Alan Wake 2: The Lake House Review (PS5)

Remedy is the master of blending genre, tone, and style. It proved it with its seminal sequel Alan Wake 2 in 2023, and continued to prove it with its whimsical DLC Night Springs earlier this year. That streak continues with The Lake House, the conclusion to the world of Alan Wake (for now at least), which tightens the threads between the Remedy Connected Universe.

The Lake House is nothing like its DLC predecessor, with a far more focused narrative slice of Alan Wake goodness. FBC Agent Esteves approaches The Lake House, a Federal Bureau of Control outpost on the edges of Cauldron Lake. The base has gone quiet so it’s up to Esteves to investigate, uncovering all manner of horrors along the way. This is a slow-paced, tense, trippy, and at times scary experience – get ready for those bloody jump scares – and we couldn’t put the controller down from start to finish.

The Lake House’s narrative is certainly a part of the aforementioned RCU, but it’s also its own self-contained package. In that twisted sort of Remedy way, you’ll discover sordid details about FBC experiments, twisted figures, and office dramas. Each new floor that you reach is exciting yet intimidating, and Remedy’s sharp ability to conjure up haunting settings hasn’t dulled in the slightest. Every time we saw the beginning of painted swirls across the wall, it sent a shiver down our spine.

With five different floors to explore, Esteves will steadily gain access to previously locked doors, attain more powerful weapons, and face off against Taken enemies. The Lake House’s contribution to this world's pool of enemy types are lanky painted figures. Gurgling and shrieking their way out of painted canvases, they are visually distinct and impressive, yet horrifying at the same time.

It was facing (or more avoiding) these enemies that brought to light the delicate balance Remedy is maintaining to serve its two connected properties: Alan Wake and Control. The structure of The Lake House means it plays more like a Control DLC than anything from Alan Wake, with offices to scour, files to sift through, and even the ability to backtrack to previous floors to further explore. Yet it still has that Alan Wake twang to it all, with a more intense focus on horror and of course twisting environments.

The Lake House feels like a confluence of the two properties, and rather than just an expansion to Alan Wake’s world, it’s bridging the gap between Alan Wake 2 and the eventual Control 2. The central story is entertaining and disturbing enough to warrant a playthrough alone, but it’s all the extra little tidbits that make the experience, just further solidifying the wider Remedy world.

This also feels like a meatier offering than Night Springs, although likely still could be completed in around an hour and a half. We combed through every office, cupboard, and hallway, desperate for any reference or lore expansion, meaning our playtime was roughly three hours. Would we have loved more? Of course, but we’re also not sure its narrative and setting needed any longer. In that same breath, it is a little bittersweet knowing that this marks the end of Alan Wake 2, with Remedy moving on to other projects. Certainly this isn’t the last we see of this universe, but The Lake House feels like a next step when we were looking for a final goodbye.

Lastly, just a couple of weeks shy of its PS5 Pro patch, we’re happy to report that The Lake House is still a looker on base PS5. Your trusty flashlight will illuminate the manic paintings strewn across the concrete corridors, with Esteves’ coat steadily smeared with purples and blues. There were some areas where surfaces were speckled with a sort of white static glitch, albeit only in complete darkness, but it never ruined the atmosphere of a level and we imagine it could easily be patched out.