I will make a reservation right away, I did not know! This is really a coincidence when I was preparing this blog, I did not know that RP would come out. In general, at first I thought not to lay it out, but since I did it.
So, I should immediately admit to you. I don't like Alan Washk ... yes, I understand how it sounds, but let me explain myself. I do not think this game is bad, moreover, I agree with the opinion that it is very good. But, nevertheless, I have a couple of good reasons to dislike the story about the writer from Remedi. And if I will save one of them for conclusion, then I will share the other with you right away.
So, I believe that one of the problems of Alan Wgee is that this is not the game that she is trying to seem. But, in order to clarify this moment, you will have to go through the gameplay and the plot of Wash, so, just in case, I warn you, if you, suddenly, still have not passed it, then spoilers will be further.
So, everything starts with the fact that a certain writer gets into an accident, somewhere in the foggy American province. And yes, today we will return to comparison with the Feum Silent Hill, but so far let's leave this topic aside and just enjoy the entry, because it is really impressive.
Perhaps this is a reference?
The player along with the main character, immediately without context they throw directly into the thick of events, simultaneously teaching the main mechanics. You don't understand what is happening around at all, but what you see is very intriguing. And after a small run, it turns out that, of course, all this was just a dream, and only then a real introduction starts, which, I think few will argue with this, looks incredibly atmospheric.
In general, I will immediately make a reservation that I played precisely in the original version, not Remaster, and it still looks just gorgeous. Yes, literally in a few places throughout the game, there are a couple of moments where the faces of the characters, it is in the videos on the game engine, look so -so, but in general everything looks incredibly beautiful.
Moreover, the production, at least at the beginning, is also impressive. That is, notice how smoothly the player is immersed in the atmosphere of what is happening. Literally, in the first two scenes, they represent the practical characters that are important for the plot, this was done very unobtrusively, but at the same time capacious and informative. The only thing is not clear why, instead of a sheriff, another policeman was shown in the initial scene.
But as Alan Wake gradually leaves the illuminated locations into darkness, tension is growing. And if at first we are simply given by some hints of approaching something, then at some point the dark power manifests itself openly and here ... Suddenly, the action is transferred for a week ahead.
More precisely, Alan Wake wakes up in a broken car and discovers that a week has passed, from the last moment that he remembered, and more specifically, after he jumped into the dark lake, after an unknown force that had stolen his wife. Moreover, everything around is also like the dream of the writer himself, which he had seen before.
And this beginning is certainly intriguing. As spinsheaven.uk/ already said, everything looks incredibly atmospheric. It is often customary to mention that the developers were clearly inspired by the works of King and the Twin Peaks series, when creating the game, yes, in fact, it is noticeable and ?naked? eye, but they rarely also remember about the ?fog? of the carpenter now, from which there were also a lot of borrowed. In general, if you bring the line under the above, beautiful atmospheric game in the surroundings of the best American horror films and thrillers.
Usually, somehow, they forget about the "fog" of Carpenter when they talk about what the creators of Waeik were inspired.
It would seem, so far everything looks just perfect? Well, if we talk about the first chapter, then in general, yes, it is. Further, we are also waiting for a rather peppy, but at the same time, a tense and gloomy segment, where you must first run away from mysterious creatures similar to people, as if something obsessed with something, and when Wake, quite quickly, finds a weapon, you can go to the shooting of opponents, before that, burning the darkness of the lamp, which is actually the main gameplay mechanics of the game.
And having made his way through the enemies in the forest, Alan Wake gets to the gas station, where he finds a local sheriff, who brings the writer to the place where he had the last time his wife, and then another plot turn awaits us. Moreover, it is still served not just as a twist, but as a cliffHanther in the series.
Well, what can I say? The first episode is practically perfect. In the case that he manages to intrigue the player, so all the components, let's say, are added exactly in those proportions in which there should be. That is, to the best of the plot, to the best of the gameplay, to the best of the horror, to the best of shooting, so far, I repeat, everything looks perfect.
The second episode is hidden, approximately according to the same formula, of course, there are already slightly smaller sudden turns, but still, everything is just as interesting to follow. True, already closer to its end, some suspicions begin to creep into my head.
And with the beginning of the third episode, these suspicions are confirmed. Yes, again the forest, again running around the forest, all the same shooting all the same obsessed, running out of all the same trees. No, I, of course, understand that many restrictions are superimposed by the setting itself, but even so, such segments with running around the local forests seem too long, as if there was no point in tightening them so much and there was no so much. In general, at some point, everything that happens more begins to resemble not a thriller in the style of King, but Rimbo: the first blood.
Yes, in the future, the locations will be a little more diverse, but still the running around between the trees will not go anywhere. Yes, and, in any case, wherever Alan Wake turned out to be, the same opponents will meet him everywhere.
And let's talk about enemies in the game. They have two drawbacks, firstly, there are too many of them, and secondly, there are too few of them. What does it mean? Well, let's explain.
As for the first, as it turns out, Falls Falls simply teem to be obsessed, they are everywhere their crowds, and they wait for the writer literally around every angle. Yes, for the shooter this is quite a normal situation, but only Alan Wake, it seems, also tries to a thriller, but something prevents him from. That is, today I casually mentioned Silent Hill, I understand that these are somewhat different in the genre of the game, but still, there is something in common between them. And let's recall the very first part of the foggy series, it would seem that she is much older than Remedy?s creation, but even she, much, is much as it is, manages to keep the player in constant tension. That is, it seems, the graphics are out of the thoroughly, but at the same time in the locations of the hills, you still feel uncomfortable, and you are wary that the monster is about to attach to you. Yes, in Silent Hill, just like the forests of Bright Falls, you can almost always stumble upon enemies, but here is the key word "almost".
If, managing Harry Mason, the player was in suspense, due to the fact that he did not know if anyone would attack him when he enters the next door. Then in Alan Wake, this tension, with rare exceptions, is practically absent, because you always know exactly what will attack, well, just because the enemies here are waiting, literally, at every angle, which is why any Saspenses is nullified.
Moreover, it also exacerbates that even there are many enemies in the game, there are quite few of them. What do I mean? Well, look, in fact, what varieties of opponents we have? Ordinary obsessed, a pair of subspecies of ordinary obsessed, that is, more larger and stronger, others smaller and faster, somewhat unique obsessed, moreover, their appearance in the game can be counted on the fingers of one hand, as well as opponents with benzopilians, flocks of raven, poltergeist, observing equipment and, perhaps, one of the most unacceptable final bosses in history - troops - troops. By the way, I wrote down the footage on medium complexity, and not even it, if you gape, enemies can quickly kill the protagonist. But at the same time, most often, we meet precisely obsessed, moreover, as they said earlier, they attack the writer constantly and large crowds. Well, that is, as if it were possible to somehow diversify the composition of opponents, I am not even talking about some bizarre creatures, but to throw at least two or three subspecies of the same obsessed.
And at the same time, the factor is that there are quite a lot of enemies quantitatively, but at the same time, they are not very different from each other, sooner or later, but most likely early, that is, by the chapter of the second-third, opponents somehow begin to lose all this mystical flair and the ominous, mysterious aura around themselves, and are perceived, rather, like ?just the next mob?. As a result, by the middle of the game, Alan Wake begins to lean more towards the shooter, not the horror, and the plot and the production itself are also losing the atmosphere of mystery.
Well, look, at a certain moment, the main character gets into the hospital, this is certainly not a typical gloomy psychiatric hospital, which is usually demonstrated to us in other games, but a prestigious institution for rich customers, moreover, specializing in people of creative professions. And from this concept, as if it were possible to squeeze something more interesting than what is in the game, where after a couple of dialogs, everything again comes down to the usual race with shooting. I remind you that Remedi positioned Alan Wash as a psychological thriller, but what is happening more like a regular mystical action movie.
Moreover, further in the plot there are more and more barry. No, this character itself is not so bad, a typical funny sodkik, but the problem is that he finally destroys any hint of a gloomy atmosphere. Well, that is, it is precisely because such characters die in slashers, since they can completely destroy any Saspens, but in comedy militants, on the contrary, they are allotted much more time.
Well, here we got to the main question. Is it, in the light of the above, Alan Wake with a good game? Of course, definitely yes, of course, it is. Who could have any doubts? But whether Remedy managed to make the declared psychological horror? Rather, no than yes. But is it bad? Again, rather no than yes. Well, that is, this is really a good shooter, with an exciting plot, in some places a little blowing out of covered segments, in some places quite atmospheric, but the most important thing is simply interesting to play.
But, with all this, I already said that I have a reason not to love the game about the writer. And to clarify the essence of your claim. We will have to go through game mechanics. And here, those who have not taken up Alana Wage for a long time, may object that it seems that we already mentioned everything that is in the game, that is, knocking down dark armor with various sources of light, shooting, and several extremely simple puzzles, probably only a couple of times per game. And I will not be surprised at all if those who have not played the creation of Remedy for a long time have been at all more about something else.
And if you suddenly do not remember this, then in Alan Wake there are also segments with driving transport. And yes, in the game itself they really look somehow, as if not to place. For example, there is one moment with a trip in the daytime of the day, which could simply be cut out, and the game would not have lost anything from this. And even more, because in Alan Wake, there are also many modes of transport, from SUVs and pickups, to maslscars. And besides all this, sometimes a study of the area with movement in a car is also available, though in the best case everything that can be found is a few supplies, and in the worst there are thermos with coffee.
And let me admit something to you, such doubts have appeared even then, with the very first passage of Alan Wake. Look, transport, study of large locations, and even a couple of times you can stumble on the tower. Well, then I came across an interview with Sam Lake himself, who confirmed my suspicions, initially Alan Wake was a game with the open world.
But why the final concept was revised, and we received just such a Wace that we have? I had to meet various information on this score, somewhere it is said that Remedy herself was afraid to move away from the more familiar formula, while others say that Microsoft pressed the developers, but now this is not important. The question ?is it good that everything turned out exactly as it happened is more appropriate here?"And I admit honestly, I don't know. It is not a fact that the original idea was better, not the fact that that game would be good, or not the fact that it would go to players.
But still, with all this, we will never know this. And this is precisely this main reason for my dislike for Alan Wake, we will now not know what exactly that, the original game would look like. Yes, I am now interested to imagine that we could get a game in an open world where the gameplay does not completely go towards the shooter, but is much more focused on research, dialogs and detective components, possibly even with purely conversational quests, and indeed if the game took more from the same pixe tweet, which, it seemed, was initially guided. But, again, it is not a fact that this is exactly what we would have received, and even if everything would be formally, not so, not the fact that Remedy could properly cope with all the components of the game. But still, now we will not recognize it.
I won?t be to cunning here, it was certainly interesting for me to re -ask the original Alan Wache, I got a lot of pleasure, but still, the thoughts of a friend of Wake, whom we could get, never leave me. Although, the release of the second part is already approaching and we will see what it will represent.
.-