It's kinda funny that the first game I played turned out to be my new favorite game of last year. Funny how things work out like that.
Alan Wake 2 is for my money the best game Remady has made to date and is currently my new favorite pick for best recent survival horror game that's not a remake. Everything from that always great Remedy combat, to Sam Lakes writing feeling REALLY on point this time around, and even the actors and voice actors doing a fantastic job both in live action cutscenes and through VA and mocaping. I can't say I have a full understanding of the story yet, mostly since there's still some lingering pieces that don't fall into place yet but even then the number of twist and turns this story took kept me on the edge of my seat, and the way they were able to weave the story in between neo noir nightmare to a horror mystery and still have story cohesion is honestly really impressive.
I will say the only part I'm meh about in retrospect is how long it takes before it starts becoming a survival horror game. What I mean is for the first 3 to 4 hours or so you're railroaded down this linear line of progression pretty much having ammo given to you and it's not until the first boss when the game finally starts to open up more and spread its wings. On the topic of its gameplay I also really love how Remady was able to explore the different types of survival horror games. In the game you can bounce between two characters; Saga and titular Alan Wake, Saga's gameplay is much more akin to the gameplay of RE4 or Dead Space; where the item management is still an important aspect of the gameplay but it's still more skewed towards action. The titular Alan Wake's sections however are much more oriented towards classic survival horror like classic Resident Evil or Silent Hill, you have half the inventory space that Saga has and only have access to 3 weapons which are kinda unreliable and ammo is super scarce. The titular Alan Wake's sections take place in the titular Dark Place and most of the enemies are these shadow monsters; there's a shit ton of them but only some of the shadows are real enemies. You have to carefully maneuver through these shadow enemies without them seeing you which requires you to turn off the flashlight and move in pure darkness, and if you think one of the shadow monsters is coming to kill you the only options is use up one of your flashlight charges hoping your right and it's an enemy, or waiting to see if it's an actual enemy but also taking the risk of losing health.
It's not perfect, the exploration on Saga's side can feel a little tedious at times and The titular Alan Wake's sections feel really short and don't have the same lasting feeling that Saga's sections have, but even then I feel as thought Alan Wake 2 found that certain sweet spot of balance that rarely see most survival horror games reach without making some limitations.
14 years and Remady somehow hit it out of the park with one of my new all time bangers, and to think..........it's all because Epic wanted a new exclusive game for their shitty pc store front and have nearly infinite amounts of cash to throw around. Good on you Sam Lake and co......good on you for gaming the system.
Alan Wake 2 is for my money the best game Remady has made to date and is currently my new favorite pick for best recent survival horror game that's not a remake. Everything from that always great Remedy combat, to Sam Lakes writing feeling REALLY on point this time around, and even the actors and voice actors doing a fantastic job both in live action cutscenes and through VA and mocaping. I can't say I have a full understanding of the story yet, mostly since there's still some lingering pieces that don't fall into place yet but even then the number of twist and turns this story took kept me on the edge of my seat, and the way they were able to weave the story in between neo noir nightmare to a horror mystery and still have story cohesion is honestly really impressive.
I will say the only part I'm meh about in retrospect is how long it takes before it starts becoming a survival horror game. What I mean is for the first 3 to 4 hours or so you're railroaded down this linear line of progression pretty much having ammo given to you and it's not until the first boss when the game finally starts to open up more and spread its wings. On the topic of its gameplay I also really love how Remady was able to explore the different types of survival horror games. In the game you can bounce between two characters; Saga and titular Alan Wake, Saga's gameplay is much more akin to the gameplay of RE4 or Dead Space; where the item management is still an important aspect of the gameplay but it's still more skewed towards action. The titular Alan Wake's sections however are much more oriented towards classic survival horror like classic Resident Evil or Silent Hill, you have half the inventory space that Saga has and only have access to 3 weapons which are kinda unreliable and ammo is super scarce. The titular Alan Wake's sections take place in the titular Dark Place and most of the enemies are these shadow monsters; there's a shit ton of them but only some of the shadows are real enemies. You have to carefully maneuver through these shadow enemies without them seeing you which requires you to turn off the flashlight and move in pure darkness, and if you think one of the shadow monsters is coming to kill you the only options is use up one of your flashlight charges hoping your right and it's an enemy, or waiting to see if it's an actual enemy but also taking the risk of losing health.
It's not perfect, the exploration on Saga's side can feel a little tedious at times and The titular Alan Wake's sections feel really short and don't have the same lasting feeling that Saga's sections have, but even then I feel as thought Alan Wake 2 found that certain sweet spot of balance that rarely see most survival horror games reach without making some limitations.
14 years and Remady somehow hit it out of the park with one of my new all time bangers, and to think..........it's all because Epic wanted a new exclusive game for their shitty pc store front and have nearly infinite amounts of cash to throw around. Good on you Sam Lake and co......good on you for gaming the system.