The game you NEED to play if you loved Alan Wake 2
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Date: 2024-02-16
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Comments and reviews: 19
LyleShnub
It doesn't really make it any less contrived as a game mechanic, but I do really appreciate how Saga being unable to advance the plot without filling out her case board within her mind place does seem to fully work within the game's mythos in a really neat way. Cauldron Lake's paranatural power influences creative work to sometimes make it into reality. This influence could be interpreted as extending into Saga's case board. This could be even to the extent of Saga manifesting some of the solutions and future leads to her cases. It begs the question of whether Saga is solving every step of the case or is, in some instances, simply following a ritual meant to lead her on to some greater goal. Saga herself even lampshades this possibility later in the game as she thinks about her own agency in the developing story, though she's more concerned with operating at the whims of Alan Wake's in-world story, when really she's operating at the whims of Alan Wake 2's writers.
Sorry, like I said, this doesn't make the actual game mechanic any less contrived for a player struggling with a particular segment. It just reminded me how mind-bending and incredible Alan Wake 2's narrative is.
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It doesn't really make it any less contrived as a game mechanic, but I do really appreciate how Saga being unable to advance the plot without filling out her case board within her mind place does seem to fully work within the game's mythos in a really neat way. Cauldron Lake's paranatural power influences creative work to sometimes make it into reality. This influence could be interpreted as extending into Saga's case board. This could be even to the extent of Saga manifesting some of the solutions and future leads to her cases. It begs the question of whether Saga is solving every step of the case or is, in some instances, simply following a ritual meant to lead her on to some greater goal. Saga herself even lampshades this possibility later in the game as she thinks about her own agency in the developing story, though she's more concerned with operating at the whims of Alan Wake's in-world story, when really she's operating at the whims of Alan Wake 2's writers.
Sorry, like I said, this doesn't make the actual game mechanic any less contrived for a player struggling with a particular segment. It just reminded me how mind-bending and incredible Alan Wake 2's narrative is.
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CollinGerberding
Cyberpunk 2077 has a similar issue.
You do a NCPD job, sometimes you get a clue to a follow up to find a stash or whatnot. But there are times where you can stumble upon the stash first, one, where there's a vehicle in the water near by will actually pop the icon if you're close enough, so you dive in and swin to the chest and it's locked because you didn't check the laptop first to tell you to go there.
It happened at least twice in two other places where I had to wonder when I'd be allowed to access a chest I'd found because the game hadn't told me where it was first.
also, Second Wind dropped a video (today, I think) about the same issue with the case board: you have to adhere to it strictly to progress the story even if you already know what to do.
I can see the position of it's the way the game works, but that does sound quite annoying.
I've only played Control and Quantum Break, but I'm sure the AW games will be part of some Remedy playthrough someday.
Well done, Simone. Always a favorite.
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Cyberpunk 2077 has a similar issue.
You do a NCPD job, sometimes you get a clue to a follow up to find a stash or whatnot. But there are times where you can stumble upon the stash first, one, where there's a vehicle in the water near by will actually pop the icon if you're close enough, so you dive in and swin to the chest and it's locked because you didn't check the laptop first to tell you to go there.
It happened at least twice in two other places where I had to wonder when I'd be allowed to access a chest I'd found because the game hadn't told me where it was first.
also, Second Wind dropped a video (today, I think) about the same issue with the case board: you have to adhere to it strictly to progress the story even if you already know what to do.
I can see the position of it's the way the game works, but that does sound quite annoying.
I've only played Control and Quantum Break, but I'm sure the AW games will be part of some Remedy playthrough someday.
Well done, Simone. Always a favorite.
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Fitzybitzy9595
The heart in the freezer is a pretty bad example for some spoiler reasons (don’t read on if you haven’t finished. It’s not that the game wouldn’t let you progress until you make saga understand where the heart is, it’s that the profiling itself actually manifests the heart. Saga’s mind place is a supernatural ability, as evidenced by her being revealed as a seer, and by her manifesting not only the heart, but the mask as well using her mind place. She understands her abilities as pro detective work, but it’s actually a subversion of that trope by it being literally magic.
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The heart in the freezer is a pretty bad example for some spoiler reasons (don’t read on if you haven’t finished. It’s not that the game wouldn’t let you progress until you make saga understand where the heart is, it’s that the profiling itself actually manifests the heart. Saga’s mind place is a supernatural ability, as evidenced by her being revealed as a seer, and by her manifesting not only the heart, but the mask as well using her mind place. She understands her abilities as pro detective work, but it’s actually a subversion of that trope by it being literally magic.
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AlexFazio64
If you like detective games where you interact with a board. Do yourself a favor and play Shadows of Doubt. Each playthrough a new city gets generated along with clues, people and schedules. You will be a real detective trying to discover any piece of information about the case, and place it on your board to make your own connections.
As an example, you can enter the apartment of the victim and check the phone book to see if there are some frequent contacts and try to piece together the case. It goes really in depth sometimes and it has a great cyberpunk style. I love this game.
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If you like detective games where you interact with a board. Do yourself a favor and play Shadows of Doubt. Each playthrough a new city gets generated along with clues, people and schedules. You will be a real detective trying to discover any piece of information about the case, and place it on your board to make your own connections.
As an example, you can enter the apartment of the victim and check the phone book to see if there are some frequent contacts and try to piece together the case. It goes really in depth sometimes and it has a great cyberpunk style. I love this game.
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SidPhoenix2211
I was initially a lil annoyed that I wouldn't get to do any actual detective work as Saga. But then I realized that the case board is more of a. way to keep track of the story (and side-mission progress. It is a simple way of putting you in the character's job, and I appreciated it for what it is: )
I saw like 5 seconds of this game and checked it out on Steam. It is DIRT cheap, so I got it. I look forward to playing it. Thank you for the recommendation!
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I was initially a lil annoyed that I wouldn't get to do any actual detective work as Saga. But then I realized that the case board is more of a. way to keep track of the story (and side-mission progress. It is a simple way of putting you in the character's job, and I appreciated it for what it is: )
I saw like 5 seconds of this game and checked it out on Steam. It is DIRT cheap, so I got it. I look forward to playing it. Thank you for the recommendation!
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mechanicalmonk2020
The story won't advance if you haven't put the correct pieces on the board
Untrue. I had multiple missions where I solved everything without the case board. When you go to the cardboard later saga just puts everything in the right place automatically.
And the heart example is bad game design for sure but also kind of fits the story. The heart wasn't in the general store until Saga realized that it would be.
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The story won't advance if you haven't put the correct pieces on the board
Untrue. I had multiple missions where I solved everything without the case board. When you go to the cardboard later saga just puts everything in the right place automatically.
And the heart example is bad game design for sure but also kind of fits the story. The heart wasn't in the general store until Saga realized that it would be.
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missystrange13
as someone who adores Cold War era history to the point i'm trying to put together a video essay SOLELY so i can talk about how the Vietnam War has influenced gaming for decades, this video was custom made for me. but then the detectivery the gorgeous outfit learning about a Simone penned documentary SCRUFF MCGRUFF
10 outta 10, can't wait to learn more upsetting facts about the CIA: D
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as someone who adores Cold War era history to the point i'm trying to put together a video essay SOLELY so i can talk about how the Vietnam War has influenced gaming for decades, this video was custom made for me. but then the detectivery the gorgeous outfit learning about a Simone penned documentary SCRUFF MCGRUFF
10 outta 10, can't wait to learn more upsetting facts about the CIA: D
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ryke_masters
I was fully expecting this to be about Shadows of Doubt tbh. It has the full corkboard experience with procedurally generated cases. It kinda suffers from being procedurally generated in that eventually you grasp the mechanics and limitations of the game in a way that makes deducing the correct info feel more like metagaming and less like clever investigation, but it has huge potential.
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I was fully expecting this to be about Shadows of Doubt tbh. It has the full corkboard experience with procedurally generated cases. It kinda suffers from being procedurally generated in that eventually you grasp the mechanics and limitations of the game in a way that makes deducing the correct info feel more like metagaming and less like clever investigation, but it has huge potential.
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polygon
Your freezer story happened to me with the circuit board. Saga said now I can get the espresso ride working with this fuse but I had to go the floats first, which I missed. Should've forced me to go to them first, because players need to know where to put the pieces.
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Your freezer story happened to me with the circuit board. Saga said now I can get the espresso ride working with this fuse but I had to go the floats first, which I missed. Should've forced me to go to them first, because players need to know where to put the pieces.
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OnyxSkies
It's not the case board itself that triggers the heart to appear. It's the Profiling. Saga makes a comment later regarding Cynthia Weaver, I think and the record that she made her show her where it is. The heart appears there because Saga makes Nightingale show her.
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It's not the case board itself that triggers the heart to appear. It's the Profiling. Saga makes a comment later regarding Cynthia Weaver, I think and the record that she made her show her where it is. The heart appears there because Saga makes Nightingale show her.
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stephanpfuetze1085
Well, this just jumped to the front of my list of games I must play immediately. While we're on the subject, I wholeheartedly recommend The Roottrees Are Dead, a deduce 'em up that is absolutely free to play.
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Well, this just jumped to the front of my list of games I must play immediately. While we're on the subject, I wholeheartedly recommend The Roottrees Are Dead, a deduce 'em up that is absolutely free to play.
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DavidChong
please tell us more about this spycraft documentary! also for anyone interested more real life conspiracy vibes I can recommend the series Murder of God’s Banker about Roberto Calvi & Propaganda Due
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please tell us more about this spycraft documentary! also for anyone interested more real life conspiracy vibes I can recommend the series Murder of God’s Banker about Roberto Calvi & Propaganda Due
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howdy4504
if you liked Alan Wake 2 you should play this game oh that sounds good
You'll like this game because it's similar to the case board oh a game that's similar to my least favorite part of the game: (
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if you liked Alan Wake 2 you should play this game oh that sounds good
You'll like this game because it's similar to the case board oh a game that's similar to my least favorite part of the game: (
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DavisGSee
I really need to get around to this game. I don't know how I haven't, but I've played and enjoyed a bunch of the dev's other (free) titles. For the cop haters, check out A Bewitching Revolution.
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I really need to get around to this game. I don't know how I haven't, but I've played and enjoyed a bunch of the dev's other (free) titles. For the cop haters, check out A Bewitching Revolution.
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CaliLulaLo
Thank you Simone! This looks fantastic. I too was persistently frustrated by AW2’s refusal to let me finish a puzzle I already figured out until I made Alan or Saga tell me how to solve it.
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Thank you Simone! This looks fantastic. I too was persistently frustrated by AW2’s refusal to let me finish a puzzle I already figured out until I made Alan or Saga tell me how to solve it.
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Katy133
I'm in this unusual situation where I've already played A Hand with Many Fingers (which I enjoyed) as well as the dev's other game, The Interlude, but have never played an Alan Wake game, lol.
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I'm in this unusual situation where I've already played A Hand with Many Fingers (which I enjoyed) as well as the dev's other game, The Interlude, but have never played an Alan Wake game, lol.
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polygon
Great video about a great game! Also, Simone's wardrobe makes it clear she was born to be a glamorous widow who moves into a big house with a porch and is whispered about by the townsfolk.
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Great video about a great game! Also, Simone's wardrobe makes it clear she was born to be a glamorous widow who moves into a big house with a porch and is whispered about by the townsfolk.
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lukasspielmann108
I can also recommend the excellent game Her Story. It's fantastic.
You don't get a murderboard in game, but it gives you all the necessary material to make one in real life!
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I can also recommend the excellent game Her Story. It's fantastic.
You don't get a murderboard in game, but it gives you all the necessary material to make one in real life!
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polygon
I am also gonna slide on in here and recommend the atmosphere, lore, and storytelling of The Secret World. Also the investigation missions. (Combat leaves something to be desired)
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I am also gonna slide on in here and recommend the atmosphere, lore, and storytelling of The Secret World. Also the investigation missions. (Combat leaves something to be desired)
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