Summary
2023 has been a stellar year for survival-horror so far, both in the AAA and indie spheres. It has seen a slew of entries that garnered large amounts of praise from both casual and hardcore fans of the genre. The quality of the titles released thus far is hard to argue with. Among the many highlights include the likes of theResident Evil 4andSystem Shockremakes, whileAmnesia: The BunkerandAd Infinitum,while not as high-profile, were also well received.
However, it could be said that it was the excellentDead Spaceremakethat started the year off strong, and set the stage for many of the titles that followed after. One of the most recent titles to release,Alan Wake 2,has lived up to and in many ways surpassed its expectations. It is likely to end up in the conversation for best in the genre of the year, along withDead Space.
AlthoughAlan Wake 2andDead Spacehave very different settings, and only seem to share a few surface elements beyond the survival-horror genre itself, there is one particular enemy inAW2that would feel right at home inDead Space’s menagerie of monsters.
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The originalDead Spaceis often credited with ushering in a modern wave of survival-horror, whose ripples can still be felt today. In 2008, Visceral Games introduced a new generation of players to its chilling atmosphere and intense situations. One of the biggest factors contributing to its standout elements isDead Space’s necromorphs. These abominations consist of the reanimated corpses of humans and other organisms unfortunate enough to come in contact with an aggressive extraterrestrial hive-mind mass, whose only goal is to absorb and create more of the creatures.
The necromorphs' distinctive and disturbing design became instantly iconic in theDead Spacefranchise, and for survival-horror overall. LikeResident Evil’s zombiesorSilent Hill’s nurses, they are likely the first things that come to mind when mentioning it. Since the necromorphs can take on various forms depending on what the mass absorbs and mutates, players are confronted with an array of body-horror-based beasts.
Dead Spacedelivers a cadre of decomposing cadavers that have been unnaturally twisted and fused together. Further, they often ambush the player from behind vents, blind corners, and ceilings, making them even more frightening and nerve-wracking to combat. This makes them far more complex than enemies inAlan Wake 2, though that does not meanDead Spacecannot take inspiration from interesting concepts.
Alan Wake 2’s Diver Taken
Alan Wake 2’s enemy typesare almost all recognizably human besides wolves. They are regular townsfolk that have been possessed by an eldritch entity, reduced to their base instincts, but not warped into grotesque parodies of human anatomy. These Taken are covered in an eerie shadowy essence, but still look and talk like people. They even usually announce their presence well in advance by uttering guttural threats, and are overall less visually off-putting, and relatively more palatable to tackle, especially compared to the necromorphs.
However, there is one big exception to this—the Diver Taken. Among the enemies inAlan Wake 2, this one most resembles aDead Spacenecromorph. The Diver is composed of two bodies joined at the torso, one upside-down, crawling along with its hands. It also behaves much differently than all other adversaries. It is able to turn invisible and stalk the player, popping up to attack in one ofAlan Wake 2’s better jumpscare moments.
Battling a Diver Taken can cause sheer panic due to its unpredictability versus the rest of the game’s enemies. The Diver Taken is one of the more unique and terrifying foes inAlan Wake 2.It so closely mirrors the design of aDead Spacenecromorph, both visually and mechanically, that it would fit seamlessly in the series.
Alan Wake 2
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A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
