Night Springs is the first DLC that Alan Wake 2, one of the best games of the current generation, has received, and it is one of the most technically advanced. This DLC arrived almost a couple of weeks ago, but due to time I wasn’t able to start enjoying it until a few days ago, which is why it took me longer to share my thoughts with you.

The truth is, I really wanted him. Alan Wake 2 left such a great taste in my mouth that when I finished it I couldn’t help but feel a certain emptiness. It was evident that I wanted more, and that’s exactly what happened to me with Night Springs, albeit in this case The experience was too short for my liking.and that’s even taking into account the fact that it’s DLC.

The Night Springs DLC perfectly preserves the essence that makes Alan Wake 2 unique and gives us a very interesting proposition: control three characters from different “universes” that Remedy created. It’s not a coincidence, the studio has already hinted on previous occasions with several Easter eggs that the Alan Wake universe and the Control universe are connected in some way, and this DLC only confirmed it.

Rose is the funnest in Night Springs

The chapter of Rose Marigold, the waitress and caretaker of the Bright Falls Nursing Home, is without a doubt the craziest and funniest of the three that this DLC has to offer, and I have to say I liked that one the most. The number one fan of writer Alan Wake embarks on a crusade to save her sweetheart from the clutches of her evil brother.

To do that, he’ll have to face the legions of “haters” who hate Alan Wake and all his work, an argument that’s also a nod to the hate culture that abounds on the Internet. There’s plenty of shotgun (or rifle) action ahead, and you can be sure that ammo won’t be a problem. A full dose of adrenaline that will make you laugh more than once.

Jesse Faden returns to the fight to save his brother

This chapter allows us to control the protagonist Control, who on this occasion does matching dubbing circumstances. The gameplay is more oriented towards the original approach of Alan Wake 2, and I can tell you the same about both the environment and the “paranormal” moments that will meet us during his short adventure in the world of coffee.

Less action, more dialogue and more puzzle solutions in an episode that has a very good environment thanks to the new lighting that has been applied to the “Coffee World” park. The classic flashlight and gun mechanics are kept, but this time we can shoot much faster and won’t have problems with ammo. The end is, well, it’s the end of Remedy.

Dare to break through time and fight the Warlin Door

The third chapter puts us in the shoes of an actor who looks a lot like the sheriff of Bright Falls, Tim Breaker. We will have to deal with Warlin Door, a character very important in Alan Wake 2, even if it’s something we discover very late in the game. I don’t want to say anything else in case anyone didn’t finish the original game because it’s a big spoiler.

Both the setting and the gameplay are more focused on the classic Alan Wake 2 model, and we won’t have to worry about ammo, which is undoubtedly appreciated because it allows us to better focus on the story and everything that’s going on as we progress through the chapter. Its ending is also unique, a nod to retro text-based adventure games.

Are there changes at the technical level?

This scene allows us to see the excellent graphic quality that Night Springs has. Ray tracing does an excellent job with both direct and indirect lighting and properly washes the entire image. Reflections occur with varying intensity depending on the surface, and shadows are created according to the light of the scene.

This DLC doesn’t represent any improvements in that sense, but that’s not a problem because On a technical level, it’s still a true marvel. The Northlight graphics engine allows you to create characters and settings with exceptional geometry and detail, and thanks to full ray tracing, lighting, shadows and reflections acquire a high degree of realism.

To be able to play it in maximum quality and with activated full ray tracing, we need a very powerful graphics card, although the specific requirement will depend on the resolution in which we want to play it. For example, in 1080p, it is ideal not to drop below a GeForce RTX 4060while at 1440p the recommended level is a GeForce RTX 4070. In 2160p we can enjoy a good experience for GeForce RTX 4080.

Night Springs has the same requirements as Alan Wake 2 and uses the same technologies. This means that it uses mesh shaders to improve the quality of the geometry and that supports AMD FSR, NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 and Intel XeSS. If we have a GeForce RTX 40 graphics card, we can also activate frame generation, which will allow us to enjoy greater fluidity.

Final Notes: A top-notch DLC whose only downside is that it’s very short

I think there is no better way to sum up what Night Springs has to offer. It is a DLC that gives shape to the original design and manages to captivate us from the first minute. It also preserves the whole essence of Alan Wake 2 and presents some “craziness” that will certainly not leave us indifferent. It is funand invites us to continue playing her to complete the story of each of her three characters.

unfortunately Those stories are very short. In general, we can finish each chapter in about 40 minutes, maybe a little longer if we take it very slowly or if we have little skill and die occasionally. I also don’t like that the scenarios were repeated compared to the original game, it reduces variety and makes us feel like we’re playing the same thing again.

It’s worth it? Definitely, it’s candy for those of us who enjoyed Alan Wake 2, though that doesn’t change the fact that Remedy could have done a bit better with the issue of duration and repeated scenarios. And speaking of making things better, I’ve suffered a few times an error that prevented me from exiting the scene of viewing evidence and materialswhich forced me to close the game and caused me to lose my progress on more than one occasion.

I know this bug has been around in the original game for quite some time, although I can confirm that I never suffered from it in Alan Wake 2. It breaks development a lot, so Remedy I should release a patch as soon as possible.

This DLC is part of the “deluxe” edition of Alan Wake 2 and It can be purchased for 20 euros along with the upcoming DLC ​​”La Casa del Lago”. If we take the average, it would be priced at 10 euros, which is not bad at all for what it offers.