688: Alan Wake II

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Alan Wake II for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[designermatt]

The original Alan Wake is a flawed but still special and memorable game for me. Glowing reviews raised my expectations for the sequel, and I went in expecting maybe a bit too much.

I still loved exploring the beautiful world and wanted to unravel the mystery, but enjoyed spending time with Saga more than Alan. I find him dull and self-absorbed - maybe he's just spent too long sat by himself in that writing room.

Without clear signposting in-game I would often get lost, and found the plot board mechanic really frustrating - just boiling down to trying labels at random until I found the way to the next room. Similarly, Saga's mind map just felt like busywork where I tried to find places for all the polaroids. I could have done without both.

The story kept me guessing, but I found it clunky and hard to follow. Several plot threads (like Mr Door, Saga's magic detective powers and why Alex Casey is in the real world) never went anywhere and I didn't get all the answers I expected, though I did quite like the cliffhanger ending.

On the plus side, I happily spent hours exploring the beautifully lit and detailed world, conversing with the characters, uncovering secrets and lore connections to Control. Much like that game, it's stuck with me too, for all it's flaws, and I could see doing a second playthrough once I've played other things for a while.

I think Alan Wake 2 is a masterpiece of art and design that needed a tighter script, but I'm fond of it and glad that Remedy are making quirky games like this, that try something a little different.

[GlobalSaturation89]

The original Alan Wake was one of the first games I bought for my 360 back in 2010. I also happened to be in my Lynch phase and that game hit the right notes. After the “it's not a lake it’s an ocean” cliffhanger I was desperate for more!

I adored Alan awake II. It dripped atmosphere at every turn and I spent hours delving into every mystery and small secret I could find.

I agree that the mind board/ palace mechanic didn’t hit the spot. It fast became a case of trial and error and having some form of false lead or fail state would have added something to it. However I appreciate the moments to pause and listen to Saga’s internal dialogue and slow down the pace of the game.

I have to talk about the jump scares. As cheap as they were they got me ever. Single. Time. My 7 year old came down one night whilst I was playing just as Mr scratch decided to make an appearance. Safe to say we both slept with the lights on.

Remedy also have an amazing knack of mixing different art forms even back in Max Payne with the tv shows within the game. One of my favourite parts of the OG AW was the “Children of the Elder Gods” stage siege. To have this return in the “Dark Ocean Summoning” section was spine tingling and a great moment of relief on what had been a pretty heavy game to that point. Gunning down Taken to a pumping metal soundtrack is something I go back to time and time again. The “herald of darkness” live music video meets gameplay section was amazing and something that I enjoyed greatly.

Whilst not the perfect game all round, I encountered a number of game breaking bugs, I still rate this highly. I relished the chance to jump back into Bright falls for the DLC and get more and more absorbed in its mysteries.

[TomFum]

Loved the original game on 360 and i hadnt played anything like it before.

So coming into 2 i was looking forward to it. I managed to get a free copy when i bought my graphics card so im happy i didnt have to pay for it, because if i did i would of been even more disappointed in this game.

I fell off this game so quick, yes it looks stunning and damn is it creepy as hell, BUT wow is it boring, the story was absolute gubings, i got a quite a way through the game, id say over 3 quarters but i just got bored.

This is a lovely looking game dont get me wrong and the Sing stage was very cool but yeah, terrible game that left me disappointed after the first one.

[MarkHoog]

I love Remedy for their aesthetics. They do liminal spaces and atmospheric lighting like no other, making their detailed worlds a cinematic delight to walk around in and explore. Unfortunately, Alan Wake 2 and I didn’t get along. While I did enjoy most of my time with Saga, the whole mind palace thing became a chore as the game went on – especially when advancing the story fully relied on it (and all the HUD told me was to ‘come up with a plan’).

Now, the New York part with Alan is where I started to really dislike the game. The recreating of story beats, a fresh idea on paper, has the player running around endlessly, switching between dimensions and battling off constantly respawning Taken. I can’t tell you how much I loathed having to go back into that hotel a second time, and I actually came pretty close to abandoning the game altogether when I found myself stuck on some stupid rooftop for over half an hour. The gloomy city block makes for a cool change of scenery from the golden hour-soaked forests of the Pacific NW, but I found almost every minute in there irritating.

The narrative of AW2 also lost its appeal to me as it went on. When it’s not being silly or meta, the game becomes quite self-absorbed in the way it overwhelms us with its over-complicated mythology. It so desperately wants to be the Twin Peaks: The Return to the first two seasons of that show that it often forgets to be a fun video game. The Taken, while scary at first, quickly become nothing but a nuisance, and don’t get me started on those cheap Windows 98 ‘screamer’ pranks.

There’s plenty of creativity on display in AW2, and that makes it all the more frustrating that I failed to have a great time with it. It’s a gorgeous game to look at, but ended up being a struggle to finish.