Remedy deserves all the praise I can muster for being brave enough to make some exciting design choices that limit Alan Wake 2's mass appeal, but increase the enjoyment for those of us who remain. They deserve for me to call this game what I think it is - a masterpiece.
Pros:
+Remedy has once again created an anomaly in video gaming and AW2 is definitely a new, original experience, like it or not.
+Awesome story, writing, acting.
+Awesome collectibles.
+Polished combat.
If that's your cup of tea:
+/- Branched narrative, can switch between two antagonists.
+/- Borrows greatly survival-horror elements.
+/- More of a 'use a map and completely salvage each door in each corridor' mechanics.
+/- Less combat focused than previous game, IMO great balance between action and investigation segments.
Cons:
- Inventory mechanisms are kinda annoying.
- Combat gets a bit clunky at times, especially in tight spaces, camera can go crazy and make you die easily (but mostly that wasn't the case).
Longer review:
AW2 is possible the best game I've ever played, at least so far, and while I could point out a few minor misshaps in it I feel just fine with giving it a subjective 10 of 10. Possibly at this point one had already played the first game since it feels more right, though there's some background on the story I really felt good I've played AW1 first to know what's going **** storytelling is kept of very high quality and even surpasses the first game, with an amazing, mysterious plot, amazing actors and scripts, and some live-action sequences to accompany the story, and idea which I truly appreciated back in Quantum Break as well and that is intertwined with the current story absolutely **** a game the sequel also improved greatly upon the first game (well, we'd be very disappointed if it wouldn't have, given the 10-year gap). First off, graphics look pretty darn good. One thing that bothered me on the first game was how the "environments" looked basically the same and cloned off each other, on AW2 we get several locations which feel a lot more varied and interesting to explore.Basic mechanics remained from the first game BUT in here we have a lot more investigation segments, which unfortunately weren't the most challenging and pretty straightforward, but were still very immersive and gave good pacing into the **** combat can be clunky at times, but still feels much crispier and **** have two antagonists here which we can switch between back and forth, which is another great notion in itself. The gameplay is similar yet still feels unique and refreshing for each, making it easy to switch and change the experience a bit if you're tired of playing Alan or Saga for a moment.Soundtrack rocks as expected and beside the game's cool and fitting score Remedy did some true effort to interleave some actual songs within the game which is mostly done pretty great, and some of the songs are real good.What else? This game took a turn towards the survival-horror genre, while the first game may have had bits of horrors in it truly wasn't that scary. AW2 managed to have quite a few freaky moments, including jump scares just in the right amount, creepy environment and tense moments. However, this does not get AmnesiaOutlast-scary kind of thing, which I actually found perfect, because personally that felt like a more "manageable" levels of horror to me (yup, I'm a coward).There's much more usages of maps here and this is probably another throw back to survival horror, fans of mythological games such as Silent Hill and RE would probably recognize the whole going through all the doors in a map thingy, but personally I feel this was well crafted in here.While the combat is much more polished this game is definitely less combat heavy then the previous. I'd say you could even avoid ~40 percent of encounters if you really preferred to. I guess that's not everyone's cup of tea but I personally found this combination of combataction-ey moments along with the more chillinvestigative moments perfect as **** terms of difficulty, playing on Normal felt just right for me, with the game being challenging enough but not so much to a point of frustration. In terms of gathering resources the game seems to fit greatly to the player's status, keeping you on edge at times but you truly get enough ammohealing stuff etc to pass through the game. Perfectly balanced again.Probably the only true complaint I have about this game is the new inventory management thingy, I get it's a thing in survival-horror inspired games but here it really felt more of an annoyance and got me backtracking a whole lot without feeling too **** really, that's nothing compared to the many great things about this game. Definitely go play
A long waited sequel! 13 years after the events of the first game, I'm so glad it came out in 2023 because it's pure art and genius from the one and the only Sam Lake ️ 10/10
The world needs more people and storyteller like him, the world needs more gaming studios like Remedy.
13 years since its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 was absolutely
worth the wait. Improving on the original in every way, with Remedy
embracing their inspirations, and honing their craft, Alan Wake 2 is a
surrealist horror masterpiece.
I adored the first Alan Wake, and I’ve either loved or liked every Remedy game since then. This is the first time I’ve felt so displeased by the studio’s work I’ve actually been angry about it. The pompous writing, the shoehorned mechanics that push a tiresome narrative conceit over the quality of the narrative itself, the archaic combat, the amount of time it spends doing almost nothing, Alan Wake 2 is fucking insufferable most of the time...It’s impossible to tell where the stylistically bad writing of the title character ends and the inadvertently bad game of Alan Wake 2 begins. The difference, at this point, matters not.
The story is not as interesting as the first one. However, I think the excellent action, hitting and graphic technology makes it one of the best in existence.
I found the first Alan Wake a bit boring but I still completed it. I hoped this would be better but I was wrong. This is even worse. Twisted story, banal, difficult to understand, and quite pointless. awful gameplay, you will be asking "Where tf am I" and "How tf I can proceed" most of the time. Fights are boring and very old-style.
Nice visuals, sounds, and music. Not enough save this game btw. I won't buy the DLC, I'm done with this game forever.
Big disapointment for me. I loved Alan Wake. But the story and gameplayof AW2 just feels very shallow. And there are so many inconsistency in the behaviour of each characters And this marvel-style idea of shared universe with Control is awful and feels dum. Sad since the atmosphere and graphics are amazing.
SummaryShed some light on what has long been obscured by darkness. After 11 long years, the writer's return is a reality and the dangers lurking in the dark are even more sinister than the Taken roaming Bright Falls. Alan Wake 2 turns up the level of dread as our very first dive into the survival horror genre, so expect a chilling experience w...