Alan Wake 2 is getting a New Game Plus mode called The Final Draft on December 11, 2023, developer Remedy Entertainment has announced.
Revealed in a blog post, Remedy made clear The Final Draft isn’t just an opportunity to play through Alan Wake 2 again, but actually includes a whole new ending to the game.
“The Final Draft unveils a new ending to the layered story of Alan Wake, sure to spark speculation and theories among our dedicated fans,” the post read. “Additionally, there is new lore to be found in the form of a few new videos and manuscript pages that have been added to New Game Plus experience, along with other subtle additions.
Players will keep all weapons, Charms, and character upgrades from their first playthrough, and will likely need all that and more if they’re to take on the new Nightmare difficulty level. “Brace yourselves for intensified enemies, strategic gameplay, and an adrenaline-pumping experience that will push your skills to the limit,” Remedy said.
The update will also bring “numerous bug fixes” and “slight performance optimisations”, with full patch notes arriving on launch day. Remedy teased the New Game Plus mode earlier this month but didn’t reveal it would be so extensive.
The base game launched October 27 as a sequel to the original Alan Wake more than a decade in the making. Time didn’t wear down its quality though, as IGN awarded the sequel a 9/10 in our review.
“Alan Wake 2 is a superb survival horror sequel that makes the cult-classic original seem like little more than a rough first draft by comparison,” we said.
It also earned plenty of awards at The Game Awards, which took place December 7, winning Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. You can check out the full list of winners here.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Gawd, it’s like hyping yourself up before diving into a freezing cold ice lake. Okay, okay, okay. Brave face. Hey, it’s time for The Game Awards 2023, everybody! Towards the end of every year, we all get to enjoy (or in our case, give up our evenings and ruin our fingers to the tune of) one of the gaming industry’s biggest events. The Game Awards is not only an awards ceremony – it’s a lavish smorgasbord of video game announcements, trailers, and news stretching into the early hours of the morning. At least for us Brits.
In case you don’t have the time to sit through the entire multi-hour livestream, we’ve done the hard work and put together a list of every noteworthy trailer and announcement that was shown at this year’s The Game Awards. You can get started reading; I’m just gonna… shut my eyes for a bit.
That’s it, folks. Another year, another Game Awards ceremony has come and gone. And what a night, hey?
It was a pretty good night for Nintendo at The Game Awards 2023, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder taking home Best Family Game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom winning Best Action / Adventure, and Pikmin 4 plucked the Best Sim / Strategy Game award. But the biggest winner was, of course, the hugely popular Baldur’s Gate 3, which scooped the most prizes on the night, including the coveted Game of the Year award.
It’s been an incredible year for players. Across gaming, we’ve seen major releases – both original titles and major franchise sequels – incredible innovations, and titles sure to usher in the future of gaming. The Game Awards topped it off tonight with a truly spectacular celebration. Hosted by Geoff Keighley and aided by guest presenters such as Simu Liu, Jordan Peele, and Anthony Mackie, the show celebrated gaming’s recent past, and shone a light on its exciting future.
Xbox Announcements at The Game Awards 2023
Of course, The Game Awards always bring their fair share of announcements for what’s coming next. We’re delighted to say that we brought some of our own – here’s everything we announced at the show, coming to Xbox players in the future:
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Offers Up a New Trailer and an Incredible Stage Performance
Ninja Theory took us deep into the world of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, starting with a spellbinding performance from Heilung, who debuted an original track from the upcoming game. A chorus of otherworldly chanting, drumbeats and vocals transported us to the shores of Iceland, where a new trailer captured on Xbox Series X gave us the most impressive look yet at Senua’s journey of survival.
Kojima Productions and Xbox Game Studios Announce OD
A Hideo Kojima Game, OD explores the concept of testing your fear threshold, and what it means to OD on fear – while blurring the boundaries of gaming and film. The new teaser for OD also reveals Sophia Lillis (“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”), Hunter Schaffer (“Euphoria”) and Udo Kier (“Flesh for Frankenstein”), who will play the lead roles in the upcoming project.
Marvel’s Blade Game in Development by Arkane Lyon
Bethesda Softworks and Marvel Games have announced that Arkane Lyon, creators of the critically acclaimed and award-winning Deathloop and Dishonored series, are creating a new mature, single-player, third-person game based on the fan favorite vampire hunter Blade.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Gets a Surprise Xbox Series X|S Release
Get your character customization fingers ready – Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to Xbox Series X|S today. The modern classic RPG from Larian Studios transforms the world of Dungeons & Dragons into a unique experience on console, with a dark, endlessly replayable tale, in-depth combat true to the original tabletop game, and some of the most captivating party companions in the genre. Create a custom hero, play as a pre-built companion, and even play the entire game with friends in multiplayer. Baldur’s Gate 3 is here, and you’re going to lose a lot of hours to it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Shows Off Its Season 1 Multiplayer Updates
The best-in-class Multiplayer experience returns in Season 1 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and a new trailer showed us what’s to come. Drop into three brand-new 6v6 Multiplayer maps: Meat, Greece, and Rio, alongside the new 2v2 Training Facility. Season 1 also introduces new ways to play Modern Warfare Zombies at your own pace, whether you deploy as a squad or venture forth alone to face new challenges; remember, nothing gets in, and no threat, regardless of size, gets out. Prepare for the all-new seasonal Dark Aether Rifts, Aether Worms, and more. Season 1 is locked and ready for action.
All Xbox Winners and Nominees
Games you can play from Xbox’s first-party teams arrived with 10 nominations across 8 categories, and there were 11 nominations for titles available for you to play in Game Pass. We’re thrilled that Hi-Fi Rush has taken home the award for Best Audio Design and Forza Motorsport won for Best Sports/Racing and Innovation in Accessibility. Our incredible third-party partners also saw numerous nominations, all of which you can play on Xbox now. Baldur’s Gate 3 took home honors for Game of the Year, Alan Wake II won for Best Narrative, Sea of Stars for Best Indie Game, and more! You can see a full list of winners and nominees from our platforms below – congratulations to everyone involved.
We were delighted to see that Iasia Brown (Xbox), Casey Ramos (Xbox Game Studios Publishing), Jessica Taylor (Blizzard Entertainment), and Nareice Wi (Playground Games) were made part of The Game Awards’ Future Class, a line-up of those who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future of gaming. Congratulations to all the other members of Future Class 2023.
Here’s the full list of nominated games available on Xbox, with category winners marked in bold. You can find every nominated game available with Xbox Game Pass in our specially created collection on the Microsoft Store.
The Finals is the ultimate virtual combat game show, where you and your team fight for fame, riches, and the favor of generous seasonal sponsors.
This free-to-play, team-based, first-person shooter pits contestants against each other in hyper-realistic, fully destructible Virtual Arenas inspired by iconic real-world locations.
In The Finals, there are no obstacles that can’t be overcome. Run through the storied streets of Monaco, soar across the gaps between the shining skyscrapers of Seoul, and fight for victory with your team in the glitzy casinos of Las Vegas.
Crash through walls and ceilings, destroy anything and everything in sight, and build bridges and barricades in this fast-paced, high-stakes fight for fame and riches on the world’s biggest stage.
Come out on top, reach The Finals, and win the hearts of the viewers.
Here’s what to expect:
Iconic arenas
Fight it out on top of the skyscrapers high above the streets of downtown Seoul, and on the cobblestone streets of old town Monaco, the idyllic city-state on the banks of the French Riviera. You’ll also get to experience Skyway Stadium, an ever-changing playground full of treacherous traversal and strategic vantage points, and Las Vegas, an interconnected maze of interiors that encourage tight team play, and make destruction even more dynamic and impactful.
Build your contestant
The Finals may be a team sport, but you’ll fight for individual glory too — with your own playstyle, gear, and fashion. Build your contestant with a wild combination of looks, accessories, weapons, and gadgets.
Contestants pick from a range of body types, each with their own attributes, abilities, and loadout. Tower above your teammates as a Heavy, and slam through walls and floors. Swing nimbly through the arena to deal devastating sneak attacks as a Light. Or enjoy the balance of a Medium, to support your team while armed to the teeth.
Play your way
Trap and surprise your opposition with a range of dynamic tools scattered throughout the arena. Send exploding canisters of gas and goo through the air, burst through windows, or drop fire from above.
Use moving platforms, pocket walls, ziplines, jump pads, and more to create treacherous and unforgettable moments. Take out your enemies with garbage cans and flowerpots, office chairs, and hospital beds. Only your imagination sets the limits.
Game-altering world events
The arenas always change, cutting off pathways and creating new ones — simultaneously, for all contestants. If that sounds hairy, just wait.
You’ll face unpredictable weather, day-and-night cycles, and sudden World Events that shake the very foundation of the Virtual Arena. Like Orbital Lasers that instantly kill campers (better keep moving, my friends!), Low Gravitythat makes you jump like you’re on the moon, a fun little nightmare we like to call The Dead Go Boom, and more.To experience the unparalleled chaos and destruction of The Finals, take a look at the launch trailer, released today, and make sure to check out the game at PlayStation Store.
During Gamescom 2018 in Cologne, Germany, NVIDIA announced that ray tracing–a graphics technique capable of rendering special effects on par with motion pictures–was finally coming to video games. The event also marked the introduction of the concept of AI for gaming with the introduction of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS).
And right now, there are over 500 games and applications that take advantage of any combination of these features! NVIDIA is kicking off an RTX 500 celebration for reaching this milestone. Celebrate this benchmark with NVIDIA by following the GeForce social channels on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube TikTok, or Reddit, Discord and other social media platforms.
We have our own list of games that make excellent use of RTX technologies. From the top:
5. Minecraft with RTX
Unless you’ve been living in a cave on Mars with your fingers stuck in your ears since 2011, you know all about Mojang’s enormously popular sandbox-style game. But Minecraft isn’t just popular for its endless creative potential, but also for the big, chunky blocks that give the game a distinct visual style.
You wouldn’t think Minecraft’s simple blocks wouldn’t benefit from ray tracing, but NVIDIA proves everyone wrong. Minecraft feels like the progenitor to the RTX-OFF and RTX-ON graphical fidelity comparison, and for good reason. You can see there’s a clear upgrade.
Minecraft with RTX debuted in 2020 with full ray tracing (also known as path tracing), meaning all the lights in the game benefit from ray tracing. A lot of people were surprised at how much the implementation of full ray tracing transformed the game. Ray tracing lets you witness beautiful effects like rays of light bursting through cloud cover, but the upgrade to Minecraft.
RTX isn’t just visual. Diving into Minecraft RTX’s caves and mines means navigating through an unsettlingly realistic darkness. This makes Minecraft a much more intense game, and it’s a good example of a mainstream audience getting to see how ray tracing can enhance games.
4. Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is another example of a marquee AAA game that was transformed by ray tracing integration. Metro Exodus originally launched with ray traced global illumination in 2019, making it one of the first games to use ray tracing effects. This visual beast of a game underwent a complete overhaul with the re-release of the game in 2020. Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition features a reworked method of global illumination that also adds new RT effects.
Metro Exodus is already a creepy game in its vanilla state, but the Enhanced Edition’s use of RTX tech ramps up the fear factor with creepy shadows that seem to dance around you when you spark any kind of light. It makes the haunted tundra that much more chilling, and it’s just one example of how ray traced lighting can add so much to a video game.
3. Control
Our third example of games that make especially good use of RTX technology is Control by Remedy Entertainment. In August 2019, Control became the first game to combine multiple RTX lighting effects such as reflections, shadows, and indirect diffuse lighting. It’s no wonder people still regard this supernatural, avant-garde shooter as one of the best-looking games of all time.
Control became the first game to combine multiple RTX lighting effects such as, ray-traced indirect diffuse lighting, shadows, and reflective surfaces.That’s why the Oldest House will always feel creepy enough to sweep you away from reality.
2. Alan Wake 2
Speaking of Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake 2 continues the studio’s relationship with NVIDIA’s RTX implementation through use of ray traced EVERYTHING along with serving as a launch vehicle for DLSS 3.5 – the latest iteration of DLSS that uses a technique known as ray reconstruction, a new AI model that creates higher quality ray-traced images for intensive ray-traced games and apps.
Alan Wake 2 is a dark game, both narratively and mechanically. Remedy makes expert use of RTX technology to carpet Alan Wake’s misadventure with thick darkness that contrasts perfectly with whatever small bits of light Alan Wake can manage to hold onto.
1. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
When Cyberpunk 2077 was first released in 2020, it was a visual feast that pushed computers to their limits with its cutting-edge implementation of ray traced lighting and DLSS 2. Then in January 2023, developer CD Projekt Red updated Cyberpunk 2077 to feature DLSS 3 with Frame Generation, further using AI to accelerate and stabilize framerates. And thanks to the continued efforts of developer CDPR, Cyberpunk’s new expansion, Phantom Liberty, levels up the game’s graphical fidelity further with Full RT and DLSS 3.5 with Ray Reconstruction which further improved RT quality on all RTX GPUs.
Like all the entries in this list, Phantom Liberty makes full use of its overhauled ray traced lighting by way of its secret agent storyline that sees the main character V get recruited by the New United States of America to uncover a plot that could change the course of history forever. Phantom Liberty revolves around stealth, so stick to the shadows and light up the dark mysteries that envelope characters with backstories filled to the brim with various shades of gray.
And that’s just five out of over 500 titles that make great use of RTX features. What are your picks? How do you plan on celebrating RTX 500? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned to IGN.com for more on all things NVIDIA.
EA have announced Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a side-scrolling metroidvania from Surgent Studios, the developer founded by voice actor Abubakar Salim. It’s being published under the EA Originals label, and is inspired by the myths of African Bantu cultures. It’s also something of a memorial project, shaped by Salim’s own experiences of grief, though you might not get that impression from the trailer, which is a blaze of magical battles and aerial stunts.
In a surprise shadow-game after tonight’s The Game Awards, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on Xbox Series X/S.
While Game of the Year winners Larian Studios didn’t announce the news on stage, they did share it on X/Twitter after the ceremony. It’s available on the Microsoft Store.
We’ve known the game was on track for a December release for a while now thanks to Xbox’s teasing, but this wasn’t always the case. Baldur’s Gate 3 was originally released just on PC and PS5, with Xbox versions getting delayed due to issues with the Xbox Series S specifically struggling to perform splitscreen co-op. In the past, Xbox has committed to parity between Xbox Series S and X for all games, but it ultimately made an exception for Baldur’s Gate 3 so the game could launch this year.
As a result, split-screen co-op won’t be available on Series S consoles, but will be for Series X. Online co-op, cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox, all patches, and all other updates and features will be available, though. Yes, that includes the recent epilogue update that includes 3,589 new lines of dialogue to let you say goodbye to all your beloved party members at the very end of the game.
It’s a good thing Xbox players are finally getting their hands on Baldur’s Gate 3, because it’s pretty great. In our review, we gave it a coveted 10/10, and wrote the following: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”
Capcom have unveiled the next entry in their dinosaur hat/pants/jumper-making sim this evening, and it’s called Monster Hunter Wilds. A kick in the dino groin to this year’s monster hunting pretender Wild Hearts, perhaps? Who can say. Formally unveiled at tonight’s Game Awards, this new Monster Hunter is coming in 2025, and looks to be the jazzed-up successor to Monster Hunter: World. That’s not a diss on Rise (which was excellent). Just that it’s being developed for PC and consoles first, rather than Switch. And it looks rad as heck. Come and watch the reveal trailer below.
As Dusk Falls, the narrative-focused interactive drama by Interior Night, is finally making its way onto PlayStation consoles.
Announced at the 2023 Game Awards, As Dusk Falls arrives on PS4 and PS5 on March 7th, 2024. The PS5 version includes new exclusive features including haptic feedback and touchpad controls, with an audio description accessibility feature available on all versions.
“Since its launch on Xbox and Steam last year, we’ve been immensely proud of how our debut game has been received by players and critics alike. We are now especially excited to bring ‘As Dusk Falls’ to PlayStation and its fantastic community that deeply enjoys cinematic narrative experiences.” said Caroline Marchal, CEO and Creative Director of Interior Night.
“We are leveraging the distinctive capabilities of the PS5 with Haptic Feedback to increase the weight of every decision and touchpad controls to make the gameplay even more intuitive. We can’t wait to see how new players will shape their characters’ fates in the world of ‘As Dusk Falls’ in the coming year.”
As Dusk Falls was originally released in 2022 for PC and was a console exclusive on Xbox consoles. Similar to games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead or the Life is Strange series, As Dusk Falls allows players to choose their own adventure that can be played solo or in co-op with up to eight players at a time.
In our review of As Dusk Falls, which we awarded a 9 out of 10, we said: “As Dusk Falls’ interactive crime drama is a masterwork of branching storytelling where decisions matter and repeated playthroughs are rewarded with even more revelations.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
