from MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 03 Feb 06:01
https://lemmy.world/post/25056600
Today i continued through Alan Wake 2. I have started Alan’s Section. I got to the very end of Chapter 2, but ran into a bug where Alan doesn’t push a subway car door open while being chased so i stopped there.
Overall for the graphic settings, i settled on 1440p, FSR on quality, and Raytracing on Medium. It seems to run acceptably that way. It gets a bit fuzzy in the dark place, but overall it doesn’t look too bad.
One of my favorite examples of this is the Owl in the Writing room. It came out looking really nice in a photo:
There was another one that i captured too of a Phone Booth. The Raytracing combined with it’s lighting makes this feel really realistic. It looks like the light in the top of the booth is shining through a piece of plastic
There was also a photo i took at the very beginning. I tried to frame Alan and the Exit sign into the same photo. I made it positioned where it’s looking down from the Exit sign, so it’s like Alan is too deep to “exit” from the dark place
The New York in this game is one of my favorite areas to explore. After the phone booth, i wandered down to a TV store before going to pick up the flashlight. I wanted to experiment with some alternative camera angles. I tried this one, which i wanted to make look kind of uncomfortable to capture the feeling of the Dark Place
Heading down the alley, i also tried this shot. I tried to make it look like Alan was being peeked on by something behind the railing. I really like how it turned out. I used a grid to make it match up with the Vertical Bars of the railing:
I also tried a similar trick with Casey’s death. I lined Casey and Alan up with the corners of the door. I like how it turned out. The flashlight and angle really helps capture the mood of the scene i feel like
As i headed down to the Subway, i got into my first combat encounter after somehow managing to sneak past all the others. I tried doing a sort of action shot of Alan holding a flare while also trying to make it feel like a spur of the moment photo taken with a shoddy camera. This fight was also when i discovered you could throw flares. It hadn’t occurred to me that i could do that.
I grabbed this photo for far less artistic reasons. Me and my friend i play Zomboid with having a running joke of taking photos of anything that says Jerry on it, because Jerry is the name of my Zomboid character (and the character i use for other games sometimes):
Moving through, i made my way too the scene with the burnt out train car. This one is one of my favorite scenes. I know that there’s nothing that’s going to hurt me, but the scene and sound design is so well done that even after 4 playthroughs now, it scares the shit out of me. It’s so well done:
Somewhere along the way in the subway, i also grabbed this one which is one of my favorites next to the main one i took of Alan and his reflection. This one i kind of tried to capture the feeling of Alan “descending” deeper into the Dark Place in search of the “door that’s not a door”. I tried a bunch of different filters but ended up settling on the normal one.
and then finally, there’s this photo. This scene is another iconic one for me. The way the pages rip up is very memorable for me and the sequence that follows after is just as memorable:
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Beautiful screenshots! Too bad that it’s going to take a while until it’s released outside of the Epic store (on PC).
Epic just recently announced that they’re never releasing it outside of their store. They’re the exclusive publisher, so they have distribution rights, and their CEO Tim Sweeney is determined to snub his nose at Steam, even though Alan Wake 2 still hasn’t earned back its production costs. It’s a complete flop, but they won’t extend to the Steam market to help sales.
Unlike other games, where publishers sign exclusivity contracts with Epic Games for a certain time period, Alan Wake 2 was actually published by Epic Games, meaning that Epic Games gets to decide what systems the game releases on. So it’s not coming to Steam. Which means I’ll never get to play it, because I’m never giving a penny to that awful store of theirs.
I read that article. I am in no hurry, I will speculate that it will eventually come to other stores.
Should I play the first game before starting this one?
Edit: I feel like my comment got colored by a lot of the consequent replies. I’m not saying you shouldn’t, nor that if you want every detail, there isn’t more to see by playing it first. I’m saying AW2 isn’t among the interconnected games that you might as well not even play unless you’re up to date on every detail. Yes, it has a lot of interconnects with other Remedy games, but it’s fan-bloody-tastic entirely on its own.
In my opinion, the reward for “doing the homework” is worth it. The Remedy games have become somewhat incestuous with their interconnected universe, but AW2 is - in my opinion - good enough that playing the preceding games first is worth the payoff. The only Remedy game I didn’t play was Quantum Break, but that one is only tangentially referenced as they don’t own the rights to the IP. Max Payne is explicitly referenced (though under a different name as Rockstar owns that IP) and having played Max Payne 1 heightened the enjoyment of AW 1&2 in my opinion.
Beyond that, the story of AW2 is a direct sequel to AW1 and while it’s possible to play it standalone it will be somewhat confusing and a lesser experience I would say. The story also directly connects to Control, and having played that one first will again enrich your enjoyment of AW2. Plus Control is just a great game anyway.
100% disagree with the guy saying it’s not necessary. AW2 is a direct sequel of the first game, if you don’t at least watch a summary online you wont understand most of the story.
They created an entire new character, who is just as new to the situation as a player who might not have played the first game, allowing a new player to step into the story quite smoothly, sight unseen.
Not necessary, is not the same as “not worth doing”. All “not necessary” means is that AW2 stands entirely on its own even for players who might not’ve player the first one, or Control.
Definitely. And play control if you want to get some extra references. I’m playing right now and this game is constantly putting a smile on my face. It’s great.
It’s not required I’d say, but there’s far more of a Pay Off if you do. It, and its Spin off Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, lays so much of the ground work for the ideas seen in this one that the pay off is amazing to see