You'd think that the fact you'll spend a lot of Alan Wake 2 not playing as Alan Wake would be the most surprising thing about Remedy's ambitious new survival horror game. But, having seen 30 minutes of Saga Anderson doing her FBI investigator thing, it turns out Alan Wake 2 is doing far more than just adding a new face to proceedings. With Saga comes a bunch of new gameplay mechanics to complement the genre shift. As an FBI investigator arriving in Bright Falls to investigate mysterious ritualistic murders, she brings with her years of investigative and criminal profiling experience. That includes an all-important Mind Place, which, if you're a Sherlock fan, you'll be correct in thinking sounds a lot like the Mind Palace.
Heading to Saga's Mind Place is all about going inside her head to analyze cases. This mental construct takes the form of a physical room that you can walk around in at any time, with Saga ditching her FBI jacket to show off her knitted sweater as a symbol that this is a personal space. There's a lot going on in there, including spots for catching up on manuscript pages, rewatching cinematics on an old TV (gosh we hope there are new episodes of Night Springs), or upgrading weapons, but the main focal point is a case board along the back wall.
