After last year’s acclaimed Alan Wake II took us on a harrowing journey through the sleepy town of Bright Falls and beyond, Remedy Entertainment has now invited us back for a series of bizarre side stories with Night Springs. This new expansion serves up three standalone episodes that delve deeper into the twisted lore surrounding Alan Wake.

Weird, clumsy fun

While not quite reaching the bar set by the main game, Night Springs still manages to be an utterly fun ride into… madness. The opener, titled “Number One Fan,” kicks things off with a bang by putting you in the shoes of Rose Marigold, a Bright Falls waitress and die-hard Alan Wake fan.

After receiving a frantic cry for help via a malfunctioning Big Mouth Billy Bass, Rose grabs a shotgun and unleashes hell on a bloodthirsty mob to rescue her idol. This first episode completely ditches any sort of horror aspect for all-out run-and-gun mayhem, with Rose one-lining cheesy quips as she shatters skulls to the beat of some rocking ’50s tunes. It’s an absolute riot of non-stop action and B-movie camp. And its great fun.

The pace slows considerably for the second episode, “North Star,” which sees the return of Jesse Faden from 2019’s Control. Unfortunately, Jesse has left all her incredible shapeshifting abilities behind for this journey into the haunted Coffee World theme park from Alan Wake II. Equipped with just a pistol and flashlight, Jesse’s mission to investigate her missing brother plays out as a fairly straightforward exercise in atmospheric survival horror. While tense and well-crafted, “North Star” feels a bit too familiar after the over-the-top thrills of the opener.

Thankfully, the Night Springs DLC saves its most ambitious insanity for the final episode, “Time Breaker.” This is where Remedy leans full tilt into the meta-madness that made Alan Wake II and Control such mind-bending triumphs. Here, you slip into the role of actor Shawn Ashmore as he plays Sheriff Breaker on the set of a new Alan Wake game under the guidance of Remedy’s Sam Lake. Stay with me, now.

After one of Lake’s signature long-winded stories, Ashmore finds himself transported into the twisted Night Springs universe. What follows is a dizzying, reality-hopping descent into intersecting realities filled with haunting corridors, creepy forests, and much more.

Without spoiling too much, the madness reaches such dizzying peaks that it may just leave your brain pleasantly scrambled by the end. With shocking twists and inventive level design, “Time Breaker” makes for an unforgettable tour through the outer limits of Remedy’s boundless imagination.

Conclusion: Short but great

At around two hours total, Alan Wake II: Night Springs is a compact collection of bizarre stories. However, the sheer ambition and creativity on display make this a must play for fans hungry for more of Remedy’s brand of genre-melding madness. While lacking the full-bodied psychological terror of Alan Wake II, Night Springs still offers plenty of scares, mind-F’s and fun to be had from start to finish. While the three short episodes don’t quite hit the heights of last year’s Alan Wake II, this is still a wildly creative collection that no fan of Alan Wake should miss.