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[rofif]

I think they struck a very good balance between exploration, puzzles, combat and dialogue exposition.

Yeah, it might be non combat for a lot of time but it only serves to make combat more scary and impactful instead of shooting thousand mobs all the time.
I actually had my skin crawling yesterday when playing as Alan in the metro. All the shadows walking around whispering "Alannnn" and you have no idea which one will attack. I still don't know how this works. that was creepy.

Also, the way people in the town or Casey behave and act when you approach them in gameplay is very stiff and weird but I don't know if it's because they coded no interactions or because there is something happening in-game. Lol good job remedy.

I've seen gggman review and he bashed the game for "walking sim" and "you more watch cutscenes than play the game"... wtf man? There are not a lot of cutscenes. You do everything yourself I feel.
And he didn't like SEGA mind place. I see how it could get tedious on next run.. but I am enjoying it. It's easy and reasonable where to put next clues. Would be too much if you did that as alan. He got more traditional AW gameplay

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Plus Saga was originally white but changed to black, is it due to the above or an actual creative decision, who knows. But the company above is useless and shouldn't have any involvement in anything whatsoever except to appease their own world view.

They should just rename to 'Creatve stifle' and be done with it.

 

[rofif]

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

 

[Revolutionary]

About 6 hours in so far but taking my time with it and loving every second.

 

[SJRB]

'i'm thrilled to be here for this mystery!...'

still very early going, but i basically already despise saga. yet another kidult protagonist (with her own child?!), who responds to investigating the discovery of the mutilated corpse of a fellow agent who disappeared 13 years previously with the enthusiasm of... a happy little puppy playing a video game? trying to keep an open mind, but, damn! what a step down from francis york morgan...

Yeah there's some weird dissonance going on (Jesus, Saga, one of your own colleagues was brutally killed, you didn't even flinch you weirdo) but I'm waiting to see how the story unfolds before dunking it, because there might be reasons for her behavior.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Playing with no HUD for the ultimate immersion, you don't really need it anyway. The game goes full-on with it's surrealist, off-kilter, everything is amiss presentation and narrative delivery, much more than the 1st game. As someone who has been a bookworm their entire life - and started reading dark, horror and true crime stuff at an age when most kids were watching Power Rangers - this is the kind of tale that is right up my alley.

I'm around 6 hours in at the first "open" area with Alan, visuals here are gorgeous. There are a lot of easily missed items/secrets in this area, be sure to fully explore bottom to *top*. I appreciate the way this game employs environmental storytelling, pay attention to seemingly mundane stuff like street signs and you'll find a lot of narrative exposition, it's brilliantly executed.

Don't think the game will end up on top of my personal GOTY heap - this year has been crazy and I've played so much - but it's still relatively early, we'll see where the chips fall when it's all said and done, no doubt it will be somewhere in my top 10

 

[Yahzi]

Just a question for those more experienced in this universe. Is playing the first Alan Wake necessary in order to understand what's going on in this game? I never played the first game.

 

[Jedi0608]

I swear these tree horror cult fucks have got me thinking about True Detective. Almost to the point that they damn near stole a bit of that idea. But they can get away with it because the rest of the story is trippy af Agree I don’t love saga. She’s not terrible though. The Wake chapters are fucking Ace though.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Just a question for those more experienced in this universe. Is playing the first Alan Wake necessary in order to understand what's going on in this game? I never played the first game.

Absolutely yes. Or watch a quality story recap on YouTube. Playing Control also helps as both games are set in the same universe.

 

[Assaulty]

8 or so hours in. My only real gripe with the game is the fact that enemies are so damn bullet spongy. I preferred the spongyness of the first game with more enemies on screen.

Apart from that its a damn masterpiece

 

[rofif]

When do you get shotgun with Alan Wake?
I am trying to figure out of I missed it....

 

[Luipadre]

Finally up, time to dive back in. Only in chapter 4 so i have a lot more left thankfully. Game is just on another level

 

[Elysium44]

Plus Saga was originally white but changed to black

Gotta have the strong / angry black woman character you're forced to play as. I'm glad I am not supporting this game.

 

[Jedi0608]

When do you get shotgun with Alan Wake?
I am trying to figure out of I missed it....

Early on. There’s a combination safe in a house you need to crack. Super helpful for facing the first boss.

 

[Skifi28]

Just a question for those more experienced in this universe. Is playing the first Alan Wake necessary in order to understand what's going on in this game? I never played the first game.

I didn't understand it even after finishing it twice, it gets really weird towards the end and the DLCs are even weirder. You could totally just make do with a recap on YouTube. That being said, it's still worth playing as a standalone game

 

[rofif]

Early on. There’s a combination safe in a house you need to crack. Super helpful for facing the first boss.

fffff then I missed it?
I finished the whole alan part with the city and metro tunnels and I never found a shotgun.
I've only just now unlocked the puddle switching.

By the way? what is my pace? I am taking my time and hope the game is not ending soon! I took 8 hours to unlock the puddle

 

[Insane Metal]

fffff then I missed it?
I finished the whole alan part with the city and metro tunnels and I never found a shotgun.
I've only just now unlocked the puddle switching.

By the way? what is my pace? I am taking my time and hope the game is not ending soon! I took 8 hours to unlock the puddle

It's in the witches hut IIRC. You missed it.

 

[DavidGzz]

So, I've had a weird glitch with my setup where I couldn't use HDR on my PC for the longest time. The option would be unclickable in games and I couldn't even activate it on the desktop. This game had a setting that somehow forced it on and now I can use it in other games and on my desktop. GoTY for sure lol. Also, HDR in Diablo 4 still sucks.

 

[Zathalus]

fffff then I missed it?
I finished the whole alan part with the city and metro tunnels and I never found a shotgun.
I've only just now unlocked the puddle switching.

By the way? what is my pace? I am taking my time and hope the game is not ending soon! I took 8 hours to unlock the puddle

Do you mean the shotgun for Saga or Alan? Both have different weapons.

 

[Insane Metal]

Another issue is with the subtitles on PS5. Sometimes they disappear, sometimes they come all at once

 

[rofif]

It's in the witches hut IIRC. You missed it.

That's for Saga. I have that one.

Do you mean the shotgun for Saga or Alan? Both have different weapons.

For Alan

 

[Bartski]

End of Ch4 on both characters.

It's really good, nowhere close to GOTY good I'm definitely enjoying it heaps.

Survival horror? This game is a comedy. It's just super tongue-in-cheek, Saga and Casey are so hilariously matter-of-fact.

A dude with his heart cut out just tore through the station? Just another day in the office!

Saga drops one-liners like that blasting through demons in the forest "Well now there is less monsters!", "Finally an exciting case!", kid you not.

Don't get me started with the Finnish bros, this shit is hysterical.

And it totally works.

Like the story and where it's all going. Combat is fine, still probably game's weakest point but lightyears better than the first game, which is not exactly an achievement. Both characters have their own mechanics to keep it interesting and I'm surprised how open and wide-linear the game is. So many huge optional areas and puzzles.

Worth pointing out, the game also seems to allow 100% backtracking if you missed anything in later chapters, no areas on lockout with missables... this is just the type of design that really helps my OCD where my day is always ruined having realized I missed some random pointless piece of bullshit somewhere. Thanks Remedy.

Voice acting is spot on, I hated the idea of FMV implementation but at this proportion, it somehow comes together nicely.

Quality mode on PS5 looks superb and plays fine adventuring but goes to utter shit in combat, in performance IQ takes a hit but to me it's a good trade-off against slideshows.

Back to it!

 

[rofif]

Anyone noticed how low quality "internal monologue is" ?
Like, when Alan says out loud his thoguhs, it sounds muffled compared to how he speaks normally

 

[Roberts]

The game grows on me, but I still don't think it is exactly GOTY material. Let's see how it all comes together.

 

[Demption]

Oh my God. "We sing" is phenomenal.
First time you get to choose which one to play as, go play as alan. It's bonkers.

 

[Zathalus]

For Alan

You have not missed it. You get it in Initiation 5.

 

[Windom Earle]

The game is a bit of a walking simulator at times and the close FOV causes me to get lost in the forest nonstop. Map is not exactly ideal either.

The mind place feels gimmicky and is a chore. Story is all over the place just like the first game. Didn't feel the first boss either, I think the fight was badly designed.
The graphics are nice but I don't agree with Alex from DF that it's the best looking game out there. Cyberpunk is still far more impressive to me.

Saga feels very bland, not sure how they pulled this off after having such a great female character in Control. (edit: maybe they should have stayed with their original character vision instead of switching her out for boring black chick)
Also this game has the worst save system I have seen in years. What were they thinking?

Atmosphere and some of the side characters are great.

Overall this feels like a step down from Control, but at least it is better than the first AW. Review scores feel off to me overall.

PS: WTF is that shitty pop song between chapters.

 

[Luipadre]

Anyone noticed how low quality "internal monologue is" ?
Like, when Alan says out loud his thoguhs, it sounds muffled compared to how he speaks normally

Yeah my only issue with the game really, the low quality dialogue audio

 

[Low Moral Fibre]

Not for everyone but I love how the story is presented and the atmosphere is great.

While there are some rough aspects the graphics with pathtracing (and even without but with DLSS over FSR and maxed post processing at least to avoid the awful shimmering) are unbelievable at times and the lighting can make it look photoreal at least if you squint enough and maybe take off your glasses. Runs really well on a 4080 with the forest the only area to dip to around 55fps with maxed pathtracing with the rest strangely much higher so with frame gen I'm normally at "140fps". The city area with Alan looks insane as did the golden hour bit with Saga.

The levels aren't huge so I'm sure it's not doing anything special other than loading everything in ahead of time but how the levels switch between different realities is done so well.

I know it's hardly a fair comparison as they are games at different ends of the open-world / linear scale but I only just started SM2 too and it looks a generation behind thanks to how poor the lighting is compared to this.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Raster volumetric lighting stuff is probably the worst part of the visual presentations of this game and it's on the same level as in Quantum Break from almost 8 years ago. And if you can fix two terrible SSR options (just as bad as in Control and pretty much in every other game) by turning on RT reflections etc., there's just nothing you can about this horrible blocky and pixelated mess (and you don't have volumetric lighting and light shafts like this with RT and PT):

Spoiler

Why on earth there's no option to at least increase x3-4 times the pixel counts in the game and beyond terrible "High" option? I mean, c'mon. Ugh, I know I'm nitpicking here, but damn... I sure hope this game will get CP2077 level of PT treatment in the future to completely remove raster lighting from the game.

 

[MaKTaiL]

The OST is absolutely amazing. End of Chapter 1 song is chef's kiss. Loving the game so far.

 

[phant0m]

Gotta have the strong / angry black woman character you're forced to play as. I'm glad I am not supporting this game.

Pretty sad statement about yourself there champ.

also, saga is not “strong” or angry. She’s just….regular. If anything, maybe a little too whimsical for the setting.

I don’t think the race-swap changed much about her character, if you blindfolded me and told me her character was white based on voice & dialogue I’d believe you.

but sure, deprive yourself of a great experience over false assumptions and shit that doesn’t matter for $500 Alex.

 

[balls of snow]

What an intro ehh. Most awesome title drop since Evil Dead Rise.

 

[kikkis]

The game is a bit of a walking simulator at times and the close FOV causes me to get lost in the forest nonstop. Map is not exactly ideal either.

The mind place feels gimmicky and is a chore. Story is all over the place just like the first game. Didn't feel the first boss either, I think the fight was badly designed.
The graphics are nice but I don't agree with Alex from DF that it's the best looking game out there. Cyberpunk is still far more impressive to me.

Saga feels very bland, not sure how they pulled this off after having such a great female character in Control. (edit: maybe they should have stayed with their original character vision instead of switching her out for boring black chick)
Also this game has the worst save system I have seen in years. What were they thinking?

Atmosphere and some of the side characters are great.

Overall this feels like a step down from Control, but at least it is better than the first AW. Review scores feel off to me overall.

PS: WTF is that shitty pop song between chapters.

Agreed on mind place. I wish it would automatically place all evidence and then let me deduce something that would alter game based on my guess.

 

[dDoc]

Watched a streamer okay it for a bit.

Good graphics and atmosphere. Way too walking simulator for my tastes I'm afraid.

 

[Salz01]

Pretty sad statement about yourself there champ.

also, saga is not “strong” or angry. She’s just….regular. If anything, maybe a little too whimsical for the setting.

I don’t think the race-swap changed much about her character, if you blindfolded me and told me her character was white based on voice & dialogue I’d believe you.

but sure, deprive yourself of a great experience over false assumptions and shit that doesn’t matter for $500 Alex.

At first, I kind of groaned at the ethnicity swapping at first announcement. But Saga is growing on me. Easy on the eyes, seems convincing, nice gentle relatable demeanor, kind of a nice contrast against the other characters. It works.

 

[Windom Earle]

Pretty sad statement about yourself there champ.

also, saga is not “strong” or angry. She’s just….regular. If anything, maybe a little too whimsical for the setting.

I don’t think the race-swap changed much about her character, if you blindfolded me and told me her character was white based on voice & dialogue I’d believe you.

but sure, deprive yourself of a great experience over false assumptions and shit that doesn’t matter for $500 Alex.

I don't think people had much reason to complain about Saga if she wasn't boring.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Alan Wake 2 is everything the first game should have been. Like, don't get me wrong, Alan Wake 1 is one of my all time favorite games, probably beat it at least 10+ times but AW2 is better in every way so far. That being said, I still think Remedy is fucking CRAZY for not putting out a physical edition. Imagine if Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom didn't have a physical edition? lol. It's just crazy. With all the praise it's getting, they have to put out a physical version eventually no? Fuck, even Kena Bridge of Spirits got one.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Finished chapter 2, GOTY easily, 10/10 so far.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Having more fun with this than previous Remedy games, but still baffled by Sam Lake's writing: can't speak on the plot, which is interesting, but the characters and dialogue really drag down the overall atmosphere.

One thing that really has me scratching my head is the profiling where Anderson just basically has really specific epiphanies about the case that don't really add up. Maybe they'll be plot reasons later on, but right now I'm just like 'really?'

 

[Windom Earle]

Having more fun with this than previous Remedy games, but still baffled by Sam Lake's writing: can't speak on the plot, which is interesting, but the characters and dialogue really drag down the overall atmosphere.

One thing that really has me scratching my head is the profiling where Anderson just basically has really specific epiphanies about the case that don't really add up. Maybe they'll be plot reasons later on, but right now I'm just like 'really?'

Yep she has superhuman psychic abilities and no one even questions it. But when something supernatural in the game happens it's suddenly a big deal.

 

[Valt7786]

Yep she has superhuman psychic abilities and no one even questions it. But when something supernatural in the game happens it's suddenly a big deal.

Except at the end of chapter 1, where all the deputies just shrug off what happens.
The profiling and that particular scene are just really weird but maybe its supposed to be idk.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Pretty fantastic going from Spider-man 2 to this. Such a stark contrast in what games can be. There needs to be more adventure games with minimal combat like AW2. It's like a great blend of RE4 mixed with Heavy Rain

 

[amigastar]

When i think of Alan Wake 2, Picasso comes to my mind.
"I don't seek, i find"
That seems appropriate for Alan Wake 2.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Yeah, it might be non combat for a lot of time but it only serves to make combat more scary and impactful instead of shooting thousand mobs all the time.
I actually had my skin crawling yesterday when playing as Alan in the metro. All the shadows walking around whispering "Alannnn" and you have no idea which one will attack. I still don't know how this works. that was creepy.

Also, the way people in the town or Casey behave and act when you approach them in gameplay is very stiff and weird but I don't know if it's because they coded no interactions or because there is something happening in-game. Lol good job remedy.

I've seen gggman review and he bashed the game for "walking sim" and "you more watch cutscenes than play the game"... wtf man? There are not a lot of cutscenes. You do everything yourself I feel.
And he didn't like SEGA mind place. I see how it could get tedious on next run.. but I am enjoying it. It's easy and reasonable where to put next clues. Would be too much if you did that as alan. He got more traditional AW gameplay

The SEGA mind place

“Yooo y’all got some Kid Chameleon?”

 

[Forsythia]

What an intro ehh. Most awesome title drop since Evil Dead Rise.

Yeah, it reminded me of that movie as well! Now I need to go watch that again!

 

[BbMajor7th]

Yep she has superhuman psychic abilities and no one even questions it. But when something supernatural in the game happens it's suddenly a big deal.

Not just me then. But the weird scene with the deputies where everything's just popped off and they're like 'monsters aren't real, are they?" is a prime example of Sam Lake just really struggling to get inside a scene and create responses that feel appropriate rather than perfunctory.

 

[hollams]

When I click on a manuscript page in the mind space and Wake starts reading it the video has a static line on the top of the screen and then it will move down a bit then back up. Is this normal?

 

[Luipadre]

Im playing this reeeealy slowly. Only at chapter 6 after almost 12 hours. Game looks stunning on PS5 + OLED tv.

Spoiler

 

[Chuck Berry]

Chapter 1 done

That end song was dope