Summary
The survival horror genre has a long history stretching back generations, containing a number of now familiar and expected elements. From limited resource and inventory management to key hunting for bizarre lock puzzles, players often have a good idea of what to expect from them mechanically. One of the othermajor survival horror design elementsis backtracking through previously visited areas. For a while this was a fine feature, and when used well can still be effective. At the same time, it is now so ingrained that it often seems old hat, and runs the risk of feeling lazy or uninspired in the modern era.
Alan Wake 2 isgoing full survival horror, giving fans a lot to presume about how it’ll be structured. For instance,Remedy’s latest game is departing from the action-adventuregenre, which adds the risk of falling into the trap of relying too heavily on backtracking. So much time has passed and so many games have been released since the genre’s inception that developers hopefully have learned a valuable lesson from all these previous entries and their use of backtracking.Alan Wake 2should take steps to avoid too much of it lest it feel dated and included only for the sake of padding or ticking obligatory genre boxes.
RELATED:Alan Wake 2 Needs To Properly Balance One Iconic Mechanic
How Alan Wake 2 Can Iterate On the Survival Horror Cliche of Backtracking
The originalAlan Wakedid have sections of backtracking, but for the most part, they were brief and players moved along to new locations at a consistent rate, or were at least pushed forward briskly enough in larger ones. Remedy Entertainment has also revealed that inAlan Wake 2players will split their time controlling both Alan and newcomer Saga Anderson, swapping between their perspectives. Given that, the potential for both characters to retread ground is high, and by extension, for the game to find itself falling into the pitfall of overindulging in excessive backtracking without adding anything meaningful or engaging to the gameplay or story.
Alan Wake’s setting and lore give it some room to breathe and iterate upon the idea of backtracking though, if it is going to contain it. Asthe antagonist ofAlan Wakeis a reality-altering supernatural force, an angle that might work is something akin to what has been seen in theSilent HillorLayers of Feartitles.Earlier areas' layouts could later become distorted and warped, so that while seemingly the same on the surface, are changed enough each time to keep them feeling fresh as players re-explore them.Alan Wake 2may also have players visit locations as one character after the other previously had, experiencing the effects each has on them as the story progresses, which would mitigate dull repetition.
Saga Anderson’s role inAlan Wake 2is as an FBI profiler investigating Alan’s disappearance. Her use of a “mind palace” evidence board inAlan Wake 2has been touted as a major feature and story element, likely acting as a safe room a laResident Evil, and giving players a space to breathe while preparing for heading out again to face whatever horrors may next await. These portions also open up opportunities forAlan Wake 2to use backtracking in an outside-the-box manner, as over time the same location becomes noticeably different in visually interesting ways.
If implemented well, it would be acceptable forAlan Wake 2to have sections of backtracking, provided they don’t become annoying or overstay their welcome. As long as these segments don’t end up feeling like a slog that breaks the immersion and pace of the story, they wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome. Hopefully Remedy has a few tricks in store to pull off backtracking in the sequel in satisfying and relevant ways, and to keep the tradition of such a survival horror staple alive while advancing it for the future.
Alan Wake2releases June 09, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
