"Water is the memory of the world. Water finds its way."
--
"Now, when the monster comes, I turn it into art. My nightmares caught on film"
Was originally planning on getting a PS5 when Death Stranding 2 eventually gets released in another year or two. That was until seeing Herald of Darkness performed at The Game Awards. Was already very interested in this game (without any knowledge of the song/section) and then saw that performance, said "fuck" to myself upon realizing that fucker Geoff Keighley got me exactly where he wanted me to be, and went to Best Buy two days later. Herald of Darkness section definitely lived up to my expectations of how they could possibly implement that song into the game but the rest of it is extremely neat too!
Finland Twin Peaks (overused, I know, but there's no better compliment!) that truly knows it's a videogame! What really brings this up to a 5/5 is the use of projections and the darkness. Walking in the woods at night with a flashlight barely getting light through the pitch blackness with Taken wandering all around is so unbelievably unnerving even while playing the game with the sun out. Horrifying atmosphere that just sucks you right into this Silent Hill type hell. The use of projections, fades, and mixture of graphics and real life footage here provide some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen. Kind of joins the Metal Gear Solid series for me where I didn't particularly enjoy engaging in the core combat but love the games for how they utilize this medium to tell their stories. Less for MGS given all the neat variety in it's combat but especially for Alan Wake II for the combat here (more or less, a simple point & shoot with the occasional Alan Wake pimp slap) ranges from a 1/5 to a 3/5 (sometimes a 4/5 on a good day). While certainly not the point/main focus of the game, with this coming from Remedy and with how good the combat is in Max Payne and Control it's kind of shocking how it was never not clunky here and I have yet to read any of the narrative that could suggest that this was on purpose (maybe? Even if...). Of course, comparing it to MGS in this regard is just about the highest praise I can give anything and I wouldn't be giving this a 5/5 if the combat TRULY bothered me (when it hits that 4/5 it's a WILD time). Everything else from the narrative, structure, visuals, sound, and exploration is so unbelievably inspiring that there's no way I can't give this anything less than a 5/5.
Sometime down the line I'll play through the Final Draft/New Game+ mode given from what I've read it sounds completely next-level when compared to the standard NG+ mode, but that's for another time for I've been playing this for too long now. Besides, the spirit of Alan Wake will still be with me for a long, long time anyways as Herald of Darkness [Radio Edit] continues to secure its position as my most listened to song on Spotify this year and I am very, very happy about that.
--
"Now, when the monster comes, I turn it into art. My nightmares caught on film"
Was originally planning on getting a PS5 when Death Stranding 2 eventually gets released in another year or two. That was until seeing Herald of Darkness performed at The Game Awards. Was already very interested in this game (without any knowledge of the song/section) and then saw that performance, said "fuck" to myself upon realizing that fucker Geoff Keighley got me exactly where he wanted me to be, and went to Best Buy two days later. Herald of Darkness section definitely lived up to my expectations of how they could possibly implement that song into the game but the rest of it is extremely neat too!
Finland Twin Peaks (overused, I know, but there's no better compliment!) that truly knows it's a videogame! What really brings this up to a 5/5 is the use of projections and the darkness. Walking in the woods at night with a flashlight barely getting light through the pitch blackness with Taken wandering all around is so unbelievably unnerving even while playing the game with the sun out. Horrifying atmosphere that just sucks you right into this Silent Hill type hell. The use of projections, fades, and mixture of graphics and real life footage here provide some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen. Kind of joins the Metal Gear Solid series for me where I didn't particularly enjoy engaging in the core combat but love the games for how they utilize this medium to tell their stories. Less for MGS given all the neat variety in it's combat but especially for Alan Wake II for the combat here (more or less, a simple point & shoot with the occasional Alan Wake pimp slap) ranges from a 1/5 to a 3/5 (sometimes a 4/5 on a good day). While certainly not the point/main focus of the game, with this coming from Remedy and with how good the combat is in Max Payne and Control it's kind of shocking how it was never not clunky here and I have yet to read any of the narrative that could suggest that this was on purpose (maybe? Even if...). Of course, comparing it to MGS in this regard is just about the highest praise I can give anything and I wouldn't be giving this a 5/5 if the combat TRULY bothered me (when it hits that 4/5 it's a WILD time). Everything else from the narrative, structure, visuals, sound, and exploration is so unbelievably inspiring that there's no way I can't give this anything less than a 5/5.
Sometime down the line I'll play through the Final Draft/New Game+ mode given from what I've read it sounds completely next-level when compared to the standard NG+ mode, but that's for another time for I've been playing this for too long now. Besides, the spirit of Alan Wake will still be with me for a long, long time anyways as Herald of Darkness [Radio Edit] continues to secure its position as my most listened to song on Spotify this year and I am very, very happy about that.