Should I play Alan Wake 1 before Alan Wake 2? The highly anticipated Alan Wake 2 is finally here, more than a decade after the release of the first game. The beloved, genre-bending psychological horror game has been such a long time in the making that you may have completely forgotten the events of Alan Wake, or perhaps you’ve never played it at all.
Whether you decide to play now or after a runthrough of Alan Wake, we can help you find the Alan Wake 2 shotgun and Alan Wake 2 crossbow location to aid you on your journey through the horror game. Before that though, can you play Alan Wake 2 without having played the original game in the series?
Can I play Alan Wake 2 without playing 1?
You can play Alan Wake 2 without playing Alan Wake 1 or its American Nightmare expansion first, however, it helps to have a basic understanding of the first game’s events. This is briefly explained during the early hours of Alan Wake 2, but we also recommend watching Remedy’s own recap video above for more information.
During the first game, Alan Wake started to experience ‘The Dark Presence’, a mysterious evil force capable of creating creatures and consuming people, eventually taking Wake by the end of the game. In Alan Wake 2, you find Wake in The Dark Place, having been trapped there for ten years, filling the real life gap between the original release date and now.
We’ve given you the low-down, now it’s up to you to decide whether you’d still rather play the original Alan Wake game before you delve into Alan Wake 2. We did play it before our Alan Wake 2 review, so you might be interested to read our thoughts. Whether you do or don’t, we’ve got plenty of guides to help you through the long-awaited sequel when you get around to it, including the best Alan Wake 2 weapon upgrades and which Alan Wake 2 difficulty level might be best for you.