Alan Wake

Oh wow, ok. Wasn’t expecting that.

They used to be half decent in times gone by but they haven't had some half stupid takes over the years - still lowers the ass temps a little!

Read the ign review is full of spoilers so avoid.

I can't think of any examples off the top of my head but there's been a few occasions where I've felt they've purposefully gone for a lower score purely to stand out from the consensus. Not that the critique was necessarily invalid just that the end score was intentionally controversial. 

I'm well aware of the origin of game central and it was a very solid (tonally different) replacement for Digi and they somehow retained the voice when they moved away from teletext which was impressive enough. I often used to value both their and EGs reviews the highest so I'm not coming from any particular position here other than having felt that on a few occasions they'd done the above.

I mean, they are right that no one speaks like they do in a Remedy game, but that doesn't mean it is bad. They go for a very particularly style and tone, which the dialogue and delivery of is important in setting.

It might not be to everyone's taste, but Remedy know exactly what they are doing and it is a huge part of the charm of their games.

Control cemented my love of Remedy.

Control released with little info or back story, so without context I took the generic offices and familiar looking combat with a "single" weapon to be some rushed cobbled together greatest hits effort.

Ended up being one of my favourite ever games along with Alan Wake.

In a time when full fat single player games are becoming rarer and often based on bankable IP. That Remedy is sticking to what they know, pouring millions into such detailed worlds with often bonkers unconventional stories, complete with their own brand of storytelling I think is brilliant.

Totally get the "people don't talk like that" comment. Personally I think they're self aware to the fact they're telling an unbelievable story within a video-game and the quirky or extra dramatic dialog is entirely intentional.

Either way, first full price game I'll be buying this year. Can't bloody wait!

Interesting that's there no RT in the console versions at all. So it's an upscaled 4k from something like 1800p or a performance mode at 1440p upscaled from from around 847p.

Yea, the stuff he doesn't like is the stuff that is so bloody awesome about the original Wake and in particular Control (I think control is heretofore their pinnacle).

Max Payne was good but I never personally held it in as high a level of esteem as others did. 

The reviews look pretty amazing for this. Some gushing about it being a landmark horror game. Never played the first, but suddenly I'm interested. Thought it would be bang on for a 7/10.

Couldn’t sleep (for unrelated reasons). Ended up just getting up and getting 90 mins on this before my run. Bloody hell. Quite an opening. It’s also very slow. Took the whole 90 mins before I even fired my gun. It’s bloody brilliant so far though. Actually love the whole investigation aspect. It’s also giving off as much Control vibes as it is AW. Can’t wait to see more later

Yeah, I really think Alan Wake is overrated. Or, to put it more reasonably, it didn't click with me, and actually bored me. This was a disappointment for a big fan of Stephen King and the Max Payne games.

Control, on the other hand, is one of my favourite games of the last few years. It just blew me away with its daft inventiveness and, unlike AW, was hugely enjoyable to play.

There's no question I'm getting AW2 once I get home in 10 days. I just need to find out if the Series X version runs okay (does anyone have any info on this?). If not, I'll have to reappropriate the PS5 from my son.

I'll say one thing for Remedy's games - they provoke strong reactions!

I quite liked the original Alan Wake but that was mostly from a gameplay perspective - story seemed a bit bobbins.

Loved Max Payne 1 and 2, wasn't keen on Control or Quantum Break.

I really didn't like AW back in the day. Love it now though but that could be Control bias as that game remains one of my top games ever, which completely took me by surprise. I like that they've carried over the big whumpfy block sans serif titles for stuff from Control.

For £33 on GMG I have pulled the trigger on this. Was going to wait until I'd done more backlog clearing, but eh.

My fun fact is that I almost worked on this game; had a bunch of interviews and they flew me out to Helsinki/Espoo for a few days, I met Sam Lake, but ultimately turned the job down because my Wife despite her job being fully remote, her company wouldn't let her work from Finland and I didn't want to have to support both of us in such an expensive country.