Max Payne was incredibly well written, but the gameplay, while fun, tripped over itself in the final acts by attempting to be hard in unfun ways. Max Payne 2 fixes almost every gameplay problem I had with the first, while also telling a hauntingly beautiful tale of a man falling farther and farther down into the pit of self loathing, still blaming himself for the murder of his family. His relationship with Mona is as toxic as toxic gets, both of them using each other for their own gains, but underneath that you can feel that there is some sick form of love between them that leads to both of their downfalls. At the end, Max finally forgiving himself for what happened brought me to tears. This man has been through so much, and that final line just hit me in the gut. Sam Lake is one of the best writers in the industry.