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[SlimySnake]

Took me a while to finish this because this is one boring ass game, but I have played boring games before. The story and storytelling in this game isnt just boring, it's awful from start to finish.

- Constant cheap scares with evil Alan Wake flashes on screen. After around the 100th one I was ready for this game to be over. I am not exaggerating. There are probably over a 100 of these flashes.
- Constant cuts to realtime FMVs that are poorly acted, and feel like a cheap knock off instead of an AAA game.
- Constant monologues. Alan talking to himself because has no one to talk to in his story. Saga constantly talking to herself in the mind place. People tell kojima to get an editor, someone tell Sam Lake to stop writing. Less is more.
- The meta writing a story within a story plot simply doesnt work. Again, it reeks of Sam lake thinking he's a big genius writer when it turns out he's just an amateur. Every single narrative choice he made falls flat.
- Game is like 25 hours long and has maybe 2 hours of actual combat. The rest of the time you are listening to these two protagonist talk to themselves. Sometimes Saga has cutscenes with others which are well acted and directed, but most of the time she's in her mind palace talking to others as they openly reveal to her their darkest secrets and evil plans in what is supposed to be a sinister tone, but comes across as overly robotic and laughable.

The pacing is atrocious. After the final boss fight, Saga ends up in the mind place where she talks to herself for a 30 minute sequence where you simply put up some pictures up on a caseboard. It isnt just awful gameplay, and the worst climax ive experienced in a game recently, it's also a very poor form of storytelling. it's way worse than any walking segment Sony studios have made because it goes on for what feels like 30 fucking minutes. And thats basically 90% of the game.

This is what goes for best narrative nowadays? Has the industry lost their fucking minds? 90+ metacritic, awards for best narrative, gotys. GOTYs?

P.S The ending sucked ass. They were trying to pull off a Prisoners inspired ending but failed miserably. Absolutely atrocious. In Prisoners, you know he's heard the whistle because you hear the whistle. Here, you dont hear her daughter pick up the phone. It cuts before that. Honestly, this entire game can fuck right off.

 

[Skyfox]

I made it about 10 minutes into it before turning it off.

Fire the writers!

 

[Sanepar]

Alan Wake 2 is one of the biggest craps i have ever played.

Besides graphics nothing special.

 

[adamsapple]

- Constant cuts to realtime FMVs that are poorly acted, and feel like a cheap knock off instead of an AAA game.

Clearly you have misunderstood what a Remedy game is.

P.S The ending sucked ass. They were trying to pull off a Prisoners inspired ending but failed miserably. Absolutely atrocious. In Prisoners, you know he's heard the whistle because you hear the whistle. Here, you dont hear her daughter pick up the phone. It cuts before that.

And clearly you haven't touched the Final Draft free content.

I'll file this topic under "bitch eating crackers" meme tag.

 

[BigLee74]

After a big WTF start (this is nothing like the original) I enjoyed it for about 10-12 hours, then it just dragged. Completely outstayed its welcome.

100% agreed on the jump scares. At one point I just turned the volume right down on my TV as they were coming so thick and fast my heart couldn’t take it.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Boring as fuck story

Boring as fuck gameplay

Boring as fuck characters

Boring as fuck enemies

Boring as fuck game

Bin it

 

[tommycronin]

The game clearly isn't finished at all. The 2nd half of the game takes an absolute dive in quality.

 

[Shakka43]

I have dropped the game myself it's just not fun. A big disappointment coming from the much better Alan Wake 1.

 

[Little Chicken]

Look at all of these uncultured people.

Alan Wake 2's narrative was great and they took a lot of risks which paid off. I agree with the jumpscare faces though, especially in the nursing home which was excessive.

Best sequel of 2023

 

[Johnny Concrete]

Ok, so can you guys point me to some games that had a better gameplay/narrative experience than Alan Wake II.

Because it was my GOTY by far, so I must be missing out on some godly stuff for sure..

 

[K' Dash]

Look at all of these uncultured people.

Alan Wake 2's narrative was great and they took a lot of risks which paid off. I agree with the jumpscare faces though, especially in the nursing home which was excessive.

Best sequel of 2023

these threads are amazing, just ignore all these posters, why would you want to engage with low IQ people anyway?

 

[SlimySnake]

Clearly you have misunderstood what a Remedy game is.

They are poorly acted cheap knock offs? What are you trying to say? Control, Max Payne, AW1 and even Qauntum Break which had bad FMVs wasnt this bad.

And clearly you haven't touched the Final Draft free content.

I'll file this topic under "bitch eating crackers" meme tag.

Why would i play DLC to see the ending?

 

[adamsapple]

these threads are amazing, just ignore all these posters, why would you want to engage with low IQ people anyway?

 

[rofif]

I agree.
I kinda loved the game for first half... but after some time, I started noticing what it's doing.
They take away Alans main role. He really is not a main protagonist anymore. And the ending is trash.

The screen flashes and loud noises were super annoying
The puzzles as Saga were super repetitive and trash (even the riddles in lunch boxes were kinda woke (yay feel good, keep going!))
Saga is boring and mary sue. She overcomes her problems just like that.
Gameplay i slow, repetitive and boring. You collect stuff that doesnt matter. I never used any charm and I had 50 of them.
And constant monologues.
You pretend to solve cases as saga and she never stops talking.
You are right about the combat. barely any real gameplay in this game

 

[Danjin44]

My biggest issue with AW2 is the same issue I had with original AW…booooooooooooring enemy designs.

Especially in good survival horror games interesting and terrifying enemies is crucial.

 

[rofif]

Clearly you have misunderstood what a Remedy game is.



And clearly you haven't touched the Final Draft free content.

I'll file this topic under "bitch eating crackers" meme tag.

Have you ever played Max Payne 1, 2 and AW1 ?! Replay max payne 2 now and check out what a real game can be. That game is 6 hours long and I would pay 10x more fun and replayable than aw2
QB i when it went to shit.
Control was boring and repetitive but at least it had good action... not so much anything else.

what final draft free content? I play and finish the game on release and as I finished it, the ending sucked balls

 

[Zathalus]

One of the best games of 2023 and most critics and players agree with me. Sorry to hear you were not able to enjoy it.

 

[rofif]

One of the best games of 2023 and most critics and players agree with me. Sorry to hear you were not able to enjoy it.

Critics don't know shit.

No cap, Forspoken is 100x the game AW2 is. The gameplay is way more involving and there is actually 30+ hours of gameplay alone in forspoken.
And I liked story and characters more too. The lore is very in depth in forspoken (collectibles).
And what it sums up to? Everyone bandwagon hated it.
industry claerly has shown that great gameplay and new single player, gameplay focsed IP does not matter.
industry values slow, cinematic, no gameplay woke crap.

I understand what some people might like about AW2. But it's not a good game. Not by any margin. The industry is so fucked

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Ok, so can you guys point me to some games that had a better gameplay/narrative experience than Alan Wake II.

Because it was my GOTY by far, so I must be missing out on some godly stuff for sure..

The tutorial in Helldivers 2 has a better narrative than the entirety of AW2

 

[SlimySnake]

One of the best games of 2023 and most critics and players agree with me. Sorry to hear you were not able to enjoy it.

care to elaborate? i wrote a lot and would love to see which points you disagree with or what you actually liked about the story.

I wont lie. I was into the story when Saga was investigating stuff, but every time it cut to Alan's retarded sections where he writes different scenarios in every single area he goes to just completely killed it for me. Then Saga goes to the nursing home and instead of it being a cool metroidvania area like Cauldron Lake or Watery, it turns into an Alan Wake 2 style writing marathon, only it takes place in her head.

I am sorry but thats not good gameplay or storytelling. Whatever scenarios Alan was writing had nothing to do with what saga was experiencing either. He shouldve been IN bright falls rewriting saga's reality when saga was there. but no, hes in some theater, some subway, some hotel. like wtf does any of this have to do with saga? how is this fun gameplay or storytelling?

 

[semiconscious]

The pacing is atrocious. After the final boss fight, Saga ends up in the mind place where she talks to herself for a 30 minute sequence where you simply put up some pictures up on a caseboard. It isnt just awful gameplay, and the worst climax ive experienced in a game recently, it's also a very poor form of storytelling. it's way worse than any walking segment Sony studios have made because it goes on for what feels like 30 fucking minutes. And thats basically 90% of the game.

This is what goes for best narrative nowadays? Has the industry lost their fucking minds? 90+ metacritic, awards for best narrative, gotys. GOTYs?...

as i've mentioned before, this is fundamentally the great revelation that finally frees saga from her mental torment:



now, granted, it's a great tune (listening to it now while i replay fallout 4). but as a 'best narrative'? not so sure...

 

[Zathalus]

Critics don't know shit.

No cap, Forspoken is 100x the game AW2 is. The gameplay is way more involving and there is actually 30+ hours of gameplay alone in forspoken.
And I liked story and characters more too. The lore is very in depth in forspoken (collectibles).
And what it sums up to? Everyone bandwagon hated it.
industry claerly has shown that great gameplay and new single player, gameplay focsed IP does not matter.
industry values slow, cinematic, no gameplay woke crap.

I understand what some people might like about AW2. But it's not a good game. Not by any margin. The industry is so fucked

I mentioned critics and players. Its not just critics that enjoy this game, the average player has greatly enjoyed it as well. Reception on basically everything where opinions like this can be shared has been extremely positive.

Its fine that you don't enjoy the game, but let's not pretend your opinion is in the majority. Or that enjoying this game reflects poorly on the industry as a whole, considering it's popularity pales in comparison to something like Baldurs Gate 3 which ticks all the boxes you just stated as important.

Its a well received game that doesn't have extremely broad appeal, that's it.

care to elaborate? i wrote a lot and would love to see which points you disagree with or what you actually liked about the story.

I wont lie. I was into the story when Saga was investigating stuff, but every time it cut to Alan's retarded sections where he writes different scenarios in every single area he goes to just completely killed it for me. Then Saga goes to the nursing home and instead of it being a cool metroidvania area like Cauldron Lake or Watery, it turns into an Alan Wake 2 style writing marathon, only it takes place in her head.

I am sorry but thats not good gameplay or storytelling. Whatever scenarios Alan was writing had nothing to do with what saga was experiencing either. He shouldve been IN bright falls rewriting saga's reality when saga was there. but no, hes in some theater, some subway, some hotel. like wtf does any of this have to do with saga? how is this fun gameplay or storytelling?

I enjoyed most of everything you listed, the monologue, the talking, the meta commentary, and the exploration of the world. I didn't enjoy the constant jump scares and the original ending was a bit lame. The DLC did fix the ending though but it requires a second playthrough to see (or look it up on YouTube). The combat is also quite poor when compared to Control or Max Payne.

 

[rofif]

I mentioned critics and players. Its not just critics that enjoy this game, the average player has greatly enjoyed it as well. Reception on basically everything where opinions like this can be shared has been extremely positive.

Its fine that you don't enjoy the game, but let's not pretend your opinion is in the majority. Or that enjoying this game reflects poorly on the industry as a whole, considering it's popularity pales in comparison to something like Baldurs Gate 3 which ticks all the boxes you just stated as important.

Its a well received game that doesn't have extremely broad appeal, that's it.


I enjoyed most of everything you listed, the monologue, the talking, the meta commentary, and the exploration of the world. I didn't enjoy the constant jump scares and the original ending was a bit lame. The DLC did fix the ending though but it requires a second playthrough to see (or look it up on YouTube). The combat is also quite poor when compared to Control or Max Payne.

But I am a target audience for AW2 and I hated it. It was a game made for me. Especially for me.
I love that stuff and I loved AW1.... anyway

 

[TexMex]

It’s never the game you expect that is universally loved on release then everyone retroactively says they always hated it.

 

[Certinty]

Overall, I enjoyed the game, definitely one of my favourites of last year.

But yeah, the narrative started well then became more or less of a shitshow, especially the ending.

The gameplay as well was pretty dry, but I never felt the game was long enough for it to hamper the experience.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

At least you can jerk off to this awesome graphics If you have decent PC.

 

[Zathalus]

Ok, so can you guys point me to some games that had a better gameplay/narrative experience than Alan Wake II.

Because it was my GOTY by far, so I must be missing out on some godly stuff for sure..

From 2023? Games with great narrative that I've played:

BG3
Talos Principle 2
Phantom Liberty
Slay the Princess

But I am a target audience for AW2 and I hated it. It was a game made for me. Especially for me.
I love that stuff and I loved AW1.... anyway

I thought I would love FF16 considering the tone and who the director was and it was a utter disappointment to me. I can fully acknowledge that I appear to be in the minority though.

 

[SantaC]

I made it about 10 minutes into it before turning it off.

Fire the writers!

MIght have the worst story i ever seen in a game.

How was this up for goty?

 

[Zathalus]

MIght have the worst story i ever seen in a game.

How was this up for goty?

Simple, opinions like that are a tiny minority. Some people on this forum think BG3 or Elden Ring suck as well.

 

[Roufianos]

The whole story just made me feel stupid, genuinely had no idea what certain points were about. I love complex narratives but man, being cryptic and weird as fuck all the time doesn't cut it.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I love boring games and Alan wake 1 was a good third person poltergeist game but sequels sucking is real.

 

[Danjin44]

Simple, opinions like that are a tiny minority. Some people on this forum think BG3 or Elden Ring suck as well.

 

[xrnzaaas]

It’s never the game you expect that is universally loved on release then everyone retroactively says they always hated it.

Alan 2 was universally praised by the journos and their opinions often differ from the typical userbase of a site like GAF. Plus I think that more and more people pick it up (thanks to various price drops) and you're not listening only to the feedback of the biggest fans who already bought it on day1.

 

[eNT1TY]

I wouldn't know, game was boring as shit stopped playing after a couple hours, it's graphics couldn't save it. Then again besides Quantum Break i cant stand most Remedy games though i always at least give them a chance despite knowing they will disappoint.

 

[nkarafo]

It's a mainstream AAA game made for the average consumer. It's expected that the story or direction isn't going to be any special. Just your ordinary, easy to digest tropes.

Also, Sweet Baby.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Terrible sequel. Franchise shouldve stayed dead. I loved the original.

 

[Danjin44]

The whole story just made me feel stupid, genuinely had no idea what certain points were about. I love complex narratives but man, being cryptic and weird as fuck all the time doesn't cut it.

When it comes complex narrative, 13 Sentinels just does it better and I was impressed how Kamitani able to pull off story like that.

 

[Northeastmonk]

For as much creativity as it had during some of its big set pieces. It fell flat exploring the parts that tie it together. I got so bored of putting the case together, the mindless internal dialogue, and very little life inside the town.

I thought they could have pulled it off, but the coffee shop had nothing amazing besides being a Twin Peaks diner rip off. Nothing in the city to see besides empty streets. There were some cool moments at the retirement facility, but that was my own interpretation of walking out of the basement and confronting an enemy. I’m not eager to replay it, but it was good for a single playthrough. I wouldn’t nominate it for any story award. That story went over my head. I had 0 empathy for the cast. The music during each episode was probably better than the overall plot.

 

[ozz ex machina]

I loved Alan Wake 2. I thought the tone and art style of the game incredible. Characters were all well written. Yes the story is surreal but it's at least original and has some amazing set pieces.

I'm so pleased Remedy got make this wierd, fun, unique masterpiece. The fact the game upsets turds makes it even more enjoyable to me.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

The game did garner a pretty high metacritic score that is consistent with the audience rating. I avoided it personally due to Sweet Baby involvement.

I‘m probably in the minority but I really enjoyed Quantum Break. For me that was the last good Remedy game. I played it as it was intended… with the intermittent live action episodes. Was totally unique and had a satisfying conclusion. I’m hoping for a sequel still but it would likely be underwhelming due to current day.

It’s funny, I don’t believe Remedy can do the Max Payne 1&2 remake as good as the originals. They will try and current day the game into oblivion. They seem to have lost their edge.

 

[Rockman33]

This was definitely one of those games that really confused me with the great critical scores. I played about 10 hours. Found it extremely boring and un fun.

 

[Beer Baelly]

The game did garner a pretty high metacritic score that is consistent with the audience rating. I avoided it personally due to Sweet Baby involvement.

I‘m probably in the minority but I really enjoyed Quantum Break. For me that was the last good Remedy game. I played it as it was intended… with the intermittent live action episodes. Was totally unique and had a satisfying conclusion. I’m hoping for a sequel still but it would likely be underwhelming due to current day.

It’s funny, I don’t believe Remedy could do a Max Payne game as good as the first two anymore. They seem to have lost their edge.

But Sam Lake is the ultimate edgelord.

 

[yamaci17]

I am sorry but thats not good gameplay or storytelling. Whatever scenarios Alan was writing had nothing to do with what saga was experiencing either. He shouldve been IN bright falls rewriting saga's reality when saga was there. but no, hes in some theater, some subway, some hotel. like wtf does any of this have to do with saga? how is this fun gameplay or storytelling?

like wtf does any of this have to do with saga?

because alan is trapped in the dark place that manifests around the place he and his wife stayed in new york. the original overlap that allowed scratch/alan to reach alice formed there. then from that point onwards, Alan was trapped in a manifestation of new york/hotel place in dark place. but since his writing also affects bright falls, what he writes comes into existence in different forms in bright falls. the magical place is always bright falls in this specific AEW. so he writes stories about murders happening in new york/alex casey stuff.

I'd say read about connections between dark place events and overlaps and you will see why it has anything to do with Saga. those overlaps do occur because of alan wrote them.

Overlap

Overlaps are areas where reality and the Dark Place touch for a brief moment, allowing entities in both worlds to communicate and/or interact with each other. One may also cross over into an Overlap, always through some form of ritual, allowing one to cross over to a surreal world that is like a...

alanwake.fandom.com

Example:

"The Huotari Well in Coffee World. Formed due to association with the story of the Huotari Brothers, who used the well to dump the bodies of their murder victims.
Alternate narrative: Return set up the accidental murder of townsperson Monica Thompson by deputies Mulligan and Thornton, who tried to cover up the crime by hiding the body in the Huotari Well. The Dark Presence could then corrupt the deputies by taking advantage of their fear and guilt. Saga Anderson managed to enter the Overlap by finishing a parade float depicting the Huotari brothers dumping bodies in the well."

Alan writes a story about two corrupt cops killing somebody and dumping the body. He writes these stories to create his own escape, to create overlaps in the real world, Bright Falls. Then the story comes true and Mulligan and Thornton kills a person by mistake then dump in her in that well in bright falls. After a while he starts noticing that Saga found these overlaps. So he starts creating more overlaps to reach Saga and help her continue her path.

if you pay attention to alex casey flashbacks, there's a flashback where two cops dumping a body down to a chute. story is full of these details and events that... overlap each other. naturally Saga is caught up in it. it is a spiral of a story and unless you accept it as such, it will never make sense or satisfy you. i can kind of get you not liking the story but obviously there are some connections you missed that some others make and find enjoyment out of. I personally liked the story a lot due to the connections above and more. I can go on and on. The story needs a lot of focus and attention or it may just get over your head. It is why NG+ is important. Not necessarily required though, I did most of the critical connections as I played.

also i do not agree on 2 hour combat part. It felt longer than that to me. I think that depends if you explore extra areas because enemies usually spawn more in extra areas that you can explore. if you focus on story, it is true combat sequences are rare. but extra areas had a lot of enemies to beat and it was just enough to keep me engaged

alex casey monologues alone would hard carry any game. they're just good. if they didn't impress you, there's not much anyone can do to convince you otherwise. you may say "you're dumb for getting impressed by them" if you want to. idk. every time I came across a flashback I was super engaged with the ambience and the way the stories told and the emotions it conveyed. It is not something every game can achieve and for me that is super valuable. besides it has a lot of connections with Control. the whole FBC thing, tons of references you see about them here and there. it just is fun to me and I get engaged when I see them. what can I do about it? not enjoy it? it is not something I necessarily control you know. You just enjoy something or not. And there's no shame in not liking it.

"After the final boss fight, Saga ends up in the mind place where she talks to herself for a 30 minute sequence where you simply put up some pictures up on a caseboard"

I simply can't agree with this one. It was one of the best story sequences ever told in a video game. You don't really understand how Dark Place challenges people and how Saga is a parautilitarian like Alan Wake and his father (probably mr. door). She has to fight Dark Place on its own terms, if she's to beat Dark Place, she has to do it the "detective way". Dark Place has her trapped and is feeding her insecurities about how horrible of a mom and co worker she has been. She has to be methodical and one by one reach to the conclusions that she is not. Even we, as players, know that she's not a bad mom and a bad co worker. Story tires to manifests itself as true where Logan dies and she's a horrible mom. So of course she will place pictures as she tries to regain her composure against Dark Place.

It is a metaphorical fight against her own insecurities that are powered by Dark Place to extreme degree. It is meant to convey that. And I personally loved it.

What did you expect from such a plot? a final epic boss, really? this game is not about that. it is about trying to beat the story. A STORY. stories are written. you cannot beat dark place by shooting all over it. you have to REWRITE your own story. you have to speak with yourself if needs be. because you're your own inspiration when it comes to writing story. it is the same with alan wake where he talks to himself all the time. because it is his story. he cannot simply go and ask someone else to write a story. in the end they co-write the ending but only because Saga now understood the rules of dark place and how reality interacts with it.

Should I go more? I'm sure you will speak against many points I made but I don't really want to argue/discuss, so I'd say don't bother. I wrote this because you asked the other person "what you liked". so just consider these are what I liked about it. if you find these explanations rubbish, don't really try to argue because you won't be able to change my mind

 

[Fake]

Is so bizzare that only the name remains, but nothing that make the first Alan Wake popular was in the game.

This is like a scary suspence cheap movie. Almost like a totally different game, but with Alan Wake name in the box.

 

[Mortisfacio]

Boring as fuck story

Boring as fuck gameplay

Boring as fuck characters

Boring as fuck enemies

Boring as fuck game

Bin it

This thread is about Alan Wake, not The Last of Us.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

This thread is about Alan Wake, not The Last of Us.

Alan Wake wishes it could achieve even a fraction of the greatness that is The Last of Us

 

[Spyxos]

The part with the song was great and the caffe world, the rest I found rather dull.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

This game is such a fucking wet, pretentious fart overall. They needed to improve the gameplay and level design, not put everything but the C-grade Stephen King and David Lynch ripoff drivel on the backburner.

It's staggering how far up their own asses Remedy were with this game and I was REALLY excited for it. It literally did nothing that I felt needed improvement in the first game. The Mind Place is a joke as well.

 

[TGO]

Yeah I was gonna get this if/when a physical release happened, but I might wait for a price drop on that too.

 

[JimmyRustler]

The biggest problem I had with story is that after 30 hours it literally moves NOWHERE.

I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that Remedy finally got another shot at the series after so many years and didn’t think it would be a good idea to give the story any progress whatsoever. If they ever make part 3 you already know part 2 can be cut and it would not make any difference.