The first thing I gotta say about this game, which I don't see mentioned as often as it should, is that the optimization on display here is mouth-watering. 2023 was home to tons of poorly optimized games and devs using the high requirements as crutches. This here? This should be the gold standard. This game is the first one that puts SSD as a minimum requirement that actually makes it worth it. The "menu" in this game is an independently rendered 3D room with all of the collectibles, upgrades and records laid out, and you physically walk around with your character in it. You can enter this "Mind Palace" at ANY TIME during gameplay and the game NEVER stutters for it. My PC is average at best and I ran the game on medium-specs, having to downgrade to low in some visual-intensive areas, and the game still holds together with high FPS and no stutters. Speaking of graphical qualities, this game on low is much more beautiful than a lot of other modern titles on high. Seriously, I can't praise the optimization work in this game enough.
Onto the other aspects of the game though: Gameplay is overall great. Adding a second protagonist with Saga Anderson was a great call to adding some balance to Alan's excessive brooding-ness. The detective mechanics in her gameplay are amazing, and makes me wish Remedy does an investigation game in the future while improving on this system. Combat is pretty much Resident Evil, but slightly worse. Remedy is STILL insisting on making overly bullet sponge enemies, the kind that would put RE2R zombies to shame, and they don't trust you with resource management and therefore resort to the almost demeaning mechanic of dynamic drops. Are you low on ammo? Enemies start dropping resources and every single box or drawer has ammo in it. Do you save ammo by using the crossbow and/or carefully placing headshots so that you always kill an enemy with the least amount of bullets needed? Have fun opening 5 empty containers in a row. If you want to copy the RE formula, you need to understand why it works. Either reduce the enemy density and health, or make resource management a required skill to play it. This is the major thing holding back an otherwise solid gameplay. My only other complaint is a really personal gripe, but I hate that HUD with a burning passion. Boring, lifeless and generic. You could put that in any other TPS and it wouldn't feel out of place because that thing doesn't have an ounce of personality. For a game with such an strong artistic design in other areas, this HUD feels like a stock option you get off an Unreal Asset Store.
Story is an improvement over the first game, but it still uses the Stephen King's precepts as a crutch too often. I can't say that the story is bad, but it's also not conclusive and entirely depends on Alan Wake 3 if we're ever gonna judge its quality because so far it only runs in circles. (Or a spiral... No context spoiler FTW). The narrative is great. The way it tells the story is compelling, I just hope the actual story in the end is worth all this meandering.
All in all, it's a great game. One of 2023's best. There's still room for improvement though.
Onto the other aspects of the game though: Gameplay is overall great. Adding a second protagonist with Saga Anderson was a great call to adding some balance to Alan's excessive brooding-ness. The detective mechanics in her gameplay are amazing, and makes me wish Remedy does an investigation game in the future while improving on this system. Combat is pretty much Resident Evil, but slightly worse. Remedy is STILL insisting on making overly bullet sponge enemies, the kind that would put RE2R zombies to shame, and they don't trust you with resource management and therefore resort to the almost demeaning mechanic of dynamic drops. Are you low on ammo? Enemies start dropping resources and every single box or drawer has ammo in it. Do you save ammo by using the crossbow and/or carefully placing headshots so that you always kill an enemy with the least amount of bullets needed? Have fun opening 5 empty containers in a row. If you want to copy the RE formula, you need to understand why it works. Either reduce the enemy density and health, or make resource management a required skill to play it. This is the major thing holding back an otherwise solid gameplay. My only other complaint is a really personal gripe, but I hate that HUD with a burning passion. Boring, lifeless and generic. You could put that in any other TPS and it wouldn't feel out of place because that thing doesn't have an ounce of personality. For a game with such an strong artistic design in other areas, this HUD feels like a stock option you get off an Unreal Asset Store.
Story is an improvement over the first game, but it still uses the Stephen King's precepts as a crutch too often. I can't say that the story is bad, but it's also not conclusive and entirely depends on Alan Wake 3 if we're ever gonna judge its quality because so far it only runs in circles. (Or a spiral... No context spoiler FTW). The narrative is great. The way it tells the story is compelling, I just hope the actual story in the end is worth all this meandering.
All in all, it's a great game. One of 2023's best. There's still room for improvement though.