Dusk Golem
Local Horror Enthusiast
Member
- Oct 25, 2017
- 5,979
- Jun 9, 2023
- #1
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7boAj_4xow&ab_channel=GamesRadar
Impressions & breaking down the 30 minutes:
Alan Wake 2 preview: 30 minutes is all it took to convince me Saga is a brilliant addition
We go hands-off with 30 minutes of Alan Wake 2 gameplay all focused on the game's new co-protagonist
www.gamesradar.com
An interview with Sam Lake on Alan Wake 2: https://www.gamesradar.com/alan-wake-2-mind-place/
GamesRadar posted a new article, with a video with new gameplay featured from the first hour of the game, along with new screenshots and impressions of what Saga brings to Alan Wake 2.
Talks a lot about Saga as a character, her detective gameplay features and mindscape she can access, combat, puzzles, and the like.
Warning, some spoilers as it talks about the first boss fight in the game, several details of the first hour of the game.
The graphical prowess doesn't consume my attention for long because Saga and her partner Alex Casey are already moving through the trees discussing the manuscript page they found stuffed inside of a murdered colleague, Agent Nightingale – a returning character from the original game. As the pair decide to split up, in true horror movie style, Saga's given a few dialogue options to explore with Casey. It's the first sign that there's more depth to our new detective than the Alan Wake 2 trailers so far have suggested, but shortly afterward (and with a single button press) we're transported to Saga's Mind Place: a mental construct that takes the form of a physical room where we can analyze clues and profile subjects in private.
It's simultaneously very Sherlock Holmes, perfect for Saga's character, and a complete surprise. So much weight has been placed on Alan Wake 2's shift to a survival horror game that the discovery of another gameplay strand is a pleasant shock. Along the back wall in the Mind Place there's a case board, where you'll be able to manually place clues you've found as you investigate the areas around Bright Falls. It's early in the game, but it's already a busy board with questions scrawled on Post-Its sitting between evidence photos, Polaroid snaps, manuscript pages, and other notes, with red thread plotting lines of investigation and questioning. It's only through adding to this case board that Saga will be able to start making deductions and obtain new missions quests, so you're going to spend a lot of time here.
The Mind Place has other features too, including a space to rewatch cinematics, re-read manuscript pages, or profile subjects by using Saga's expert deduction techniques to get inside their heads – allowing you the opportunity to experience what they've seen and heard. Doing so can apparently be key to making a breakthrough in a case, which only serves to highlight just how integral the detective gameplay is to Alan Wake 2's narrative.
The combat has deliberately been scaled back for Alan Wake 2 to provide a better sense of dread, and to make the gunfights you do have feel more impactful. In the 30 minutes we're shown from the game, Saga doesn't take on more than a few enemies at a time, with each encounter feeling a little more unique and occasionally jump scare inducing – particularly when a stag-mask-wearing bursts through a wall seconds after a real deer lurking in an old general store makes Saga herself jump.
The demo section eventually builds to a showdown with the same Agent Nightingale they had on their autopsy table hours earlier. It's a lengthy, intense fight that involves repeatedly cleansing Nightingale of his corruption and utilizing as much of Saga's arsenal as you can – including using your torch to break free of grapples, or hurling flash bangs to create some distance between the threat. It's the only boss-esque fight that I'm shown during my time with Remedy, but based on what I also saw in the PlayStation Showcase gameplay trailer, it seems indicative of some of the pivotal one-on-one encounters that should be expected from the game. Apparently, Nightingale is an example of an Overlap Guardian – a boss figure you'll have to defeat within spaces where the Dark Place and reality grow closer together in order to push back floodwaters from each of the hub areas.
As you'd expect from the survival horror genre, your inventory is going to be very important here too. Ammo is scarce, and you've also got to manage your inventory slots in a way that is very reminiscent of Resident Evil. Healing used to come from standing in patches of light, or Safe Havens, and although they return they'll only boost you from a critical health state, which you'll then need to top up with painkillers or other health items from your inventory. Both your inventory and your weapons can be upgraded though, with special Break Rooms that you discover giving you the option to store away anything you don't need. At one point we have to solve a small puzzle to unlock a gunstore to retrieve a shotgun, so it's looking likely there will be multiple weapons to grab over the course of the game too.
More details in the article and video, but this is the best look and details on the game we've gotten thus far.
I didn't quote anything from the interview with Sam Lake for the game, which has a lot of additional details as well.
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