A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
Go to sleep, everything is alright

Alan Wake is a game unlike any I’ve played before, not that I’ve played a lot but I seriously think it’s unique anyway! You can tell there’s a lot of love put into making this, i love all the lynchian influences that goes beyond the atmosphere of Twin Peaks, i see some Blue Velvet and Lost Highway elements too ;) and ofc Stephen King😂 I love seeing creations from the mind of a very cultured and inspired person, Sam Lake, the guy my boyfriend has a crush on…🙄 seriously though, it’s kind of inspiring to see these influences come into play into something that is very much its own thing. The story of Alan Wake was my favourite part of this, Alan as a character was very likeable and Jesus what a loyal man, to go through what he does for his wife and calling her his muse is real as fuck! Respect. And he’s just funny at random times.

I loved the combat sometimes, it could be pretty addicting, and using the flashlight along with the gun was a cool addition. The thing I did not like is how hard it was to dodge, like I swear I’d dodge as much as I could and I’d still get hit, plus it was nearly impossible to not get hit by the floating objects because my flashlight wasn’t powerful enough to get rid of it before it just throws itself at me. Also I played this on easy mode and it was not easy, might be a me problem though. ‘The Writer’ DLC chapter was the most fun and innovative, instead of having to walk on and on in some chapters I felt like I was actually doing a lot of different stuff throughout every checkpoint. Unlike in Chapter 3 where it took nearly 2hrs and I felt like I walked on forever doing repetitive combat, it could’ve been cut to an hour and I might’ve enjoyed that chapter more. So yh I think besides the pacing in ‘exploring’ some areas, it would’ve been perfect.

I’m very excited to play Alan Wake 2 and Control!

First review✨ (spoilers)

I’m broken.

I don’t even know what to say. The ending was devastating beyond belief, I expected pain but not this much pain. I hardly even thought of Zack’s fate until the last chapter, just when Zack ate the Banora apple and said it was good, I just started crying over how kind he was, he didn’t have to be so kind, especially to Genesis who at this point didn’t even deserve it, even though he’s quite a tragic character himself and honestly a part of me was crying from his poetic words as he recited LOVELESS. His words never really hit me during the chapters until then, if anything it annoyed me, maybe it was never supposed to be meaningful until the end though.

Back to Zack, he is the most wholesome and pure character, it’s no wonder him and Aerith are made for each other, the pain Zack endures is remarkable, yet what’s more remarkable is how he responds to it, he still prioritises in protecting others over himself even though he needs a lot of care too. One of my favourite moments is when he cries in the church after Angeals death, in the presence and comfort of Aerith, he’s able to show how he truly feels regardless of his first class SOLDIER status, he’s very sensitive and fragile just like anyone else. He’s truly so strong and what I admired in Aerith in ff7 aligns with how I admire him, both make the strongest of sacrifices to save others. When Zack says for Aerith to wait for him, it was so sad because he’ll have to wait for Aerith :( their appearance together in Advent Children would really hit me so much harder now (also Tseng is just so real for being their secret biggest supporter out there). The game was truly unfair for making Zack’s suffering so long fighting Shinra, I almost just wanted to give up entirely so it would end but I kept going because I couldn’t face the reality.

Now I feel like I have to say why I gave this a 4. I honestly expected it to be a 5, but unfortunately this did take me a while to get into, I was liking the first few chapters but I felt like the world of ff7 just didn’t really resonate the same compared to how it felt playing ff7 OG remaster. I imagine for fans who played ff7 and then years later this comes out, it must’ve been the craziest and most hype thing!! Since I’m a very new ff7 fan I don’t have that nostalgia even though I feel like I do whenever I listen to the music, it’s not been that long 😭 so I guess the difference to Midgar and some other familiar locations in ff7 is a BIG difference to me, and one that was hard to get used to, it just felt colder.

That’s not all though, I really hate to be this person and I’m truly grateful for what was given in this game, but a part of me definitely wanted more Zack/Sephiroth moments and perhaps more Zack/Cloud moments. That’s not to say what was given isn’t enough, I just would’ve loved to go on more missions with Sephiroth, he felt unreachable almost, kind of like in ff7. Although it was very cool to see a side to him I’m unfamiliar with, Sephiroth being good?? Wise? Admired? Innocent? It was hard to believe at first, i felt like he’d change so quickly at any moment even though i knew exactly the moment when he truly changes. Also I lovedddd the fight between him, Angeal and Genesis, one of the best moments, so cinematic! The trio I did not expect.

With Cloud, I feel like I got impatient, because there was a lot of Zack/Cloud moments in the last few chapters, I just expected Cloud to come more early on and form their bond, that’s kind of the illusion I had whilst playing ff7 and hearing how Cloud would talk about Zack. Still I think everything between them was very special and close together, it reflected how honourable Zack is to be so loyal to someone he’s only really recently met, the bond they had felt so important and beautiful. I like to imagine just like in Cloud’s email, that Zack took up the invitation to try his mum’s cooking and they ate together happily. With Kunsel being there too obviously!! (Genuinely feel so bad for him, the most loyal person).

Gameplay wise, it was definitely really fun but also quite frustrating lmao. I loved the materia fusion feature, and some missions despite being tedious were rewarding to get through for the abundance of great items/materia you get. What frustrated me was that sometimes I’d feel like I’m the strongest ever and then by the end of the chapter I couldn’t do the boss fight so I had to do like 10 missions so I have better stats, i wanted to try get OP but I gave up lol, the missions are just always so repetitive and they were getting way harder. I feel like I should’ve been able to unlock DMW’s just by defeating summons the first time but the only one I actually struggled fighting again was Bahamut ZERO until I realised I was using attacks it’s immune to… so yh I definitely made things harder for myself sometimes, like the amount of times I failed to use my attacks on the Magic Pot in order was embarrassing!! And I’d always accidentally equip Fire instead of Fira so I just ran around so much trying to encounter it and I was so annoyed. My fault though.

The squats on the other hand, that was a struggle, I didn’t have to do it, but I did it for Aerith, I wanted to build as many wagons for her as I could. It was only until when the final wagon was revealed that I realised it wasn’t really for Aerith but for Zack💀 they’re the cutest though😤

Overall I really just loved the second half of this game way more than the first, I’m sorry😭 I was missing Angeal though, he’s a great character. I played this in the Japanese VA btw and I really loved it and would recommend it! I know OG ppl really love the dub for the OG crisis core, I’m not an OG girl for this game but I’m sure it’s very good.

Btw, I have not played ff7 remake/rebirth, and one half of me is dying to play it whilst the other half is not, purely because I really don’t like the bloody multiple timeline bullshit, it’s really really disgraceful, I’m sure they may approach it in a good way but I can’t see how it’s necessary, to me it really does a disservice to how important and powerful Aerith and Zack’s deaths are. Like seriously there is no point in them dying if they’ll just be alive in another universe, it literally just belittles the pain I went through by the end of this game. But I mean, I’ll be open minded lol and if you’re gonna remake the game have as much fun with it and make a few changes I guess? I just can’t get past it for now. And when I play it I’m not going to take the changes too seriously (hopefully).

It’s impossible to not like this game though, if Zack is the lead you’re in good hands with his encouraging and sweet nature, he’s compared to a puppy so that says enough about him😂

Zack and Aerith, I love you!!