I am a big fan of the original Alan Wake. I embrace it as greater than the sum of its parts, and even 13 years ago I recognized its many flaws that have only been amplified with each passing year. The stilted acting and stiff gameplay meant nothing to me because the presentation and world building was fun and imaginative. Unfortunately, it was a 360 exclusive that was released the same day as Red Dead Redemption, so it was quickly forgotten. I never thought Remedy would make a sequel, but when Alan showed up all over Control and Remedy was making it a cornerstone of their connected universe, I was excited.
So how do I feel about Alan Wake 2? I mean this with all sincerity and without a hint of hyperbole: this is the biggest improvement in a sequel I have ever played. It’s as if a completely different studio made it. It’s the best use of multimedia I’ve ever seen in a video game. The production design is so unique and top notch that any minor glitching I experienced did nothing to detract from the experience.
The game plays like true survival horror, sharing more in common with Resident Evil than the original Alan Wake. Every confrontation could lead to death. Combat is frenetic and intense, inventory management is crucial, and our trusty flashlight has limited use and acts mainly to stun enemies. Gone are the days of waiting 5 seconds to drain an enemies shield with the light. But that’s only one small portion of the game. Two completely separate storylines that weave and intersect. Environmental puzzles with instantly shifting environments are plentiful, using a mind palace to place clues and string as you uncover the secrets of the game, physically rewriting the environment to progress the story. All of this is hard to explain but works seamlessly in practice.
It’s a fine line the game manages to walk between showing respect for the original while also removing the portions that don’t work for this narrative. Certain characters are dropped for new ones while still acknowledging their continued existence in the universe. This game also shows more respect to spin off game Alan Wake’s American Nightmare than just about anyone else ever has. Indeed, this game is so good that even the cheesiest parts it keeps manage to feel normal (using the word “clicker” so much would feel absurd if the game didn’t treat it with such respect).
Remedy manages to successfully create a shared universe that is inconsequential to newcomers but feels natural to fans of control. And I’ll be honest, I was hooting and hollering when a Finnish janitor shows up or the use of the words “luck and probability department” like it’s Avengers Endgame. Not only that, it shows respect for everything Remedy has done: having Max Payne (in everything but name) play a major role, and even a certain X-Men actor that was the lead of Quantum Break is here.
I’m happy that Alan Wake has properly returned, but I never expected it to be this good. It’s the type of game where I don’t need to revisit this universe because I’m not sure how you could top this. Instead, I cannot wait to see what Remedy does next. Much like Larian did to other RPG studios, Remedy has put all other single player story based action studios on notice. This is the new standard for immersive narrative gaming.
Balatro - the Poker based deck building rogue like. It’s brilliant. Rolling in 9/10 and 10/10 reviews so far, surprise indie hit of the year so far. Out in everything, check it out! (Touch screen is supported on Switch handheld)
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I tried to play Helldivers 2 all weekend but servers were so overloaded it would take a hour to log in or more. Then once in the game, I was never able to find a match and if I did, I'd eventually get DC'd. What a frustrating experience.
I tried to play Helldivers 2 all weekend but servers were so overloaded it would take a hour to log in or more. Then once in the game, I was never able to find a match and if I did, I'd eventually get DC'd. What a frustrating experience.
You can jump the queue if a friend is in the game. We just made sure someone is always logged in and join them through the friends menu.
The matchmaking was broken on the weekend. It was patched yesterday.
It's not their fault. This is an indie studio whose last game topped out at 7K players. They are nearly 500K right now (Steam + PS5 crossplay) which is half the copies sold within a month of release. They don't have the manpower, code, or infrastructure to scale to this unexpected success. It is the #1 game on Steam, topping everything else in concurrent players.
You can jump the queue if a friend is in the game. We just made sure someone is always logged in and join them through the friends menu.
The matchmaking was broken on the weekend. It was patched yesterday.
It's not their fault. This is an indie studio whose last game topped out at 7K players. They are nearly 500K right now (Steam + PS5 crossplay) which is half the copies sold within a month of release. They don't have the manpower, code, or infrastructure to scale to this unexpected success. It is the #1 game on Steam, topping everything else in concurrent players.
I heard if you were on PS5 that rest mode kept your session active also so you could always get back on.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon was a lot of fun. Short but meant to be played through multiple times so there’s that. By far and away the easiest From Software game I’ve played, none of the traditional punishing bosses or quasi impossible levels like other games. Hitting a wall? Switch your mech up.
So if you crave fast wet hot Gundam action then Armored Core 6 is for you. If you don’t yearn for the feeling that only comes from whipping a mech at high speeds around a battlefield whilst raining down hellfire on your enemies then I dunno, play Goat Simulator or something.
Balatro - the Poker based deck building rogue like. It’s brilliant. Rolling in 9/10 and 10/10 reviews so far, surprise indie hit of the year so far. Out in everything, check it out! (Touch screen is supported on Switch handheld)
Balatro is awesome. Started playing it on the Steam Deck yesterday. I had never gotten into deck building type games because they seemed overly complicated. But I have a good understanding and really enjoy Poker so it makes it easier to understand the deck building aspects of the game. Anyways, highly recommended game for sure if you like poker or probably games like Slay the Spire as well.
I will likely buy this on some deep discount on a steam sale at some point, but only after someone who has played it answers the following: compared to the first chapter, how much f**ckery is there? Did they get back on track or is this just a mess that can't be recovered at this point.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
I will likely buy this on some deep discount on a steam sale at some point, but only after someone who has played it answers the following: compared to the first chapter, how much f**ckery is there? Did they get back on track or is this just a mess that can't be recovered at this point.
Obviously I haven't played it yet, but if you're still in the camp of "They should've just re-made FFVII 1-to-1 with better graphics!" I don't imagine you'll like it.
I will likely buy this on some deep discount on a steam sale at some point, but only after someone who has played it answers the following: compared to the first chapter, how much f**ckery is there? Did they get back on track or is this just a mess that can't be recovered at this point.
On the related subject of FFVII Remake, the f$#%ing game is still $93.49 CAD on Steam... it has been out for over a year and a half, what in the hell.
