An utterly uneven experience from beginning to end that doesn't just feature two completely irrelevant trials that completely tank the pacing of the story but also dares to have one of them be one of the most boring cases in the franchise which should probably and honestly have been DLC or simple extra cases post game.

That stands in complete contrast to the two trials here that are really good, especially the third one, which may just be one of my favorites in the series. The game also feels a lot more like a proper follow up to AA4 than Dual Destinies did which somewhat makes DD feel all the more irrelevant in retrospect, which is somewhat damning since, for all its supposed faults, DD is at least a much more consistent game than this wildly over the place SoJ. They push Apollo back into the spotlight, which you may not expect because of how the story is told for most of its runtime. They address the whole forged evidence thing in a much grander scale than they did in 5 which makes this feel like a more evolved follow up to the ideas pushed forward in 4, but in the end the game is still undercooked.

The ending also fell flat on its face for me which makes this a genuinely sad ending for the franchise, with no new entry in 8 years. At least not in terms of this specific continuity. Ace Attorney 7 should still be coming according to the now years old Capcom leaks but I feel like its state is in flux. I can't say I need more Apollo but I don't feel like Takumi would want to return to Phoenix either. But considering in which directions they took Apollo he may have no other choice to go back to Phoenix or just soft reboot the franchise all over again, which may feel fans unsatisfied after so many years of waiting. If Takumi is the one helming the next entry in the first place... who knows. I hope it won't be much longer until that game gets revealed, if it still exists, and that it initiates a new trilogy – or at least Duology like The Great Ace Attorney's – that tells a more refined story over multiple games. And while we're at it, please bring back interesting prosecutors.

Alan Wake 2 is not perfect, but I do not care. The craftmanship put into its plotting and characters as well as the presentation is out of this world. I have rarely been this engrossed into a story and gameworld, if at all. I devoured all of the ingame lore, which I have never done for any other game, ever. I've seen this game's story described a "page turner" again and again. Beyond that being quite the pun with the literal turning of manuscript pages once you pick them up, I cannot think of a better way to describe the progression of storybeats.

There's a few occasions of the game's pacing failing to keep up during some of the longer chapters, which are always redeemed by the fantastic plot progression and songs bookending every chapter. The game shows a remarkable ability to have its characters figure out things at a similar pace to the player's as well as just generally both answering questions as well as leaving more questions in the player's path in a way that keeps the player engaged. Though I definitely think that this aspect of the story was much more refined on Saga's part of the story.

Saga is a great addition to the franchise who only got better as time went on. While I don't think that reports of Alan's and Saga's stories being the same length were, I must have spent at least 5 more hours playing Saga, probably more, I didn't really mind that fact by the end. Alan is much more than a character in the story, he is a presence that could be felt over its entire duration. Though a part of me wishes for him to take center stage more in a potential sequel, I trust Sam Lake to continue his (and Saga's) story in a way that will satisfy me.

I've already had a love/hate relationship to this game's predecessor, a game with a similarly engrossing presentation and storytelling but with terrible gameplay and a generally a bit too surreal story that was harder to follow that I personally would like it to.

Alan Wake II improves on both of these fronts. The gameplay is alot better, if not something worth talking about. Limiting the amount of combat encounters, adding some more enemy types and making it more survival based was the simple solution this type of game needed.

But it is very apparent that Remedy needed more time. This was one of the buggiest games I have ever played in my entire life. I can't count the amount of times collectibles didn't count toward my progression, items didn't appear, voice lines didn't get played or similar stuff that gated me from continuing. While most of these problems could be fixed with reloading the latest save, not all of them were. Add to that the artifacty presentation on consoles and common animations errors or just bad animations in themselves and you can notice where Remedy bit off more than they could chew.

The atmosphere and overall uniqueness of Remedy games just cannot be matched. I feel like they've been improving with every single game (since Alan Wake) and this is their definitive peak for now. The writing inherent to these games is nothing short of amazing and I really hope that the two DLC and the NG+ mode can elaborate on the story here in a satisfying way that makes the presumed 6+ year wait for another entry more easy to swallow. With Control 2 and the Max Payne remakes being conformed to be in development, it will definitely take a while longer till we see the spiral ascend.