New Release Review:
Alan Wake II is a terrifying mind-bending experience that had me scared the entire time. It had perfectly timed jump scares and disturbing settings that I never felt safe even while in the light. The story of Saga Anderson and Alan Wake was amazing, as it was full of memorable set pieces that by the end I could not believe what I had played. Every voice actor's performance was phenomenal, and this is thanks to the amazing writing and fully detailed face models. The game was absolutely beautiful, even in the harder to see areas. Alan Wake II is the BEST survival-horror game that I have ever played and I have to congratulate everyone who worked on this amazing game. The team at Remedy did a great job and I cannot wait for what they will do next. In the end, I give Alan Wake II a 9/10! Please check this game out if you can!

Alan Wake 2 - long have I waited. Aaaand I am a little bit disappointed.
Not because it is a bad Game. No its really good. But it is darker, much much darker than the first game. And it has JUMP scares with pictures suddenly jumping in your face (why?).

If I had to rate Alan's Dark NY sections i would give it 3*. Because it was DARK and the whole light/Switch thing was cool for 5 minutes but became lame very quick.
The Bright Falls sections with Saga are great!!

Alan Wake 2 reminded me of Twin Peaks Season 3. We as Fans are glad to be back but Twin Peaks/Bright Falls is corrupted now by darkness and the Zeitgeist and it will never be the same as it was.

Originally beat the game on PC in June 2021, however I really wanted to get back to it on console and go for the platinum, which I did recently!

The game always gave me a mixed feeling. I love the presentation, the music, how they handled the story and theoretically I'm also really into the gameplay!

But the way upgrades are such a big gatekeep at the beginning of the game to the point where you can barely even beat it despite being very experienced is a bit bothersome ... But granted, it's a temporary problem that is fixed after a few runs with the game.

But what bothers me even more is the heat. I really like being able to customize the difficulty with these multipliers and modifiers, but I really don't like the slow progression these provide. Going from 1 heat, to 2, to 3 (or 4?) and slowly grinding away these bounties feels boring and while I could just go for higher heat from the start it doesn't really feel motivating when I get the same reward.

Not sure which system would've worked better, but maybe weapon aspect upgrades and ambrosia should've been locked behind gems and darkness instead of these boss rewards and higher heat means more of that. The higher you go, the more you get ... something like that.

Curious to see where the sequel goes with this system. But Hades remains a game I can consistently go back to, take a specific weapon and aspect and just have fun experimenting with different boons and modifiers. It's a very customizable and accessible rogue-lite, which probably added a lot to it's popularity and I respect that. Hyped for the sequel despite my issues!

This game is entirely carried by it's soundtrack for me. Getting to hear the voices of the singers of bands like Arch Enemy, Trivium, Dark Tranquility and more made me feel super nostalgic about the time I actively listened to metal every single day. The original songs they wrote for this game were such a joy to listen to and getting your combo high enough for the vocals to set in was a fantastic motivator to try hard.

The actual level design, gameplay and story I did not really care for. The rhythmic shooting was fine and could get intense at times, but the entire I kept thinking how much I would prefer to just shoot these enemies normally.

To be perfectly honest: I didn’t want to play this game because I thought it looks really off-putting and ugly with its mixture of 3D environments and stylized photos of actors that are barely animated. Then I found it on Game Pass and gave it a try but put it down after an hour because of the same reason. Well, I decided to give it another try and then finished it in two sessions. I got used to the graphics style after a while and didn’t mind it for the rest of my playthrough.

As Dusk Falls is a choice based narrative adventure with some quicktime events put into the mix. The decisions you make change the story quite a bit, so if you are looking for some real consequences for your actions, this might be for you. The setting and characters are interesting and the dialogues are well written. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired though. It is full of cliches and tropes and there are some really stupid sequences where you want to do the logical thing, but the game just doesn’t give you that option.

The game also ends on a pretty unsatisfying cliffhanger. With the first half of the game being a lot better than the second I also feel that they should have concentrated on that part of the story and flesh it out more. The whole “decades-spanning story” part feels very underdeveloped. Still, if you are into the genre and are more interested in the choices and consequences than the story it tells, As Dusk Falls is a fair pick.

This game makes a strong first impression, but the gameplay quickly plateaus and then you're left with great music over a pretty boring rhythm game. The level design is very bad and you'll often lose combos just trying to find some guy with a shield who is hiding in a corner.

Whose idea was it to make the music quieter when you're in danger? Imagine if that's how playing in a band actually worked. You mess up a few notes so your drummer stops playing and just stares at you hoping you get on rhythm some how.

Genuinely surprised this got as much award recognition as it did. It's just fine.