The central narrative problem with the first Alan Wake was the overly simple metaphor that dominated its focus; it's the light versus the darkness, and the light is the power of art, and the darkness is some sort of nebulous bad vibes or something. To be honest, I don't really care all that much. This metaphor continues to be the central focus of Alan Wake II but is made more nuanced by the introduction of our second protagonist, Saga Anderson. Saga, being a detective, rather than an artist, faces different demons and insecurities than Alan, and has her own ways of dealing with them. Art is certainly powerful, but that doesn't mean it's the only or even best way of dealing with our internal struggles - at the very least it depends on the person, and presenting it in such a metaphysical binary as light vs dark runs the risk of making a rather masturbatory work of art.
Now, just because it's careful not to oversell the importance of art, doesn't mean Alan Wake II doesn't love art; this is a Remedy game after all. Hilariously crass and deadpan commercials, a twenty minute short film, a level set in an interactive theater, another set set in a cheesy theme park, even the talk show and a set piece I dare not spoil here, this game is stuffed with impressive recreations of various ways humans express themselves and communicate with each other. Add to that Remedy's ever improving presentation skills, (the best in the business, no less) with flourishes such as live action superimposed over gameplay and the arresting imagery of the stock videos accompanying the monologues read from the plot altering manuscript pages, and of course, Ilkka Villi's ability to portray the most baffled man in history purely through facial expressions, and you have a rich visual vocabulary that makes for a fantastic horror experience.
Further benefiting from Remedy's pitch perfect presentation are the environments. Bright Falls is a cozy enclave from what feels like insurmountable wilderness, Watery is an impoverished yet tight knit rural community, but it is Nightmare New York that stands out as an all timer of a video game setting. Drowning in smog and rain, awash in neon, and flooded with garbage, it is devoid of people and yet it feels eerily alive. Exploring the lush details in these environments is paired with the fundamentally solid bones of Resident Evil 2 Remake’s gameplay, which combines straight forward adventure game style puzzles with fairly standard third person shooting combat. It's managing resources and inventory space that provides the tension vital for making horror game work, and the combat encounters do a good job of having the player stockpiling necessities and blowing through powerful items such as flares and flash grenades to make it through. Additionally, the ambiguity of which shadow presences in Alan’s levels were hostile and which were just standing there, menacingly, made even just navigating those areas perpetually unsettling, and I never felt safe in the dark woods around Bright Falls. Unsurprisingly though, for a Remedy game, the enemy variety is rather thin, but the teleporting enemies make me wish it was thinner still. At least there's a truly inspired new monster design in the halfway point of Saga’s campaign, which leaves a tantalizing glimpse into what could be if enemy variety is given a greater focus in future Remedy titles.
Playing through the game, between the previously described components and the gripping roller coaster thrills of the plot, there was one thing I was worried would prevent the game reaching masterpiece status; an unsatisfying ending, such as those that plagued Alan Wake and Control. Initially, my fears bore fruit, with an ending that forced a cliffhanger and a seeming sequel tease, and with the games industry undergoing a calamitous contraction in the wake of pandemic over-speculation and rising interest rates, good luck getting that made. However, the NG+ ending, entitled The Final Cut, adds a resolution to the cliffhanger as well as additional details that recontextualize the game and entire Remedyverse into seemingly being the machinations of an almost cosmic horror-like entity, providing ample fodder for fascinating theory crafting. I am a bit conflicted about the somewhat steep ask of having the player replay the entire game (full disclosure; I haven't yet played the Final Cut and I instead watched this playlist for the sake of this review) but it is narratively and thematically justified, commentating on the twisted nature of Alan's predicament and the extreme lengths required to make art feel ‘real.’ There are some unrelated narrative quibbles that I have as well. The Sheriff Breaker stuff is baffling, as a normal person who did not play Quantum Break, and the strangeness surrounding the game’s depiction of Sam Lake and the real and fictional Alex Casey is too weird for such a hurried cop out of an explanation. Still, I am ultimately satisfied with the ending and that is all I wanted. Should this be the end of Alan Wake, aside from the DLC, I am quite grateful we got such a bold and confident game from a franchise that had once seemed destined to die in obscurity.
Also, how is the game that produced this video still not profitable? What is wrong with ya’ll?
Now, just because it's careful not to oversell the importance of art, doesn't mean Alan Wake II doesn't love art; this is a Remedy game after all. Hilariously crass and deadpan commercials, a twenty minute short film, a level set in an interactive theater, another set set in a cheesy theme park, even the talk show and a set piece I dare not spoil here, this game is stuffed with impressive recreations of various ways humans express themselves and communicate with each other. Add to that Remedy's ever improving presentation skills, (the best in the business, no less) with flourishes such as live action superimposed over gameplay and the arresting imagery of the stock videos accompanying the monologues read from the plot altering manuscript pages, and of course, Ilkka Villi's ability to portray the most baffled man in history purely through facial expressions, and you have a rich visual vocabulary that makes for a fantastic horror experience.
Further benefiting from Remedy's pitch perfect presentation are the environments. Bright Falls is a cozy enclave from what feels like insurmountable wilderness, Watery is an impoverished yet tight knit rural community, but it is Nightmare New York that stands out as an all timer of a video game setting. Drowning in smog and rain, awash in neon, and flooded with garbage, it is devoid of people and yet it feels eerily alive. Exploring the lush details in these environments is paired with the fundamentally solid bones of Resident Evil 2 Remake’s gameplay, which combines straight forward adventure game style puzzles with fairly standard third person shooting combat. It's managing resources and inventory space that provides the tension vital for making horror game work, and the combat encounters do a good job of having the player stockpiling necessities and blowing through powerful items such as flares and flash grenades to make it through. Additionally, the ambiguity of which shadow presences in Alan’s levels were hostile and which were just standing there, menacingly, made even just navigating those areas perpetually unsettling, and I never felt safe in the dark woods around Bright Falls. Unsurprisingly though, for a Remedy game, the enemy variety is rather thin, but the teleporting enemies make me wish it was thinner still. At least there's a truly inspired new monster design in the halfway point of Saga’s campaign, which leaves a tantalizing glimpse into what could be if enemy variety is given a greater focus in future Remedy titles.
Playing through the game, between the previously described components and the gripping roller coaster thrills of the plot, there was one thing I was worried would prevent the game reaching masterpiece status; an unsatisfying ending, such as those that plagued Alan Wake and Control. Initially, my fears bore fruit, with an ending that forced a cliffhanger and a seeming sequel tease, and with the games industry undergoing a calamitous contraction in the wake of pandemic over-speculation and rising interest rates, good luck getting that made. However, the NG+ ending, entitled The Final Cut, adds a resolution to the cliffhanger as well as additional details that recontextualize the game and entire Remedyverse into seemingly being the machinations of an almost cosmic horror-like entity, providing ample fodder for fascinating theory crafting. I am a bit conflicted about the somewhat steep ask of having the player replay the entire game (full disclosure; I haven't yet played the Final Cut and I instead watched this playlist for the sake of this review) but it is narratively and thematically justified, commentating on the twisted nature of Alan's predicament and the extreme lengths required to make art feel ‘real.’ There are some unrelated narrative quibbles that I have as well. The Sheriff Breaker stuff is baffling, as a normal person who did not play Quantum Break, and the strangeness surrounding the game’s depiction of Sam Lake and the real and fictional Alex Casey is too weird for such a hurried cop out of an explanation. Still, I am ultimately satisfied with the ending and that is all I wanted. Should this be the end of Alan Wake, aside from the DLC, I am quite grateful we got such a bold and confident game from a franchise that had once seemed destined to die in obscurity.
Also, how is the game that produced this video still not profitable? What is wrong with ya’ll?