TrevorMason117
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My name is Trevor. I do things.
My name is Trevor. I do things.
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GOTY '23
Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event
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November 5th, 2023: Had a great time playing this one. The story was as confusing as ever which is expected for Alan Wake, the combat was far better than the original, the live action sequences were fantastic and fun to see as a movie guy myself, and the core combat system never got repetitive unlike the original for me.
Only reason why this is four stars instead of five is because I was severely disappointed with how the game ended. 13 years and we got another cliffhanger, but it's worse this time cause unlike the original game, there's way too many questions unanswered to justify the game ending right there in that point in time. The story in general is excellent and there's nothing wrong with the writing, but it's the fact that the game ended right there instead of wrapping up everything that could also lead into sequels like what Remedy wants.
I was also not a fan of the Chapter Songs in this game, that's a personal thing. The songs in the original game were far better and whenever Poets of the Fall showed up, they stole the show without much effort since the competition isn't very good.
But yeah, great game overall. Kinda sucks that Remedy held back story content for New Game Plus, the second expansion, and possible sequels.
January 2nd, 2024: I'm done with the game. I get what Remedy was trying to do with The Final Draft, but it was one of the most miserable experiences I've ever sat through in my life. I enjoyed playing the game in the first run, I did. But being forced to replay the ENTIRE game again just to get the ending you want with almost ZERO differences during the journey to get there was one of the most grueling gaming experiences I've ever sat through especially since the game already starting to get repetitive by the normal end. Yes, the ending is fixed. Though saying "fixed" is a stretch in of itself. Some characters do have closure now, but getting there is just as painful as being Alan Wake in The Dark Place writing Return for 13 years. And it's because you already played this before. It makes sense from a narrative perspective, but OneShot Solstice did this much better cause at least Solstice was actually different so you wouldn't get bored getting to the new unraveling of mysteries. In here, you are literally repeating the game just so you can get a new ending. Again, it fits the looping concept, but it is so mind-numbingly boring and repetitive where you wish you could stop playing. Instead of using New Game Plus like how it is in most games, why not make The Final Draft a full experience like the main game and then give us New Game Plus after finishing both Main Game and Final Draft. Main Game Plus and Final Draft Plus would've been far better than this. New Game Plus should only ever be used for when you want to just replay the game, not forcing yourself to replay the game for a new plot point unless if you actually take this concept and fully flesh it out instead of pulling a half measure like what this mode was.
With The Final Draft, the pacing is completely fucked and the game doesn't even justify its now 30 hour runtime. If it wasn't for my devotion to my boyfriend, I wouldn't have finished the game and just look up the new ending on YouTube instead. OneShot Solstice did this exact same thing and did it better in every single way imaginable. Not to mention when you think of the plot in a way where you can piece it together, it gave me a migraine and I barely understand it in the end. I should also mention that the new ending doesn't even fix all the issues I had with the original finale. It fixes some things, doesn't resolve some things that should be resolved, and it creates even more questions. So there's that.
Overall with everything now available, Alan Wake II left me with a sense of sadness cause I had a great time with the game until the original ending and once it happened, it was all downhill from there and it only got worse once I realized that The Final Draft was a literal half baked concept wasting the potential of what could've been taking the concept of New Game Plus and making it a new experience within itself, yet The Final Draft barely does anything worthwhile to justify the New Game Plus run or even the excessive runtime especially for Survival Horror standards.
Alan Wake II is an artistic achievement still, but it could've done so much more instead of tripping at the finish line so hard that it scuffs any enjoyment I previously had with it. The original Alan Wake is a far better experience for me. Even if it has it's sloppy controls and floaty combat, it's a far more satisfying experience compared to the sequel and at least you aren't forced to replay the game again to get the ending.
Only reason why this is four stars instead of five is because I was severely disappointed with how the game ended. 13 years and we got another cliffhanger, but it's worse this time cause unlike the original game, there's way too many questions unanswered to justify the game ending right there in that point in time. The story in general is excellent and there's nothing wrong with the writing, but it's the fact that the game ended right there instead of wrapping up everything that could also lead into sequels like what Remedy wants.
I was also not a fan of the Chapter Songs in this game, that's a personal thing. The songs in the original game were far better and whenever Poets of the Fall showed up, they stole the show without much effort since the competition isn't very good.
But yeah, great game overall. Kinda sucks that Remedy held back story content for New Game Plus, the second expansion, and possible sequels.
January 2nd, 2024: I'm done with the game. I get what Remedy was trying to do with The Final Draft, but it was one of the most miserable experiences I've ever sat through in my life. I enjoyed playing the game in the first run, I did. But being forced to replay the ENTIRE game again just to get the ending you want with almost ZERO differences during the journey to get there was one of the most grueling gaming experiences I've ever sat through especially since the game already starting to get repetitive by the normal end. Yes, the ending is fixed. Though saying "fixed" is a stretch in of itself. Some characters do have closure now, but getting there is just as painful as being Alan Wake in The Dark Place writing Return for 13 years. And it's because you already played this before. It makes sense from a narrative perspective, but OneShot Solstice did this much better cause at least Solstice was actually different so you wouldn't get bored getting to the new unraveling of mysteries. In here, you are literally repeating the game just so you can get a new ending. Again, it fits the looping concept, but it is so mind-numbingly boring and repetitive where you wish you could stop playing. Instead of using New Game Plus like how it is in most games, why not make The Final Draft a full experience like the main game and then give us New Game Plus after finishing both Main Game and Final Draft. Main Game Plus and Final Draft Plus would've been far better than this. New Game Plus should only ever be used for when you want to just replay the game, not forcing yourself to replay the game for a new plot point unless if you actually take this concept and fully flesh it out instead of pulling a half measure like what this mode was.
With The Final Draft, the pacing is completely fucked and the game doesn't even justify its now 30 hour runtime. If it wasn't for my devotion to my boyfriend, I wouldn't have finished the game and just look up the new ending on YouTube instead. OneShot Solstice did this exact same thing and did it better in every single way imaginable. Not to mention when you think of the plot in a way where you can piece it together, it gave me a migraine and I barely understand it in the end. I should also mention that the new ending doesn't even fix all the issues I had with the original finale. It fixes some things, doesn't resolve some things that should be resolved, and it creates even more questions. So there's that.
Overall with everything now available, Alan Wake II left me with a sense of sadness cause I had a great time with the game until the original ending and once it happened, it was all downhill from there and it only got worse once I realized that The Final Draft was a literal half baked concept wasting the potential of what could've been taking the concept of New Game Plus and making it a new experience within itself, yet The Final Draft barely does anything worthwhile to justify the New Game Plus run or even the excessive runtime especially for Survival Horror standards.
Alan Wake II is an artistic achievement still, but it could've done so much more instead of tripping at the finish line so hard that it scuffs any enjoyment I previously had with it. The original Alan Wake is a far better experience for me. Even if it has it's sloppy controls and floaty combat, it's a far more satisfying experience compared to the sequel and at least you aren't forced to replay the game again to get the ending.
This is an absolute disgrace to the anthology genre and it's Devolver Digital's version of Twelve Minutes.
First of all, I wouldn't even call this an anthology to begin with. That's being generous. When making a short story collection, you need to make sure all the stories can be enjoyed on their own. Even if your collection has a framing device to escort you from story to story or even a theme for the collection at large, the actual tales within have to be fully standalone to be enjoyed on their own.
With that said, Stories Untold fails at its premise with having "stories" that are near non-existent outside of their premise, with the exception of The Lab Conduct, that are a front for a final story with the worst trope in all of fiction that makes you feel like you wasted your time and your patience getting through this "collection."
The House Abandon: You go home to find another person in your house. That's it. There is literally nothing else to this story once the premise is in the air and it ends before any interesting conflict can happen. We Never Left from Dread X Collection 5 is an infinitely better version of this and that was made by a collage student in comparison.
The Lab Conduct: The only interesting story in this game. You're a scientist conducting an experiment that goes wrong. Unlike the rest of the stories in this collection, this actually feels like a standalone short. The only issue I have with this one is that it ends abruptly.
The Station Process: You're a radio guy talking to two other stations as the rest of the world dies. That sounds like a great idea for a story, but guess what? There is barely any story in this one where literally nothing happens most of the time and the story ends before anything worthwhile can happen.
The Last Session: The worst offender and the reason why I call this game a disgrace to the genre. All three stories are intentionally designed to be as one note as possible so this story can happen. And what happens in this story? A PSA on why you shouldn't do [INSERT BAD THING HERE] while the entire anthology is rendered worthless. As soon as you realize what is going on from minute one, all of your investment in this collection is thrown out the window and it doesn't even have a conclusion to end the narrative. Nothing ends, nothing begins, and nothing matters. What is the point of doing an anthology if it's obvious you don't want to put in the effort to do one?
Now for the gameplay. It can be whatever, it can be fine, it can be repetitive, and it can be so boring that it would make you want to uninstall the game. Especially in the third episode. There's nothing more I can say about the gameplay other than I was bored with it mostly.
Overall, Stories Untold is a perfect example of how to not do a short story collection. The three shorts feel like a last minute addition compared to what the writer really wanted to do and so we got this as the result. A game that lures players in with the promise of interesting stories, only to pull the rug out of all of them with the worst storytelling cliche in history. At least V/H/S: Viral understood the concept of the genre it was set in.
First of all, I wouldn't even call this an anthology to begin with. That's being generous. When making a short story collection, you need to make sure all the stories can be enjoyed on their own. Even if your collection has a framing device to escort you from story to story or even a theme for the collection at large, the actual tales within have to be fully standalone to be enjoyed on their own.
With that said, Stories Untold fails at its premise with having "stories" that are near non-existent outside of their premise, with the exception of The Lab Conduct, that are a front for a final story with the worst trope in all of fiction that makes you feel like you wasted your time and your patience getting through this "collection."
The House Abandon: You go home to find another person in your house. That's it. There is literally nothing else to this story once the premise is in the air and it ends before any interesting conflict can happen. We Never Left from Dread X Collection 5 is an infinitely better version of this and that was made by a collage student in comparison.
The Lab Conduct: The only interesting story in this game. You're a scientist conducting an experiment that goes wrong. Unlike the rest of the stories in this collection, this actually feels like a standalone short. The only issue I have with this one is that it ends abruptly.
The Station Process: You're a radio guy talking to two other stations as the rest of the world dies. That sounds like a great idea for a story, but guess what? There is barely any story in this one where literally nothing happens most of the time and the story ends before anything worthwhile can happen.
The Last Session: The worst offender and the reason why I call this game a disgrace to the genre. All three stories are intentionally designed to be as one note as possible so this story can happen. And what happens in this story? A PSA on why you shouldn't do [INSERT BAD THING HERE] while the entire anthology is rendered worthless. As soon as you realize what is going on from minute one, all of your investment in this collection is thrown out the window and it doesn't even have a conclusion to end the narrative. Nothing ends, nothing begins, and nothing matters. What is the point of doing an anthology if it's obvious you don't want to put in the effort to do one?
Now for the gameplay. It can be whatever, it can be fine, it can be repetitive, and it can be so boring that it would make you want to uninstall the game. Especially in the third episode. There's nothing more I can say about the gameplay other than I was bored with it mostly.
Overall, Stories Untold is a perfect example of how to not do a short story collection. The three shorts feel like a last minute addition compared to what the writer really wanted to do and so we got this as the result. A game that lures players in with the promise of interesting stories, only to pull the rug out of all of them with the worst storytelling cliche in history. At least V/H/S: Viral understood the concept of the genre it was set in.
This review contains spoilers
The Callisto Protocol is a successor to Dead Space, yet it has nothing in common with Dead Space at all when you actually play the game aside from visual cues like the HUD being minimal.
In short, I enjoyed the game. I went into the game with as low expectations as possible given the game's awful launch on PC and with how people don't like the game, yet I came out of the game liking it. It's not perfect though and I'll tell you that.
The story is very generic and painfully average. At least in Dead Space, the Unitologists weren't the main villains of the game since they were both undeniably stupid and the worst part of the franchise lore. That's not the case here in Callisto. Sure, you beat the hell out of the Biophage in the game, but the UJC is very much the villain of the game with motivations that would make every sci-fy fan facepalm in disappointment due to seeing all of this stuff hundreds of times before. The character writing is good enough, but you barely spend any time with these guys to care about them all that much before you're thrown into the horrendous "character gets separated from group" cliché multiple times to the point where you seriously wonder if the writing team were out of ideas. It's quite hilarious how The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, an audio drama that released six weeks before the game did, has an infinitely better story than the game it's advertising.
The game's ending is also an absolute joke of a conclusion. In Dead Space, everything was wrapped up except for Isaac's connection to the Marker. In Callisto, the game ends with so many loose ends where you are wondering where the fuck is the rest of the game once the credits begin. Pretty scummy to lock off the rest of the game to that story DLC coming later this year.
Gameplay. It's fun. It's actually pretty fun. Gets repetitive though and you can increasingly feel that for the entire game. The Melee combat is not fleshed out at all and feels very basic, and this is what you're going to be doing for the entire game if you want to save ammo. Ranged combat is meaty and full of weight so there's that. The GRP, I like this thing, but it breaks the game with letting you be able to throw the enemies off of ledges and into spikes. Turning the game into a cakewalk and I'm a guy who hates hard games so that should say something. At least there's a timer system so you don't abuse it at the start, but I'm sure some experts can already do that when you upgrade it halfway. Even with my complaints here, I ended up enjoying the combat loop due to the animations for the Melee combat to be visceral and packing a punch. Trust me, if they didn't, the game would've gotten very stale.
Overall I liked Callisto. It's a flawed game, but you can a good time with it if you set your expectations low unlike most people. The game can be fun, the voice cast is nice despite Sam Witwer barely being in the game to the point of contention, the animations are Medium Well Done, and levels are fun to run around in.
Is it worth $70 though despite it not having New Game+, Hardcore Mode, and the game's final act being cut for DLC? Fuck no.
In short, I enjoyed the game. I went into the game with as low expectations as possible given the game's awful launch on PC and with how people don't like the game, yet I came out of the game liking it. It's not perfect though and I'll tell you that.
The story is very generic and painfully average. At least in Dead Space, the Unitologists weren't the main villains of the game since they were both undeniably stupid and the worst part of the franchise lore. That's not the case here in Callisto. Sure, you beat the hell out of the Biophage in the game, but the UJC is very much the villain of the game with motivations that would make every sci-fy fan facepalm in disappointment due to seeing all of this stuff hundreds of times before. The character writing is good enough, but you barely spend any time with these guys to care about them all that much before you're thrown into the horrendous "character gets separated from group" cliché multiple times to the point where you seriously wonder if the writing team were out of ideas. It's quite hilarious how The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, an audio drama that released six weeks before the game did, has an infinitely better story than the game it's advertising.
The game's ending is also an absolute joke of a conclusion. In Dead Space, everything was wrapped up except for Isaac's connection to the Marker. In Callisto, the game ends with so many loose ends where you are wondering where the fuck is the rest of the game once the credits begin. Pretty scummy to lock off the rest of the game to that story DLC coming later this year.
Gameplay. It's fun. It's actually pretty fun. Gets repetitive though and you can increasingly feel that for the entire game. The Melee combat is not fleshed out at all and feels very basic, and this is what you're going to be doing for the entire game if you want to save ammo. Ranged combat is meaty and full of weight so there's that. The GRP, I like this thing, but it breaks the game with letting you be able to throw the enemies off of ledges and into spikes. Turning the game into a cakewalk and I'm a guy who hates hard games so that should say something. At least there's a timer system so you don't abuse it at the start, but I'm sure some experts can already do that when you upgrade it halfway. Even with my complaints here, I ended up enjoying the combat loop due to the animations for the Melee combat to be visceral and packing a punch. Trust me, if they didn't, the game would've gotten very stale.
Overall I liked Callisto. It's a flawed game, but you can a good time with it if you set your expectations low unlike most people. The game can be fun, the voice cast is nice despite Sam Witwer barely being in the game to the point of contention, the animations are Medium Well Done, and levels are fun to run around in.
Is it worth $70 though despite it not having New Game+, Hardcore Mode, and the game's final act being cut for DLC? Fuck no.