After weeks of speculation, concrete news on Alan Wake 2‘s hotly anticipated New Game Plus mode has finally emerged, courtesy of game director Sam Lake at The Game Awards. Finally, the upcoming update has a name—The Final Draft—and, more importantly, a release date.
Let’s hope you’re not tired of Bright Falls already because the Dark Place is going to beckon you again very soon indeed.
When does Alan Wake 2 Final Draft release?
Players won’t have to wait long: Alan Wake 2’s Final Draft update will be released on Dec. 11, 2023, coming in just ahead of the new God of War: Ragnarok DLC. It’s going to be a busy week.
What’s new in Alan Wake 2 Final Draft?
Remedy was a bit vague at The Game Awards, citing only “new story content” in addition to the New Game Plus mode, but luckily we have more information than just that brief speech to go on. New Game Plus will allow players to retain all unlocked weapons and upgrades, all of which you’ll doubtlessly need to take on the new Nightmare difficulty mode. If you thought the Dark Place was perilous before, you haven’t seen anything yet.
More interesting than all of that, though, is the promised “alternate narrative”, offering new Manuscript pages and alternate live-action video content that could very well drastically alter the arc of Alan and Saga’s story. Alan Wake 2 in itself is a story about stories, about tropes nestled in recursion, and nothing could be more perfect for that than running through it again and seeing how the Dark Place bends and buckles under the weight of this new story.
Or it could just be a longer version of that Old Gods of Asgard music video. Either way, sounds fun!
