@@Malaclypse_the_Third It's a third person action-adventure game. A style that most appeals to the console market. While the PC market is no slouch, consoles unfortunately are still where most sales are. Blaming the failure on the PC launch is just stupid.
It's a shame AAA budgets usually go to making the same games over and over again (cause money) rather than different games like AW2. I'll find myself getting bored playing games and wonder if I'm just outgrowing gaming... then a game like AW2 comes around and find my love for gaming is just as strong now as it was when I first picked up a controller.
Many of us didn't buy Alan Wake 2 because we like physical media and they didn't release it physically. Thanks to fan backlash Remedy are now putting out a physical copy a year after launch. We physical fans didn't like how a AAA game was digital only, especially when they released Alan Wake 1 Remastered on disc just a year before.
Weird excuse to not buy a game. Everything is digital nowadays. The people who didn't buy AW2 because of not being able to have a physical disc is extremely niche. The game didn't sell solely due to DEI characters taking up more time in the game than the main character and literal title of the game - Alan Wake.
@Tony-hn8qy No it isn't. Physical media sales are billions a year. And that's just games. You will also find many people are walking away from streaming services and going back to physical media. Why? They say they are fed up of streaming services for various reasons. They start a show get half way through only for the streaming services to remove the show. So they buy the DVD box set for cheap and that way they always own it to watch whenever they want. They are fed up with streaming services keep raising prices. Fed up with their favourite films moving around different streaming services so they have to keep signing up to and cancelling each service over and over. So they buy their favourite films on disc so they always have them. Here in my country we have more and more independent physical media stores popping up in recent years. People from all over the world come to visit them and post it online. Vinyl sales are up 200% in recent years. Sony's PS5 disc drive is selling well. Why is it selling well?
Sure it's not enough when you hire hundreds of good for nothing incompetent DEI employees that similar doing a job just to rise ESG score to get investments , but you still have to pay a those hundreds of useless tokens many millions every year. While prior ESG era same work that 1000 of DEI barely can do could be done way cheaper and faster and way better by a hundred of white men.
Their marketing decisions have always been dung, and caused a lot of damage.
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@@immune85 well the main reason why it failed is as he said, Alran Wake had small audience and the Alan Wake 2 hype was completely inorganic. It was mostly media hyping it and fans of 1st part. But for majority it was 'meh' game. Pretty but nothing special.
I agree. I'm glad it got attention, but AW wasn't one of those "made for everyone" kind of games, and shouldn't be treated as such. AW2 seems to be more about the opposite, trying to be survival, horror, and what-not. When I played Control, nobody had even mentioned it, but I loved it. Same thing there, though. There's a LOT of reading, and the storytelling is not for everyone, and it's pretty obvious. I hope they can stay true to what they created, instead of trying to make their games for everyone.
I enjoyed every bit of this game personally. I loved the first one too. This game is honestly one of a kind from what I played, with the level designs, chapters, and the creativity and art goes through the roof. Theres so much to tackle in terms of experience and detail.There’s too much good with the game for me to rustle a few feathers about “diversity” or wokeness. Those terms have honestly become brainrot to me. I’m personally not gonna strip my enjoyment from myself and miss out on the heavy hitter that this game is. And I’m glad I didn’t miss out.
No physical disk for consoles, overstretched and forced Saga Anderson plot, a game that could not run on most widely used cards like 1060 and 1080! What else did they expect?
The paskal series is 8 and a half years old man, most of the people still using these cards are limited to esport titles and older games (especially for the 1060, the TOP skew of that card had only 6gb VRam)
This Game is Straight up bad. It's a walking simulator. I completed 3part after that I Uninstall the game. Gameply sucks fighting mechanism isn't that good, Constant flashing and jump scares. Runs kinda shït. Graphics sucks Flat soft smudged up Graphics. Forget the graphics and optimisation part the most important thing that this game missing is good Gameplay and Gameplay mechanics. If two of this are good i ain't commenting here. Last of us part 1 was Completely unoptimized but I still finished it because of story and Good Gameplay. Remedy should've made "The Alan wake 2" Movie not the game!!!!!
Alan Wake is like Twin Peaks, it's not a main stream story. Budget was to high, system requirements on PC to high, the SBI stuff shows lack of vision. At the same time the epic link may have provided funding/tech help the studio needed.
@@sptz87 Fucking thank you for saying that. I just finished the first play through and started the Final Draft. Apart from a few cringeworthy lines of dialogue (iykyk), the game isn’t as woke as people have made it out to be online. The race swapping of Saga could be explained by a few hypotheticals. Maybe the original actress who played Saga in QB chose not to return, or Remedy decided to work with a different actress. The point is that we don’t really know why Remedy made the decision to begin with, but I don’t think that choice was made with any ill intent. And to even emphasize the point, Saga’s race doesn’t play a part nor is a major component of her character. She just so happens to be black. That’s it. Nothing further. The only criticism I agree with is you don’t get much time to play as Alan in his own sequel. However, that criticism is appeased, a little, when you consider the fact that ALAN (and Scratch) play major roles in the game’s overall narrative.
@@sptz87 WTF? Half of the game was focused on the DEI enjected character. And the cool power that he is supposed to have that was shown on a leaked AW2 presentation was all gone.
Honestly I feel like splitting the game between two protagonists really helped it. Alan struggling through the Dark Place for 30 hours would feel tedious, and having a person with a fresh outside perspective on the horrors was really beneficial, especially for new players to the franchise
It is somewhat frustrating when people read that: "Alan Wake 2 still does not generate profits" since they interpret that Remedy wasted money when in reality it means that said company did not lose or earn X amount of money since they are still paying the financing of EpicGames If Remedy had made the game with money from its own pocket, the headline "Alan Wake 2 has not yet generated a profit" would be worrying.
@@jumpingmoose5554 On the original Xbox 360 launch they wanted him to look like he does on the Remake and on the sequel , they had hardware limitations, he has had the exact same face model for 14 years , he was the face of Alan in 2010, 2011 dlc (where they were able to make the in-game render look a tiny little bit closer to him) , 2016 in the return teaser in Quantum Break and 2020 in the Control DLC , only now they have been able to truly bring his full face to the in-game render, but this is the opposite of what Silent Hill 2 Remake or Spider-Man 2 did to their game models, in Alan Wake 2 Remedy actually made a huge effort to make the model ingame as faithful to the real face as they possibly could, they should be celebrated for it, you are very wrong here friend.
I think there’s two main factors: people didn’t want to wait 13 years for a full sequel (American Nightmare was an awesome DLC though), and they just wanted to play as Alan Wake (and not spend half the game playing as a completely new character).
@@dly2138 be honest if valve ever actually releases half life 3 it will never live up to what the fan base has built in their heads for what it should be for the past twenty years.
@@brettfire83 I disagree to a certain extent. Im a big fan and I think they can pull it off. Alyx was great but i'd like it if they didnt make it only VR even though it really doesnt matter in my case. That being said. Yeah you're probably right about the general fanbase.
This is a pretty balanced take on the whole thing, I appreciate that you didn't just jump on the "it's woke" bandwagon. Stuff like SBI is definitely a problem but it's just one facet.
I feel Control's marketing Alan Wake 2's Marketing should have been switched. Alan Wake 2 appealed to more people and was easier to follow than Control.
I was a huge Alan Wake fan and was very hyped for the sequel. It was one of the reasons I decided to splash out on a brand new PC. Initially I held off on purchasing due to Epic Store exclusivity and when I found out about Sweet Baby’s involvement I lost interest altogether. Such a shame.
Yeah it's a bit poo, they took the "we want to try new things" a bit too far... The thing that bothers me most is the "free roam, but not free". It would've worked better if it had just been as linear as Max Payne, instead of the whole "run in the woods for two days" idea. Edit: Actually... the most annoying thing was that Saga couldn't decide if she believed the story was changing reality or not.
Too much story gets in the way of gameplay and vice versa. There is an optimal level of balance that you can achieve between the two, but it is safer for a game to err on the side of gameplay over story.
Alan Wake 2 failed because it was boring. I loved Alan Wake 1 and have played it multiple times. Alan Wake 2 was so boring that I couldn't finish it and I replayed RE4 instead.
You can laugh at me, and I’m not suggesting this is why the game failed at all, but I didn’t want to play as an FBI Agent after the past decade of the FBI’s corruption and clear bias against Trump supporters and targeting of parents at school board meetings. I really liked the first game too.
this might be the single dumbest reason to hate the fbi. imagine thinking the fbi's corruption is some sort of recent conspiracy and not built into the organisation since day one lol
@@immune85 Remedy never should have set Alan Wake in the US to begin with. And neither should they do it with the other games from the continuum. Just keep it in Finland. Would make it stand out. It's so frustrating that even though AAA games keep being pushed out of studio from every corner of the world, the Americana always has to be there in some form.
I never played Alan Wake, and didnt know the game existed up until probably 3 years ago. But when I saw Alan Wake 2 and its demo, my heart died from fascination, I cant play the game on a toaster and cant buy it cause I am broke, but I have been patient to see someone specific make a playthrough of it.
@@axb3r ryan isnt gonna make one unfortunately, he did one video cuz he was sponsored and a year later, nothing. I can give you another great youtuber that did if you want tho
@@drepdrained Ik he wasnt gonna do it, but in desperation I was just hoping maybe if I waited long enough he would someday do it, but i guess your right.
@@axb3r gab smolders had a pretty good playthrough on her channel, recommend her, if not, go through Bricky Ep 2.’s channel and go into livestreams until you find him playing aw2
It is a failure. First game creates name, second one brings sales and often more platforms to be released on. This is how this industry works. Most games i know sold better with release of the second game. And this one failed miserably compared to the hype and game awards. I have made it to the second Alans part and never turned it on again. I have zero interest to spending like 60% of time in game called Alan Wake as some boring uninteresting rando with family problems and other totally generic and boring things to talk about. I wonder who we will play as in Max Payne remakes. It will for sure not be Max Payne...
I want to clear up something about this game. Yes, Remedy unfortunately was one of the first victims of SBI - but they did not seem to follow the path of the others. There's nothing SBI like in this game, at all - it's not there in the writing, other than perhaps a ham-fisted ex-wife reference with the FBC agent. There was no swap - QB is in another reality where Alan Wake is a game and novel series, and she is related to Mr. Door in the final game. Finally, the offensive lines are coming from an evil version of Saga trying to drive her mad - she's a good character with good motivations that doesn't tear people down and the story always had to be split between two worlds. Actual problems include Epic Games and a lack of ever letting you cut loose in combat.
There was an amazing plot reason for that and it was done as a surprise and did receive backlash despite of it. But it stood the test of time. Alan wake 2 ain't that.
@@HenryTownsmyth Hard disagree. They needed to have someone on the 'other side' for half the game to make the plot worked, and it worked brilliantly. There's a ton of misinformation about this.
I bought the collectors edition on xbox and when it came to PC i bought it for myself, my brother, my girlfriend at the time and a friend of mine. Alan Wake 2 comes along and i play it for a bit and i did love some sequences but i put it down halfway through and moved on to something else. I didn't know about the sbi stuff when i bought it but after i put it down i found out about it and it made a lot of sense why there were so some head scratching moments in the game. Sam Lake sadly let a consulting firm work on his baby. It just makes no sense to me.
Dude... are you serious? I hate DEI bs on media as well but this game is imo GOTY. You barely gave it any chance, there's no SBI/DEI bullshit in it. Apart from ONE line at like 90% of the game, nothing else.
@@sptz87 what line was that? I don't remember when I played through it. Maybe I am numb to this woke society these days. Like I expect it at this point or something.
@@Element9846 SPOILERS AHEAD: Towards the end, on one of the mind palace sections when she’s in the dark place, she says something like: “sick of these white men telling me what to do”, then quickly corrects it because it’s the dark place putting negative thoughts on her mind
@@sptz87 I think I remember that! 🤣 You know whats sad? Im a white man and I have heard so much racism from "that side of the fence" that I wasn't even offended at this point. Seemed like it just went in and out the ear for me. When you think about it, it is such a needless and senseless line. It really only perpetuates racism in our society today. 🤡 🌎 🤷🏻♂️ Talk it into existence type thing.
My problems with Anderson's sections were the lack of choices in the puzzles. Alan's sections felt as though I was trying to uncover the set narrative hidden underneath the surface. Anderson didn’t have any sort of problem solving with her story puzzles. Just plug in the evidence and it auto completes the mystery. Why can't the player fall into her role? Let US figure out the clues and solve the mystery. Seriously, I felt like chopped liver playing her and dreaded coming across evidence cause it meant I needed to go back into that boring room and just put the clue into a very obvious slot. Putting shaped pegs into matching holes was more fun than doing her evidence puzzles, because at least I'M the one woth the most agency. What a waste of potential.
Finally a point I agree with. It didn't kill my time with the character completely, but moving forward, it'd be cooler if it was more "LA Noire" or if we could get some stuff wrong and have to rearrange evidence ourselves.
It’s a shame because I thought it was genuinely fantastic game, even if I was a little disappointed we spend so much time with Saga compared to Alan himself. I never really felt preached at by the game.
I don't have a horse in this race, so I can't speak about the gameplay of AW1&2. I know that I liked Quantum Break and Control, but I don't see myself going back to replay them versus GoW 2 which has replay value moreso than the aforementioned games I played. I also wonder if game budgets include marketing, unlike movies. That could account for some of the bloat. Anyway, thank you Wizard for an interesting deep-dive into this issue. Wizard, does your mom often say, "Starch your hat! What if you were in an accident, God forbid, with that floopy mess on your head?"
Not publishing on steam and GOG is a huge problem both for AW and MP remakes and for AW2. Big part of niche audience that will appreciate the games actively avoid EGS. I gifted at least two copies of Control on GOG and likely would have done the same with AW2, but alas, I can't even buy it once. PS. Asking for sensitivity reading for AW2 is really one of few justifiable cases. Remedy are finnish studio and it make sense, that regional, racial and cultural differences in the US might be easy to miss. Like putting someone with New Orleans accent as a native new yourker and making gran-gran burritos their childhood food. (I'm not from US myself, but I hope I found bizarre enough combination)
Yours ir a pretty good take on the whole SBI stuff. Its very unclear (and probably very unlikely) that it did cause any sales decrease but its certainly that it didnt lead to a sales increase at all. Good content man
I finally played "Alan Wake 1" last last year - mainly because my fiend said it was one of his favourites. For me it was that recommendation and the fact that i really enjoyed "Control". Long story short: game was ok i believe that i basically "missed that boat" i.e. i will never see what my friend saw in that game and regarding the "Alan Wake 2" - I've seen some gameplay and it looked very bland and quite frankly boring. There's so many other games I'd want to play, be it a new game or games I love to replay many times ( the witcher, homm3, dungeon keeper2, cyberpunk, pray, gothic 2, fallout 2...)
Alan Wake 2 is Alan Wake 1 truly realized. I had a similar progression as you. Went from playing Control (which I loved), to Alan Wake 1 and basically took away from it "this game is a prototype for ideas better realized in control". But I tried Alan Wake 2 and honestly, it's a fucking masterpiece
At the development, AW1 was supposed to be a massive open-world, but with the cuts, it became a linear, repetitive experience. The story was still fine, but i remember at the time that it was known as the "worst" Twin Peaks clone, with Deadly Premonition being the best. Both games were released close to each others.
@@mgalusic Agreed 100%. Though I played AW1 when it came out on my X360 and with that time's perspective I felt the same I felt with AW2 now. Felt it was a masterpiece and was HOOKED on the lore and story. AW2 is to me, one of the best games ever made. But again, the story, the lore, the pacing, it's not mainstream at all. It's literally too "Lynchian" for most gamers. Which is ok! But yes I do wish Remedy can keep making games like these in an ocean of slop garbage cookiecutter bs.
Honestly the weakest part of Alan Wake 1 was the combat. I didn't feel they did enough to address the combat after years of potential iteration. Especially after Re4 came out and set the bar.
@@quademasters249 AW1 was an interesting concept with a mediocre execution. AW2 is an amazing concept executed almost perfectly. If you liked control you will find AW2 is even better except maybe for gameplay since you dont have all the crazy powers
@@sabershark3102 I said "Control" was "pretty good". I thought it was pretentious and made little sense by the time it was over. Ultimately it was forgettable. I just didn't dislike it. Suggesting AW2 is like "Control" just means "wait for a sale" to me. Something about the basic premise of the AW games and the universe they present (which includes "Control") grates on my nerves.
i'm a woman, i.e. the target audience of every AAA game these days. I have zero interest in Alan Wake 2 even though I loved the first game because I wanted to continue the story, playing as Alan Wake, not as a random diverse female. that's all.
You literally play as either character throughout the entire game freely able to switch between the two at any time that you want...with equal chapters for each character. Completely ridiculous take....and a completely lost opportunity to play one of the best games I have ever experienced in my life, and possibly your life. AW2, at minimum, a top 10 game of all time for me. You should buy it and play it, because its 60 million times better than AW1
@@Element9846yea its not equal, saga is a lot better gameplay vise because all Alan does is using clicker every 10 minutes, its like 10 enemies in all his chapters combined and they are all just shadows.
It's a huge shame that this wasnt like the biggest horror game ever made as far as success goes. It deserves it. And I'm always sitting here wondering where the survival horror community was when this came out. It's so similar to something like silent Hill and none of these big creators in that survival horror community ever bothered to acknowledge its existence while they are busy playing the newest indie fixed cam slop. And yeah sure hints of wokeness can ruin a product but I don't consider changing your mind about the race of a character that technically doesn't exist yet to be the same thing as "race swapping" in relation to why anyone or even I has a problem with that. If in the middle of production of a brand new character you decide you wanna make them black go ahead I don't care. It's the already established characters being race swapped that I have such a problem with. Aside from that in the actual game there's a single line in the whole thing that can be seen as woke and it's portrayed as the dark place pulling that thought out of her and not something saga in her right mind actually believes. Aside from that one line which let's be fair and talk about it in full context she literally just happens to be a black woman and that's it. Like I don't understand why that alone is so hard for people to accept they don't even wait until it effects the story or the character negatively anymore they are just like oh a black person exists looks like they went woke. Which in my opinion, is practically the definition of racism.
@WildDogGamerBoy which I already said my piece about so you apparently didn't bother reading the whole thing. And no saga didn't make it about race first cause people were literally screaming woke as soon as they saw a black woman exist under any context long before anyone was ever able to find that line like 30 hours into the game. So if we are making it about who did it first that's absolutely the audience.
I liked the first one because it gave me a Twilight Zone-like thrill, but I was disappointed with the second one. The game constantly blamed Thor, made him apologize, and Sarah was overbearing towards Alan until the very end. Sarah felt like an outsider, and all harmony was destroyed.
Tor literally drove his daughter's husband away and ruined her life being super angry and wrathful. Also... Sarah? The only Sarah in the franchise is Sarah Breaker and she's not even in the game.
I dislike Sweet Baby Inc. as much as anyone, but this situation highlights how people tend to accept things as absolute if everyone says so. Alan Wake 2 is far from a bad game. Its struggles are largely due to its association with SBI. While the race swap might seem off-putting if you haven’t played the game, the character is actually well-developed and likable, with no signs of arrogance or 'woke' behavior. Many criticize 'woke' individuals for following a hive mentality, yet dismissing the game without actually experiencing it mirrors that same behavior.
This is the "trendy" thing to do nowadays: insert a black female. People are saying "no" to the woke bull. Association with crap ideologies hurts sales (as it well should).
One thing that always would have made this game niche is how much it ties into the Remedyverse to such an extreme level. It's not like an RE game where you can pick it up having played none of the others and figure things out pretty fast. If you haven't played Death Rally, Max Payne, Max payne 2, Quantum Break and Control - and not just played, but dug into the lore of each - you'll miss about 80% of the game's story. Yes, even Quantum Break, which 'isn't in the Remedyverse *wink wink*' but is critical to understanding a lot of what is going on with Door and Breaker. If you are a lifelong Remedy fan, the payoffs and attention to detail is kind of awe inspiring. If you're not, you'll go 'what the hell just happened?' a lot.
Death Rally? Does that game have a story? Max Payne is referenced, but its story has nothing to do with the Remedy Verse. The Remedy Verse just includes AW1, AW American Nightmare, AW2 and Control. You can play AW2 just fine without playing the other games (except for AW1). There are some things you won't fully understand, but it was not much in my experience.
Not having a Steam copy, I would guess impacted sales by easily 20%. You have a demographic that was excited and would buy it wherever. Then you have those that didnt hear about it, or only got a small wind word of it, and would have probably picked it up if they had seen ads for it on steam or more word of mouth through Steam. Epic is big, Steam is HUGE. A release on Steam would set it straight imo. There are people, that want their whole library together. I would buy it again just to have it in my Steam library.
My take is that AW2 was meant to further confuse the reality of the multiverse, but also give us answers. The audience seems obvious, but the co-operation with one of the big evils, SBI, didn't help. They could've done better.
@@CyborgGerbil Do you actually know the reason for the race swap? Do you KNOW what SBI actually did to impact the final product? You obviously haven't even played the game so stfu.
It didn't, it just released on every platform except the most popular one. Plus, most gamers don't read these days which this game kinda encourages you to get into the whole plot.
@@Ragitsu definitely, most people are dumb when it comes to videogames. Why do you think that RE games and the latest SH 2 remake had to go around with dumb yellow paint and white rags respectively, to aware pLaYeRs what they have to look at instead of allow them to think/read/check/be aware. That's just one example, what makes you think they'll read or pay attention to a narrative game like AW 2?
Why Remedy thinks that having Alan Wake 2 (and the remaster) available as an exclusive for a platform that caters almost exclusively to 10 year old mobile gamers instead of the largest adult pc gaming audience was going to help sales I'll never know. I would have bought this game at launch at full price if it was on steam, and until they release it on there, I'll just stick to watching other people play it.
Epic funded the game. If it weren't for them it wouldn't exist. This also means it will probably never get to Steam. Or at least not in the near future. I too wish it was on Steam... but at this point I just caved in once I learnt that Epic funded the entire thing.
Because the title made it sound like a sequel to the open ended Alan Wake. Its that simple. It was just a filler story in universe. Yay thats exactly what i waited a decade on.
reading the description here already is a turn off from this video and you agreeing with comments on Saga being race swapped. That video in Quantum Break is 8 years old now and development of the story also certainly changed, which would have an effect on who the characters are and where they’re from. Saga being a mix of Door/Hatch with the Anderson family is an awesome twist and idea.
The description is an excerpt of the script in the video. If you watched the video, you'd know I say the story with Alan Wake 2 was compelling enough to forgive the needless race swapping.
I played the first Alan Wake & enjoyed it. I was excited that they were making another one, only to be kind of bummed to discover you spend a large chunk of the game as another character. Why not just make a true sequel?
It works extremely well, to be honest. Saga's a great character, not what people are ranting about. She does not tear anyone down, is not a 'girlboss,' has good motivations, etc. and is related to major characters in the franchise. They needed a character on the other side in the 'real' world to make the story work. I was worried about it too, but it was great.
@@BlazingOwnager The game is called ALAN WAKE, not a Alan Wake Saga. Why would I want to split my playtime between him and an unestablished character for 50% of the game? Escpecially after waiting for so long for a sequal about Alan. Maybe if they'd build her up in a previous game so we got to know her a little. Or make the Saga part DLC after the story to give a different perspective and people would choose to play as a different character. But no, 50/50 in someone else's game let's go. Oh, and she's also kind of annoying and condescending. (By what I saw, personal interpetation) This just felt like: "we want to make a game about Saga, but we know that won't sell so we shoehorn her in with an established character". Plus EGS. Even though it worked for some people, it obviously did not get enough people excited. My guess is that a large chunk of the Alan Wake 1 players skipped this one because of the shared playtime. Still, glad it worked for you and you seemded to enjoy it.
@@arrogantbandit1 The reason I was okay with it - and I had the same reservations about it as you - is it only worked by having one person in the real world and one in the dark place working towards a common goal. I think what makes it work is Saga's parts are almost entirely about Alan; his presence is constantly felt, he is constantly talked about, everything she discovers goes back to him and the Old Gods. She didn't hijack the story, she's part of his story, and because of that I was good with the split. I really didn't find her condescending.
@@mr.stealth3195 if Saga never comes to Bright Falls, Alan stays in the dark place and no real sequel can happen... Just endless Night Springs episodes
@@BlazingOwnager You never played the first game if this is your opinion. The story was complete ass with Saga as a character - especially being race swapped and not being an interesting character in the slightest.
It took itself too seriously and forgot it was a vidya game. At times, it felt little more than an interactive 'B-movie' game. Push forwards to advance sort of thing. Fanx, but no fanx.
I am a big Alan Wake fan, the original is better than the remastered. The art style is more consistent, it performs better, the lip syncing is better, and overall it just has a charm the remastered scrubbed out.
@@CyborgGerbil Calling it a race swap is a little disingenuous in this case, she's a brand new character and may have changed in several of ways during production like many characters do at their inception. The character works, is well acted, and the story is pretty good. There is no lack of continuity in changing a character before they are ever introduced to the consumer(if they really did, because i wouldn't be as easy as changing a single character model in this case - I'll leave it there for reasons)
@@RJN9008 You talked around the fact that she is black. This is the "trendy" thing to do nowadays: insert a black female.
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Tbh it’s mostly the lack of Steam release. I REALLY didn’t want to get it on Epic but caved in the end. TBH I think it’s actually overly long. They could have made it a fair bit shorter and told the same story and made it more dense and exciting, as it is it drags a bit. I know that’s odd in the age of “as many hours as possible”. In the end I think it’ll sell well but it’ll take a fair few years.
Alan wake is literally one of the most unwoke games ive seen. Sure you play as a black woman, but what the fuck does that have to do with anything? It’s a fantastic story, has great horror elements and good enough gameplay, and perhaps one of the most creative games of the past 10 years
you dont get it man!!! theres a line where all her doubts throughout her entire career and existence are used against her by an evil being, so its woke because of that!
Stupid wizard costume aside, This was a great look into why it's failed to recoup. However you could've just said Epic exclusivity is the reason! Then again what do I know I like Saga.
@@RealLifeFakeWizarddon't worry, some people just want to see the wizards burn, be they real or fake. And not just clowns, like us normal people do...
I didn't finish Alan wake remastered, it got tedious to me. Alan wake 2 also got a bit tiresome near the end, but i did overall enjoy the game and finished that one along with the first DLC. Waiting for the Control 2 because Control is one of my favourite games ever
For me the game was unplayable because of how demanding it was (I have an RX 7800 XT) and constant audio glitches + low FPS but not revolutionary graphics just meant I played the game for 2 days and never touched it again. Games are too demanding these days with nothing to return (gameplay quality wise and visual quality wise) which is a shame.
Why do people make things Epic exclusive? It doesnt feel as lucrative as steam, even on the face of it, and it feels so restrictive too. Its hindered games from being played on pc, like the Kingdom Hearts series...
@@RealLifeFakeWizard got to the point where you said that she was race swap in the context baby inc with no clarification, if you did it later on my recommendation would be to leave it as a question and not as an affirmation
Interesting. So, my recommendation would be to watch the whole video before taking to the comments, blindly. Because I very clearly say the great narrative choices outweighed the odd race swap decision by a mile. But you missed that. Because you didn’t watch the whole video. Cmon bro.
@@RealLifeFakeWizard but that's the thing is not odd, it make perfect sense once control came out and the remedy verse came to life. is the word you use the message you provide. and is also the consideration with your viewers time.... because why keep watching something in the hopes that they will correct it later if there is no indication of that?
This was GOTY for me. Being on EPIC Games only was horrible but the only thing that made it possible was Epic coming in with the big bucks. And even then, this was probably the cheapest AAA game ever made in the past few years.
If it was physical I might have got it on PS5 If it were on steam I def would get it on a sale. End of story. I'm not alone. The games mid and regressive and not where I want it to be.
it’s just not a big ip nor does it play like most mainstream games. the first game was never a massive success hence why it took 13 years and a partnership with epic to get it made.
I absolutely loved alan wake 2 personally. At first i could barely stay awake playing it because its a slow burn but once i got interested on the plot, I was hooked. I went from not liking Saga too much at first to finding her an good addition to the overall story/plot and a well written character. I guess I'm somewhat biased because as a black man having saga there actually kinda made me feel a little grounded in the story as well. I know it sounds crazy but seeing people that look like you take a leading role actually does make you feel welcomed, who knew? 🤷🏿♂️ Her role also helped that where's waldo, elusive, WTF happened to Alan feeling actually still be enjoyable. Her story was so compelling that whenever i was forced/encouraged to switch to alan I kinda didnt want to. 😅 Everything ain't meant for everybody, but I think Remedy did a great job of delivering the story they wanted to an audience that would appreciate it. I'm about to beat it again for Halloween. 😁
Not a fan of remedy's game design. The combat gets stale early and doesnt stop coming. World building is great but theyve never made a game i didnt wish was over hours earlier than it was
I think it will reach profit once it releases on Steam. Which was always where it's largest proportion of sales was going to be. Going for Epic was a terrible move but yes there are other factors too. The hand of SBI was very apparent in some parts of the game and while i still liked it overall, it made me cringe a few times.
@@PoopyBarfy Not really in the nasty way, but you'd walk around these remote rural american towns that are typically white and blue collar. Such as you would see in Alan Wake 1. But they were very diverse with a lot of hipsters that looked like they were straight out of California university. To me it broke the sense of believeability and immersion. I wouldn't have an issue with it if the game were set in Los Angeles or something like that, as it would be realistic and believable in that setting. But in these remote rural towns it just felt pretty cringe.
No steam release was a huge mistake. Also, all promotional material was more than off-putting. Another game where the protagonist is replaced by a "sTroNg bLaCk wOm>n" and pushed aside the titular protagonist to function as a supporting role at best.
Art that was poisoned by bad decisions. It looks fine as a game, but on principle, i don't buy anything touched by conseling companies. Story is what i look for in these games, and having the story affected by third parties is a big deal to me. The developers should be the only ones to decide what to put into the narrative.
@@MichaelBurkhalter I mean any horror media.. XD I just grew up with mean cousins...not a fun experience with horror stories. I try not to be scared or be affected but can't help it. So I avoid it.
Releasing on only Epic Games wasn't a good start.
It has certainly impacted sales!
Except they didn't. It's not a PC exclusive.
@@AmartharDrakestone It's a style of game that appeals well to the PC market. Restricting the PC release to one terrible platform was stupid.
@@Malaclypse_the_Third It's a third person action-adventure game. A style that most appeals to the console market. While the PC market is no slouch, consoles unfortunately are still where most sales are. Blaming the failure on the PC launch is just stupid.
The game wouldn't have been made without Epic funding it. A game that exists always sells more than one that doesn't exist. So, it is what it is.
It's a shame AAA budgets usually go to making the same games over and over again (cause money) rather than different games like AW2. I'll find myself getting bored playing games and wonder if I'm just outgrowing gaming... then a game like AW2 comes around and find my love for gaming is just as strong now as it was when I first picked up a controller.
You say that, but you have so many gamers crying whenever games change or innovate. Impossible to win.
Many of us didn't buy Alan Wake 2 because we like physical media and they didn't release it physically. Thanks to fan backlash Remedy are now putting out a physical copy a year after launch. We physical fans didn't like how a AAA game was digital only, especially when they released Alan Wake 1 Remastered on disc just a year before.
Weird excuse to not buy a game. Everything is digital nowadays. The people who didn't buy AW2 because of not being able to have a physical disc is extremely niche. The game didn't sell solely due to DEI characters taking up more time in the game than the main character and literal title of the game - Alan Wake.
@Tony-hn8qy No it isn't. Physical media sales are billions a year. And that's just games. You will also find many people are walking away from streaming services and going back to physical media. Why? They say they are fed up of streaming services for various reasons. They start a show get half way through only for the streaming services to remove the show. So they buy the DVD box set for cheap and that way they always own it to watch whenever they want. They are fed up with streaming services keep raising prices. Fed up with their favourite films moving around different streaming services so they have to keep signing up to and cancelling each service over and over. So they buy their favourite films on disc so they always have them. Here in my country we have more and more independent physical media stores popping up in recent years. People from all over the world come to visit them and post it online. Vinyl sales are up 200% in recent years. Sony's PS5 disc drive is selling well. Why is it selling well?
$70 million isn't actually a lot to make a game, especially not a game this impressive
Its impressive considering it is like the best looking game out there atm
@@bfg_pz2213 I don't play games for pretty graphics but to have fun
@@bfg_pz2213yes, the lighting tech is best in industry. I’d say the faces are the weak point imo.
@@ContrastCopy agreed. Alan’s mocap especially is very overanimated. Nobody has really been able to match Naughty Dog in mocap in games yet
Sure it's not enough when you hire hundreds of good for nothing incompetent DEI employees that similar doing a job just to rise ESG score to get investments , but you still have to pay a those hundreds of useless tokens many millions every year. While prior ESG era same work that 1000 of DEI barely can do could be done way cheaper and faster and way better by a hundred of white men.
Think it was a chance to make something they really wanted to for free once they factored in the EGS dollars
AAA Videogames are too big and too costly in general.
Absolutely...they have to move crazy numbers just to break even
@@vivavideo-videofilmer FFF games
Yeah but Alan Wake 2 had a budget of 50 mil which is like the least I've ever seen for a AAA game
@@itsmohdmustafa old AAA games were made for a lot less and didn’t suck ass
Cost of not putting it on Steam is that Remedy would not have money to make Alan Wake 2. Without Epis Store there would be no game.
Their marketing decisions have always been dung, and caused a lot of damage.
@@immune85 well the main reason why it failed is as he said, Alran Wake had small audience and the Alan Wake 2 hype was completely inorganic. It was mostly media hyping it and fans of 1st part. But for majority it was 'meh' game. Pretty but nothing special.
I agree.
I'm glad it got attention, but AW wasn't one of those "made for everyone" kind of games, and shouldn't be treated as such.
AW2 seems to be more about the opposite, trying to be survival, horror, and what-not.
When I played Control, nobody had even mentioned it, but I loved it. Same thing there, though.
There's a LOT of reading, and the storytelling is not for everyone, and it's pretty obvious. I hope they can stay true to what they created, instead of trying to make their games for everyone.
Canceled Disney+ last year and never looked back.
What does this have to do with Alan wake 2
@@PoorlyWrttenReviews Alan Woke 2.
@@PoorlyWrttenReviews have you *beeping watched the *beeping video?! Guess not.
@@maddo-hq9jr commented this before the random thing he says that has nothing to do with the video, right at the very end
@@RagitsuThat's not an answer. What does disney have to do with anything?
Didn't buy it because game looks boring af
I enjoyed every bit of this game personally. I loved the first one too. This game is honestly one of a kind from what I played, with the level designs, chapters, and the creativity and art goes through the roof. Theres so much to tackle in terms of experience and detail.There’s too much good with the game for me to rustle a few feathers about “diversity” or wokeness. Those terms have honestly become brainrot to me. I’m personally not gonna strip my enjoyment from myself and miss out on the heavy hitter that this game is. And I’m glad I didn’t miss out.
No physical disk for consoles, overstretched and forced Saga Anderson plot, a game that could not run on most widely used cards like 1060 and 1080! What else did they expect?
Mesh shaders. Very innovative, but limiting to who can play it
No physical copy on console is why I haven't got it yet. Now that they got a physical version coming, I got it pre-ordered.
That and listening to Sweet Baby Inc, and race swapping, something that is racist. Create new characters, don’t race swap!
The paskal series is 8 and a half years old man, most of the people still using these cards are limited to esport titles and older games (especially for the 1060, the TOP skew of that card had only 6gb VRam)
This Game is Straight up bad. It's a walking simulator. I completed 3part after that I Uninstall the game. Gameply sucks fighting mechanism isn't that good, Constant flashing and jump scares. Runs kinda shït. Graphics sucks Flat soft smudged up Graphics. Forget the graphics and optimisation part the most important thing that this game missing is good Gameplay and Gameplay mechanics. If two of this are good i ain't commenting here.
Last of us part 1 was Completely unoptimized but I still finished it because of story and Good Gameplay.
Remedy should've made "The Alan wake 2" Movie not the game!!!!!
Alan Wake is like Twin Peaks, it's not a main stream story.
Budget was to high, system requirements on PC to high, the SBI stuff shows lack of vision.
At the same time the epic link may have provided funding/tech help the studio needed.
Agree on all counts.
I'm 100% against DEI infestation in media but let's be honest. Alan Wake 2 had barely any SBI type of shit.
@@sptz87 Fucking thank you for saying that. I just finished the first play through and started the Final Draft. Apart from a few cringeworthy lines of dialogue (iykyk), the game isn’t as woke as people have made it out to be online.
The race swapping of Saga could be explained by a few hypotheticals. Maybe the original actress who played Saga in QB chose not to return, or Remedy decided to work with a different actress. The point is that we don’t really know why Remedy made the decision to begin with, but I don’t think that choice was made with any ill intent. And to even emphasize the point, Saga’s race doesn’t play a part nor is a major component of her character. She just so happens to be black. That’s it. Nothing further.
The only criticism I agree with is you don’t get much time to play as Alan in his own sequel. However, that criticism is appeased, a little, when you consider the fact that ALAN (and Scratch) play major roles in the game’s overall narrative.
Having Alan trapped away while following new characters is very Twin Peaks season 3.
@@sptz87 WTF? Half of the game was focused on the DEI enjected character. And the cool power that he is supposed to have that was shown on a leaked AW2 presentation was all gone.
Honestly I feel like splitting the game between two protagonists really helped it. Alan struggling through the Dark Place for 30 hours would feel tedious, and having a person with a fresh outside perspective on the horrors was really beneficial, especially for new players to the franchise
It is somewhat frustrating when people read that: "Alan Wake 2 still does not generate profits" since they interpret that Remedy wasted money when in reality it means that said company did not lose or earn X amount of money since they are still paying the financing of EpicGames
If Remedy had made the game with money from its own pocket, the headline "Alan Wake 2 has not yet generated a profit" would be worrying.
I also hate Alan's new design. Making him look like John wick instead of more like his look from the first game
He looks exactly the same, what are you talking about?
@@firepeaman2440 are you high?
@@jumpingmoose5554
On the original Xbox 360 launch they wanted him to look like he does on the Remake and on the sequel , they had hardware limitations, he has had the exact same face model for 14 years , he was the face of Alan in 2010, 2011 dlc (where they were able to make the in-game render look a tiny little bit closer to him) , 2016 in the return teaser in Quantum Break and 2020 in the Control DLC , only now they have been able to truly bring his full face to the in-game render, but this is the opposite of what Silent Hill 2 Remake or Spider-Man 2 did to their game models, in Alan Wake 2 Remedy actually made a huge effort to make the model ingame as faithful to the real face as they possibly could, they should be celebrated for it, you are very wrong here friend.
@@juanme555 the John wick design still looks dumb. I don't really care, it feels random and out of left field.
@@jumpingmoose5554get stuck in the dark place for 13 years and let me know how that haircut looks
I think there’s two main factors: people didn’t want to wait 13 years for a full sequel (American Nightmare was an awesome DLC though), and they just wanted to play as Alan Wake (and not spend half the game playing as a completely new character).
*Half-Life 3 has entered the chat*
@@autism-is-unstoppable8017nobody cares about half life anymore 😂
If nobody cares about half life then… I see why games has gone the route it’s gone. People have shit taste lol
@@dly2138 be honest if valve ever actually releases half life 3 it will never live up to what the fan base has built in their heads for what it should be for the past twenty years.
@@brettfire83 I disagree to a certain extent. Im a big fan and I think they can pull it off. Alyx was great but i'd like it if they didnt make it only VR even though it really doesnt matter in my case. That being said. Yeah you're probably right about the general fanbase.
This is a pretty balanced take on the whole thing, I appreciate that you didn't just jump on the "it's woke" bandwagon. Stuff like SBI is definitely a problem but it's just one facet.
Thank you!
I always appreciate an appearance of Schrodinger’s thermos
I don’t think this game failed this game came back 10 years later and almost took home Game of the Year
I feel Control's marketing Alan Wake 2's Marketing should have been switched. Alan Wake 2 appealed to more people and was easier to follow than Control.
I was a huge Alan Wake fan and was very hyped for the sequel. It was one of the reasons I decided to splash out on a brand new PC.
Initially I held off on purchasing due to Epic Store exclusivity and when I found out about Sweet Baby’s involvement I lost interest altogether. Such a shame.
Man I remember grabbing this game day one I was so disappointed , Alan wake 1 was so much better
Yeah it's a bit poo, they took the "we want to try new things" a bit too far...
The thing that bothers me most is the "free roam, but not free".
It would've worked better if it had just been as linear as Max Payne, instead of the whole "run in the woods for two days" idea.
Edit: Actually... the most annoying thing was that Saga couldn't decide if she believed the story was changing reality or not.
what ? yall are crazyyyyyyyy
@@LethalGame Could be worse... I could be woke.
Too much story gets in the way of gameplay and vice versa.
There is an optimal level of balance that you can achieve between the two, but it is safer for a game to err on the side of gameplay over story.
Alan Wake 2 failed because it was boring. I loved Alan Wake 1 and have played it multiple times. Alan Wake 2 was so boring that I couldn't finish it and I replayed RE4 instead.
I agree. There was WAY too much unnecessary running around and they just made a mess with all the different mechanics.
You can laugh at me, and I’m not suggesting this is why the game failed at all, but I didn’t want to play as an FBI Agent after the past decade of the FBI’s corruption and clear bias against Trump supporters and targeting of parents at school board meetings.
I really liked the first game too.
this might be the single dumbest reason to hate the fbi. imagine thinking the fbi's corruption is some sort of recent conspiracy and not built into the organisation since day one lol
That's the problem with us Nordics, we just like American things, but don't always understand things from an American perspective.
Yeah this gave me a good chuckle
Gotta be a Russian troll
@@immune85 Remedy never should have set Alan Wake in the US to begin with. And neither should they do it with the other games from the continuum. Just keep it in Finland. Would make it stand out.
It's so frustrating that even though AAA games keep being pushed out of studio from every corner of the world, the Americana always has to be there in some form.
I never played Alan Wake, and didnt know the game existed up until probably 3 years ago. But when I saw Alan Wake 2 and its demo, my heart died from fascination, I cant play the game on a toaster and cant buy it cause I am broke, but I have been patient to see someone specific make a playthrough of it.
who’ve you been waiting to make one?
@@drepdrained 8bitRyan, rn he is my fav ytuber, even though I have been watching him for about 5 yrs
@@axb3r ryan isnt gonna make one unfortunately, he did one video cuz he was sponsored and a year later, nothing. I can give you another great youtuber that did if you want tho
@@drepdrained Ik he wasnt gonna do it, but in desperation I was just hoping maybe if I waited long enough he would someday do it, but i guess your right.
@@axb3r gab smolders had a pretty good playthrough on her channel, recommend her, if not, go through Bricky Ep 2.’s channel and go into livestreams until you find him playing aw2
It is a failure. First game creates name, second one brings sales and often more platforms to be released on. This is how this industry works. Most games i know sold better with release of the second game. And this one failed miserably compared to the hype and game awards. I have made it to the second Alans part and never turned it on again. I have zero interest to spending like 60% of time in game called Alan Wake as some boring uninteresting rando with family problems and other totally generic and boring things to talk about. I wonder who we will play as in Max Payne remakes. It will for sure not be Max Payne...
I want to clear up something about this game. Yes, Remedy unfortunately was one of the first victims of SBI - but they did not seem to follow the path of the others. There's nothing SBI like in this game, at all - it's not there in the writing, other than perhaps a ham-fisted ex-wife reference with the FBC agent. There was no swap - QB is in another reality where Alan Wake is a game and novel series, and she is related to Mr. Door in the final game. Finally, the offensive lines are coming from an evil version of Saga trying to drive her mad - she's a good character with good motivations that doesn't tear people down and the story always had to be split between two worlds. Actual problems include Epic Games and a lack of ever letting you cut loose in combat.
You have pretty good production value and I was surprised you had less than 3k subs. I subscribed and hope to see more videos in the future.
The "different character taking over for the original character in a game" reminds me of metal gear solid 2
That's a good comparison!
Halo 5, as well.
There was an amazing plot reason for that and it was done as a surprise and did receive backlash despite of it. But it stood the test of time.
Alan wake 2 ain't that.
@@HenryTownsmyth Hard disagree. They needed to have someone on the 'other side' for half the game to make the plot worked, and it worked brilliantly. There's a ton of misinformation about this.
@@HenryTownsmyth Recton is always sin
The most iconic villains for me are Darth Vader and the Terminators.
Also, I appreciate that you try to make an objective analysis.
Those make sense. When I search for video game villains it gives me Sephiroth and Bowser in place 1 and 2.
It's Claptrap for me.
Hate that little robot.
I bought the collectors edition on xbox and when it came to PC i bought it for myself, my brother, my girlfriend at the time and a friend of mine. Alan Wake 2 comes along and i play it for a bit and i did love some sequences but i put it down halfway through and moved on to something else. I didn't know about the sbi stuff when i bought it but after i put it down i found out about it and it made a lot of sense why there were so some head scratching moments in the game. Sam Lake sadly let a consulting firm work on his baby. It just makes no sense to me.
Dude... are you serious? I hate DEI bs on media as well but this game is imo GOTY. You barely gave it any chance, there's no SBI/DEI bullshit in it. Apart from ONE line at like 90% of the game, nothing else.
Um ... Sweet baby inc was involved. You do know that RIGHT?@@sptz87
@@sptz87 what line was that? I don't remember when I played through it. Maybe I am numb to this woke society these days. Like I expect it at this point or something.
@@Element9846 SPOILERS AHEAD: Towards the end, on one of the mind palace sections when she’s in the dark place, she says something like: “sick of these white men telling me what to do”, then quickly corrects it because it’s the dark place putting negative thoughts on her mind
@@sptz87 I think I remember that! 🤣 You know whats sad? Im a white man and I have heard so much racism from "that side of the fence" that I wasn't even offended at this point. Seemed like it just went in and out the ear for me. When you think about it, it is such a needless and senseless line. It really only perpetuates racism in our society today. 🤡 🌎 🤷🏻♂️
Talk it into existence type thing.
My problems with Anderson's sections were the lack of choices in the puzzles. Alan's sections felt as though I was trying to uncover the set narrative hidden underneath the surface. Anderson didn’t have any sort of problem solving with her story puzzles. Just plug in the evidence and it auto completes the mystery. Why can't the player fall into her role? Let US figure out the clues and solve the mystery. Seriously, I felt like chopped liver playing her and dreaded coming across evidence cause it meant I needed to go back into that boring room and just put the clue into a very obvious slot.
Putting shaped pegs into matching holes was more fun than doing her evidence puzzles, because at least I'M the one woth the most agency.
What a waste of potential.
Finally a point I agree with. It didn't kill my time with the character completely, but moving forward, it'd be cooler if it was more "LA Noire" or if we could get some stuff wrong and have to rearrange evidence ourselves.
Love the game, but there's definitely room for improvement.
It’s a shame because I thought it was genuinely fantastic game, even if I was a little disappointed we spend so much time with Saga compared to Alan himself. I never really felt preached at by the game.
I don't have a horse in this race, so I can't speak about the gameplay of AW1&2. I know that I liked Quantum Break and Control, but I don't see myself going back to replay them versus GoW 2 which has replay value moreso than the aforementioned games I played. I also wonder if game budgets include marketing, unlike movies. That could account for some of the bloat. Anyway, thank you Wizard for an interesting deep-dive into this issue. Wizard, does your mom often say, "Starch your hat! What if you were in an accident, God forbid, with that floopy mess on your head?"
My Mom says I'm her most "special" child.
Not publishing on steam and GOG is a huge problem both for AW and MP remakes and for AW2.
Big part of niche audience that will appreciate the games actively avoid EGS.
I gifted at least two copies of Control on GOG and likely would have done the same with AW2, but alas, I can't even buy it once.
PS. Asking for sensitivity reading for AW2 is really one of few justifiable cases. Remedy are finnish studio and it make sense, that regional, racial and cultural differences in the US might be easy to miss. Like putting someone with New Orleans accent as a native new yourker and making gran-gran burritos their childhood food. (I'm not from US myself, but I hope I found bizarre enough combination)
Yours ir a pretty good take on the whole SBI stuff. Its very unclear (and probably very unlikely) that it did cause any sales decrease but its certainly that it didnt lead to a sales increase at all.
Good content man
@@gama103 thank you so much
Epic gets hate which is fine, but they are the sole reason some playstation exclusive quantic dream games, many ondie games and Alan wake 2.
I played about 3-4 hours of AWII and I just couldn't get into it. It's not the game I wanted it to be.
Funny... Because Alan literally says this is not the story you want it to be.
@@juina game and story are two different things
I felt like the game was an more of an arthouse movie than a game. I enjoyed the DLC more
I finally played "Alan Wake 1" last last year - mainly because my fiend said it was one of his favourites. For me it was that recommendation and the fact that i really enjoyed "Control". Long story short: game was ok i believe that i basically "missed that boat" i.e. i will never see what my friend saw in that game and regarding the "Alan Wake 2" - I've seen some gameplay and it looked very bland and quite frankly boring. There's so many other games I'd want to play, be it a new game or games I love to replay many times ( the witcher, homm3, dungeon keeper2, cyberpunk, pray, gothic 2, fallout 2...)
Alan Wake 2 is Alan Wake 1 truly realized.
I had a similar progression as you. Went from playing Control (which I loved), to Alan Wake 1 and basically took away from it "this game is a prototype for ideas better realized in control".
But I tried Alan Wake 2 and honestly, it's a fucking masterpiece
At the development, AW1 was supposed to be a massive open-world, but with the cuts, it became a linear, repetitive experience. The story was still fine, but i remember at the time that it was known as the "worst" Twin Peaks clone, with Deadly Premonition being the best. Both games were released close to each others.
@@mgalusic Agreed 100%. Though I played AW1 when it came out on my X360 and with that time's perspective I felt the same I felt with AW2 now. Felt it was a masterpiece and was HOOKED on the lore and story. AW2 is to me, one of the best games ever made. But again, the story, the lore, the pacing, it's not mainstream at all. It's literally too "Lynchian" for most gamers. Which is ok! But yes I do wish Remedy can keep making games like these in an ocean of slop garbage cookiecutter bs.
Honestly the weakest part of Alan Wake 1 was the combat. I didn't feel they did enough to address the combat after years of potential iteration. Especially after Re4 came out and set the bar.
Sam Lake has said repeatedly that the actress from QB was a temporary stand-in until they found who they definitively wanted.
Bull
@ No, what’s bull are the gutter-trash online making things up to rile up easily-triggered gamers.
@ Facts don’t care about your feelings.
It's a dang shame that people aren't giving AW2 a decent chance. The game was absolutely incredible
Absolute masterpiece imo
its not for everyone, some people are just slow and cant grasp abstract concepts. its for people that want a deep fun dark story.
People said that about AW1 too which I hated. I just found AW1 to be silly and pretentious. Control was pretty good.
@@quademasters249 AW1 was an interesting concept with a mediocre execution. AW2 is an amazing concept executed almost perfectly. If you liked control you will find AW2 is even better except maybe for gameplay since you dont have all the crazy powers
@@sabershark3102 I said "Control" was "pretty good". I thought it was pretentious and made little sense by the time it was over. Ultimately it was forgettable. I just didn't dislike it. Suggesting AW2 is like "Control" just means "wait for a sale" to me.
Something about the basic premise of the AW games and the universe they present (which includes "Control") grates on my nerves.
i'm a woman, i.e. the target audience of every AAA game these days. I have zero interest in Alan Wake 2 even though I loved the first game because I wanted to continue the story, playing as Alan Wake, not as a random diverse female. that's all.
You literally play as either character throughout the entire game freely able to switch between the two at any time that you want...with equal chapters for each character. Completely ridiculous take....and a completely lost opportunity to play one of the best games I have ever experienced in my life, and possibly your life.
AW2, at minimum, a top 10 game of all time for me.
You should buy it and play it, because its 60 million times better than AW1
@@Element9846yea its not equal, saga is a lot better gameplay vise because all Alan does is using clicker every 10 minutes, its like 10 enemies in all his chapters combined and they are all just shadows.
It's a huge shame that this wasnt like the biggest horror game ever made as far as success goes. It deserves it. And I'm always sitting here wondering where the survival horror community was when this came out. It's so similar to something like silent Hill and none of these big creators in that survival horror community ever bothered to acknowledge its existence while they are busy playing the newest indie fixed cam slop. And yeah sure hints of wokeness can ruin a product but I don't consider changing your mind about the race of a character that technically doesn't exist yet to be the same thing as "race swapping" in relation to why anyone or even I has a problem with that. If in the middle of production of a brand new character you decide you wanna make them black go ahead I don't care. It's the already established characters being race swapped that I have such a problem with. Aside from that in the actual game there's a single line in the whole thing that can be seen as woke and it's portrayed as the dark place pulling that thought out of her and not something saga in her right mind actually believes. Aside from that one line which let's be fair and talk about it in full context she literally just happens to be a black woman and that's it. Like I don't understand why that alone is so hard for people to accept they don't even wait until it effects the story or the character negatively anymore they are just like oh a black person exists looks like they went woke. Which in my opinion, is practically the definition of racism.
Saga made it about race first. She didn't need to have a hateful line towards white men in the game.
@WildDogGamerBoy which I already said my piece about so you apparently didn't bother reading the whole thing. And no saga didn't make it about race first cause people were literally screaming woke as soon as they saw a black woman exist under any context long before anyone was ever able to find that line like 30 hours into the game. So if we are making it about who did it first that's absolutely the audience.
AW 1 was really good. Soon as I found out, sweet baby was I it, hard pass.
AW2 is a good day ajd you're missing out
The alan wake actor already warn remedy of this changes before but
For me Its the Game of the Year
For me it's not
Agreed 💯 This game is an underrated masterpiece. It's a shame not many people give this game a chance.
100% GOTY of 2023. It was a masterpiece.
I liked the first one because it gave me a Twilight Zone-like thrill, but I was disappointed with the second one. The game constantly blamed Thor, made him apologize, and Sarah was overbearing towards Alan until the very end. Sarah felt like an outsider, and all harmony was destroyed.
Tor literally drove his daughter's husband away and ruined her life being super angry and wrathful.
Also... Sarah? The only Sarah in the franchise is Sarah Breaker and she's not even in the game.
This comment feels very AI-generated...
@@juina yes i use ai to Translate
I dislike Sweet Baby Inc. as much as anyone, but this situation highlights how people tend to accept things as absolute if everyone says so. Alan Wake 2 is far from a bad game. Its struggles are largely due to its association with SBI. While the race swap might seem off-putting if you haven’t played the game, the character is actually well-developed and likable, with no signs of arrogance or 'woke' behavior. Many criticize 'woke' individuals for following a hive mentality, yet dismissing the game without actually experiencing it mirrors that same behavior.
This is the "trendy" thing to do nowadays: insert a black female. People are saying "no" to the woke bull. Association with crap ideologies hurts sales (as it well should).
Because it was Alan Woke, NEXT
I must say, that is a very strong argument.
Care to elaborate, though?
@@immune85he’s scared of women
@@Mohgenstein Smells like a troll, though.
Women are icky. I wanna play Alan Wake as Alan and not diversity inclusion character.@@Mohgenstein
@@immune85 Give me one reason why --Sarah-- Alice is how a strong independent Wahmen? Because of DEI, that's why.
Woke destroys. If never creates.
One thing that always would have made this game niche is how much it ties into the Remedyverse to such an extreme level. It's not like an RE game where you can pick it up having played none of the others and figure things out pretty fast. If you haven't played Death Rally, Max Payne, Max payne 2, Quantum Break and Control - and not just played, but dug into the lore of each - you'll miss about 80% of the game's story. Yes, even Quantum Break, which 'isn't in the Remedyverse *wink wink*' but is critical to understanding a lot of what is going on with Door and Breaker. If you are a lifelong Remedy fan, the payoffs and attention to detail is kind of awe inspiring. If you're not, you'll go 'what the hell just happened?' a lot.
Death Rally? Does that game have a story? Max Payne is referenced, but its story has nothing to do with the Remedy Verse. The Remedy Verse just includes AW1, AW American Nightmare, AW2 and Control. You can play AW2 just fine without playing the other games (except for AW1). There are some things you won't fully understand, but it was not much in my experience.
I recently finished control, and I was hype learning there is a remedy games universe including allan wake!
Not having a Steam copy, I would guess impacted sales by easily 20%. You have a demographic that was excited and would buy it wherever. Then you have those that didnt hear about it, or only got a small wind word of it, and would have probably picked it up if they had seen ads for it on steam or more word of mouth through Steam. Epic is big, Steam is HUGE. A release on Steam would set it straight imo. There are people, that want their whole library together. I would buy it again just to have it in my Steam library.
You used to get a free copy of the remaster if you purchased AW2
For what it was, I think Alan Wake 2 is pretty good. Could've just been a cash grab with no effort behind it.
Maybe if the game was called Saga Anderson 2 it might have sold better
Thats not how that works, otherwise Metal Gear Solid 2 would've been Metal Gear Raiden 2
Sorry, gotta re-title some of the most popular games ever made now.
Why do people say and like this IQ-80 slop?
@@sujimayne Does everything fly over your head or just dumb jokes?
I think the game just didn't have enough target audience to begin with, but the SBI involvement definitely did not help.
My take is that AW2 was meant to further confuse the reality of the multiverse, but also give us answers. The audience seems obvious, but the co-operation with one of the big evils, SBI, didn't help.
They could've done better.
What the fuck is SBI. I think you meant FBC. The Federal bureau of control is highly involved in this game.
Yep, listening to Sweet Baby Inc, and race swapping, something that is racist. Create new characters, don’t race swap!
@@CyborgGerbil Do you actually know the reason for the race swap? Do you KNOW what SBI actually did to impact the final product? You obviously haven't even played the game so stfu.
It didn't, it just released on every platform except the most popular one. Plus, most gamers don't read these days which this game kinda encourages you to get into the whole plot.
"most players don't read these days"
What a sad state of affairs; widespread voice acting has made players entitled _and_ dumb.
@@Ragitsu definitely, most people are dumb when it comes to videogames. Why do you think that RE games and the latest SH 2 remake had to go around with dumb yellow paint and white rags respectively, to aware pLaYeRs what they have to look at instead of allow them to think/read/check/be aware. That's just one example, what makes you think they'll read or pay attention to a narrative game like AW 2?
Most popular one? So you mean PlayStation? Steam is a tiny drop in the ocean.
@@luxoflux5064A little too ironic for you to call anyone dumb.
He has a point, to be fair; it _is_ woke.
Didn't buy it because it wasn't Alan wake 2.
Yes it was? What are you talking about?
Lol for the most part you are not playing as him buddy lol
Why Remedy thinks that having Alan Wake 2 (and the remaster) available as an exclusive for a platform that caters almost exclusively to 10 year old mobile gamers instead of the largest adult pc gaming audience was going to help sales I'll never know. I would have bought this game at launch at full price if it was on steam, and until they release it on there, I'll just stick to watching other people play it.
Epic funded the game. If it weren't for them it wouldn't exist. This also means it will probably never get to Steam. Or at least not in the near future. I too wish it was on Steam... but at this point I just caved in once I learnt that Epic funded the entire thing.
Because the title made it sound like a sequel to the open ended Alan Wake.
Its that simple. It was just a filler story in universe. Yay thats exactly what i waited a decade on.
reading the description here already is a turn off from this video and you agreeing with comments on Saga being race swapped. That video in Quantum Break is 8 years old now and development of the story also certainly changed, which would have an effect on who the characters are and where they’re from. Saga being a mix of Door/Hatch with the Anderson family is an awesome twist and idea.
The description is an excerpt of the script in the video. If you watched the video, you'd know I say the story with Alan Wake 2 was compelling enough to forgive the needless race swapping.
@@RealLifeFakeWizard You’re wrong. You can’t race swap a character that hadn’t actually been properly introduced.
@@drepdrained that’s, like, your opinion, bro.
@@RealLifeFakeWizard its my opinion when the game director quite literally said otherwise?
I played the first Alan Wake & enjoyed it. I was excited that they were making another one, only to be kind of bummed to discover you spend a large chunk of the game as another character. Why not just make a true sequel?
It works extremely well, to be honest. Saga's a great character, not what people are ranting about. She does not tear anyone down, is not a 'girlboss,' has good motivations, etc. and is related to major characters in the franchise. They needed a character on the other side in the 'real' world to make the story work.
I was worried about it too, but it was great.
@@BlazingOwnager The game is called ALAN WAKE, not a Alan Wake Saga.
Why would I want to split my playtime between him and an unestablished character for 50% of the game?
Escpecially after waiting for so long for a sequal about Alan.
Maybe if they'd build her up in a previous game so we got to know her a little.
Or make the Saga part DLC after the story to give a different perspective and people would choose to play as a different character.
But no, 50/50 in someone else's game let's go. Oh, and she's also kind of annoying and condescending. (By what I saw, personal interpetation)
This just felt like: "we want to make a game about Saga, but we know that won't sell so we shoehorn her in with an established character".
Plus EGS.
Even though it worked for some people, it obviously did not get enough people excited.
My guess is that a large chunk of the Alan Wake 1 players skipped this one because of the shared playtime.
Still, glad it worked for you and you seemded to enjoy it.
@@arrogantbandit1 The reason I was okay with it - and I had the same reservations about it as you - is it only worked by having one person in the real world and one in the dark place working towards a common goal. I think what makes it work is Saga's parts are almost entirely about Alan; his presence is constantly felt, he is constantly talked about, everything she discovers goes back to him and the Old Gods. She didn't hijack the story, she's part of his story, and because of that I was good with the split.
I really didn't find her condescending.
@@mr.stealth3195 if Saga never comes to Bright Falls, Alan stays in the dark place and no real sequel can happen... Just endless Night Springs episodes
@@BlazingOwnager You never played the first game if this is your opinion. The story was complete ass with Saga as a character - especially being race swapped and not being an interesting character in the slightest.
AW2 was boring and pretentious.
It took itself too seriously and forgot it was a vidya game. At times, it felt little more than an interactive 'B-movie' game. Push forwards to advance sort of thing. Fanx, but no fanx.
I bought Alan Wake Remastered and Red Dead Redemption 2. Both of which I heard GREAT things. I just don't have the time to play them.😔
RDR2 is long. Alan Wake Remastered can be done in under 10 hours, if you wanted to prioritize your time.
@RealLifeFakeWizard Thank you kind sir.👍
I am a big Alan Wake fan, the original is better than the remastered. The art style is more consistent, it performs better, the lip syncing is better, and overall it just has a charm the remastered scrubbed out.
Playing Wake 2, not sure I like it yet, very slow paced.
Going digital was the worst decision ever
That and listening to Sweet Baby Inc, and race swapping, something that is racist. Create new characters, don’t race swap!
@@CyborgGerbil yes all correct
@@CyborgGerbil Calling it a race swap is a little disingenuous in this case, she's a brand new character and may have changed in several of ways during production like many characters do at their inception. The character works, is well acted, and the story is pretty good. There is no lack of continuity in changing a character before they are ever introduced to the consumer(if they really did, because i wouldn't be as easy as changing a single character model in this case - I'll leave it there for reasons)
@@CyborgGerbil Racist Baby Inc.
@@RJN9008 You talked around the fact that she is black. This is the "trendy" thing to do nowadays: insert a black female.
Tbh it’s mostly the lack of Steam release. I REALLY didn’t want to get it on Epic but caved in the end. TBH I think it’s actually overly long. They could have made it a fair bit shorter and told the same story and made it more dense and exciting, as it is it drags a bit. I know that’s odd in the age of “as many hours as possible”.
In the end I think it’ll sell well but it’ll take a fair few years.
I swear to God, if we're not going to get any news on the next Tomb Raider Game I'm loosing it lol.
My one uh gripe with the Saga Anderson sections is that the uh Alan wake sections just had cooler puzzles and were like paced kinda faster
Online communities never thrive. There is nobody there.
Alan wake is literally one of the most unwoke games ive seen. Sure you play as a black woman, but what the fuck does that have to do with anything? It’s a fantastic story, has great horror elements and good enough gameplay, and perhaps one of the most creative games of the past 10 years
you dont get it man!!! theres a line where all her doubts throughout her entire career and existence are used against her by an evil being, so its woke because of that!
It was released in the Epic Store. There, mistery solved...
Stupid wizard costume aside, This was a great look into why it's failed to recoup. However you could've just said Epic exclusivity is the reason! Then again what do I know I like Saga.
… what’s wrong with my outfit?
@@RealLifeFakeWizardlooks like a ps3 trying to render ps4 graphics
@@alexcastillo4741 you missed the point in the name of being a Fake Wizard. I'm not a Real Wizard.
@@RealLifeFakeWizarddon't worry, some people just want to see the wizards burn, be they real or fake. And not just clowns, like us normal people do...
@@RealLifeFakeWizardNothing at all.
I didn't finish Alan wake remastered, it got tedious to me. Alan wake 2 also got a bit tiresome near the end, but i did overall enjoy the game and finished that one along with the first DLC. Waiting for the Control 2 because Control is one of my favourite games ever
For me the game was unplayable because of how demanding it was (I have an RX 7800 XT) and constant audio glitches + low FPS but not revolutionary graphics just meant I played the game for 2 days and never touched it again. Games are too demanding these days with nothing to return (gameplay quality wise and visual quality wise) which is a shame.
Why do people make things Epic exclusive? It doesnt feel as lucrative as steam, even on the face of it, and it feels so restrictive too.
Its hindered games from being played on pc, like the Kingdom Hearts series...
No steam release = sales failure
have you not play the game? there is a reason why saga is a black woman (mix race) and is in the game. and it make perfect sense gesh
Did you not watch the video?
@@RealLifeFakeWizard got to the point where you said that she was race swap in the context baby inc with no clarification, if you did it later on my recommendation would be to leave it as a question and not as an affirmation
Interesting. So, my recommendation would be to watch the whole video before taking to the comments, blindly. Because I very clearly say the great narrative choices outweighed the odd race swap decision by a mile.
But you missed that. Because you didn’t watch the whole video. Cmon bro.
@@RealLifeFakeWizard but that's the thing is not odd, it make perfect sense once control came out and the remedy verse came to life. is the word you use the message you provide. and is also the consideration with your viewers time.... because why keep watching something in the hopes that they will correct it later if there is no indication of that?
Alan wake 2 was a success and one of the best games we had the pleasure of experiencing a true masterpiece 🎉cannot wait for AW3 🎉
well no it wasn't though... the numbers don't lie.
@@Ultradockerlet people have an opinion just finished it and it’s one of the best games I’ve played
A lot of love was put into this game 💯 like all games there will be issues but I'm glad remedy is listening to fans and is fixing them.
This was GOTY for me. Being on EPIC Games only was horrible but the only thing that made it possible was Epic coming in with the big bucks. And even then, this was probably the cheapest AAA game ever made in the past few years.
I tried to play and get into it, i truly did. I dozed off in my gaming chair 3 times while attempting to play it.
Me trying to play any of the judgment games
If it was physical I might have got it on PS5
If it were on steam I def would get it on a sale.
End of story. I'm not alone. The games mid and regressive and not where I want it to be.
Go woke go broke, f sbi
Yep, listening to Sweet Baby Inc, and race swapping, something that is racist. Create new characters, don’t race swap!
i waited, but it was one of the best games i've ever played.
it’s just not a big ip nor does it play like most mainstream games. the first game was never a massive success hence why it took 13 years and a partnership with epic to get it made.
It will be successful soon . Suddenly people will flock to buy this game
I absolutely loved alan wake 2 personally. At first i could barely stay awake playing it because its a slow burn but once i got interested on the plot, I was hooked. I went from not liking Saga too much at first to finding her an good addition to the overall story/plot and a well written character. I guess I'm somewhat biased because as a black man having saga there actually kinda made me feel a little grounded in the story as well. I know it sounds crazy but seeing people that look like you take a leading role actually does make you feel welcomed, who knew? 🤷🏿♂️ Her role also helped that where's waldo, elusive, WTF happened to Alan feeling actually still be enjoyable. Her story was so compelling that whenever i was forced/encouraged to switch to alan I kinda didnt want to. 😅 Everything ain't meant for everybody, but I think Remedy did a great job of delivering the story they wanted to an audience that would appreciate it. I'm about to beat it again for Halloween. 😁
Not a fan of remedy's game design. The combat gets stale early and doesnt stop coming. World building is great but theyve never made a game i didnt wish was over hours earlier than it was
I think it will reach profit once it releases on Steam. Which was always where it's largest proportion of sales was going to be. Going for Epic was a terrible move but yes there are other factors too. The hand of SBI was very apparent in some parts of the game and while i still liked it overall, it made me cringe a few times.
Was it anti-white?
@@PoopyBarfy Not really in the nasty way, but you'd walk around these remote rural american towns that are typically white and blue collar. Such as you would see in Alan Wake 1. But they were very diverse with a lot of hipsters that looked like they were straight out of California university. To me it broke the sense of believeability and immersion. I wouldn't have an issue with it if the game were set in Los Angeles or something like that, as it would be realistic and believable in that setting. But in these remote rural towns it just felt pretty cringe.
No steam release was a huge mistake. Also, all promotional material was more than off-putting. Another game where the protagonist is replaced by a "sTroNg bLaCk wOm>n" and pushed aside the titular protagonist to function as a supporting role at best.
Didn't like the first one. Didn't bother with the second. I might try it at a steep discount.
Why did Alan Wake 2 failed?
Too long since the previous game,
Not on Steam,
Not scalable to lower end PCs,
The game is not good.
The ending of this video hit harder than a light bullet of hope, as a Remedy big fan!
AW2 is a work of art
Art that was poisoned by bad decisions.
It looks fine as a game, but on principle, i don't buy anything touched by conseling companies.
Story is what i look for in these games, and having the story affected by third parties is a big deal to me.
The developers should be the only ones to decide what to put into the narrative.
every game/movie/show/book is a work of art. that isn't saying much.
Woke of art.
you can call a turd art...
Did Jesse Faden (MC from Control) make a cameo or mentioned in Allan Wake 2?
Cameo, mentioned, and *kinda* playable in the DLC
@@RealLifeFakeWizard I did enjoy control, knowing jesse faden can be playable in the dlc, I might give allan wake 2 a shot!
@@rjproduction486 it’s not the *same* Jesse, but it is… lol. It’s alternate dimensions in the first dc.
Reasons why i dont like alan wake
1 i dont like horror games or any media
2. Too hard to run that shit
3. Sweeet baby, they just piss me off.
You don’t like any media? Well that’s just sad
@@MichaelBurkhalter I mean any horror media.. XD I just grew up with mean cousins...not a fun experience with horror stories. I try not to be scared or be affected but can't help it. So I avoid it.