"The Most Realistic Depiction of New York in any Video Game."

Holy SHIT. And I thought CONTROL was weird. I truly don't think there's any game that tells its story and its characters and its sequences quite like Alan Wake II. It's filled with weird offshoot sequences, live-action cutscenes, callbacks to previous games, 4th wall-shattering meta-narratives, and some of the craziest plot turns in any game I've ever played.

That feel, that atmosphere, and all the stuff that is truly the focus of Alan Wake II is its best aspects. There are so many genres of film and game being thrown here at once all in a uniquely meta and twisted package that to spoil ANY of it would be a massive disservice to you. It all looks, sounds, and is acted to near perfection. And since I'm playing on PS5 I can confirm that the fact that some of this shit runs as well as it does is some of the most mindblowing technical shit that any game has ever done to me.

So. What's the problem? For me, the one thing that holds Alan Wake II back is the stuff related to its immersion. It's nothing too crazy but after an hour of two of being in the zone in this weird horror arthouse picture, getting thrown into pretty okay combat and contending with a weird, unbalanced weapon upgrading system that feels straight out of fucking Destiny doesn't really mesh well with the tone and vibe this game is trying to set up. There are long stretches and moments where I feel truly and entirely invested in this amazing game, but when that immersion breaks it's all the more confusing and disorienting compared to a more action-focused survival horror game like RE4R.

But make no mistake, some simple tweaks could really throw this game into straight masterpiece territory. But what I'm more proud of is that, even as someone who's only played control and only seen the story of Alan Wake through a Fortnite map, it's truly evident how much remedy has been building up here. This game feels like a studio that's always been really close to realizing their potential finally reaching it and now I am incredibly excited for whatever they do next.