Remedy promises that Alan Wake 2 will have "more variation" in story and combat than its predecessor

gamesradar.com:

Alan Wake 2 is the first survival horror game from Remedy Entertainment. It's a creative departure which has had major ramifications on every aspect of this long-awaited sequel: combat, pacing, story, structure, and tone. Creative director Sam Lake says that the genre switch was ultimately born out of a simple desire: "We wanted more variation." 

Alan Wake is a product of its time, something which was brought to the forefront in its recent remaster – every story beat is interspersed by combat, the mechanics of which barely evolve across its runtime. It's something Remedy's senior leadership is cognizant of now. "We felt that the gameplay of Alan Wake could have more depth to it, that it kind of repeated itself," says Lake, adding, "we also wanted to be more ambitious with the story. For Alan Wake 2 to embrace a more expressive set of combat systems, and deliver on a more ambitious narrative frame – two protagonists, separated by the influence of the Dark Place – something had to give. "We were looking at how we can find ways of achieving both."

"As a genre, survival horror has less combat. It's less action-y and has more anxious atmosphere building, which means that when combat does happen it's a bigger event. We also wanted more depth to it. Resource management and the strategical side to combat also comes from the survival horror genre, so that fits with the slowed-down pacing. You're not just rushing forward with big explosions, so it allowed us to kind of pace [the combat] more with the story." 

Principal narrative designer Molly Maloney is quick to stress that "It's not necessarily that there's less combat" in Alan Wake 2, but rather "the feeling that the combat is different. Combat is designed to support the horror