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[ToneyJ]

The game's atmosphere is top notch.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

AW2 and Control are probably the best universe mergers I've played in terms of modern video games. If you haven't played Control before AW2, you're missing out big time cuz you won't understand what FBC is, what they're doing, what A.W.E. is, how it is connected to FBC, why FBI can't get shit from them etc. etc. etc., but if you've played Control and all of its DLCs... it's fuckin' amazing!

 

[balls of snow]

Game is phenomenal. Every single dialogue you are second guessing the meaning if youre deep in the lore. Even a lunchbox has a hidden message im trying to wrap my head around.

 

[kikkis]

Tried the first boss like ten times. Not having with that tbh. It doesn't feel like a challenge just tedium and hoping dodge connects.

 

[Danjin44]

Tried the first boss like ten times. Not having with that tbh. It doesn't feel like a challenge just tedium and hoping dodge connects.

Did you pick up the Shotgun? I also had hard with this guy because I forgot to pick it up but after few tries I did mange to beat him with just a pistol.

 

[kikkis]

Did you pick up the Shotgun? I also had hard with this guy because I forgot to pick it up but after few tries I did mange to beat him with just a pistol.

Nope, I haven't even seen it

 

[Danjin44]

Nope, I haven't even seen it

Remember the general store when in your first encounter with enemy and he breaks through the wall and the place you found the heart, its there.....go back and try to pick up the shotgun.

 

[LostInTime]

I just bought this. PS5. Never played the original, here's hoping it's not a turd.

I've been thinking about biting that same bullet.

 

[Danjin44]

I just bought this. PS5. Never played the original, here's hoping it's not a turd.

I've been thinking about biting that same bullet.

My suggestion is at least watch recap of what happened in the first game.

 

[LostInTime]

My suggestion is at least watch recap of what happened in the first game.

I've played a little of the remaster but, never completed it.

 

[Danjin44]

I've played a little of the remaster but, never completed it.

I would say definitely watch the recap.

 

[MCplayer]

The game is really holding the player hands, i always know what to do, the game literally tells you everytime. I dont understand how some people having problems with this or with bossfights. And people wonder why devs paint ladders and stuff in games

These people probably are those who play with someone else watching and talk over the game therefore get distracted and then dont know what to do, or they constantly pause the game to do something else.

 

[semiconscious]

The game is really holding the player hands, i always know what to do, the game literally tells you everytime. I dont understand how some people having problems with this or with bossfights. And people wonder why devs paint ladders and stuff in games

you quickly realize that the whole mindplace thing literally solves itself (you have to put shit in the right place because you can't put shit in the wrong place). the process is fundamentally nothing but a padding mechanic, a vapid exercise that attempts to simulate the act of thinking. smh. pretty pathetic...

 

[LostInTime]

you quickly realize that the whole mindplace thing literally solves itself (you have to put shit in the right place because you can't put shit in the wrong place). the process is fundamentally nothing but a padding mechanic, a vapid exercise that attempts to simulate the act of thinking. smh. pretty pathetic...

You are the only one being honest about this game.

 

[semiconscious]

You are the only one being honest about this game.

thanks. i was starting to think i was the only one who didn't 'get' it (just kiddin' - i'm afraid the problem is that, wish as i might that i didn't, i actually do 'get' it)...

 

[Danjin44]

I personally liked the Mindplace, I think of it as Analysis in 13 Sentinels. Its nice place to review what happened so far and plot detail you missed and I like how Mindplace for Saga is different than Mindplace for Alan.

 

[semiconscious]

I personally liked the Mindplace, I think of it as Analysis in 13 Sentinels. Its nice place to review what happened so far and plot detail you missed and I like how Mindplace for Saga is different than Mindplace for Alan.

i have no problem with its existence, or with consulting it. my problem is with the empty, tedious mechanic of 'building' it, rather than having it simply assemble itself as you pick up the pieces, since assembling itself is what, despite 'appearances', it actually does anyway, eh?...

 

[Danjin44]

i have no problem with its existence, or with consulting it. my problem is with the empty, tedious mechanic of 'building' it, rather than having it simply assemble itself as you pick up the pieces, since assembling itself is what, despite 'appearances', it actually does anyway, eh?...

I dont think suppose to be complex but I enjoyed act of doing it, it add to atmosphere, I especially like when you have to profile individual character....the whole thing becomes little creepy in good way.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

I think it's a fair opinion to find the Mind Place case board tedious. For me though, it game-ifies being a clever detective. I am not a clever detective, so it shortcuts the experience to feel like I am the one figuring things out. Kind of like I'm not a trained firearms expert taking out supernatural enemies in the woods, but this game lets me do that, too.

I think the difference in opinion on it comes from the balancing. Some say it's tuned to being too easy whereas others would prefer doing a lot of the mind work themselves.

It would be cool if the different difficulty levels adjusted the Case Board difficulty, too. Maybe it does? I haven't tried.

 

[rofif]

Are you liking it?

Is the game overrated?

Yes I am liking it but there are prerequisites.
It’s best late at night, headphones, no hurry. It’s a very slow game that you gotta take very slow.

 

[rofif]

Blinded by the lights?How is the HDR?

It’s good. Even supports system level calibration. But the game got this weird washed out low contrast look. Dev recommends hgig but imo it only works in dead of the night with lights off. Even in gloomy day, it’s too dark and I use dtm during the day

 

[rofif]

I think it's a fair opinion to find the Mind Place case board tedious. For me though, it game-ifies being a clever detective. I am not a clever detective, so it shortcuts the experience to feel like I am the one figuring things out. Kind of like I'm not a trained firearms expert taking out supernatural enemies in the woods, but this game lets me do that, too.

I think the difference in opinion on it comes from the balancing. Some say it's tuned to being too easy whereas others would prefer doing a lot of the mind work themselves.

It would be cool if the different difficulty levels adjusted the Case Board difficulty, too. Maybe it does? I haven't tried.

I really like the case board. It helps you really understand the complicated story and connections by going through what you just think you know.

But I don’t like that collectibles and stashes are in there as their own cases. I don’t see the point of that

 

[Windom Earle]

I’ll stick with it as it will clearly have some great moments, but I’m not really enjoying it. The combat is irritating (when it happens) and the pacing is off. It feels like ‘Remedy doing Resident Evil’.

Control was far more immediately enjoyable.

And yet this has a better Metacritic than Control. The "journalists" just love their walking simulators.

I like AW2 overall but I would rate it 7.5-8 at best. It is a very flawed game just like AW1 was. Only this time there is not enough combat while AW1 arguably had too much combat. Very strange.

 

[rofif]

Jokes aside, the audio is supreme. Walking around that mansion and wellness center 1wm here, lights off and pulse3d with 3d on…. My god. You can hear every direction of every board creaking. The wind picking up, rain, creepy voices.
I found myself naturally slow walking it’s so atmospheric.

But I hate hate hate the loud jump scare screens. Fuck off, I am playing on headphones

 

[rofif]

And yet this has a better Metacritic than Control. The "journalists" just love their walking simulators.

I like AW2 overall but I would rate it 7.5-8 at best. It is a very flawed game just like AW1 was. Only this time there is not enough combat while AW1 arguably had too much combat. Very strange.

This is easily a better game than control. Just not a better shooter.
Control was very spongy and repetitive. I remember disliking it… maybe I need to replay it and give it another chance at 120fps or something

 

[Windom Earle]

This is easily a better game than control. Just not a better shooter.
Control was very spongy and repetitive. I remember disliking it… maybe I need to replay it and give it another chance at 120fps or something

Yeah give it another chance, the gunplay, movement and pacing are on another level. Also much more polished (maybe AW2 will get there with patches...)
Story comes down to personal preference but I found Control's storytelling much more interesting and quirky. The charming main character of course had a lot to do with it.

 

[Ogbert]

Tried the first boss like ten times. Not having with that tbh. It doesn't feel like a challenge just tedium and hoping dodge connects.

First boss is awful.

Just take your time, run around and heal.

 

[JusticeForAll]

Loving the game so far. But having read here now that they made Saga black for woke reasons, I'm disappointed by that choice, since story wise it doesn't make any sense. It's even jarring.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Tried the first boss like ten times. Not having with that tbh. It doesn't feel like a challenge just tedium and hoping dodge connects.

Yeah, it was a bit of a dud for me too. The repetitiveness of the encounter and the sponginess of the target robbed it of tension. I feel like good survival horror should be about ammo conservation (TLOU/RE nail this), but AW2 seems to go in the opposite direction.

 

[JimmyRustler]

It’s an adventure game.

Yes, I know and that is fine. And I do like searching for stuff - but INDOORS and not in a vast open area… at night. It’s just stupid. Everyone except maybe a handful of insane people has to resort to guide maps to find everything.

 

[DonJorginho]

Loving the game so far. But having read here now that they made Saga black for woke reasons, I'm disappointed by that choice, since story wise it doesn't make any sense. It's even jarring.

Replaced her with a much better actress so I don't care, if it improves the game's story with more convincing performances I don't mind.

 

[SRTtoZ]

I always wished we had an Alan Wake where we got to explore Bright Falls and we actually get that with AW2. It would have been cool if they released a new Youtube series like the first one they did before AW1 came out.

 

[rofif]

18 hours in. Just finished:
How far in I am? I've heard the game is 18 hours lol and here I am.
Don't spoil me on length. Just say if I am mid or far into the game

Spoiler: where am I

After the game told me I can visit the puddle to switch realities, I never did so and kept playing as SAGA.
I just came back from wellness center(finished whole area) and are about to enter sheriff station.
Should I switch to Alan before doing so ?

Also, what mode you guys are playing on ps5? quality mode seems to have bugged, jagged shadows (see df thread for examples) and 30fps is really really spotty. Often drops in saga areas. I do still play in 30 though

 

[Assaulty]

I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a game. It's on my mind 24/7 since starting it. I want to finish as soon as possible but also don't want it to end.

The game made me get out and buy RE4 for the empty hole this game is going to leave when I'm done

Goty for me

 

[Luipadre]

18 hours in. Just finished:
How far in I am? I've heard the game is 18 hours lol and here I am.
Don't spoil me on length. Just say if I am mid or far into the game

Spoiler: where am I

After the game told me I can visit the puddle to switch realities, I never did so and kept playing as SAGA.
I just came back from wellness center(finished whole area) and are about to enter sheriff station.
Should I switch to Alan before doing so ?

Also, what mode you guys are playing on ps5? quality mode seems to have bugged, jagged shadows (see df thread for examples) and 30fps is really really spotty. Often drops in saga areas. I do still play in 30 though

im not reading your spoilers but i only did 7 chapters/parts and i played 15 hours already. According to trophy list im not even halfway done lol unless the last 12 chapter is super short

 

[Forsythia]

I've run into an annoying bug where I cannot leave the Mind Place. I also cannot use anything on the board when that happens. Only solution is to restart the game. Series X. I might have to wait for a patch before I can continue.

Fuck this bug, I thought I could work around it by doing the Mind Place stuff at a save point, but unfortunately I will need to run back and forth long distances. Started over and now right at the start Casey gets stuck in some foliage. Please kill me.

 

[Certinty]

This is going to sound stupid but this game made me dislike Resident Evil 4 Remake a little.

I know that’s far more combat based but the atmosphere in contrast in that is severely lacking compared to this.

Just walking through certain areas and hearing random sounds in this is far more tense than anything in RE4R.

I actually don’t mind how little combat there is in this because i’m loving the rest of it.

 

[TrebleShot]

Just double dipped on PS5 for casual ease of access looking forward to seeing how different it is to the PC bells and whistles version.

I did the same with dead space and ended up playing on PS5 just cos I could boot it up and get going much quicker.

Really wish cross platform saves was more common or industry standard. Maybe in time.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

The stuff you can do while playing as Alan when it comes to reality changes to move the plot forward, solve environmental puzzles to find secrets and upgrade points, open doors you could't open before, use really cool bolt charge device to light some lamps, change environment to move forward (3-4 times in some places), write the scenes and update them in realtime based on 3-4 plot threads as the story progresses (which you can investigate to see what happened) puts this game above RE4 this year for me.

AW2 is basically modern RE by design, but at the same time 100% Remedy game which only they could've made, with a lot of investigation stuff I love to death and which can be found in Saga's story. There's basically two story campaigns in the game each with their own unique plot, mood, atmosphere and gameplay in terms of the way you progress through the story.

With all that said though, I fear that this game won't sell well just as all previous Remedy games in the past, not mention PC and EGS exclusivity - didn't help Control one bit either. I hope I'm wrong and I really hope that one day we'll see Quantum Break sequel which this game needs badly.

 

[SimTourist]

Finished the game today. 14 hours in total. I think they really oversold the horror angle, beating you over the head with it constantly in game, but the game is not scary or creepy at all, in fact there is a lot of deadpan Finnish humor in it and the general mood is pretty light. The first Alan Wake was a lot more spooky and tense for me honestly when the forests turned windy and shadows crawling everywhere and fuckers jumping out from bushes. They took some elements from Resident Evil 2 Remake without understanding why they work like puzzles or inventory management. The solutions to puzzles are never more than a few meters away, if not right there next to the puzzle, in RE2 you had to keep things in mind located all over the police station, inventory management is not really a factor where you have to make tough choices of what to keep, not once did I use the shoebox to store anything for later and my storage wasn't even upgraded to the fullest. The story is good but I feel it's not what Sam Lake originally imagined right after shipping AW1 and it was too affected by the time gap and the projects between. But overall a good game, it's not common for me to beat a game in a couple of sittings these days.

 

[Salmon Snake]

Unpopular take - to those playing AW2 on LG oled with HDR.
Try switching to Dynamic Tone Mapping in tv settings and then calibrating ps5 hdr menu.
The game is recognizing ps5 system level calibration, so You must do it there.
You can also just calibrate everything with HGIG and then switch on DTM when playing the game but DTM is looking for that 4000 nits.
That will calibrate up to around 4000 nits which the tv is set to accept and smear all over it's 800 nts lut. Movies do that.

I find the game a bit hard to look at with HGIG. It's very dim and monochromatic in some areas

Yeah the HDR is pretty wacky.

I have an older LG OLED (B6) and it doesn't have Dymanic Tone Mapping. Is there something similar in the older models?

I got to the first "scary" part of the game but because I was playing it in a daylight I had to quit the game and I'll continue it this evening.

The opening stage forest is probably the best game forest I've experienced. So full of atmosphere that I'm in love.

Gotta love the amount of Finnish stuff

 

[rofif]

Yeah the HDR is pretty wacky.

I have an older LG OLED (B6) and it doesn't have Dymanic Tone Mapping. Is there something similar in the older models?

I got to the first "scary" part of the game but because I was playing it in a daylight I had to quit the game and I'll continue it this evening.

The opening stage forest is probably the best game forest I've experienced. So full of atmosphere that I'm in love.

Gotta love the amount of Finnish stuff

No idea about dtm on your tv sorry.
Yeah game is good

 

[Exentryk]

I loved Control, but haven't played Alan Wake. Going by the trailers though, the atmosphere and story seem really intriguing in this one. And since it's on Gamepass, it's easy enough to dive in.

Currently finishing off another game though, so will eventually give it a try. I don't really play shooters, so might bounce off it. Let's see.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I’m like 7 hours in and playing as Alan for the first time. I think I have a grasp of what’s going on, and then the in game fuckery just shatters it completely.

 

[SCB3]

Partway through Chapter 2 and yea there is definitely more of a horror vibe compared to the first game

 

[Darkone]

AW2 and Control are probably the best universe mergers I've played in terms of modern video games. If you haven't played Control before AW2, you're missing out big time cuz you won't understand what FBC is, what they're doing, what A.W.E. is, how it is connected to FBC, why FBI can't get shit from them etc. etc. etc., but if you've played Control and all of its DLCs... it's fuckin' amazing!

I played them but don`t remember shit, is there any good recap video of the story before starting AW2?

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I played them but don`t remember shit, is there any good recap video of the story before starting AW2?

The thing is, the story of Jesse and her brother actually not the best part of Control, it's everything around it and what's going on in/with FBC is the meat of the whole game, along with the lore etc.

There's a lot of Control story explanation videos on YT (as if we can't figure out things ourselves), but I think here's the best video to watch before playing AW2:

It's ~100 min long, but it'll take you way more than that to replay both games.

 

[SJRB]

If any this game makes it painfully obvious that I am a HUGE bitch when it comes to tense games. I'm still super early in the game but walking through that dark forest with nothing but your flashlight, noises everywhere, creepy witch cabins. Sweaty palms, lol.

 

[Hugare]

I loved Control, but haven't played Alan Wake. Going by the trailers though, the atmosphere and story seem really intriguing in this one. And since it's on Gamepass, it's easy enough to dive in.

Currently finishing off another game though, so will eventually give it a try. I don't really play shooters, so might bounce off it. Let's see.

Man, play Alan Wake! Its such a good game to this day

It's very replayable, imo. Its one of my most replayed games ever.

I've just reached Alan's first chapter, and what this game is doing wlin terms of tech is nuts.

How do they change worlds so fast? With no pop in in sight. HOW? This is better than R&C Rift Apart. Insane tech.

I'm also blown away how you can go to the Mind Place in an instant.

 

[acm2000]

stunning game but turn off film grain if you want more clarity, i usually leave games at their default developer settings but this does clean up the image a fair bit.