Today’s game is some more Alan Wake II. Now that I’ve had proper time I’ve noticed a few interesting details I wanted to point out. Like for example, Alan when he uses the health kit will actually pull a bandage out of the health pack. Which I think is a really cool detail.
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I also love how “in your face” the graffiti is about the plot twist. It really adds some depth to the reveal, and going back through on the Final Draft, it makes you stop and think “how the hell did I miss this?”
The graffiti also just straight up looks cool. Which I like.
The game also makes Alan descend into water a lot. Which I’m pretty sure is an intentional nod to him “diving deeper” to escape the dark place. It’s a really cool attention to detail I really like.
And finally, I just wanted to show off how pretty this game is. Nothing special about this piece, I just wanted to show off the sort of eerie beauty the dark place has. I just want to wander the streets at night wrapped in a nice rain jacket.
I forgot how fast Alan’s section goes. Honestly, this game goes fast, which is both good and disappointing. It really left me wanting more after my first playthrough, and still to this day sometimes I feel like my heart kind of never left this game. Kind of poetic in a way. It’s like I traded places with Alan. Maybe in a way that was intentional in the writing. Probably just me being weird though
I felt the exact same way playing through The Final Draft. Looking at the graffiti the second time around, it’s crazy how obvious the clues were! And I love your take on ‘trading places’ with Alan—that meta-narrative layer is exactly what makes this game a masterpiece. Great shots, by the way!
With the game’s narrative on being a meta commentary on the creative process given physical form sometimes, the idea of trading places feels highly appropriate. I love all the little layers this game has going on with its narrative. It feels like you can dissect at many different levels
Two of my favourite things in AW2 are the grafitti and
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how all the lines the shades spit at you in the dark place are taken from that one Alan breakdown video.
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I had noticed that too with the lines. There’s so many little tiny details in the game. It really feels like they paid attention to every corner of the game.
First time watching that clip and making the connection hit like a ton of bricks. Both Matt and Ilka really knocked it out of the park with the acting in that one, too.
Speaking of graffiti, some of the bantz scrawled on the walls of Thank Goodness You’re Here made me laugh. Great waste of a few hours.
