Alan Wake 2, The Lake House and the Power of Self-Reflexivity | A Cutscene Collective Video Essay

We unravel Remedy’s use of self-reflexivity, a narrative technique that invites the player to engage with the story on a meta-level. We'll also cover how the Lake House DLC expands on Alan Wake 2’s creative power and existential horror themes.

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Self-reflexivity. It’s a storytelling technique that forces a narrative to acknowledge itself. In games, it’s rare and ambitious—a powerful lens that turns both inward on the story and outward on the player. Alan Wake 2 takes this to a unique level, where characters question reality, power, and the very structure that shapes their world. 

Self-Reflexivity

At its core, self-reflexivity refers to a work's ability to reflect on its own creation. It’s when a narrative calls attention to itself as a story, making us, the audience, aware of its mechanics. Think of it as a kind of ‘breaking the fourth wall,’ but on a deeper level. Self-reflexive works often make us question the boundaries between fiction and reality, drawing us into the process of creation itself.

Self-reflexivity isn’t unique to Alan Wake 2. It’s a concept we see across all forms of media. Take Deadpool, for example, where the character not only talks directly to the audience but pokes fun at the conventions of superhero movies. In Family Guy, the approach is less about dissecting genre and more about lampooning the very nature of television and pop culture itself.

In games like Spec Ops: The Line, where gameplay and narrative fuse, causing the player to question their role. And Metal Gear Solid 2, players are directly confronted with the artificiality of their actions. The game’s famous Colonel sequence makes players question their role and challenges their perception of reality. 

Perhaps no medium handles self-reflexivity better than video games, and no game does it more thoughtfully than Alan Wake 2.

Alan Wake 2 – A Meta-Narrative Masterpiece

Alan Wake 2 goes beyond simply telling a horror story. It’s a game about a writer – Alan Wake – trapped in the very narrative he is trying to control. And we, as players, are drawn into his world not just as passive participants but as co-creators. We guide Alan through the Dark Place, a metaphor for writer’s block, and watch as he literally writes the reality around him. The game constantly reminds us that we are part of this creation. Alan Wake 2 employs self-reflexivity to explore not just narrative but the very experience of the human psyche, creativity, and control.

In the game, Alan finds manuscript pages that predict future events, a mechanic that reflects both his and our lack of true agency. These pages tell us what’s going to happen, and yet, we are compelled to follow along, knowing that the outcome is already written. This narrative device isn’t just a clever gameplay feature; it’s a meta-commentary on the relationship between creator, creation, and audience. Alan writes, rewrites, and alters reality, making the player complicit in a layered, surreal journey where both player and protagonist grapple with control.

But Alan isn’t the only writer in the game wrestling with perception of reality. Ed Booker is introduced as a seemingly minor playwright who’s unwittingly caught in the supernatural chaos of Bright Falls. His role expanded in the 2024 Lake House expansion, which Remedy released about a year after the base game. The DLC serves as a prequel, revealing events that set up the main narrative. It’s here we learn why Ed was in Bright Falls and what exactly happened to leave him so unnerved.

As we follow Agent Kiran Estevez through the Lake House—a government-run research facility under the Federal Bureau of Control—we meet Booker, who mistakenly believes he’s at an ‘immersive writing workshop.’ This narrative choice is fascinatingly meta. In his dialogue, Booker is convinced that the facility’s staff are simply committed actors in a live-action theatre experience. 

‘You have to stay in character. I get that. I’m in the theatre business too. And look, the sets, the costumes, all great in that campy 70’s sci-fi kind of way.’ 

Booker’s reaction here is humorous but also serves a larger purpose in the story—he’s commenting on the performance of reality, mirroring the deceptions within Alan Wake itself.

‘The shadow monsters represent capitalism, which means the flashlight is the power of the artist. Sheer creativity tearing through the shadowy cloak of corporate cookie-cutter bullshit,’ 

This could be interpreted as Booker unknowingly critiquing the very industry Remedy operates within. 

His comments about the government ‘spreading darkness’ and his interpretations of the ‘visceral metaphors’ of Alan’s writing echo the critical viewer’s process of applying cultural and personal readings to a work. Booker then becomes an emblem of the critical audience, the internet commenter, the video essayist—the figures who dissect and interpret Alan’s narrative and, by extension, Remedy’s own creations. 

Namely, someone like me.

The DLC makes Booker an avatar for those of us analyzing the story from the outside, offering a satirical take on the audience’s endless quest to find meaning. Here, Remedy is inviting us to consider the audience’s role as active interpreters, bringing our own context and critiques to the story.

And by watching, liking, and commenting on this video, you too are partaking in shaping the dialogue surrounding this topic. How’s that for self-reflexivity?

With Ed Booker’s presence in the Lake House DLC, Alan Wake 2 takes self-reflexivity to a new level. Booker embodies the audience’s impulse to make sense of stories, often projecting our beliefs, biases, and critiques onto them. Remedy’s decision to release Lake House as a prequel that slots into the base game’s timeline further emphasizes how the past continually reshapes our understanding of the present. Booker, as the critical voice within the game, speaks directly to Remedy’s own reflections on art, horror, and storytelling, making him a vital piece of Alan Wake 2’s intricate puzzle of self-reflection.

The Lake House – A Self-Reflexive Masterpiece

In the Lake House DLC, we see Agent Estevez navigating the government-controlled facility to rescue Ed Booker, a writer unknowingly trapped by supernatural forces. This journey echoes Saga Anderson’s mission to rescue Alan from the Dark Place. Both Estevez and Saga are agents of order, attempting to guide lost storytellers—one fictional, one an unwitting writer—out of dark, mysterious realities that blur the line between imagination and imprisonment.

The Lake House DLC doesn’t just expand on the lore of Alan Wake 2; it mirrors it.

The Lake House itself serves as a metaphor for the Dark Place, mirroring it as a form of creative containment. Just as Alan Wake is bound by the Dark Place’s narrative forces, Booker is confined by the Lake House, unable to grasp the supernatural manipulation around him. His conviction that he’s part of an ‘immersive writing workshop’ cleverly aligns him with the audience, who unknowingly participate in shaping and reinterpreting the story. Remedy uses Booker to remind us that we, as players, are part of a larger narrative framework, where interpretation and engagement directly influence the story’s impact.

In this way, the Lake House DLC itself becomes a self-reflexive piece of work in relation to Alan Wake 2. By mirroring Saga’s search for Alan, the DLC forces us to examine the repetition and manipulation within these story spaces. Both the Lake House and the Dark Place ultimately reflect the power—and peril—of creative control, bringing Remedy’s themes of narrative entrapment and artistic struggle full circle. 

Through the games, Remedy invites us to question the boundaries between writer, character, and player - to truly explore what it means to create, interpret, and find meaning within darkness.

Thanks for watching this exploration of self-reflexivity in Alan Wake 2 and The Lake House DLC. If you enjoyed this deep dive, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to join us here at Cutscene Collective, where we explore the stories behind your favourite games. Let us know your thoughts below. Til the next one, be good to each other.