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Alan Wake II |OT| I'm blinded by the lights.........

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Rose is aging rather nicely.




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Bloobs

Al Pachinko, Konami President
Wow, so I booted it up on Xbox and the sound just cut off in the intro and didnt return. Nice.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Game is incredible so far. Production value is off the chart. Insane amount of details in the environment, animation, visuals. Absolute S-tier.

Custom tv shows, advertisements, radio shows. The commercial with the two hitch hiking brothers was hilarious. Cutting edge graphics and visual effects, and insane voice acting across the board. James McCaffrey is a god-tier voice actor.

And the story, so cool. Everything is just so weird, so bizarre. People act strange, there's a sense of dread and anxiety that hangs over everything. It's incredibly well done.

Everything so far is just immaculate. I love, LOVE that it is not a shooter but a detective adventure (so far). I've played for about two hours and fired literally only two shots. Couple of super cheap jump scares though, I hate that.

But man, what an amazing achievement.


Edit: massive, massive L for Epic Game Store for not having a screenshot function. What the fuck is it with this store? Terrible.
 
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Wizz-Art

Member
I now remember why I spend hours and hours in Alan Wake, explore every damn nook and cranny. Reading every little sign and clippings of news articles, listen to every radioshow (I'm sure Night Springs is back but didn't encounter it yet), listen to banter between the townsfolk. Also between Saga and Casey, some damn funny stuff. I love being back in Bright Falls, it's been awhile...

Playing on XSX in quality mode, game looks great and 30fps is very stable and enough because it isn't a fast paced game or something where 60fps is a must.

Had a bit of LA Noire, Deadly Premonition and a splash of Murder Soul Suspect vibes in the Alan Wake mix too.

Don't sleep on this people, the critics were right!
 
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200mb something update on pc just now.

edit: seems it was just an update that finally gave me my pre-order stuff
 
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So when I read it's basically an Adventure game with "no Action" is that code for a walking simulator or are there actual puzzles and gameplay other than Action to engage with or do you just shuffle from cutscene to cutscene?
 
So when I read it's basically an Adventure game with "no Action" is that code for a walking simulator or are there actual puzzles and gameplay other than Action to engage with or do you just shuffle from cutscene to cutscene?
lol no, I've killed plenty of enemies so far and just now got control of wake; but I mean you are a cop so you are collecting evidence and building cases, there just aren't a ton of enemies.
 
lol no, I've killed plenty of enemies so far and just now got control of wake; but I mean you are a cop so you are collecting evidence and building cases, there just aren't a ton of enemies.
Right but is that gameplay proper puzzle solving and some sort of mechanics for it or is it just walking sim style stuff where you walk from A to B to trigger a cutscene and the case is "solved". Almost every post seems to focus mostly on how great it looks and how cool the story is and I can't get a sense of how it plays personally.

I don't want to waste my money on pushing forward to the next cutscene type of game design is all so I wanna make sure 😅
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Right but is that gameplay proper puzzle solving and some sort of mechanics for it or is it just walking sim style stuff where you walk from A to B to trigger a cutscene and the case is "solved". Almost every post seems to focus mostly on how great it looks and how cool the story is and I can't get a sense of how it plays personally.

I don't want to waste my money on pushing forward to the next cutscene type of game design is all so I wanna make sure 😅
This game plenty place to explore and its clear they took some stuff from RE2R, especially the fact the map mark lock doors and treasures.
 
Right but is that gameplay proper puzzle solving and some sort of mechanics for it or is it just walking sim style stuff where you walk from A to B to trigger a cutscene and the case is "solved"
No you definitely have to actively solve a lot of things, no spoiler examples:
There's a gun at the start of the game that's locked behind a combination, and there's a hint next to it that kinda gives you an idea of where to look, and then when you find it you still have to kinda solve a puzzle to get the right combination, and then go back to get the gun.
There are a couple with poems and dolls, and something else telling you of the location of those things, but it doesn't get marked on your map, so you still have to look for them and then figure out the poems.
There was one where I needed a combination to solve something, so I was looking around for some file to interact with, but it was actually written on a piece of paper that's non-interactable, so I actually had to look to find it.

There's many more things, but things don't auto solve themselves, it's only when you didn't put in the case files, but still solved it, then the next time you enter the case file, anderson will comment that she already solved this and put the files in the right place.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Right but is that gameplay proper puzzle solving and some sort of mechanics for it or is it just walking sim style stuff where you walk from A to B to trigger a cutscene and the case is "solved". Almost every post seems to focus mostly on how great it looks and how cool the story is and I can't get a sense of how it plays personally.

I don't want to waste my money on pushing forward to the next cutscene type of game design is all so I wanna make sure 😅
You collect clues then go to the mind palace and then put the clues in the right order under the right columns..... there are multiple. Then saga figures out the clues herself. not much puzzle solving but its more involved than most walking sims.
 

Luipadre

Member
Played 7 hours today, just finished chapter 3. I had astronomical expectations for this game, it was my most anticipated game by far this year and so far? Remedy fucking killed it, i cant believe this exists. So much style and it looks absolutely bonkers on PS5. This will be my goty no doubt, an instant classic

My only 2 issues with the game is that it doesnt save after chapters, so sometimes you had to keep going for a while to save and the VA quality is really low. I dont mean its bad, but the quality itself, like its a low bitrate or something
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Playing this maxed out in 4k on GeForce now ultimate— looks great. No compression, no blur , no issues unlike stadia which was dog shit.

Compared it to just playing on my 3080 and it looks and runs significantly better than on my actual PC.

I will say the ray traced reflections on certain things are not as impressive as I’ve seen in other titles or just regular reflections in the past of great games. Recent example is Spider-Man 2 which had WAY better reflections than Alan wake 2. Facial animations aren’t on the level of a Spider-Man 2 either. It can look great but often it’s miss compared to hit. Environments look great and well detailed. Clouds aren’t the best I’ve seen better there too.

This is NOT nearly as good looking so far as videos promoting make it out to be or the next bar for visuals. It’s great but better exists.

Lastly, I’m surprised my Samsung tv can’t be used above 1080p for GeForce now. It forced it to be 1080p. I could run a long hdmi cable to the tv from the pc to play it on there but not worth the hassle . I’ll just stay on my PC.

Oh and console folks or lower card folks you do not need Ray tracing on in this game. The only real loss is that a mirror reflection without RT does the weird smudge blur thing that Jedi survivor does as well. So just stay away from mirrors lol.
 
No you definitely have to actively solve a lot of things, no spoiler examples:
There's a gun at the start of the game that's locked behind a combination, and there's a hint next to it that kinda gives you an idea of where to look, and then when you find it you still have to kinda solve a puzzle to get the right combination, and then go back to get the gun.
There are a couple with poems and dolls, and something else telling you of the location of those things, but it doesn't get marked on your map, so you still have to look for them and then figure out the poems.
There was one where I needed a combination to solve something, so I was looking around for some file to interact with, but it was actually written on a piece of paper that's non-interactable, so I actually had to look to find it.

There's many more things, but things don't auto solve themselves, it's only when you didn't put in the case files, but still solved it, then the next time you enter the case file, anderson will comment that she already solved this and put the files in the right place.

You collect clues then go to the mind palace and then put the clues in the right order under the right columns..... there are multiple. Then saga figures out the clues herself. not much puzzle solving but its more involved than most walking sims.
Thanks appreciate the more detailed breakdown. I gotta say, minus the graphical spectacle this game doesn't sound like it offers anything terribly interesting gameplay-wise.
 

spons

Gold Member
Considering the art style and graphics in general, it's the first game I'd wish I could play on something better than a Series S.
I'm sure it'll run great when I'll start playing tomorrow, but I truly want this at its best. Remedy's games are fantastic.
 

Roberts

Member
Wow, so I booted it up on Xbox and the sound just cut off in the intro and didnt return. Nice.

It happened to me. Restarted, no problems since.


I don’t know what to make of it after playing for nearly two hours. It’s a bit too hand-holdy for me and the writing is kind of bad, but graphics are stellar for the most part and I still feel like I want to complete it.
 

Luipadre

Member
First alan chapter man, i smiled the whole way through. If you havent played alan wake 1 or control you definitely missing out a lot imo.
 

GHG

Member
First alan chapter man, i smiled the whole way through. If you havent played alan wake 1 or control you definitely missing out a lot imo.

Well shit.

I never got round to finishing control. How important would you say it is?
 
So Breaker is the dude from, well, Quantum Break. And I also saw a reference to a 'red head girl's somewhere. Neat.

When you get to play with Alan it gets sooooo good.
 
Almost done. The Alan Wake portion was mostly top notch. The FBI campaign had strong moments, but that one also dragged a bit. Look, I have nothing against little action and investigation gameplay. But why still make survival horror level design for detective gameplay? Why are there so many maps for Saga that feel like a typical Resident Evil level, with backtracking, save rooms, ammo stashes, secret weapons and stat updates... when the same levels often have literally zero enemies, so it's really just pointless exploration? That was so weird, sometimes I wasn't sure whether my game wasn't glitched. Same goes for searching for secrets. The real world/FBI setting is fascinating, but the secrets outside the main path always lead to ammo that you don't need. huh

However, there's little to complain about the dark place/Wake's campaign. Even if the tone is a little different, this is how a modern Silent Hill should've been like.
 
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MCplayer

Member
Guys! I have a question about the mindplace clues, can the clues be misplaced and therefore affecting the investigation? If not why not just let the game automatically allocate the clues in the caseboard since the player cant misplace it.
 

TrebleShot

Member
They say the PC version has DualSense support. Can someone confirm it?

Does it use the controller microphone any?

Does it use the lights on the controller?
Yes it works
Not sure on triggers and speaker though.
So far those haven’t been supported but I haven’t had to use any guns up to this point.

Also not sure if the speaker is used in the ps5 version.

All wired of course but yes it works.
 

Luipadre

Member
Some of the facial animations OUTSIDE of cutscenes looks super impressive, like the best i've seen. When you just stand near a character that talks in other games they are almost never animated well, because its not a cutscene, not here tho...
 
Some of the facial animations OUTSIDE of cutscenes looks super impressive, like the best i've seen. When you just stand near a character that talks in other games they are almost never animated well, because its not a cutscene, not here tho...
Yeah they're really well animated.
 

Krathoon

Member
Yes it works
Not sure on triggers and speaker though.
So far those haven’t been supported but I haven’t had to use any guns up to this point.

Also not sure if the speaker is used in the ps5 version.

All wired of course but yes it works.
It might not use the lights and speaker.

I liked how Hogwarts Legacy uses it all on the PS5. I wish they supported it on the PC version.
 

ungalo

Member
2 main gripes : a lot of bugs, and the investigation part with Saga feels very artificial, and doesn't do anything good for the overall pacing of the game.

Also i'm playing on console and i think the gap with PC must be huge, aliasing, shadow resolution, reflections...all of this is shockingly bad on console. The game still looks very good overall but it lacks a clean visual.

As for the rest i'm enjoying myself despite the game taking its time at the beginning, i was never bored.
 
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