Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game full of intricate detail. With so many dialogue options, characters, classes, and quests, everyone’s experience is a little bit different. Discoveries are around every corner, and the only thing seemingly separating you from success or tragedy is a dice roll.
That being said, it’s a lot easier to somewhat plot your destiny when you know where you’re going. IGN’s Baldur’s Gate 3 interactive map can help guide you on your quest through Act 1, 2 and 3.
We have the most updated Baldur’s Gate 3 map with the location of every item, chest, enemies, NPC, and more throughout the prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. You can also check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 walktrough for quests guides and details.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Interactive Map
Currently, our Baldur’s Gate 3 map features locations for the Prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. This include a Nautiloid map, a map of the Wilderness and Underdark, a map of the Shadow.
Here are some of the important location markers we’ve added to help guide you on your adventure:
Filter by map marker
Locations
Items
NPCs
Quests
Enemies
Check off progress as you go
Store your checklist data online
Nautiloid Map – Prologue
You begin your journey in Baldur’s Gate 3 with a quest to escape the Nautiloid. It’s a fairly small map, but there are still quite a few items, a unique weapon, and 3 potential party members you can find.
Act 1 takes place in the wilderness, and this is where the map begins to get a lot bigger. There are 30 secrets and over 60 chests to be found across the map as well as a ton of other items.
Act 2 takes place in the Shadow-Cursed lands. We have updated our map to include all of the secrets and collectibles, and we’ve identified all of the chests, secrets, and unique weapons in the area. You can also quickly find all 10 waypoints in Act 2 by utilizing this map.
If you’ve managed to make it all the way to Act 3 and the city of Baldur’s Gate, you can make use of our map of the city and beyond. We have updated our map to include all of the NPCs, secrets, and quests hidden in the map. You can also find all 13 of the waypoints here for fast travel capabilities.
Just getting started? Check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 guide for quest walkthroughs, tips, and how-to’s that can solve just about any issue you may run into. We even have a handy guide for building your character if you are overwhelmed with all of the classes and races available.
Konami has unveiled new information about the expected resolution and framerates of the three games in its upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1. But fans aren’t happy with what they’re seeing, particularly regarding Metal Gear Solid being locked to 30fps across all consoles.
Image Source: Konami
The table above was shared on an official Konami website for the collection earlier today, and most notably has Metal Gear Solid locked to 30fps across all platforms. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, on the other hand, both run at 60fps on everything but Nintendo Switch. What’s more, all the games are stuck at 1080p resolution on everything (except the Switch’s handheld mode, which doesn’t support it) and never make it to 4K.
As fans are pointing out, these limitations feel incredibly frustrating given the age of the games, as well as the fact that HD versions of MGS2 and MGS3 were released years ago for PS3 and Xbox 360 and ran at 60fps just fine. What’s more, Konami previously told multiple outlets (including us) that “the collection” would target 60fps on everything but the Switch – which feels misleading given the now-published chart.
We’ll have to see just how acceptable all this ends up looking when the collection launches October 24. We did play a Switch preview last month, though our previewer reported experiencing “significant slowdown” in MGS2 and 3 at the time as well as other technical blips.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
If you’re bummed that Starfield is not more like No Man’s Sky, where you can seamlessly travel from space to planet, there’s now a mod available that does just that.
Spotted by PCGamesN, modder 105gun has introduced a mod that finally adds seamless space travel into Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG. As described on NexusMods, when installed, the mod Slower Than Light allows Starfield players on PC to control the speed gear of their ship using hotkeys. The maximum speed is the equivalent of “hundreds of times the speed of light,” allowing players to travel between planets without fast travel and, more importantly, no load times.
As you can see from our captured footage, the mod allows for much faster traversal through space without having to fiddle in the in-game menus to planet hop, making it a lot quicker to venture to other locations. Unfortunately, the mod does not allow you to land on a planet similar to that like in No Man’s Sky (maybe will get a mod for that in the future).
In our review of Starfield, which we awarded a 7 out of 10, IGN said: “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually, the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”
Slower Than Light is one of many quality-of-life mods that have been added to Starfield since its release earlier this year. Other noteworthy mods include adding a FOV Slider, an in-game map so you don’t get lost while exploring New Atlantis, and a revamp to the inventory UI. For more on some of the best mods you can install in Starfield, check out our roundup of the best mods.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The pile of squid ink spaghetti, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week’s reset. If you’re looking to get you some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.
Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he’s got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.
We’ve rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.
Where Is Xûr Today?
Xûr’s location can be found at The Tower on September 22 through September 26. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. Hang a left when entering the hangar and you’ll come face-to-face with space Amazon.com.
Xûr can be found in the Hangar of The Tower.
What’s Xûr Selling Today?
Xûr’s Exotic offerings this week.
Exotic Engram
Cerberus+1 – Exotic Auto Rifle
ST0MP-EE5 – Exotic Hunter Boots
12 Mobility
2 Resilience
19 Recovery
2 Discipline
20 Intellect
10 Strength
Total: 65
Armamentarium – Exotic Titan Chest Armor
10 Mobility
20 Resilience
3 Recovery
14 Discipline
6 Intellect
9 Strength
Total: 62
Phoenix Protocol – Exotic Warlock Chest Armor
4 Mobility
28 Resilience
3 Recovery
6 Discipline
18 Intellect
8 Strength
Total: 67
Warlocks definitely got the most interesting Exotic roll this week, with a low Mobility/Recovery and extremely high Resilience roll with nice stat totals to boot. The others range from mid to bad, so probably stay away from those.
Also, Cerberus +1 is always worth a laugh.
Exotic Weapons
Each week Xûr sells Hawkmoon
Hawkmoon – Exotic Hand Cannon
Paracausal Shot
Polygonal Rifling
Alloy Magazine
Moving Target
Polymer Grip
Hawkmoon’s roll this week is just alright. Grab it if you need it, but I gotta assume a better one is right around the corner.
Legendary Weapons
Xûr’s Legendary Weapon offerings this weekend.
Timeline’s Vertex – Fusion Rifle
Transmission MS7/Candle PS
Enhanced Battery/Ionized Battery
Lead From Gold
Backup Plan
Range Masterwork
Fire and Forget – Linear Fusion Rifle
Chambered Compensator/Hammer-Forged Rifling
Ionized Battery/Projection Fuse
Headstone
High-Impact Reserves
Ambush
Charge Time Masterwork
Jian 7 Rifle – Pulse Rifle
SLO-12 Post/SLO-10 Post
High-Caliber Rounds/Light Mag
Firmly Planted
Rampage
Range Masterwork
Piece of Mind – Pulse Rifle
Fluted Barrel/Polygonal Rifling
Armor-Piercing Rounds/Light Mag
Auto-Loading Holster
Harmony
Land Tank
Stability Masterwork
Sojourner’s Tale – Shotgun
Arrowhead Brake/Full Bore
Assault Mag/Steady Rounds
Tunnel Vision
Frenzy
Reload Speed Masterwork
Blood Feud – Submachine Gun
Arrowhead Brake/Full Bore
Extended Mag/Flared Magwell
Triple Tap
Elemenatal Capacitor
Right Hook
Range Masterwork
Temptation’s Hook – Sword
Enduring Blade/Honed Edge/Jagged Edge
Balanced Guard/Swordmaster’s Guard
Tireless Blade
Vorpal Weapon
Impact Masterwork
My picks this week are Fire and Forget with Headstone and High-Impact Reserves, for a fairly spicy DPS machine, and the Jian 7 Rifle with Firmly Planted and Rampage, making it ideal for crouching somewhere to pick off enemies from afar.
Warlock Legendary Armor
For Warlocks, Xûr is selling the Wild Hunt set which includes:
Xûr’s Legendary Armor for Warlocks this week.
Wild Hunt Gauntlets
10 Mobility
20 Resilience
2 Recovery
12 Discipline
10 Intellect
10 Strength
Total: 64
Wild Hunt Chest Armor
10 Mobility
16 Resilience
6 Recovery
7 Discipline
10 Intellect
14 Strength
Total: 63
Wild Hunt Helmet
2 Mobility
12 Resilience
18 Recovery
24 Discipline
7 Intellect
2 Strength
Total: 65
Wild Hunt Leg Armor
2 Mobility
12 Resilience
20 Recovery
7 Discipline
14 Intellect
12 Strength
Total: 67
Wild Hunt Bond
Warlocks have an absolutely fantastic roll on their boots, with a stat total of 67, super low Mobility, and high Recovery, you should definitely get these.
Titan Legendary Armor
For Titans, Xûr is selling the Wild Hunt set which includes:
Xûr’s Legendary Armor for Titans this week.
Wild Hunt Gauntlets
2 Mobility
12 Resilience
20 Recovery
7 Discipline
14 Intellect
12 Strength
Total: 67
Wild Hunt Chest Armor
10 Mobility
16 Resilience
6 Recovery
7 Discipline
10 Intellect
14 Strength
Total: 63
Wild Hunt Helmet
2 Mobility
12 Resilience
18 Recovery
24 Discipline
7 Intellect
2 Strength
Total: 65
Wild Hunt Leg Armor
2 Mobility
12 Resilience
20 Recovery
7 Discipline
14 Intellect
12 Strength
Total: 67
Wild Hunt Mark
Titans have been graced with some absolutely stellar armor pieces this week, the best of which are the gauntlets and the boots, but honestly all of these could easily have a place in your collection. Amazing!
Hunter Legendary Armor
For Hunters, Xûr is selling the Wild Hunt set which includes:
Xûr’s Legendary Armor for Hunters this week.
Wild Hunt Gauntlets
2 Mobility
2 Resilience
28 Recovery
18 Discipline
11 Intellect
2 Strength
Total: 63
Wild Hunt Chest Armor
17 Mobility
2 Resilience
14 Recovery
22 Discipline
10 Intellect
2 Strength
Total: 67
Wild Hunt Helmet
2 Mobility
10 Resilience
22 Recovery
10 Discipline
7 Intellect
16 Strength
Total: 67
Wild Hunt Leg Armor
2 Mobility
22 Resilience
10 Recovery
2 Discipline
16 Intellect
16 Strength
Total: 68
Wild Hunt Cloak
Somehow, Hunters might actually have the best armor this week with a roll on their boots that practically brings a tear to my eye. You could honestly buy this whole set and wind up with a pretty darn good armor set overall. Wild!
Payday 3 had a less-than-spectacular launch yesterday, as Starbreeze Studios’ first-person shooter was plagued with server issues. With the developer under scrutiny, the studio’s CEO has apologized for the issues.
In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren acknowledged the release day issues. “We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario – we should be able to do better,” Sjögren wrote. “We work tirelessly until we have restored all services and our players can get back to heisting again without issues!”
We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario – we should be able to do better. We work tirelessly until we have restored all services and our players can get back to heisting again without issues!
While Payday 3 was officially released yesterday, it was available to some people early depending on which version they purchased. While the server issues were the subject of discussion yesterday and today, users who had access to the game three days early were also reporting issues with the servers, including Redditor firestep92, who wrote that two out of the three days the early access period was live, the servers were acting up.
In our review of Payday 3, which was awarded a 7 out of 10 on our review scale, IGN said, “Payday 3’s cooperative heists are off to a strong start, even if the vault is a bit bare at the moment.”
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The leaked news of Microsoft’s plan for a slim version of the Xbox Series X is not surprising – the Xbox 360 had not one but two slim versions, and the Xbox One got the significantly smaller Xbox One S, while Sony has released smaller versions of every PlayStation so far up through the PS4. But what is shocking, at least if the plan hasn’t changed, as Phil Spencer suggested some of it has in his acknowledgement of the embarrassing spillage of Microsoft’s hardware roadmap, is that the “Brooklin” (as the skinnier Series X is codenamed) doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive.
This begs the question: is the Series X that’s on store shelves and in my gaming room right now the last Xbox console that will ever include an optical drive – since the Gen10 Xbox due out in 2028 would likely follow suit and drop the disc drive? And if so, what does that mean for the future of how we buy and play games?
First, it means that Microsoft would be pulling out of retail almost entirely. Sure, they’d still love to have shelf space at the Targets and Best Buys of the world to sell the consoles themselves, but that’d be it – except for maybe a spot on the gift card rack to sell Microsoft Store gift cards. This likely wouldn’t be the bold, disruptive, and risky move it would’ve been even five years ago, though, as consumers of all goods continue to do more and more of their shopping online for the things they want and need. Shopping malls are rapidly emptying out and going extinct (which, as someone who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s thinking malls were the coolest places ever – Foot Locker! Babbage’s! The food court! The arcade! – saddens me a bit).
On a similar note, a mainstay of the video game retail ecosystem, GameStop, might finally go extinct. The company has been on a downward spiral for years as gamers have naturally been shifting to more and more online purchases, but Xbox going all-digital could push them over the edge of bankruptcy – especially if PlayStation follows suit. Sure, Nintendo likely won’t be walking away from physical media anytime soon, but can GameStop survive on Nintendo cartridges alone? I wouldn’t bet on it.
If Sony ends up sticking with Blu-ray for the duration of this console generation and particularly the next one (and it is perhaps a bit more incentivized to do so, since it owns the Blu-ray standard), it makes Microsoft’s move that much bolder. But it wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft made a big bet on where the future was headed. In 2001, Microsoft put ethernet ports on every single original Xbox console, intending to launch a broadband-only online gaming subscription service a year later, at a time when 56k dial-up modems were still the most common vehicle for internet connectivity, and subscription services were anything but normal – particularly in the video game space. That bet paid off handsomely, as Xbox Live became the best place to play games online – not just on consoles but arguably compared to a PC as well, which had its share of dial-up players, nor was a chat headset standard equipment for every player.
Xbox Mid-Generation Refresh: Leaked FTC vs. Microsoft Documents
A later big bet – bundling the Kinect motion controller in with every single Xbox One – didn’t work, but the point is that Microsoft’s gaming division has never shied away from risks. In fact, that same Xbox One tried to go always-online before infamously backtracking on its 24-hour online check-in policy before launch.
And so the question is: is the console market now ready to go all-digital? After all, PC gaming has been there for years, and it’s thriving. I would argue that it is. The all-digital Xbox Series S has been a hit, outselling its more powerful (and, yes, more expensive) disc-drive-including sibling. Xbox Game Pass, the all-digital Netflix of gaming, has over 25 million subscribers. For gamers who still prefer to buy games on discs, either due to preference or internet bandwidth limitations, Microsoft can easily sell an external Blu-ray drive that connects to the Brooklin through its front-facing USB-C port.
Regardless of where Microsoft goes, the next five years of console gaming are going to be mighty interesting.
EVE Online’s starry realm of New Eden is a vast expanse of more than 7000 star systems, which we have so far experienced almost exclusively from a distance aboard swooping starships or in the colossal interiors of mega-scale space stations. But all the while, I’ve imagined what might be going on down on these lonely planets I’m sailing by at impossible speeds. EVE Vanguard, a new shooter module for EVE Online built in Unreal Engine 5, will let us set foot on them and scavenge their riches in person. Well, sort of.
This isn’t CCP’s first attempt at an FPS set in the EVE universe. From 2013 to 2016 they operated Dust 514, an on-foot experience that was eventually shut down due to low player numbers. Vanguard represents a fresh attempt at introducing a human-scale component to EVE, which the developers hope will eventually combine to create a complete sci-fi experience on the ground and in space. Rather than being sold as a separate game, like Dust, Vanguard is being described as a “module” for EVE, which will use the same launcher and be free to play.
EVE Vanguard – First Screenshots
The EVE universe is full of high-concept, high-tech ideas, and Vanguard is no exception, so stay with me here. When you load up Vanguard, you will be taking on the role of an “Infomorph.” This is separate from the capsuleer character who pilots your starships in EVE Online, though they similarly make use of cloning technology to achieve functional immortality. This character will “burst” their mind into specialized war clones called Vanguards, who are the ones that actually do the running and the shooting. If you die, you can just activate a new clone.
Dust Off
The gameplay we’ve seen so far definitely takes a lot of cues from the extraction shooter genre. You’ll deploy your clone planetside, fight NPC enemies and other players to retrieve valuable loot, and when you feel like you’ve gotten enough to make an excursion worth your while, call for an evac. Doing so will send up a beacon and make you a target for nearby players who might want to steal your take right out from under you, though, so knowing when and where to hail a space cab is critical.
Vanguard will be connected to EVE from launch, but only in limited ways to begin with.
While you can play Vanguard solo, it won’t be easy. It’s very much a dog-eat-dog ecosystem in the EVE tradition, and so a coordinated team will have a decisive advantage over the lone wolf. Of course, you can always try to make ad-hoc alliances with other Vanguards you run into along the way, but there’s no guarantee they won’t betray you for a bigger share in the end. Maybe you ought to betray them first. Just in case.
Brave New Worlds
EVE Vanguard is powered by Unreal Engine 5.
Vanguard will be connected to EVE from launch, but only in limited ways to begin with. The idea is that Vanguard players who only want to play Vanguard can have a full gameplay loop and their own progression systems that don’t rely on anyone up in a spaceship somewhere. It’s a self-sufficient career. Later down the line, CCP would like to connect Vanguard to the rest of EVE in more substantial and meaningful ways, such as allowing Vanguard players to engage in planetside industries and even accept contract jobs from spaceborne capsuleers. The map we saw involved salvaging the wreck of a massive, crashed starship, and the developers suggested one day these may be generated by actual player battles. That ship you’re salvaging might be your own.
Our first taste of Vanguard will land in December with the First Strike playtest, which will feature a single, huge map. In the future, CCP would like to use carefully controlled randomness to generate more warzones based on the countless planets scattered around New Eden. We shouldn’t expect anything of a similar scope to No Man’s Sky, though, since some amount of hands-on authoring is beneficial to make a fun shooter map, and it’s just not possible to generate thousands of unique ones that meet a high standard.
EVE Online has featured several of the biggest PvP battles in gaming history, but it only lets you fly one ship at a time. Set in the same universe but from a very different perspective, EVE Galaxy Conquest is a multiplayer 4X strategy game that puts you in command of your own outpost and an entire fleet.
The factions and warships should be familiar to EVE fans, but you’ll be able to command large numbers of them without having to yell at a bunch of mercenaries over discord to stick to the freaking plan.
In typical 4X fashion, a foray into a contested star sector will begin with a humble stronghold surrounded by unexplored space which can be captured, exploited for resources, and fought over. Galaxy Conquest is PvP-centric, with the ability to form alliances with and backstab other players to reach the center of the map and take on a difficult final challenge. This will involve exploring, mining resources, building and upgrading fleets, and navigating player-driven politics in a similar vein to the MMO.
EVE Galaxy Conquest Screenshots
Galaxy Conquest has a seasonal structure, with each season representing a fresh start with new mechanics and ships available. Each season will be a few months long. Some progression will be account-wide, but unlike in EVE Online where dominating an area of space might require endless vigilance, jumping in at the beginning of a season will allow you to stake your own claim without decades of entrenched politics to work around. We’ll also be running into some major NPCs from the EVE universe, many of whom have never been given a canonical look before now.
EVE Galaxy Conquest will be soft launching on Android and iOS later this year. CCP Shanghai has not announced any plans for a PC version so far, but they didn’t rule it out as a possibility. Likewise, we didn’t learn anything for sure about the monetization other than it will be similar to other free-to-play mobile strategy games.
Announced at EVE Fanfest, the next expansion for the 20-year-old space sandbox MMO is called Havoc, and it’s focused on new factional gameplay for players who align with the chaotic and criminal element of New Eden.
Space piracy has long been a part of the EVE ecosystem, but as a mostly informal affair. Now, you’ll be able to align yourself with the swashbuckling Guristas and Angel Cartel groups and take part in large-scale player conflicts as a destructive interloper.
Last year, the Uprising expansion added a new frontline system that brought along new mechanics for faction wars over contested areas of space. Piratical players in Havoc will gain ways to mess with these systems, as pirates will be able to set up a Forward Operating Base right on the front lines and do battle with either or both opposing factions. The non-pirate factions in the warzone will have to decide how to handle these incursions. You could temporarily set aside your differences with your opponents to chase the pirates out, or maybe keep them around to act as a drain on your enemies’ resources.
Eve Online Havoc Expansion Screenshots and Images
Throwing your lot in with the pirates will grant access to a new system, Zarzakh, where a creepy cyborg Sith lord guy called The Deathless (I haven’t kept up with EVE lore the last few years, but he seems like a pretty big deal) is offering a refuge for those who don’t wish to follow the whims of the major empires. This hive of scum and villainy will feature new faction shops where enterprising pirates can spend faction currency to unlock five new ships, including a new Titan-class ship – the largest class of ship in EVE. The Angel Titan is only the eighth of its kind released in EVE’s 20-year history.
EVE Online is a game of spaceships and spreadsheets, though, and fans of the latter are getting some new goodies, too. Player-run corporations will now be able to make use of the Project Manager role, which doesn’t sound as thrilling as blowing up battlecruisers, but I’ve been assured EVE diehards will be giving it a standing ovation all the same. In layman’s terms, this expansion is making it easier to set up large, cooperative projects within an organization and reward those who contribute to it. Since almost every activity you do in EVE is driven by other players, you could think of this like introducing more flexible and easy-to-use quest authoring tools.
His name may quite literally be the title of the game, but Alan Wake is not the only main character in Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming survival horror. The ‘2’ in Alan Wake 2 doesn’t just point to its sequel nature, but also to the duality that runs through the entire game. Two protagonists. Two perspectives. Two worlds. And two approaches to gameplay.
“Obviously we’re making a sequel and we knew that Alan was going to be a big part of it,” says Kyle Rowley, Alan Wake 2’s game director. “But we also knew that we wanted to have a different perspective for the players who are maybe not familiar with Alan Wake 1.”
The second perspective is that of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent investigating a ritual murder. For September’s IGN First we spoke to two developers at Remedy to learn how they created different experiences for both Alan and Saga, how they developed two unique spins on the core survival horror gameplay, and how swapping between the two leads affects the way Alan Wake 2’s story unfolds.
Alan Wake 2 – Saga Gameplay Screenshots
Saga’s case brings her to Bright Falls, the small town America setting of the original Alan Wake. “She’s here with her partner, Alex Casey, trying to solve this increasingly impossible seeming series of mysteries,” explains Molly Maloney, principle narrative designer on Alan Wake 2. “She’s a really complex person, and I think as you go deeper into the game, you get to see more and more sides of her.”
While Saga is the story’s new character, it’s through her that you’ll experience the setting of the original game, along with all its Twin Peaks-inspired oddities. “Saga obviously exists in our world, so it’s a more grounded reality, but it’s still Remedy’s take on the Pacific Northwest, which means it’s a little quirky, a little interesting, a little weird,” Maloney says. “So I’d say overall the vibe of her side of the story is, it’s sinister, it’s moving through exploration, plotting, and methodically trying to solve these pieces. But also at the same time it’s interspersed with these profound moments of really weird, disturbing, exciting, supernatural combat.”
“The first game was very much focused on combat,” Rowley notes. “Here we wanted to hook into that idea of being an FBI agent, a profiler, someone who’s investigating ritual serial killings. And that leads into gameplay of exploring the world, finding clues, talking to people, having this kind of case board where you’re piecing everything together.”
The Dark Place does not obey the rules of reality that you would expect.
It’s not exactly L.A. Noire, but Alan Wake 2’s slower, more exploratory gameplay is significantly different to the approach of its predecessor. A similar radical switch-up can be found in Alan’s side of the story, too. While Saga investigates murders in the real world, our titular hero fights for survival in The Dark Place, a realm of nightmares that manifests itself as a noir-like rendition of New York City. Wake has been trapped there since the conclusion of the original game, released back in 2010.
“Well, as you can imagine, somebody who’s spent 13 years inhabiting the Dark Place being stalked by malevolent forces definitely has a bit of, I hesitate to say paranoia, but it’s earned paranoia,” explains Maloney. “So his spaces, his side of the story definitely has a lot more of that tone.”
“Unlike Saga’s side of the story, the Dark Place does not obey the rules of reality that you would expect,” she adds. “And so it’s a kind of place that shifts and changes in unexpected ways that are designed to keep both Alan and the player on edge.”
The Dark Place doesn’t just shift and change; Alan himself can alter the world around him. This comes to life through environmental puzzles, such as dead ends that can be reshaped into explorable routes.
This shifting of reality is conducted in The Writer’s Room. Upon a chalkboard that exists only within Alan’s head, you can use moments of inspiration discovered throughout the world to craft new ‘stories’. These stories translate into The Dark Place and reshape the space around you. Find the right inspiration and you can unlock new pathways and secrets, which in turn push Alan’s story forward.
Saga also has a mechanic that only exists within her head. It’s called The Mind Place, and at the center of it is the Case Board. Here you can arrange clues and evidence that you’ve found in the real world into lines of investigation. Connecting clues unlocks new mission objectives, which in turn pushes Saga’s investigation forward.
“It’s tricky because ultimately we’re creating one holistic game, Alan Wake 2,” says Rowley. “And we were quite aware that we did not want players when they were switching between the characters to feel like they have to relearn the game all over again.”
“The actual game mechanics the player has to utilize are kind of the same across both characters,” he continues. “The context and the worlds and the situations they’re in are very different, so we definitely wanted to make sure that they had their own unique twist on that same core experience. Saga has her Mind Place and the Case Board. Alan has his Writer’s Room and the Plot Board. So they’re the same, but there was a difference.”
For Wake, we’re more focused on the idea of paranoia and not being able to trust what’s real.
Remedy has applied this ‘same, but different’ approach to each protagonist’s combat experience, too. “For Saga, we’re more leaning on the anticipation of the encounter,” Rowley says. “We have less combat in this game compared to the first game by quite a lot, but we didn’t want it to feel like there’s no danger at any moment. So we play on the player’s expectations.”
“For Wake, the core combat loop is the same,” he continues. “I still need to use my flashlight, I still need to burn away the darkness. But we’re a bit more focused on the idea of paranoia and not being able to trust what’s real. So we have enemies that are kind of shadowy. You’re not sure, some of them will fade away and then not attack you, but some of them will attack you.
“[We’re] trying to create different types of emotional responses from the player, but utilizing the same kind of core gameplay loops that we’ve established.”
In many games with multiple main characters, the perspective switches at specific moments that have been pre-planned by the developers. Remedy has rejected this approach. Instead, Alan Wake 2 will allow you to switch between Saga and Alan’s perspectives as you wish. You could alternate between characters each chapter, or play Saga’s side of the story to completion and then swap to Alan. This means you could witness the events of the game in a very different order to another player, something Remedy has had to meticulously plan for.
“With two protagonists, it felt like a really great opportunity to jump between the two,” says Maloney. “But when it came to structuring that story, […] it required a lot of iteration to make sure it was really satisfying, not just two stories you jump between.”
When playing as Saga, events you witness can act as responses to things you’ve already seen as Alan, or foreshadow moments you’ve yet to experience in The Dark Place. To make sure all this plays out as intended, you can only swap perspective at specific points in the story.
We made sure that you could never switch in a place where you would miss a critical piece of information.
“There was a version where you could actually switch between the characters a lot more freely and a lot earlier,” reveals Maloney. But what seemed good on paper failed in practice. Remedy eventually scrapped the free swapping and replaced it with Break Rooms; locations throughout the world that offer players the choice of continuing as their current character or switching to the other perspective.
“As we started standing up the material and looking at it, we realised that for the story to make sense, there are linchpin moments that you need to have to tie it together,” Maloney explains. “Alan needs his arc, of course, Saga needs her arc, and then the two of them together also need an arc. And that arc needs to be flexible depending on the order. That’s an impossible challenge to do simultaneously, at least for me.
“So we focused on one at a time. Let’s make sure Alan feels good, let’s make sure Saga feels good. Now let’s start looking at how you can jump and where it feels right to jump. And that work allowed us to identify those linchpin moments. And that’s where you started to see the break rooms appearing.
“By identifying those moments, we made sure that you could never switch in a place where you would miss a critical piece of information for that to make sense,” she explains.
Alan Wake 2: Dark Place Screenshots
Switching between these dual perspectives adds texture to Alan Wake 2. But it also grants player agency when it comes to navigating tension and fear.
“We wanted to go, ‘Okay, this sequence that you’re playing as Saga, maybe it’s a bit too intense,’” says Rowley. “You [can] just go hop and play as Alan where he’s exploring the streets or whatever and vice versa. So giving the player a bit of agency over how they want to play through this game so we’re not hand-holding them through the whole thing.”
Across both Alan and Saga’s sides of the story, Remedy has used different approaches to the same core mechanics to create two bespoke experiences. The two combine to make the whole that is Alan Wake 2; a single story made up of two distinct experiences.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.
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