Alan Wake 2 difficulty modes explained

Remedy's games have always struck a fine balance in terms of difficulty, and that also stays true for their latest title, Alan Wake 2. The upcoming sequel to Alan Wake comes with a robust suite of difficulty presets that you can choose from depending on the kind of gameplay and narrative experience you want to pursue. Built as a traditional survival-horror experience, Alan Wake 2 offers multiple difficulty modes, each tailored towards different player skill levels and expertise.

Remedy's previous title, Control, did not feature a traditional difficulty slider upon release and only featured a single and expertly balanced dynamic difficulty. However, the game received some modifiers as part of post-launch updates that allowed players to tweak the game's difficulty.

Thankfully, that won't be the case for Alan Wake 2, which features three distinct difficulty modes available right at the start of the game. This article explains more.

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What are the difficulty modes in Alan Wake 2?

As mentioned, at launch, Alan Wake 2 will feature three distinct difficulty modes, including a very easy "Story Mode," "Normal Mode," and a "Hard Mode." Each of these is tailored to suit your preference based on your experience with third-person shooters and survival-horror games in general. The difficulty modes are quite akin to some of the more recent Resident Evil games.

Here's a breakdown of all the difficulty modes in Alan Wake 2:

• Story Mode: For players who don't want many challenges in terms of combat and simply want to experience the game's twisted and oftentimes, confusing narrative. The focus of this mode is on the game's story, puzzle-solving, and exploration.
• Normal Mode: This is the default difficulty option that does not hold back on the challenge of combat while also not overwhelming players who might be newcomers to the survival horror genre. You will need to use all your tools and resources to overcome enemies and supernatural threats in this difficulty.
• Hard Mode: This is for players who are highly experienced with the survival horror genre and are looking for a highly challenging combat experience. Familiarity with the game's combat mechanics is essential for playing this difficulty mode. The Hard Mode is best kept reserved for a second or third playthrough.

The difficulty modes in the Alan Wake sequel offer a much more accessible experience than Remedy's previous title. While the game defaults to the Normal Mode, you can switch to the Story or Hard Mode anytime during gameplay. Note that during certain combat encounters, changing difficulty modes will require you to restart from a recent checkpoint.

However, with the game being exclusive to current-generation platforms, which feature modern hardware, loading back into action does not take long.