History VideoGame / AlanWakeII

* BlandNameProduct: Ahma beer is a reference to the real-life Finnish beer Karhu. Both beers are named after an animal in Finnish, and reference that animal in their branding- Karhu uses a bear, and Ahma uses a wolverine. Also seen is "Compton"-brand spray paint, which has a similar oval-shaped red logo with colored dots in a circle to the real-life American spray paint brand Krylon, and a knockoff version of a United States Postal Service Ground shipping label.

** The Overlaps are exactly what they sound like: places where reality overlaps with the Dark Place. All of them are {{Unnaturally Looping Location}}s that Saga has to break through in order to fight a very powerful Taken.

** During Alan's brief playable section in Return 4, there is a darkness barrier blocking progression that can only be destroyed with either three flashlight boosts or some other darkness-burning implement, such as a propane tank, flashbang, or flare. Alan only has a flashlight with one battery, and if the player runs out of flashlight boosts before they're able to destroy this barrier, the flashlight will automatically recharge itself, like how the flashlight worked in the first game, preventing a softlock.

* NoEnding: Downplayed, in that [[spoiler:this was an InvokedTrope on Alan's side]]. The game ends with [[spoiler:none of its main plotlines being definitively resolved. It's unknown if Alan was able to successfully rewrite "Return" to have a GoldenEnding for Saga and Alex and whether he was able to escape the Dark Place or not -- [[HeroicSacrifice entirely by design]], as Alan realized the only ending that asserted enough control that allowed him to escape would take Saga's own agency from her and leave her trapped in the Dark Place and likely with her daughter dead; he very intentionally chose the ending that leaves him, and thus the player, out of her life]]. The New Game Plus mode (entitled "[[MeaningfulName The Final Draft]]") [[spoiler: removes all ambiguity, being far closer to the GoldenEnding that Alan proposed in content and tone.]]
* NoGearLevel: Alan is playable in Return 4 and starts him off with no access to any supplies he might have collected prior. The only supplies he picks up for the entire (thankfully short) level are two batteries and four shotgun shells, against enemies that will continually spawn if the end isn't reached in time, forcing the player to just flee most of the enemies.

** Chapter 4 of "Initiation" (the musical level) takes place on a darkened tv studio set. So to help the player find their way through the live action actors on the large screens will often point to the next staircase or scene transition.

* NothingIsScarier: The basement of Valhalla Nursing Home is dark, claustrophobic, flooded and has a dead body. The route through it is winding and creates lots of blind corners. It's the perfect spot for an ambush. It contains no enemies, just water and suspicious sounds.

* BadBadActing: Ilmo and Jaakko cover both sides of this in their commercials. Ilmo is overly-eager and hammy, while Jaakko is incredibly monotone and makes no attempt at emotion. Jaakko at least admits he's only there for the free beer. [[spoiler: This is somewhat changed for the final commercial, due to Ilmo being alone -- he tries to remain over eager and hammy, but without Jaakko to bounce off of due to his death at the hands of Scratch, there are points where he clearly is missing his brother.]]

* BlandNameProduct: Ahma beer is a reference to the real-life Finnish beer Karhu. Both beers are named after an animal in Finnish, and reference that animal in their branding- Karhu uses a bear, and Ahma uses a wolverine. Also seen is "Compton"-brand spray paint, which has a similar oval-shaped red logo with colored dots in a circle, and even a knockoff version of a USPS Ground shipping label.

* BlandNameProduct: Ahma beer is a reference to the real-life Finnish beer Karhu. Both beers are named after an animal in Finnish, and reference that animal in their branding- Karhu uses a bear, and Ahma uses a wolverine.

* InterfaceSpoiler: A somewhat common bug can cause a collectible icon for [[spoiler:Alice's photos]] to appear on the talk show studio map as early as the very first time Alan visits [[spoiler:the basement]] during the first chapter of his plotline, spoiling the involvement of an important character whose state isn't even known at that point. After that first time, the player doesn't even get to pick up that item until nearly the end of Alan's story.

** The NewGamePlus mode changes the ending, [[spoiler: confirming that Logan and Alan Wake survive the events of the game. In remedy's previous effort ''Max Payne 2'', beating the game a second time on an unlocked difficulty level revealed an alternate ending where his doomed love interest Mona Sax survives. Unfortunately, that was made non-canon when the series shifted to Rockstar.]]