How Long Does Alan Wake 2 Take to Beat?

While many players may have criticized the original Alan Wake for its brief (but tight) campaign, the recently released sequel certainly can’t be accused of the same. So how long does it actually take to complete Alan Wake 2?

How Long Is Alan Wake 2?

Now, as with all games, your mileage may vary when it comes to the amount of hours you’ll get out of Alan Wake 2. Many factors contribute to the game’s overall length: Difficulty settings, skill levels, and the drive to collect everything all impact the runtime. That being said, the length presented in this article is how long it specifically took me to complete Alan Wake 2 and honestly, it was way longer than I expected.

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I rolled credits after 21 hours while playing on Hard mode. That means that ammo was more scarce, enemies were tougher and I took far more damage than I would have on a lower difficulty. I also spent some time returning to areas I previously explored to collect various Cult Stashes, Manuscript Pages, Words of Power, and Alex Casey lunchboxes I may have missed due to the lack of the correct tool. I didn’t find everything though; I hypothesize that if you did want to pick up every collectible in Alan Wake 2, you’d probably do it in around 23 hours. Not too shabby, considering the first game clocked in at around 10 hours!

Of those 21 hours, the bulk was spent playing as Saga. I’m hesitant to say that her campaign is longer but it certainly does feel like she has more to find and uncover than Alan. The titular writer’s story probably comprised around nine hours of my full playtime while Saga’s… well, Saga made up the remaining 12 hours.

Now the above is all well and good but I should conclude this by saying that even if you do manage to gather every piece of memorabilia in Bright Falls on Hard Mode, you still haven’t seen the full game. Remedy has confirmed that it’ll be adding what it’s describing as a Nightmare Mode to Alan Wake 2 in the near future which will not only increase the difficulty but also add new Manuscript Pages and video content. So if you plan on seeing everything the game has to offer, be prepared to sink even more time into The Dark Place.

If you’re looking for more, check out if you can escape the killers in Alan Wake 2’s prologue.