Probably one of the strangest games I've played, up there with Death Stranding, but not nearly as captivating in it's narrative. What it lacks, it makes up for in it's strong gameplay and unique atmosphere.
At first, I really did not like the way this played, it felt off and unpolished, a little bit too arcade-y in some areas but picking it up again and giving it a second chance was one of the best things I've done. Once you really start getting into the mechanics, it's actually really fun. It starts out hard as fuck, but the challenge is pretty balanced... aside from the terrible checkpoint placing, but I'll get back to that. The gunplay is super satisfying when you combo with powers and find creative ways to deal with encounters, one of the few instances where I want to 100% the game just to deal with more encounters and the difficult challenge is actually pretty fun in most instances, I'd hate for this game to be easy looking back on it. However, some things sadly hold me back from praising the gameplay, or rather the level design, completely.
The checkpoints and unnecessarily difficult encounters at times, the two of these blended together can be really frustrating. In many cases, there were some really long segments where there wouldn't be a checkpoint or "Control Point" to refresh at, so you'd die for some incredibly stupid reason OR because you're losing health in like two hits to some incredibly tedious enemy design, and you'll have to run ALL the way back to where you failed. It's a relief that they don't respawn every enemy, because that'd just make this so much worse, but it's still a pain in the ass, I wish the checkpoints were more sequential and I hope this formula is done away with if there is to be a sequel.
The other thing is the unnecessarily difficult enemy types, especially the ones that are... level scaled? I really don't understand why this game has level scaling, it's one of the most unnecessary things in a game ever and especially one of this caliber that is absolutely not an RPG game AT ALL, so it just feels really fucking out of place and just a pain when you want to do a specific mission (the AWE Alan Wake DLC in my case) and get completely cockblocked by these overly difficult sections.
Aside from these gripes, yeah, the gameplay is actually a lot more fun than I initially gave it credit for and, again, the PS5 haptic feedback just comes in clutch every time with experiences like these, definitely a real game changer for this edition of the game.
Narratively, yeah, I wasn't that impressed. I don't know, Jesse Faden's motives just didn't really interest or hook me, I was really more concerned with the atmosphere. I really enjoyed exploring "The Oldest House" I think they called it. It had this SCP and 1950s/60s aura about it that just blended really well with what I liked to call "Kojimaisms", essentially mind fuck level design and aesthetics that reminded me to Death Stranding at times, really can't wait to spend more time in this world. I enjoyed what I got to play of the AWE DLC, though, Alan Wake is always a win. Overall, the plot didn't really have any like... mind fuck twist. It seemed pretty obvious to me at least from the get go what was happening between the FBC and Jesse, so maybe it was just that it was a bit too predictable for me and I think Sam Lake needs to do away with this "it was a dream" trope because seeing it once in Alan Wake and then it reappearing here just felt like a cheap reused plot device, though I'm not even sure that's what happened at the end because it was a bit too convoluted for me to actually make sense of. I liked what it was trying to do, though and, again, the atmosphere saves and makes up for it, so the narrative not being all that interesting isn't really that big of a deal.
A solid experience all things considered, glad I gave it a second chance and enjoyed it for what it was, I can definitely see why it might not be as talked about as people want it to be, it doesn't really appeal to everyone so it's not that much of a surprise to me it wasn't a commercial success. It's definitely worth a playthrough though and, yeah, I think it should have been but... it's not totally confusing why it wasn't.
At first, I really did not like the way this played, it felt off and unpolished, a little bit too arcade-y in some areas but picking it up again and giving it a second chance was one of the best things I've done. Once you really start getting into the mechanics, it's actually really fun. It starts out hard as fuck, but the challenge is pretty balanced... aside from the terrible checkpoint placing, but I'll get back to that. The gunplay is super satisfying when you combo with powers and find creative ways to deal with encounters, one of the few instances where I want to 100% the game just to deal with more encounters and the difficult challenge is actually pretty fun in most instances, I'd hate for this game to be easy looking back on it. However, some things sadly hold me back from praising the gameplay, or rather the level design, completely.
The checkpoints and unnecessarily difficult encounters at times, the two of these blended together can be really frustrating. In many cases, there were some really long segments where there wouldn't be a checkpoint or "Control Point" to refresh at, so you'd die for some incredibly stupid reason OR because you're losing health in like two hits to some incredibly tedious enemy design, and you'll have to run ALL the way back to where you failed. It's a relief that they don't respawn every enemy, because that'd just make this so much worse, but it's still a pain in the ass, I wish the checkpoints were more sequential and I hope this formula is done away with if there is to be a sequel.
The other thing is the unnecessarily difficult enemy types, especially the ones that are... level scaled? I really don't understand why this game has level scaling, it's one of the most unnecessary things in a game ever and especially one of this caliber that is absolutely not an RPG game AT ALL, so it just feels really fucking out of place and just a pain when you want to do a specific mission (the AWE Alan Wake DLC in my case) and get completely cockblocked by these overly difficult sections.
Aside from these gripes, yeah, the gameplay is actually a lot more fun than I initially gave it credit for and, again, the PS5 haptic feedback just comes in clutch every time with experiences like these, definitely a real game changer for this edition of the game.
Narratively, yeah, I wasn't that impressed. I don't know, Jesse Faden's motives just didn't really interest or hook me, I was really more concerned with the atmosphere. I really enjoyed exploring "The Oldest House" I think they called it. It had this SCP and 1950s/60s aura about it that just blended really well with what I liked to call "Kojimaisms", essentially mind fuck level design and aesthetics that reminded me to Death Stranding at times, really can't wait to spend more time in this world. I enjoyed what I got to play of the AWE DLC, though, Alan Wake is always a win. Overall, the plot didn't really have any like... mind fuck twist. It seemed pretty obvious to me at least from the get go what was happening between the FBC and Jesse, so maybe it was just that it was a bit too predictable for me and I think Sam Lake needs to do away with this "it was a dream" trope because seeing it once in Alan Wake and then it reappearing here just felt like a cheap reused plot device, though I'm not even sure that's what happened at the end because it was a bit too convoluted for me to actually make sense of. I liked what it was trying to do, though and, again, the atmosphere saves and makes up for it, so the narrative not being all that interesting isn't really that big of a deal.
A solid experience all things considered, glad I gave it a second chance and enjoyed it for what it was, I can definitely see why it might not be as talked about as people want it to be, it doesn't really appeal to everyone so it's not that much of a surprise to me it wasn't a commercial success. It's definitely worth a playthrough though and, yeah, I think it should have been but... it's not totally confusing why it wasn't.
TrulyWack
5 months ago
I also put it down for a while after I finished Alan Wake back in January. I just recently picked it back up and am making my way further through it.
It definitely does improve when you give it the chance to. It’s not quite as engaging or captivating as Remedy’s other games though.