Alan Wake

It seems EG like their esoteric reviews so if you don't like that, I just wouldn't go there or read them. EG aren't asking you to put down any money for a game (just their subscription)

It just seems like the same complaints about their reviews come up again and again. Their reviews, like any of their articles, are just content about games to get people on the site. If someone puts down 60 quid on a game based on a single review from a website they clearly don't value, that's on them to be honest. I can't imagine there are many people who do though

They're silly people, Jambo. Not like us

What games

And how is it the same when this is a forum where you interact with people personally, regardless of the topic or thread. If a game is popular, people are talking about it. You talk about it

Talk user Aunt Alison. Talk as free as the wind.

It doesn't really work when they regularly post clickbait. But anyway, is everyone still loving the game? I got this planned for a Friday purchase.

Yeah despite my earlier criticism I do genuinely think it’s fucking fantastic. The first run through something, particularly if it’s anticipated, is juggling your expectations with your experience.

"Gameplay switches between Alan and Saga as they explore Bright Falls and its surroundings as well as The Dark Place; Alan reworks story drafts in his Writing Room to reshape his prison, and the suspiciously intuitive Saga uses her "Mind Place" - her version of a mind palace - to organise her thoughts, analyse clues, and make deductions."

"Saga follows a more or less straightforward detective trajectory - explore, examine, and retreat into the Mind Place to arrange her case board; she also collects oddly predictive manuscript pages and uses a Control-style weapons system that involves collecting said pages. Alan, while in the Dark Place, must out-write his nemesis by finding new scene inspirations in his environment - ideal settings like abandoned train stations and old-school cinemas that form the bread and butter of hardboiled detective fiction. His light mechanics, which help shift the reality around him and rewrite his own story, are some of the most satisfying portions of the game; the Writing Room is where he combines suitable scenes with different plot elements to push the story along. It quickly becomes clear that what Alan does affects Saga's world, and vice versa. Saga's journey, presented as the more materially "real" one, feels a lot meatier in combat; my go-to combo was the revolver and sawed-off shotgun, throwing in the odd crossbow shot when I unlocked the "magnetic pull" arrow upgrade."

Doesn't that cover the gameplay mechanics? People have said in this thread numerous times that Remedy's strength is style and storytelling. From what people said, most of the gameplay is just walking about so there can't be that much else to say about it. I can't be arsed to read the rest of the review but what I read up to that point seems fine to me - positive

Is it good

If the gameplay is “just walking about” then maybe include that? Or define what a “Control-style weapon system” is, or what the “light mechanics” are, or talk about how the dark place, the mind place and writing room operate. Just saying their names doesn’t explain anything.

As I said previously, after reading the review I don’t have any better understanding of the game than before I did so.

I think it’s more that the people who are actually playing the game think the review is light on the details of what it’s like to play the game.

They don’t. It’s easier to highlight negatives and positives in a review under discussion having had experience of the game though.

Anyway this is making me want to fire it up again. I just can’t decide if I want to do Saga’s bit or Alan’s next.