Do you need to play Alan Wake 1 before playing Alan Wake 2?

The original Alan Wake came out in May of 2010. Alan Wake 2 was just released on October 27, 2023. There was an entire 13-year time frame from game to game, but that doesn’t mean everyone had the chance to play the original Alan Wake.

I know it is hard when everyone is playing a game, but you never played any games previously in the franchise. It is disappointing because you want to get in on all the excitement with everyone, but you also don’t want to jump into a game and be super confused because you never ended up playing previous installments. When it comes to Alan Wake 2, you should be fine to bypass the original Alan Wake and just jump into the newest installment.

Alan Wake 2 was created to be a stand-alone experience.

If you have never played Alan Wake but wanted to start playing Alan Wake 2 because of all the good talk about the game so far, you are in luck. You are able to jump into Alan Wake 2 and play the game without playing the original Alan Wake. This is because Remedy Entertainment has made it very clear that while Alan Wake 2 is a direct sequel to Alan Wake, it was also created to be its very own stand-alone experience if that is the route some gamers are going to take.

Alan Wake 2 takes place 13 years after the events that occurred in the first Alan Wake. Of course, you will get much more out of your Alan Wake experience and lore if you play the first game, but it is not absolutely necessary to understand what is going on in the storyline.

Now if you are someone who wants to get as much lore out of the Alan Wake universe, then I would highly suggest playing all the Alan Wake content at some point if you haven’t done so already. It doesn’t necessarily have to be before Alan Wake 2, but just at some point down the line.

Alan Wake 2 very well might go down as one of the best video games to be released in 2023 and if that happens to be the case, you aren’t going to want to miss out on playing this game. Even if this is your first time experiencing an Alan Wake video game, it is better to just jump into the franchise now and enjoy the crazy adventure that is going to be thrown your way.