One of the most stylish games of all time. A phenomenal audio visual package that melds bleeding edge tech, wonderful art direction, and tremendously campy FMV to make something truly memorable and unique. Whatever you do or don't get out of the rest of the game, there is no denying the presentation of this game.
And to me, the rest is truly excellent; takes the lessons of Control and every other game since Remedy made the first Alan Wake -- to deliver something that isn't just a worthy sequel, but really something that makes good on the promising but deeply flawed original game.
There are some growing pains, as Remedy ventures into new territory with a real-ass survival horror game - unlike any of the action heavy stuff they've previously done. And in some ways it feels like a horror from the PS1 golden era, warts and all. The shooting feels good mostly, but your characters are definitely not nimble and it is certainly evoking a classic Resident Evil mindset where you aren't supposed to feel like Rambo; combat should be intense, and unsure. But coupled with the very spotty checkpointing, there was some frustrations for me.
As for the story; I loved it. I love Remedy's worlds (or world, I guess. Singular) - and Saga is easily their best ever protagonist. Yes, even over Max Payne - who I love but is obviously a 2D pastiche of movie cliches. My only concern is the ending, which I won't get into here. I really hope it isn't expanded upon in a DLC chapter, because that would feel cheap and lame. I hope they leave it as is. I won't say any more because it's impossible without spoiling anything.
And to me, the rest is truly excellent; takes the lessons of Control and every other game since Remedy made the first Alan Wake -- to deliver something that isn't just a worthy sequel, but really something that makes good on the promising but deeply flawed original game.
There are some growing pains, as Remedy ventures into new territory with a real-ass survival horror game - unlike any of the action heavy stuff they've previously done. And in some ways it feels like a horror from the PS1 golden era, warts and all. The shooting feels good mostly, but your characters are definitely not nimble and it is certainly evoking a classic Resident Evil mindset where you aren't supposed to feel like Rambo; combat should be intense, and unsure. But coupled with the very spotty checkpointing, there was some frustrations for me.
As for the story; I loved it. I love Remedy's worlds (or world, I guess. Singular) - and Saga is easily their best ever protagonist. Yes, even over Max Payne - who I love but is obviously a 2D pastiche of movie cliches. My only concern is the ending, which I won't get into here. I really hope it isn't expanded upon in a DLC chapter, because that would feel cheap and lame. I hope they leave it as is. I won't say any more because it's impossible without spoiling anything.