During the May 2023 PlayStation showcase, Remedy Entertainment revealed that Alan Wake 2 will finally launch on October 17 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Remedy showed off a new trailer for the game, which begins with the murder of FBI special agent Robert Nightingale. It’s revealed that Nightingale was tracking down “some sort of writer” and it appears that his killer was playing psychological games with the investigator before the murder. The killer also leaves a note that directly addresses the two agents that are tasked with investigating the murder.
Here, Alan Wake narrates: “We were all trapped in a horror story. The horror story wanted us dead.”
The trailer then shifts to a quick snapshot of gameplay, and it shows that the game is in third-person, similar to the recent Resident Evil 4 remake.
Alan Wake 2 was first announced at the Game Awards 2021. It is being published by Epic Games so it will be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC and probably won’t come to Steam.
Remedy Entertainment’s Sam Lake also confirmed on Twitter that the original voice and live-action actors, Matthew Porreta and Illkka Villi, respectively, would reprise their roles in Alan Wake 2.
Those who want more Alan Wake content before the sequel drops in October can check out the Control DLC titled AWE, which features characters and lore from the series.
The first Alan Wake game on Xbox 360 is also playable on Xbox via backward compatibility, and Alan Wake Remastered is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.