Wake 2 has multiple difficulty options, making the game easy or challenging based on one's preferences. However, generic options don't cover the full spectrum of players who may have a harder time with the controls or just don't want to deal with a challenge.

The developers eventually added a bunch of modifiers to make the game as simple as possible, making it easier to see the story through to the end. Players can give Alan infinite ammo, infinite health, and even infinite battery power. Also useful is the ability to turn button press segments into button holds.

This update also brought other customization options that are less focused on accessibility, such as changing the function of the analog sticks or changing the quick swing button.

4 More manually saved locations

Make sure there is always room to save

When Alan Wake 2 launched, players could only have three manual save slots. Limited manual saves aren't as big of a deal as they used to be, as each profile on the console has access to their own set of saves in a given game.

Still, some people might want multiple saves for different reasons, and three save slots is pretty tight when the DLC also uses the same bank of save slots. It is therefore good that Remedy decided to increase this number from three to six. It's not the 99 that some games have, but it's more than enough for a player to work with.

3 Chapter Select

Skip to the best parts

One reason people might want multiple save locations is to relive important moments on a whim. Alan Wake 2 features several monumental setpieces that are sure to go down in gaming history as landmarks. Limited save slots also become less of a big deal when players can simply use a chapter pick.

Although it wasn't there in the beginning, it was eventually added in an update. Chapter Selection isn't just useful for easily reliving great segments; it is also convenient for those who want to get all the collectibles.

2 The lake house

The story continues

The second of the two DLC expansions for Alan Wake 2 is canon. The lake house follows Agent Kiran Estevez as she investigates an FBC facility near Cauldron Lake. It's a short excursion that can take a maximum of three hours, including reading all the files. It's worth it for any fan of the game or any Verify lover. It connects the two games even more than Alan Wake 2The main story already does.

The story plays with the game's existing themes of the power of art and hints at the future of Remedy-connected universes, but it doesn't expand on the lore of Alan Wake 2 significantly or in any way that changes the game.

1 New Game Plus

Gives players a lot of new content

It's not uncommon for a game to add a New Game Plus mode after release. It also makes sense to hold it back a bit, as players will need time to get through the game in the first place. Alan Wake 2's New Game Plus isn't the average kind, though.

This new game plus adds a new difficulty level, Nightmare, and also makes changes to the game's story. It's no short order to ask the player to go through the game again, but the new narrative goodies make the journey worth it. There are also new manuscript pages to collect, making a playthrough of New Game Plus mandatory for completion.