Alan Wake II - Best horror game ever made? - Review and Ranking

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the bonus points podcast I'm your host Joe Garrett as always been joined by olle Guy it feels weird to say hello because we're sitting together hello hello so for those listening to audio I should point out that for the video version this is the first podcast that we are doing in person we're in the same room I can poke look listen to him squirm proof undisputable proof um so we're doing basically it just ended up that the weekend we were going to record this we ended up just being in person and we're working out what should we do should we try and like you know or could use Kai setup or something we're like you know what our goal is in the future to do it in person we do this as a bit of a test so the room we're recording in the setup we're using this isn't like our end goal but we thought this is a game that um I think we're both quite passionate about we don't know whether each other liked it but I think it'll be an interesting one we thought this would be a nice test not for like the tech but mainly just for like how different is it just recording the podcast in person how much of an effect does it make yeah I'm quite excited I'm looking forward to it I think it's going to be a cool episode cool episode so at the end remember I said that when you're like it was or wasn't cool when like the audio messed up and we had to use our the backup audio from my laptop then then we'll see how it ends out it's all it's been a day full of getting it sorted but F cross you won't need to worry about that but what you will need to worry about is the game we are discussing today which is a little game called Alan Wake 2 Alan Wake 2 which was my choice in the end yes so it was a last minute switch with survival kids and if you haven't heard the announcement and you expecting survival kids and you're devastated you're going to have to wait two more weeks because we are still doing that but we switched it around just because the release of this game kind of lined up perfectly to slot it in as soon as it's still kind of the the tail end of Halloween spooky season we thought we'd put it in a game this is a game we were both going to play anyway so it just made a lot of sense it's sloted in like to the day it like came out the day we normally start playing the next game so yeah so um what what's what's Alan Wake 2 Al well according to Wikipedia Alan Wake 2 is a 2023 survival horror game developed by remedy entertainment published by epic games sequel to Alan Wake the story follows bestselling horror novelist Alan Wake who has been trapped in an alternate dimension for 13 years she attempts to escape by writing a Horror Story involving an FBI agent named Saga Anderson the game was released for PS5 PC Xbox series X and S on the 27th of October so not long ago couple of weeks it received generally positive reviews from critics well we'll see whether we're among those um a few little warnings before we begin uh first thing not really warning but just to let you know in case you didn't know uh we did do a podcast on Adam week one so if ever there's a time to watching warning you better watch it out well it would be a warning because it' be annoying if they watched this they like oh they one on the first one I should have watched them in the other order so if you are curious about Alam wake one or you were going to play Alan Wake 2 but you um kind of wanted to play Alam wake one first maybe listen to our podcast instead so yeah that's available uh other thing spoiler warning we're going to spoil the game basically the game is a very heavily Story game we did discuss like oh could we like save like the spoilers till the very end but we just realized it would be too different ult to not spoil it and then the other thing is just kind of like a graphic content warning this is a very violent adult game for the video podcast I won't be choosing the most violent stuff but like that's just kind of what this game is and so some of the topics we discuss this will be one of the more mature uh ones that we've done you can't really talk around it can we so same as a spoiler really no and and I don't think we should like I wouldn't want to do that um you know I've I've always considered that these would be super boring for a child so they like our our way to like stop children watching these is just by doing it in the way we do and these two BLS chatting really in depth about a game they probably haven't played so that that's that's the way we get around that I think I think we also I think we need more than ever because this is such a big game to tackle I think we need a structure and so what I was thinking oh my God okay whoa okay I was thinking of maybe we should discuss mostly gameplay first and talk about that and then just go into talking about story cuzz otherwise I think this might turn in a little bit like and remember this moment oh and then there was this cool moment and there w we had problems that before J we did killer seven yeah that was also a complicated game and we just jumped all over the place and then turned out we missed one of the main points of the whole game time we finished recording it so I think you're right I think you're right and do you think that way around talk about gameplay first yeah I think we can do the like gameplay overview that we always do okay do you do you want to do that uh yes let me just adjust my seat okay so gameplay wise Alam wake should I do the actual raw gaml or should we come in from Alam wake one um I think just just discuss what it's like playing in it's not too far from Alan Wake one mostly um walking around solving some light puzzles going around these environments in the woods or in the town or in New York in this case and you fight enemies not that often not as often as the first game but the enemies you fight are pretty tough and it's a third person shooter very similar to Resident Evil if you imagine if you played re2 or four um you basically have to use your torch to kind of melt the enemy Shields and then you shoot at them with your gun so that's like one half of it and then the other half of it is you do like kind of Investigation uh like if you've ever seen any detective show and they do the threads to like work out detective cases and then there's also another board which is like the plot so you can create plot elements by putting things on this board and connecting them they're the two kind of main you say that's fair enough yeah I I think are you talking about like the for the plot stuff this when you're playing as Alan Wake yeah so there's two different so that's the other thing there's two separate characters you have Saga Anderson who's the FBI agent she has the detective agency kind of plot uh not plot sorry caseboard and Allan has what he calls his plot board where he's basically writing a story and he'll be like okay so I have this scene which is a scene from the game and it's just a play like an area you're in it' be like the scene is like the hotel lobby the hotel lobby yeah and then you'll be like you'll have multiple plot points you know they could be characters or things like usually it's a murder so then you put the murder into the into the scene and then it will create this murder thing in front of you that's kind of yeah and like instantly so you'll be in the world and then so you the thing that's crazy is so so you say if I'm there playing as Alam wake I'm in this hotel lobby is you switch to his like the writing room and so you just press the button and he's just there like there's not a load or so and it's all gameplay not menus or anything and you can walk around there's other things you can do there then you go to the plot board and you'll be like I'm going to put the murder there yeah and then you go into the game and it'll do like a little overlay of him typing I I love that sound it's and like him typing and then the world just goes boom and it just and it will physically change like move like a wall will be gone or like suddenly there's like a body hanging from the ceiling content warning I told you yeah well it's kind of like he types it and then as you imagine when he woulding tyit finished that that paragraph or whatever like it's it's quite impressive I mean artistically and technically you know I feel like when like the PlayStation 5 was first coming out and they were all like the power of the SSD and it was like it's SSD B time and it was basically like yeah Ratchet and Clank did it and stuff but like even that had like a little kind of load like this has been the most impressive demonstration I've seen I know Spider-Man 2 apparently got very quick loads but like it it like it works so well in this and if they did do a little cut scene if it cut to the same thing where like it was like a little video of him typing full screen as they're loading in the background I don't think it would be as striking because it's like you know when you're seeing like a transition of like oh here's like a they've improved the graphics or they've remade this game and they do a video and you're like this is the old graphics and then they cut to the new graphics like that's the best way to appreciate it I feel like the fact that they they're able to do that straight cut makes you realize how like makes you how much the room's changed so drastically and also I feel like that particular so basically Allen and Saga both have them Allen is definitely the better of the boards I would say the detective board side I did actually enjoy it I've heard some people online saying they don't like it because it's like a sticker album and it's like if you don't put it in the right place doesn't work but I actually quite I didn't mind it I quite liked putting it out and kind of looking at the at the case but yeah Allan's one being fully interactive really kind of of something I noticed a lot in the game is it's really marrying together like analog and digital art and obviously the typewriter being analog and then affecting this digital side of it it's pretty cool like it's kind of like the perfect marriage of those two things yeah I am on the fence with the Saga side so so the way that works is see the way I thought it would be is like you would get to a situation where it's like this person's died you got to solve the murder and you're working it out but it's not really that it's more of a way just to keep track of what has happened it's like oh you found the key in the drawer and then you put like literally a picture up on the board of I found the key in the drawer and like what does that mean and I think that it's done for almost everything you do and so you I think it can hurt the pacing and then there was a time I run into there's a bit you'll remember where there's basically like a float um like as in like a parade float and you need to get a bunch of items to put on and I'd gone around the area where you'd get the items from and I'd already seen when they were and then when I found out I needed them I was like oh I'll go get them but first I had to find like a bit of paper that explained where you get them all from and I was like oh I didn't need that but I guess maybe in Focus testing people got stuck that's fair enough but then I went to the item like one them was like a tape and it would I would didn't have an option to pick up the tape and I was like a so I was like oh I had to go to the case board and put down I need a tape but then I went back to the float to put the tape in and there wasn't a prompt to put the tape in I was like I got to go to the case but like I'm not working it out it's just you're making me have to go and do a thing it's just like another step in between that that was it at its worst um but it did sometimes annoy me there it is good for following the vast amount of plot threads and characters really good for that keeping track and like also kind of making sure that you're understanding what's going on yeah although although if you do jump ahead and then open the caseboard it will just fill itself in yeah if you have like not done it it will be like oh yeah I've already solved this go and do it and also things I like the way because it kind of works in the the story as well and we'll discuss more about that later but also just for like keeping track track of like Collectibles like there's like hidden stashes that you have to like solve puzzles to open and every time you get one you'll put one on and then there's other like Puzzles as well one we got to solve like these nursery rhyme puzzles and when you solve one you put it up or like a hidden lunch box that you found it will get put up so I could imagine say if you ask someone who's trying to get all of them it makes it very easy say if you're looking up a guide you can see which ones you've got oh I found all of the ones from this area I know not to look at anymore but the fact that this it's like her mind place where all of this is going on the fact that they've tied that into the plot rather than just having like an achievements menu or something I I did appreciate that I didn't do many of the Collectibles I didn't collect really any I didn't go out looking for stashes or it wasn't on the main path I just didn't cuz I didn't feel like I ever needed any anything extra like I had loads of ammo loads of batteries that's just fun to get it so this I got all the stashes because you I'm assuming you I don't know if you have to get this but I got a map that showed where they all were did you find that I think I might have got it yeah but I didn't bother chasing them down so once they were all marked on the map like oh anytime I was passing if I was anywhere near I'd go out my way to get them I didn't get all of the lunch boox or or nursy Rhymes um but like when you got so there's a lot of times in the game where you'll do the main thing in the area you kill the boss or whatever it is like the big event yeah and then your mission will be like to go somewhere else but you often after you've completed the main event something will change like say an area that was flooded will drain and or a gate that was locked you can now go through and then there's a whole of big area to explore did you at least do that I don't think so oh really cuz like say the first what you get there like Six Bullets or something well it's just a whole like another part of the game like so say like the first bit in cauldron Lake for example like after you kind of you go through the overlap there's like a whole thing that you do and then the is what I said the flooding drains there's just a whole new area of the map to explore yeah so it gives you for that one it says to you doesn't it like do you want to go back to the car or do you want to so I ran around for a bit but I was like I want to know what Alan's got to say so I just left so like in like watery did you go to like the lighthouse or see any of those areas like there's a lighthouse I didn't do any of that yeah there's like all these puzzles that you could like solve in order to to get up there I mean I had a I had a wonderful time I didn't do any I just did critical path really I didn't do okay so that's what you I really enjoyed doing that stuff like because I'm not normally a big fan of that I mean I could even now we in person I could show on my notes that um like I I really I got a note saying that I really enjoyed going back to to explore the areas afterwards and cuz there'll be like timers passed or something or you now have you know at some point in the game you get bolt cutters and the whole way through the game you've been seeing bolts everywhere and I remembered like oh yeah there was there was that place that was locked down at the sea front in like you know like down by the water I can now go to that place oh yeah yeah yeah and and then the little puzzles on the sash blocks some of them were actually quite fun as well I think the puzzles that are in the main game are a considering that almost all like three or four numbers they're pretty creative and they're pretty good there was like the one with the uh um lottery numbers yeah near the beginning which I uh struggled through and then I died and the second time I loaded it up I got the prompt where she kind of explained what but the first time I did it without the prompt I think I messaged you when I was doing that one didn't I but there's a cool one like there's an area where like the bit where you get your crossbow and like the the there's like the the stash and it's basically the like it's how many arrows are fired on the targets and I quite like that because it's quite in-game thing and you're getting a crossbow but then also afterwards you pick up those pick up the crossbows as your ammo as well I thought that was quite CL also the one so basically what we're trying to say is the puzzles aren't like oh a wind house and you know to use the wind ring it's actually like you have to think about or the puzzle isn't like get the equivalent of a key and put it into I mean there is I mean there are several times you need to get a fuse they do they do love the fuse yeah and you are doing generators they do do the horror horror Survival game tropes what did you think of like the the combat I thought it was pretty hard but I have noticed that the game has been patched every day since it's been out including lowering the difficulty the first every day they've lowered it by one the first boss especially I've noticed in patch notes has been like we've made this we've made your gun more powerful another day it's like we've made the encounter easier cuz that first boss fight was hard we cut off his leg we got him he's not anymore he's a squirrel now yeah I kind of feel like with the combat encoun as well it wasn't so much like oh yeah I can I can fight through and maybe make this it was like if there's more than three enemies it's like well I'm just done like I need to restart this so one of the things this game forced me to do so Ollie and I kind of have like this running thing mainly from Blood Brothers I play for of bloodborne is that I never use consumables yeah and this game for well so I real at one point of the game I ran out of inventory space in both my space and your like The Shoe Box I I didn't have any and so I was like I could start using this stuff just to clear out room so I can ho more stuff but then once I cuz you'll be it does the thing where it's like an enemy comes you have to shine the light at them first and then shoot them um and then but then of course you got like flares and flashbangs and stuff and I feel like that is the way to deal with groups there like flares and things like you can just do in a flare dropping at your feet so you can heal and then they're all like covering their their eyes like I feel like the game has the balance has really been designed with the idea that you're using everything in your tool and if you're shining your light and shooting your like you haven't got a chance yeah they're too fast they they will they're not like Resident Evil enemies that like kind of lurch towards you they'll be like oh there's an enemy on the other side of the room and it will like teleport directly in front of you and also they don't just swing once and then like basically fall over they do combo so cuz you have a Dodge button so you're literally like weaving Out The Way of the enemies um and there's also a few more enemy types not that many more over the first one but there was a few more yeah I really liked the um like the reflection enemy a double one yeah kind of describe cuz it's kind of Imagine a person that is waste Deep in water and instead of their legs it's just the top half of their body like reflected underneath again yeah and they look so weird when is there a special way to kill them are you meant to like head shot both while I just F them like normal I to be honest with you I pretty much killed I didn't even go for head shot head shots most enemies I was just blasting them like to keep them away from me as much as I possi could your gaml looks like Doom is like yeah literally there was a a counter I did where I had over 100 pistol rounds and I literally was just far I'm crazy impress that you got 100 pistol rounds it was the um you know the big musical um by the lake near the end oh on the beach yeah and then you can kind of pick up I ran around and got all the bullets and had a fight after that and I i' got 150 pistol rounds I I did find I thought that Allan Wake sections were often more difficult because he has like a revolver that has like six shots yeah and like uh Saga the other character you can upgrade it so she has like 18 bullets or something UPG yeah so I'd be caught reloading a lot with Alan Wake and then that's when I'd get caught out did we mention the other mechanic that Alan has where he can like transfer light no so you basically if there's a room that's like in darkness you can like take the light from one room with this like little thing little lamp he's got and then kind of throw it into another area and then when you do so that area will change and show that maybe a wall will disappear or the room will you know just kind of look different generally that was pretty cool and has a really satisfying noise yeah once the sound is f i feel like they never did anything other than the obvious with it it was always like oh if I do it in this place yeah it will get rid of the wall or create a door it was I was never like they never got to a situation I was like oh if I take that light from there and put it there but then I'll need to like get it from there like I feel like it was not Half Baked but like I always felt like oh they were teaching me this mechanic to set up for something but it just became came like another way to just progress a bit further yeah and I also always had loads of Lights cuz you know you can save them yeah you just see had one extra and I don't know where I picked it up from yeah and I was just carrying it through the whole game the whole time I had one extra yeah cool mechanic though like a lot of the mechanics in this game they have kind of a buildup to something where you're kind of like tensing up and you're like oh what's going to happen like for example the typewriter obviously you're waiting for it to change and the light you're kind of waiting for it to because it takes a little while to to throw into place and those sorts of moments they did it every single time have me like oh no like I don't want I don't want to know what's going to happen um cuz I found this game really scary yes absolutely I think this might be this the best horror game I've ever played maybe ever made action action horror is one thing that's like Resident Evil it's completely different to that this is so much more horror based okay I was got a sex I know like isn't Resident Evil like your favorite game yeah res evil Resident Evil is so different like when you're playing Resident Evil Village it's not like this but like so Resident Evil 2 remake this is probably close to that I think this is better than that no I mean like in terms of the style G in terms of style of the game yeah the um this game was just really scary like it's apart from we talked about before like when I was younger and I had to stop playing Silent Hill 3 because I was too scared this is the first game in probably 20 years that's made me be like I have to stop playing and then I left it for like three days cuz I was so SC I thought I was I wasn't as bad as you I thought I I just found it really affecting and horrible it was the drowning the drowning woman was where I was like you know when you're walking through the tunnels I was I've had enough like I can't yeah go through the loops anymore yeah I think I showed you I had a note about that particular moment as well so I had there was three moments that really scared me there was the well that we talked about in person which was the there's a part where you climb up out of a well or and then when you turn around and look at it again it's just completely full of blood and I was like oh my God and then they do a little flash jump scare they love we'll get to those in a second yeah then there was the drowned woman and the last one was receiving the plot point for Alan that I could put in a scene that was the devil I was like I don't want to put it in I don't want to see it like I don't want to know what's going to happen I put that you like I'm going to R my own one kittens FL kittens the game's like dead kittens I was actually playing the game going like oh God like oh the thing that made it worse for me is that so a lot of the time when I was playing Kai was in the room as well but like just chatting on Discord or editing a video or something so I actually played a lot of this game with like headphones on and like proper like ovar noise cancelling headphones and the first time I did that especially in an Alan Wake section because they have so the enemies that you face when you're playing a saga look very similar to the ones in Alam wake one they kind of just look like humans with like a smokey smoke around them um and then when you're playing as Alan Wake you're kind of they they kind of just look like Shadows and there'll be a lot of them but only a few of them will actually attack you most of them are just there and as you walk past they might go like Alan Wake or something they go like wake do that as well yeah and then like but if you walk through them they just you know fade away and they don't attack you so but you never know which ones are going to attack you or not so you could shine your light at all of them but you've only got a certain amount of batteries and your torch yeah it's not like oh that one might attack me and it starts going like oo like they will literally just be there and they'll just grab you and throw you on the floor and it's like it's like alarming over you with like a crowbar and you're like trying to roll away like so going through that area like walking through like New York and then I got my headphones on and then J like wake and it's like it sounds like there someone behind me like that like the the spatial audio was I mean the the sound design we've the fact that we've mentioned a few times how satisfying the sound is like like every aspect of like the the audio like soundscape is incredible in this game and I think is a big reason for why it's so great but also like why it's so scary as well yeah I mean like if you're if you're watching the video version or you've seen the game like it looks amazing visually I'd say it's equally as good in audio terms as well yeah like they are they are together like and the game the game looks so good that it has quite a lot of real life actors in it that kind of blended into the game or like they cut to them but like it's almost at the point where it's indistinguishable when it cuts or like I I wouldn't say the faces get that I mean like it it looks great like there's better looking faces for me it's more the the environment well also they moaed everything so like even when you're talking to someone in the world their face is MOA yeah which but I I do think that there are better facials it's it's more because obviously most s you're in the third person and environment so like the thing the lighting is incredible and like so we both played on on console on on PlayStation 5 but I was looking up videos on PC because it's got full rate racing and it's incredible so it's their own engine the Northlight engine and like so I was watch I think was digital foundaries video they were shown about like basically the way of RA tracing is it's basically kind of as if it's doing the light bouncing and it basically is doing more bounces than what most games do which means the things like say if there's like a little like blue Bowl the way like it would like spread out a blue light between it and then also one of their examples was you know those like kind of curved security mirrors that you get like a corner of a room is they were shown that like it it's tiny in the corner on the gameplay but they zoomed in and you only can you of course see Alan Wake who's realistically like his proportions match what You' expect he's will War just because it is really doing it you can also see the light he's shining and the Shadows that light is casting in the reflection and like you'll never notice but like I mean that's obviously like a silly example because that wouldn't affect it when you're playing but that just shows how realistic the lighting is but that would affect everything because light is obviously so important to this game yeah they couldn't really like esape how they had to like you really had to go for it when it cuz light and dark is the main theme of the game you couldn't be like oh we'll just half do it like they had to really go for it which I think they did yeah and and they also the thing that I was baning about is they didn't sacrify on sacrifice on how reactive the world is like everything's got physics if you shoot a box it will break apart or things will fall over and and stuff and when the wind blows everything moves cuz normally gave even paper blowing off the street like it's a like enemy walking through it cuz obviously they're other worldly the paper around them is like lifting up yeah even stuff like that is just a really curious because obviously control was like the master of that like you know you shoot a window and the way they C like a desk you can break it apart gradually and it will fall down like because that was a super was staying above 50 FPS the whole time like it was most of the time it was lock 60 I did have a few drops I do know that the the PS5 version does run a little worse than the Xbox series X apparently I played it in quality mode oh really how was that quality I mean it also had frame drops as well it was running at 30 and I think it would dropping to like 25 yeah every so often it was it was rare it was it was rare for for performance mode the other thing we haven't touched on with the effects and graphics and stuff is like the um the way things kind of phas in and that existence with this like kind of oil slick looking smoke effect what what you know like when a door's blocked and you got a shine your torch on it it kind of has this of smokey oil slick yeah another the audio design of like popping those those things was great yeah so that's just like it just looks incredible and also walking into dark areas you kind of also get like if it's an area you're not supposed to go to you kind of get that oil slick over your screen oh yeah yeah you know like the whole turn back I'm not meant to go this way yeah like that the dark place won't let me go that way what he says yeah just your audio and visual masterclass and you touched on it earlier but the the FMV stuff the stuff that's filmed with live um like charact like people actors yeah like there's a lot of times where that like sometimes that that's they're just playing a full screen video and it just looks like a TV show yeah but the the way it's merged into the game is really good there's some bits um mainly I think exclusively as you're playing as Alam wake where there's kind of like two orbs that you need to line up and then it will play like a little scene in game but it looks incredible like you almost just see like a silhouette and maybe a little bit of like the character's face of the but the way it fits into the world and the way it does the perspective like it it just looks like I was in awe yeah yeah it's the same thing as I was saying with the like marriage of analog and digital forms like what I thought you were going to say is the ingame projectors oh yeah which you can walk in front of and have what's supposed to be projected on your back yeah I don't know how they're doing that yeah and the way it walks and then obviously would cast the perfect Shadow the perfect Shadow yeah yeah but no I really like that about this game like that theme in particular I feel like runs through it the amount of different things that they're doing like we're doing videos we have music we have stuff that's supposedly printed on I know it's in a game but printed stuff out we've got projectors we've got like photography like every art form is like in here like digital or analog they've managed to squeeze it all in it's a game about art like that is that is like one of the main themes of the game is it's obviously there's like this dark presence and we will get into the story a bit more soon but like this dark presence is obsessed with art yeah and so the fact that they got all of these different mediums together you know the the only medium that isn't really tackled in the story is video games ironically but I guess that well there is a there is a note from Barry wheeler I don't know if you read it where he's like they want to turn Alan Wake into a video game I told them of course not of course you got do what have what a bad idea that would never work out um any issues with the game play or problems you ran into uh yeah so the only thing that I struggled with was the so there to change between the two main characters you have to go to a bucket mhm to basically look at the puddle on the floor and then you change the other character I don't know if I just missed what was going on with this but I assumed that because it was a bucket there was going to be buckets everywhere so I could change whenever I wanted and then I ended up accidentally not changing when I think it thought I should have changed so I did two in a row as Saga got to the end of her storyline and it was like you can't if you go here you can't go back you can't you know it's a end game gate so I was like well no that's fine then I'm not going to do it and then I reloaded my save went and did as Allen's final part only to find out afterwards that you can't miss it and if I had pushed through a saga it would have forced me to do Allan's first but then I ended up playing that Saga chapter twice because I had to go back to where I was yeah and I don't know if I just missed that or mis it was miscommunicated I didn't understands like so the whole bucket system like I would have just had it as a button in your mind place or something yeah I mean I I think the thing is is there's a lot seems to be a lot more places on saga's side to switch to Allan whereas cuz like the sections where you're playing as Saga who um I guess we mentioned a little bit she's like an FBI agent who's kind of come to to investigate some some murders so she's I guess the closest thing to like a straight sort of Outsider character like she's the one you might relate to most at the beginning who's kind of although she takes it all running she's not yeah yeah she takes on the chin she doesn't seem phased by anything that's uh that's going on um and and so her sections tend to be a little bit more open world than Alan wakes I think and so there'll be in each area there'll be multiple rooms uh where she can kind of switch to Alan not so many going back maybe I I think I just got quite lucky I kind of I kind of just did a mission from one and then switched that's what I thought I was doing was only when I realized that she was one ahead I was I must have missed a bucket somewhere without realizing and I think that maybe like I don't think there's enough opportunities to switch back like the the game I don't think from the point where you can switch is long enough that it matters enough like I can imagine if the game was another 10 hours or something maybe but like and like the only timee of thing I can really think about it is Maybe you're like oh I'm playing as Alan Wake but I want to go and like get some Collectibles or check out something rather than be like I'm just going to halfway through my mission as Allen start playing the mission as Saga like I don't know who would ever want to do that that's why I was thinking they probably didn't allow it and also because they don't want you to think that like a puzzle that you're stuck on as Saga can be solved if you're playing as Allen yeah so maybe they made it like oh this is very direct points but the points aren't that easy to find either like saga's one the only one I think I ever used was the one in her like cabin there's one like at the entrance to like watery as well there another one I used like they're shown on the map yeah so you can I use the map that much oh really no cuz also some of them I wouldn't have the map so yeah but I didn't have any trouble running around like it's yeah and the map's not the best map some areas it's easier than others to work out but like some like the hotel and stuff it's a bit confusing sometimes I did have to use it to always find my car oh yeah I was always I don't know where where where the where's the car parked it's because you don't drive you're not used to remembering where you I always remember to take a mental note where it is that's well you park she Parks a car not near the show station I know she well she Parks it near like the hotel staying in I guess which but I I did actually have a little but when I left the police station like go to your car I was like oh yeah it's done with the SE front that did make me laugh well I did notice that sometimes so you would have like your quick select where you could switch between items so some of the utility stuff I said about uh there's basically three main weapons that you get like a pistol shotgun and a rifle and sometimes variant oh the flare gun back and I was really happy when that showed up again that made me happy um and you do a lot of switching between them because the reloads are so slow like the rifle you're like loading every bullet in or the revolver as I said I found that some when I'm rapidly switching like the the game just wouldn't handle it or like it would get like and I don't know maybe it's just cuz there's a bit of a delay and it was me messing it up but then few times it did actually bug so in the big fight you mentioned where you're down by the water which is a really cool fight the things that you throw in the ground and then shoot to blow up like they weren't working for me what are those the're propane tanks oh I never used those oh so it's like a little like grenad thing you throw on the floor and then you shoot and it blows up oh okay I think I picked one of them up and I thought it was a flashbang I just never used it it's like a little like red bottle I don't think I ever got them oh okay oh no I did get them I never used them I remember having two stacks and I was like I was using them to open doors do you want a cup of tea yeah let me heat that up for you my propane tag yeah I didn't think I ever used them I had a lot of bugs as well okay things so so so that didn't then I also had times when I'd switch and it' be like I'd have my gun out and then it would be like hold r two to ignite flare and I'm like I've got my gun like and it always seemed to be the problem is is it only happened in the really intense fights cuz rapidly switching and then that's when it would mess and I nearly for those watching the video you'll see like I nearly failed that water section on my first go because of it and I'm really glad I didn't because it was a good cinematic moment and if I had to redo it it would have really hurt but it actually ended up making it so that i' made that section almost dead and out of bullets I fir my last bullet and then and I had no health and I so it ended up making it more dramatic it made it hard because not only was it not working that was bad I was wasting loads of time trying to make it work while I'm getting punched in the back I'm like light yeah I had quite a lot of bugs one point I got stuck on the case board couldn't leave the case board oh really no matter what I pressed couldn't get out I had the drowning woman boss fight I was trying to you know you're supposed to stay out the water yeah so I was trying to do that during the boss fight which I then realized you didn't have to do but every time I stepped up onto something slightly higher than ground level I was just like rapidly going up and down falling over it's really normally these sorts of games if there's anything like a above your ankle height you can't walk on it on this one there be like like a big rock you just walk over it's really like it looks really goofy like but it's I think maybe because this is come from control which is a big movement game like it's weird how you kind of glitch your way over things like yeah and had a lot of like changing weapon bugs or like things just like don't seem like oh I want to pick something up and it just doesn't register lots of small things like that nothing gamebreaking though actually know the case board one I guess kind of is I had to quit out go back in yeah no that sounds bad and then the the other little kind of issue and these are basically literally all of my gameplay issues is that so you're doing a lot of opening boxes and drawers and stuff and a lot of the times like the like say be like ammo would be like right at the front of the drawer oh you can't see it and sometimes you just don't know it's there and then on my map it will show like oh there was a flare there I was like where and I was like oh like tucked in here and then but then it's like I'm really trying to maneuver and like really turn my camera like pointing up to like and I'm like how does how does that get past it I what it is it's because it I think it randomizes the position cuz I saw as I open the drawer and it was like glitching through you think maybe it might be a physics thing like you pull the drawer and it slides forward then stops I I doubt it no I think they seem quite locked in place I think it just randomizes like anxy position yeah or an XZ position on like where it will be in the drawer and sometimes you just you can't get it like it's such like a weird thing to do I had a funny comparison cuz like there's so much attention to detail in like for like the Cinematic areas and stuff m and I feel like there was more care put on that because I was like like that's a thing you're doing the entire game and that problem constantly came up but then when you're in when you're in the elevators when you're pressing what floor to go to he presses like he does a different animor to press the right button and I'm like it shows where their priorities are they they get that specifically right other games don't even lift their arm just look like the the best you'll get like that yeah it's like let me pass you this item and then it's just like they cut to a I feel like we're being a bit NE negative well that that was the section for negative and I did point out that was that was it we're done from negatives now okay so should we talk about the story and things in the good we talk about that's the the me of it yeah yeah let's get into some of the moments oh this game has so many moments it's full of moments yeah like the cold opening that's what they call it right when it's like a shock opening that was fantastic I mean incredibly violent where I was like oh we're we're doing something different now to Alam one yeah like apologies video views you won't see you won't really see any of this I'm afraid um basically it's a cult murder is the opening and it's like quite shocking because they don't really ever cut away kind of just show you yeah I think well I think describe the like the opening so it's like a you play as a guy that's crawling out of the lake naked and he's like middle-aged dude and then you kind of Limp around you see some kids and they're like oh my God like who's that like maybe they throw a rock I can't remember anyway you go and you come across these cult members and they like uh throw you on a table and like tie you to the table and then like basically rip your heart out while you're still alive yeah and that's like the opening section and that's what I was I instantly text my friends who are like not really into horror games I was like oh just so you know Alan wake's like Alan Wake 2 is quite a lot more extreme than the first one I didn't say what it was but I was like it's definitely more extreme than the first game um yeah I mean that's a great moment the moment when Allan comes out the lake is a great moment we can't I think something the opening is a good thing CU that was the time I realized like oh yeah this is Alan Wake 2 but this is different like Alan W one is very campy it's it's much more of like an action game with some horror themes exactly but they amp up like the comedy and the bits that go dark don't go anywhere near as when so when I started this like oh oh they're they're serious now yeah they are serious and also in terms of it being dark and scary there is these just random jump scares through the whole game Relentless jump scares yeah what did you think about those I don't mind them they're over in a second and it's quite fun to be scared there too many of them there is quite a lot of them and so when some scenes will have two or three so when we say job scares we don't mean like something in game jumping out the cupboard yeah we mean you you walk into a room and then they flash up a face going yeah and then what much more scary and effective than that oh really yeah that that was my it's like a full it's like a real video of an actor that's like got blood all over them and there's someone from the game as well it's only someone sometimes it like I swear it's just like you know there in like left for dead they have like the AI director who's like oh they've got too much health don't give them he I feel like it's like they got an AI director but they just get bored or like they lean on their keyboard they're like jump scare now it's like why now like the nothing's coming on yeah like it didn't really have that effect to me where I was like always tense waiting for a jump scare over there it kind of just happened i' like yeah and then fine again cuz the problem is is a lot of the times like sometimes they would get me but there would be at the times when you said about like the well where I'm like oh this is creepy and there's like a scary thing ahead of me and I'm edging forward and I hear a whisper and then it does it and like oh my go okay yeah like that and it and that kind of broke me but then like some of the times it would be like oh I've just started playing as this character and I'm walking into an area and they just do it straight where it's like I'm I'm still I'm not even settled in my seat yet like I've got my you know like I'm not you know you got to you got to woo me you me to dinner first you can't you can't begin the scene with that jumare you got build of the game with the guy getting murdered I think there's actually quite a few jump scares even in that section isn't there right at the beginning yeah probably and it's Alan Allan is the face that comes up at the beginning yeah a lot of them is Alan you know you know he's like Alan still over the name have you he's called Alan although the opening is actually really cool it says like Allan Wake dud it's like like this crazy sound effect effect all of those titles like when it goes to like a new chapter cuz it will it it doesn't do the text on screen immediately You' always play for a bit and then it will pop up and like once again the audio design and just even like the font and like often it'll be like in red text or something and like it's that was like very effective like this game is overflowing with style and like unbelievable of a very specific style as well there's a lot of games that are stylish but this has like quite a thin line of style and it's got loads of style but always fits within the thin lane or the parameters it sets yeah it looks amazing and also the fact you can carry that style off between the gameplay and the video stuff yeah like the film stuff is just like pretty amazing real uh single Creative Vision vibe from this yeah um yeah which is just crazy I mean there's so much to talk about I'm thinking about like the plot well let's go through it and then we pick up bit so as I said so the the setup of the the game and this is where then for if you have been if you've listened up to here and you're thinking I want to play this game and you haven't yet now's your time to get out of here because we're going to this is where things might get a bit more spoilery but so the setup is there's been all of these murders in bright Falls which is where Alan Wake one is set and Alan within the world has gone missing we know from the end of Alan weake one he's in the he's in the lake basically he's inside the dark presence dark place dark place the dark place yeah sorry where the dark presence is lot of light lot of dark bright Falls though you um so she shows up to solve these murders and then she's got a partner as well Casey Casey who we've not mention and so Casey's quite unique yeah so he is the direct he's played by the director of the game his face scan is the guy who actually writes the Alan Wake franchise yeah uh Sam Lake yeah who is famous because he's the face for Max p in one and two and Alex Casey is voiced by the guy that voices Max so he's got Max P's face and his name and he says things like it's just a coincidence I look like that other detective anyway you got to collect those pain pillars pain pills um so that's also quite a big part of it is following this Alex Casey character around New York yeah uh and he is featured on billboards and stuff because he's also the creation of Alan Wake in the game he wrote Alex Casey as a story um and some of the Billboards that feature Alex Casey look like max pay artwork oh absolutely and the names of just that whole New York is it like cold day and hell is one of the max pay chapters and it's also the name of one of the Alex Casey books oh yeah yeah and that's the other thing about this game is all the characters are kind of named after what they do so Alex Casey like looks at cases yeah and he says things like oh this this Casey's closed you got 5 Seconds to work out what Mr door is about yeah Mr door Saga Anderson Alan Wake he's waking up loads except for Ati ATI yeah yeah I think that's just a Nordic name yeah so and it is quite on the nose and stuff like that like Tor and Odin are two characters who are like these old rockers but they live in like Valhalla nursing home and it's like I like it I quite like all that it's well I think the thing is is cuz the whole point is like you never know how much of the world as it is is because that's how the world is or because that's how Alan has written it to be yeah so the main so yeah we actually explain that so he's writing the story as the game is going on so he's writing what's going to happen and the reason it's bad and he's not just writing like oh it's a romance novel um is because he has to stay within the genre of confines of horror yeah so he couldn't just suddenly write and then everyone became a millionaire because that would and it's got to be a horror story so there's got to be a sacrifice for the hero you know there there's certain parameters that's what I was saying about how this game is so obsessed with fiction like this dark presence really cares about the sanctity of good good storytelling yeah it's funny they picked Allan to do it but but that's the thing was there's a lot of when there is some of the tropy stuff you're like is that because he wrote it because one of the one of my favorite moments in the game actually and it's a very minor moment is when you're playing as Saga so after she's basically investigating the opening scene that Ollie told you about earlier and so she goes to a diner and she interviews interviews the people that saw it and then she go speak to at the diner and she's like oh like hey Saga and she's like oh like I don't know you and like the person recogniz and then she's like basically says that oh you you used to live here and your daughter died here and she's like no I didn't and at first Saga is sort of like oh yeah yeah no she's crazy but then more and more people talk to her like that they know her or like oh yeah I'm your grandfather and she's like what and then basically it's because in the other world Alan Wake is writing this all to be true and you never know for like how deep is it getting to how much is the world that has changed or then she even is like wait is he like is that what is the truth and what the world was before is that what he wrote and they never explain exactly where that line is yeah I I feel like maybe in this game more than the first game they do kind of play their hand a little bit early with that stuff because like I remember in the first game wondering if these things were happening because he was writing them all the way up to the end of the game I remember saying about like characters in it being like well he wrote them so but it was never really confirmed but that but the thing but then that game exists and so like I this game really feels like it's made for people that play downweight once you definitely have to play yeah and I know a lot of games they they're scared to do that because I they don't want to tell people that but this game it I it feels like it's made of the Assumption is like yeah you'll played that and probably control as well I feel like the push and pull of like Saga being like is Allan Right in the future so he's guilty or is he predicting the future so he's innocent and they kind of wrapped that up a bit too quickly because I was like oh the idea that he's predicting the future is actually really interesting and that would make him innocent he's not causing these deaths he's not writing her daughter into the story he's just predicting what's going to happen but they kind of wrap that up I think literally by the time you meet Allan it's like well they have it I don't know if it's even too far forward because there's another inverted commas character called um scratch or Mr scratch M I think a scratch scratch Yeah scratch which is basically like seems to be it's presented as oh this is the dark version of Alan Wake yeah and he's writing as well and so for the bad stuff that happened I was like oh scratch is writing the bad stuff and then Alan is trying to change you know Alan will write something and scratch will scratch it out once again don't think too hard about these names guys it's right in front of you um and so that that's the way I kind of thought about that yeah I think yeah I mean you are right also scratch copy is like another it's what they call the draft version of something it's I was a scratch copy but yeah he um I don't know maybe we could talk about how similar this is to Twin PS cuz it's kind of mental well so at first when I first saw I was like oh it's the dark version of him yeah but there's a there is a twist with him that I think we probably don't need to spoil just in case where it kind of it it's not as straightforward as oh there's the good word and the bad word is I think it's actually more clever and interesting than that that part where they're like oh scratch is already out did did that twist get you at all oh what that that was the one on the the beach like it seemed pretty clear to me that he was because you're still playing as Alan W and and they have a little line like Oh I thought that was you from the past like you know they yeah like I I saw that one that was actually when I was saying about like it's annoying that we can't talk about the game because there's be loads of theories that I had and if they come true okay the theory I had a theory that I laid down pretty hard and it I didn't turn out to be 100% right but basically my theory was that the game was going to end and it was going to turn out that Casey and Allan were the same person okay which didn't turn out to be the case but there is a line in it where Casey says you're not in the dark place I am your dark place I was like guess I'm kind of right I'm kind of there there a part where he shoots him in the alley yeah if you remember that was my that was my main Theory going in that I was like oh it's going to turn out there the same person yeah can we talk about the first time you play as Alan Wake uh yes you must have to remind me but yes so it's the the talk show right the first time yes of course yeah the immortality style you go into the into the video yeah I'm standing there yeah so you'll be the whole time you'll be so what was when it first cuts to elen wake is it just a straight cut after a chapter or do they do a thing no you're in the writer's room looking at yeah but how does it get to there does it just oh yes one thing we should mention is at the end of each chapter it plays a song mhm like it did in the original but these are all original songs based on wake yeah about Anna so they're all based on poems that Sam Lake wrote and then like different artists kind of did Renditions of their song so does it just play one of those songs and then it cuts to Alam wake in kind of the Green Room I think so yeah I think he's in the Green Room yeah then do you want to say what happens yeah then you kind of there's a TV with Allan looking out the TV at you which is like every time it happens it creep me out I don't know why like intensely staring real Alan like the the human actor and then you kind of you you zoom in you hold x on it you zoom into to it and then it Changs this video where he then goes out onto a talk show to talk to this guy called Mr door yeah once again all all real all real life yeah and then while he's there Alex Casey his character that he wrote is also there with him and he's talking to him like oh yeah I wrote this character and he looks exactly like I expected him to which is kind of this whole like meta fiction craziness that like is probably we can't fully go into it because it would be another hour of talking yeah it's basically like and a lot of theory crafting as well none of it's fully explained it's basically like um Allan is standing for the director of the actual game who wrote Max Payne and Max Payne standing is Alex Casey so therefore they're kind of meeting for the first time yeah and it's almost as if as you're playing as Alan you're almost being haunted by Alex Casey through all of your New York sections which maybe might be how they felt at remedy with max pay hanging over them M and also there's a lot of comments that are made about how Max p 3 was not made by them and they're like oh someone else took it and like I didn't know what they did or I wish I could have been a little bit more involved it's all kind of following his career yeah so we should explain is so remedy who made this game I don't imagine that um so they they basically sold the rights to Rockstar who made max pain free podcast on that on the the channel as well coincidentally we have our Niche um and so obviously they couldn't have max pain in the game that's why you we don't know whether they would have had max pain I think they would have in some way yeah I think they would have as well yeah so that's but so it's kind of cool that that's like in the background kind of become one of the plot points kind of Suddenly at least one of the themes and then remed are going to remake Max P one and two yeah and they've said they're rolling it into one title both the remakes so who knows what's going to be going on with that yeah I I do want to ask you because I think Now's the Time to do it is in I think it was in the Alan Wake episode you said you don't like it when they kind of Link the properties in a unified World when they announced that control was in the same world as this um you know you kind of weren't up for that really yeah has playing this game changed your mind at all I think it's changed my mind in as much as like I don't mind it but at the same time I don't feel compelled to go and play control like I kind of feel like I got what I needed from control from that's fine you don't have to this is a thing like with these big crossover universes it's like oh yeah if you want to watch Star Wars you got to watch 10 TV shows 10 film like that's what I don't like is like the same with the so this is going off topic now but the TV show The Boys by the time that I was like oh maybe I'll check it out it already had four seasons and a spin-off show and I was like well now it's too much like it's too big now whereas this game in particular I so I played Allan Wake the two dlc's the second the little spin-off game I didn't play any of the control DLC but I kind of feel like I don't want to like I'm fine with it as it is I watched like a plot summary before I played this yeah yeah um I kind of I mean I don't know what happened it's probably is it that much it's to do with the um the can't remember his name so in Alan Wake one you know like the kind of Care Home Place the guy the guy who you punch at the beginning do you remember his name ah Dr like Brett something or like Greg something I know who you mean I know who you mean so it's it's basically it's like him has kind of turned into like this dark monster and it's all about kind of fighting him they like I think they capture it and take Federal Bureau of control so kind of one of the links here with control is so the control is all about a game where it's basically like a government agency that is the per the people that investigate Paranormal Activity is a control for dummies way to summarize it and so the Federal Bureau of controller in this game and kind of from the very beginning there's touches of them there's like a monitoring station yeah there monitoring station they're like oh we just checking like stuff yeah it's like yeah just just routine maintenance you you carry on later later on when you run past it again it's likey you're like what is going on but but later on they are actually in the game and I think that's a nice level there's not many direct characters from control and like I I did play control and I love control but I I got the sense that if I hadn't I would have been absolutely fine yeah I played control but I didn't play the AL stuff so but I did see references to control like all through the game there's a part where there's a whiteboard Sheriff breaker he's like filling in a whiteboard and starts to write about control like oh redhead woman question mark like and all this other stuff but yeah I think it's I just I like the fact that they're still kind of keeping each other at arms length like it doesn't feel like the sequel to Alan Wake 2 is going to be control 2 yeah which I feel like sometimes with the Marvel stuff it all blurs in exactly into other it's like like oh this is the film or the TV show that introduces this character and then they're going to arrive in this film and then it's going to be like oh yes and I got that Quantum stone that you know about it's like what's the I don't know what that is I didn't you know I didn't watch that whatever that was yeah I I do agree with that but I I think because this game is so much about that and because there's the um Quantum break dude is kind of in it as well oh is that sheriff breaker yeah Sheriff breaker so the actor who's the lead in Quantum break which is the remedy game that they made before control yeah shows up as well so they've kind of like got everything they got all of all of their toys are out on the on the playmat in this game yeah yeah for sure and also they go back and touch on stuff on from Alan Wake one as well obviously one of which being his wife who I feel like really got done dirty in the first game oh yeah she really she just in her she was the carrot on the stick that was her in the lake disappears for the whole game I feel like in this game she really gets a good character development yeah she has some of the the most striking moment so the the main way you're seeing her so this scratch character this evil um Alan Wake essentially is sort of stalking her so so the idea is she's gone back to her apartment in New York Alan Wake is in the lake um in the the dark place in the S Lake yeah and um but then this other version is almost kind of like haunting her and so she's because she's a photographer she's kind of taking pictures and almost kind of doing art installations about this evil version of basically Alan Wake that's tracking and you see that but then she's recording video messages as well and it's probably the best performance in the game is those video messages they're amazing all of the video scenes are really good those in particular also I found her ending like not the end of the game but the where she ceases I guess we can SPO she dies the scene where she dies was horrible and it's not even a video it's photographs and it's just like yeah so shocking like it was like stomach turning like this is just I feel like I'm actually watching someone die like she basically jump jumps off a cliff but it's like four photographs of her turning around and then walking and the last one she's like just her shoulders and head or above the ground level and it's like just awful yeah I I made a note I'm trying to find it was it Bas like the word basically it's just the text that comes on screen which is basically like the next images you're going to see of like the last the last we saw of her alive yeah we last we saw of her alive and that kind of gave me CH and I think the fact that it's it's as I say it's a real woman as as well and like the and the way it's presented so good like that kind of I almost kind of got chilled again yeah I did I did think about it it honestly feels like when you used when you were like 13 and you go on the internet and it was like really dodgy and you see something you wish you hadn't seen it feels like seeing one of those it's like oh my God it it it felt so so real like that that was very touchy speaking of um fmvs do you have a favorite of those video scenes yeah you know what it is oh are you going to talk about this the music yeah okay well quickly then before we get into that my favorite quickly my favorite one was the Thomas Zayn and oh Sor I thought you saying do Thomas Zayn and Alan Wake going on their absolute Bender like they both getting drunk in this apartment then like cuts to Allan like violently vomiting and they're just like picks up the fight there's no one there he's like I'm writing return and I was like this is so good like i' it honestly the way it's shot like it's all like funny angles like you feel like you're there like having this crazy night and Thomas Zayn also just Great Character yeah he was fantastic so he is actually obviously the same actor yeah but that's his actual voice okay so he uses his real voice the guy that plays Alan is voice over but yeah he I loved that scene so much I literally was like beaming watching them both no that that was a and the later scene with him as well which we probably don't need to spoil was a great scene as well especially the bit after that scene on the projector cuz I messed around in that room for a bit and I saw what happened afterwards and I was like this is crazy yeah I I don't think we don't need to SP I know I said this would be like spoiler but there's certain things that I don't think it's necessary for us to spoil um but yeah so the the music scene or one of the music scenes is um so it's is after another so they do the talk show bit and then later on in the game you're kind of going through like an altered version of the era so it basically looks like the film set for an American late night talk show so like kind of Imagine like the staging and stuff but then they got giant FMV versions of characters throughout the game sometimes Allan sometimes the host of the show sometimes um Alex Casey AKA Sam Lake sometimes the the rock star for and Odin like playing the the music and you're kind of making your way through this kind of abstract version almost like eer painting version yeah but it has like stage directions on the floor in white tape yeah like if you're and you're going through that for a while and it's just really cool and then with once again with an original song and like really goofy like Alan Wake like those be like kind of dancing almost like doing like the like really like kind of campy like of style Dart moves and then the B I was really cool is then sudden you get like attacked and then you're doing combat in in that area with like all of like these giant like looks like screens um going I on the floor like wait for guitar solo yeah there's enem coming at you and it's like just crazy guitar you're like I just want it to be over so like carry on yeah it people always talk about there's a moment in control like the ash treay maze yeah and that this I think I still slightly prefer the ash really I strongly prefer this one okay I think I I love the way you're moving through the AST because you you basically fly in control by the end um and like they do more this is much more about like the the FMV what he says doesn't he he says later on he's like oh by the way I tried to write musical to get out yeah cuz he's like trying to write his way out of this and the person he's talking to is like I don't even know what to say back to that but I actually really preferred it I think because it was I think it was just funny and it was like War warms you to the characters watching Alan dancing and stuff at the end of it he just goes I didn't expect that and I was like it was exactly what I was thinking yeah yeah no definitely it's definitely a highlight yeah and then the other bit which is kind of similar is that the bit that we touched on a little bit earlier where you're kind of on well was essentially a beach but it's of a lake I think um yes see that was the reason I think the reason that those sort of bits make me cringe like espe that final one is because the characters in the game are like this is so awesome I can't wait to buy a t-shirt for this event and it's like that that's more Odin and Thor who they well no it's the FBC woman is like oh we're breaking so many laws right now but I don't care because it's awesome I was like oh so it does make me a little bit like so so basically what that scene is is that so they need to change the outcome they're basically trying to bring um Alan Wake out and so they need um fiction and so they were like oh what can we do do to create it so like oh we'll get forign Odin to write a song about it and then that will be the the art that will be a used so that's the justification for them setting up like a rock gig on the there's also a bit of a throwback because there's a moment fighting on on outside their house like outside their Farm on stage in Adam wake one so I think it's a little bit of a throwback to that as well yeah also uh just before we start recording Muppet messaged me with an article on Euro gamer saying that that musical section almost got cut because they were like we're trying to make a horror game and this is silly in the Alan weake 2 in alen we 2 yeah so the section with the big screens and everything they almost cut that whole I mean if they don't want to be silly they got to cut more than that like there's a lot of hum say to keep from the FMV bits they carry on their tradition where there's a lot of like TVs with like adverts on and stuff which are like straight comedy this time yeah the uh two brothers they called The yako Brothers yeah I made a little note the uh oh co Cella CLL Brothers yeah and ilmo yeah they make they're kind of entrepreneurs in this little town and they have all kinds of different things and they make their own averts and they're pretty funny like to be honest with you all of the FMV stuff was really really good definitely a step up from Al wake one in in Alan Wake one you remember me mentioning that I got the vibe of like student film like this one like I didn't like especially like things like the talk show I like you can tell the cameras they're using are like proper it's very rare I think for anyone to watch like full like 4K footage that isn't being streamed and then I was like oh my God this looks amazing like so it's like so it's it is a you know a step up you know they you they use the Epic money wildly wisely who published this game the crazy thing about this game all these things we're talking about and the budget I'm amazed that this game even got made to the level that it's made like there are a few things poking through that you can see like I kind of wish there wasn't as many combat encounters or maybe there were just different I kind of feel like it does all these amazing things and then when it comes down to it you're shooting zombies and it's like I I can kind of see like why they had to do that but also it would be quite cool if they did something different or didn't have the I wonder if because I was doing more of the side puzzly stuff I had more of like down time or or or more of like an even mix between like doing puzzle cuz was like going and doing more of the stashes and stuff like maybe if you're just mainlining it is a lot more like combat combat combat combat whereas I was I maybe I was doing more exploring it the the pace of the combat it was more like the fact that it all you're doing all these things and really it just comes down to shooting zombies and like it's doing things in games I've never seen before but you're still also shooting zombies and you're always shooting zombies and it's like that feels a little bit this is what how much I respect this game is that feels a bit basic compared to what the rest of the game is doing but I I don't feel cuz like all of the stuff that we said about like where you're changing the plot to change like the area and using like the light and like all of like the puzzle stuff or even just like navigating the environment they sometimes like they don't do way points they leave it up to you know they they they trust you like I like I know in terms of like active gameplay like there isn't like oh and there's also melee combat or there's also climbing traversal I don't think it needs like I think it's there's like the combat is the core but then they have enough unique wrappings in each area or even just like exploring the area like like one of the areas you go to like coffee World which is like a coffee themed like fun fair place and like like sure I'm walking around there and shooting zombies in there but just seeing it all is enough and they'll do a unique encounter where you go in and then like oh the teacup starts spinning and there's an enemy in the middle like like I I I never felt like oh here we go another wave of enemies I feel like it's not that I just feel like it feels like a crutch compared to the rest of the game the lofty things the rest of the game is doing it's like oh and also because it's a game you shoot zombies yeah but I guess it has to be it is a game it has to be fun but there's enough I feel like they give gave you enough to tools and Variety in enemies and environment it's good shooting as well it is good shooting yeah it does feel I mean it just feels it like Allie said about it being like Resident Evil like the modern Resident Evils like it is a lot like res evil which are very good um yeah this I loved this game I think it was absolutely unbelievable they came the the things that I struggle with are I feel like as I just said about the zombies it's like okay they're just zombies and the other thing is it's so similar to Twin Peaks season 3 that it's like it I don't want to say it's like derivative but it's so so many things are the same that it's like but I enjoy that so it's like I enjoy this but like I could describe the plot for both and you wouldn't know which one I'm describing because they are the same like it's that bad even the opening is the same for both of them and it's like but I not everyone watched that show and obviously and a lot less people watch that than the old TW PE as well so I wonder if less people are realizing that it's derivative yeah it's eventive no it's just like heavily inspired um I I think it was less inspired by twin PE directly than the first one definitely more a million remember the lamp lady in the diner so this game the Twin Peak din so this game starts with like this middle-aged federal agent who comes who appears after many years of being missing and then is killed and a part of him is removed that's Alan Wake Twin Peak starts with a federal agent who appears after many years of being missing who is killed and his head is removed and it's like okay that's the same and it's like okay then we send in uh a team is an FBI agent who's a who's the director as a self-insert which is the same as this game and they have a female agent with them who's new to the series so they kind of explain which is the same in both it's like oh my God and then it's like okay so we have our hero character and then the dark version and the dark version and then also as third version who so the dark version uses his name and face to get ill gotten gains but there's like a funny version with a different name which is the same in both because we have Thomas Zayn and douy and it's Lally like I cannot believe and then also the looping nature of Twin Peaks like there's a lot of shots of in in season 3 which by the way is also called the return where people like kind of glitch forwards and backwards that's like a common thing in that that happens in this game all the time as well and also the Twin Peaks the marriage of analog and digital is also in that like there's a part where you're looking through a wormhole and it's like the CGI Wormhole and there's like Dust Landing on the camera lens this game has that same effect like it is so similar it's and also the evil hero so the evil version of the hero in Twin Peaks appears in leather jacket covered in blood and then the evil version of Adam W looks the same the hair down it's literally so similar that it's like yeah it is very similar it's crazy but I don't think it's it doesn't I don't think overall I think because in Twin Peak season 3 the setting is so different maybe that's the thing that like it's more like you could see a screenshot of Alan weight one and a screenshot of Twin Peak season one and probably do more side by side parallels like log lady instead of black lady like the diner like the the police station and stuff like they definitely divert as well like they go they go a different way but for the first half I was like oh my God this is crazy like T season 3 it's like oh they're going to like Las Vegas or whatever they definitely divert off but the similarities are yeah I'm kind of probably I'm kind of glad I didn't think cuz I I do get annoyed when it's getting too close to to something else and I didn't really pick up on it like as directly apart from like the dark alen wake that was the one bit that I really did think about and also like with I sorry no one's probably watched T pick season 3 but the hero being trapped in like another place all of that just like the same but maybe maybe Sam Lake watched it and was like oh I actually see a lot of myself in this because that because that show also has a similar theme of like the director being in it and it kind of being about the show itself and these loops and things like that so and I've seen interviews with um Sam Lake I think they were for Alan Wake 1 or something but um and it was it was talking about like oh this is Alan Wake it's basically inspired by like Stephen King and Twin Peaks and like that sort of setting of like this sort of small town in America and he's like this is quite unique for video games like they're saying like it's not like like they're very upfront like it's part of the plot is that it's kind of inspired by like these other um Creations but for a video game that's not really being done anywhere else in a video game yeah yeah he's and yeah he's right as I'm sure you know as you're very upsetting for you as our resident Twin Peaks fan boy on the bonus Point um but yeah I mean I think just I think it's kind of amazing game that was made with this budget and obviously that the two the two pain points for me are those two things but apart from that I had a wonderful time yeah same it completely like like and my graph for loving it just kept going up like at first I was like okay yeah this feels a bit like Resident Evil and it's kind of that sort of plot but then it was it really from the first bit like that interview bit and like my first time playing Alan Wake or even just like when entering the street of New York I mean oh my God this looks amazing like and so different to every you know because you've been mostly in the the woods up until then and then suddenly you're like right in the the middle of like New York and it looks so different and then also it's just for particularly my tastes it's exactly my scale of game and area where it's not like fully open world but you have a big enough area that I feel like I am genuinely exploring and making discoveries and using my brain and I'm not looking at a star on the map to go here I'm working working it out and as I said I really did enjoy after doing the main bit going back to the areas and going to might go and do all that I might load up my sa I wonder if it would be too much of that in a row now because I really enjoyed like oh I've you know I've done the main thing in bright Falls now I'm going to explore the town and like oh there's like this stash box here and it says about like going to the park and looking at the B and then you go to the park and I really en enjoyed doing things like that and then there's these nursery rhyme puzzles where you're kind of collecting these dolls and it' be like the little girl went out on the boat and so you put her on I found that yeah but I didn't actually um you say you find that you know there's loads of those okay well I found one of them I didn't I didn't finish it I just like okay I'll come back to that something I think there's like five in each area but even that's like another analog art form there like models being made yeah yeah but I mean like actual little models themselves yeah so so that is the the federal federal can't say that for some reason Bureau of control the FBC uh it's basically that is them kind of testing out like what is the effects of like they're writing these stories and trying to like push the boundary so like you'd always find those with like a camera set up and then if you often go into a house or somewhere nearby there's a computer and they're like oh like we tried putting this down here that's cool so there was like little law and I thought the there as well finding the little notes that made um Saga power up was that like someone writing fanfiction because it's close enough to the lake it was coming true because the notes would be like they like she kept firing a gun and firing it and firing and firing it and then you get the ability that the clip gets longer and I was like maybe it's like a fan fiction that's close enough to this area that is so smart the way they tie in like your upgrades into like it being written into well I think that's that's Alan writing into the the plot that like you know she's suddenly like she shot then she shot again and like and allows you to like shoot quicker or or something do you think that maybe the game was a bit too heavy handed with its like I feel like it kind of was overe explaining itself a little bit with like the one way I put it to someone I was talking to about was like I feel like the characters are going to climb out of TV and Shout I'm a fictional character in my face like because I really want you to get on board with this idea um I was pretty on board I was on board but I was a bit like you don't need to keep telling me like and even Alan being like the words I'm writing are changing the scene it's like I've been doing this for 15 hours like I know I know how it works though Kai did make fun of a the like is he a writer like yeah I I get that but like it for every one of those there are so many of like little clever lines or a genuine surprise like like for much as I say I was kind of would guess like you know like oh I guess that that Allen that came out the lake wasn't really Alan you know as much as of those like if you told me like what sort of scene is the next scene going to be I have no idea I was constantly like I have no idea what's going to happen that's definitely this game's strongest thing is like you have no idea what's coming up yeah and like there's like the the bit when you play Z way and you go to like a cinema and it's doing the thing we talk about earlier where you like would change the scene and I'm like what are they going to do here like what are they going to do what are they going to do with the screen there like so many things when that door appeared on the screen it took me so long to figure out yeah then you go through it go through it yeah like it's it's Indescribable like the amount of moments like that yeah and just how complete and like like these moments where they're putting the FV in it's so pure it fits in like the lighting is is so perfect and like they just completely nailed the the tone of it like that Cinema section was also like really the culmination of all of the FMV oh not FV sorry the plot swapping scene area it was quite difficult but I really liked you know finally figuring it out and being like oh this is what I'm supposed to do big spoiler warning now because I want to talk about when Allan's like I'm going into the dark place for the final time so spoiler warning if you are going to play if you haven't come off by now definitely come out now so he is like I've got to go in one more time and he drives into town and it's like dark and he's a bit where he's shining his torch on the road and I was like also I fully loved Allan in this game I didn't really like him in the first one cuz he like kind of sucked and it is a shame that they made him more likable but I guess it's quite nice cuz you want to like him but he was horrible in the first game and then he's like I'm going into the dark place for the final time and you're kind of bracing for like just the absolute worst like the stuff you've seen in the game is bad enough and then you go in and it's like wonderful yeah it's like Suburbia it's like Sunny yeah yeah and you you haven't seen much sun yeah yeah it's sunny it's like there's a festival going on and the and and everyone is talking about the book that he's which like it really calls back to the first game like with all the people like being like Oh Alan like and then they even have the stande the same cardboard cut out cardboard cut out that section for me that I was like that was almost more scary than it being horrible also did you die on that section yeah when they chase you yeah horrible yeah so you basically you take the book that you wrote and then like they all turn and like chase you yeah and I like that the idea of his hell is that everyone is obsessed with the book and knows who he is and yeah just really creative that was an amazing moment the game is just full of these great moments like yeah this should be an interesting list Edition yeah I'm I'm excited about it um are we doing list now well we got some we did actually get quite a lot of good questions okay shall I uh I'll bring up some questions here we go Taylor Taylor Mae says now this the second sequel of a previous podcast game you covered which of the two pairs had greater development between the original and the sequel not which sequel is better but which is the most developed and worked upon in comparison to its original I think there's an obvious answer there is an obvious answer but maybe that's because Last of Us Part One which say last of us part one and two was the other pair we did maybe because that game Last of Us Part One was already so high budget highly Pol oh yeah yeah I I mean for one there's a much bigger time gap between the two um yeah definitely much bigger jump but then yeah I I I think the fact that when we were debating on the list we're both pretty close between the last of us part one and part two I'm assuming this one there's going to be a much bigger disparity between the two this feels much more of an evolution of the of the original idea yeah whereas Last of Us Last of Us Part One is was just like I mean it's naughty dog like they just they they make gold like they nailed it first time the interesting thing about it being in the evolution is that because I played all the DLCs and the American Nightmare which I know you played a little bit of but you didn't love but maybe I like I you didn't have a good cuz you did my new game plus we played it for about an hour and I played it with you sitting next to me being like Oh what about this yeah yeah but you know the uh the whole like scene setting thing is from Alim 2 is from that game so I was doing that and I was like this is amazing I was doing it about then but it's quite cool seeing the evolution of that going through and I I cannot stress how much I love that stuff like that in the just the visual that's that instant switch like it's I love like I was looking anytime I needed to to do that I was always looking forward to it and then there also another bit where on the sua side we kind of talked about her mind place which is once again a physical area that's where you got to upgrade your stuff or like rewatch like adverts or whatever there's a bit where you kind of almost get stuck in it well you do get stuck in it and you're trying to find your way out and then they kind of make a puzzle out of it and then something we didn't really mention is she's a Seer which basically means she's an empath she can she can work she can basically work things out or like if she talks to someone know if they're lying and you do that by kind of like profiling them and there's like a really cool bit where you're kind of stuck in there and it's basically kind of tied into her like I guess her like negativity and self-doubt where she's she's putting up on the board like basically like I'm a bad mom like I'm a bad thing and you're putting then she's like that's not right and then you you kind of twist it into saying like no actually I am a good mom I am a good detective and once again what this game is always doing is it's tying its gameplay into its cinematics and there's a load of games with great stories for example the last of us has an incredible story you could watch a YouTube compilation of the story and it' be a great story or the TV show yeah and yeah or the TV show exactly yeah and and obviously the gameplay in it is also really good and there is dialogue in the gameplay but that stands alone as like oh it's just a great story mainly told through videos essentially cutcenes and this isn't that this this is gaml like so cleverly tied in with story fully married fully fully together so just for when we get to the the list like that is why it's it's better than the sum of its parts yeah uh Doom Citrus asks would you recommend playing the second game rather than the original or should they be played together um so the other day I heard actually on the uh insert credit podcast they had a question that was like what do you think about people saying do I need to play you know game before you know alwe one before anim 2 actually that's a bad example games that have an ongoing plot Last of Us they're like do I need to play last plus one before last plus two and they kind of said like these are massive budget games made by designers who want to appeal to the biggest audiences possible so don't worry about playing the previous games that's why I was saying it's surprising for this one whereas this game yeah you 100% need to play the first one like or at least know what it is or at least know what happens in it a plot summary will get you a decent way of the way there but it will like the you'll lose out on some of the emotional gut punches like when recurring things or even just like oh like I went back to brightfalls and now it's in like 4K and I I have free I can walk wherever I want like that was a cool moment because they hold some of that stuff back and like the first time I got to the diner and I was like oh my God I can look at it like properly now like that it made that like mean more but if you just watch the summary like like it's not crucial to the plot but you would lose out on that is there a question write about that is that no no no no no no no um there's a question about Quantum break from Bud Oli I actually haven't played Quantum break but theyve said did you play Quantum break if not now that you've talked about remedy quite a bit on the Pod would you be up for talking about it uh I I haven't played it either I don't feel compelled to this what I'm saying about control as well like I kind of feel like I got my Alan Wake Phil yeah like maybe I shouldn't be maybe I should judge it on my own I know it didn't review that well so I I have played it it I played it at like a an event like a Microsoft Event where they were showing like upcoming stuff cuz that was an I think it still is an exclusive it is yeah so like I have I've like I've experienced playing it but yeah I haven't for some reason I haven't felt compelled to go back may maybe I should I mean I we wouldn't do on the podcast because we've already done you know we're too done too many remedy games as it is uh doing this game was a bit of a push for for for for us um but may maybe if there is ever a LOL in game releases which hasn't been for 12 months maybe that would be one I'd have a look at Game Pass I heard as well that Lance reic plays a character in Quantum break and he was meant to play the chat show host on Alan Wake to is that the guy from Game of Thrones I don't know what he's he died recently so oh oh the guy from John Wick maybe haven't seen it is he the guy in the in is he in is he in the wire he's in Destiny as well look him up Lance reck his name is yeah I think he played Wesker in the in the Resident Evil film the newest one yeah that's him he was yeah yeah yeah he's in John Wick he's supposed to he was supposed to play or was penned to play the chat show host oh he'd have had a great voice for it would yeah and also I think there was meant to be another little like oh it's all interconnected oh because unfortunately that's a shame the actor they did get though is great because he he Nails the goofy side of the character and then there is like quite a dark scene with him and he does NA both of them so yeah uh yeah I think that's we can list it okay right let's uh put it on the list okay so this is going to be the 52nd entry on the the list before we get started because you normally do if you got any any anything you want to moan about before we get going anything you want to move it's been a long episode people want to get out of there no it's fine it's it's all good finish the story um so can I be bold yeah and suggest we focus in on the top 10 yes I think so okay good so can I for for audio listeners I'm just going to read out the top 10 and you want start from 10 and go to one or yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so this is this is the top 10 as it stands it's always just quite because it's going to change now so this is always quite exciting when top 10 changes so at number 10 going up we have slay the Spire Humanity Doom prey The Last of Us Part One The Last of Us Part Two Hollow Knight Death stranding disco elesium and then at the top The Legend of Zelda tears of the Kingdom Y is as it is now Y how would you like it to be in the future uh so I'm going to straight away say that I would put Alan Wake 2 in the top three okay which I know is a big move I think this is the best horror game ever made yeah I think there's nothing else like it like in the gaming space there's nothing else like it it's kind of like people would say oh Silent Hill 2 is the best horror game ever made or something this is for me now it's this there's nothing else I'm so happy so just before we recorded the podcast I was talking to Kai and I was like this game's going to end up so high because I loved it and I was like this game's basically made for olle I was like if I love like I don't like horror games I like Twin Peaks but I'm not like your level like this game is made for olle and arm in a similar boat to you and also I like the I like the um single creative Vision which this game has and like I just I just like all of it I everything like I was so every time I went to player I was like so looking forward to being like I just can't wait to see what is going to happen next I have no idea what is going to happen next if I was to arrange the top three I would put Zelda into third and then disco and Allan at the moment maybe because I just played Allan Allan would be at the top that would would be my dream would be Alan Wake at number one and then disco and then Zelda but disco and Allan I could probably I just like sad middle-aged men who are trapped well you're going to be one soon your dream will come true so yeah that's where I would put it like when I think about Zelda and Alan Wake next to each other like there's no contest Alan Wake is unbelievable okay so first thing I want to get out the way is so Zelda is done being number one what so this is this is something that we've we we've spoke about this I know but I didn't think it was coming now yeah I wasn't sure I was going to do it now cuz I was like this is going to be a long episode maybe maybe at the end of survival kids we should have this zelder discussion CU we might have time but we should do this now to get it sorted so maybe I maybe I I'll upload a separate video explaining why yeah but since finishing tears of the kingdom and having time to think about it I've realized how much more I prefer breath of the Wild and I feel like like it's incred like it's still one of my top 10 games of all times like the the technical Marvel that it is the way that ultrahand and all of the building works is incredible I think that the game underutilizes it and the game that it's in isn't as it's it's amazing but it is very similar to to breath of the Wild and the stuff that they did different like the sky islands and the depths I thought were the weaker parts of the game like the the soundtrack is still incredible like the actual ending is incredible I love the the boss fights it's got some really amazing cinematics but the rest of it I much preferred breath of the wild and it's hugely similar to breath of the wild like it's using all the same sound effects the same artwork like it's so close to it then the fact that the stuff that they add didn't make me like it more than the original yeah and the fact that my first time playing a game like that and like a Zelda game like that like that blew me away and tears of the Kingdom like from what they added it wasn't able to to match that yeah like disco elium and Anam wake 2 both blew like they blew me away in a way that the kingdom agree so maybe I'll see what the response of this video in the comments are maybe I'll have to go more because I have been making I was even cont doing a one-off video just discussing what should be at top disco alium is the Kingdom so I have been making notes but I think seen as this is the time we're putting Anam wake on and it's in that area we should get out the way I know you already had changed your mind about tears of the Kingdom yeah so breath of the wild I almost finished but I didn't finish it for reasons out for reasons out of my control I didn't finish it wasn't out of choice um tears of the Kingdom I got to the second dungeon that we talked about in the show and I've not played it since whereas breath of the world I was like this is amazing so for me the further away we get from tears of the Kingdom like it's t the kingdom is an amazing game but we're talking about top of the list here yeah so something has to give and okay yeah so I'm I'm strongly in Disco elesium above Anam weight 2 okay I'm fine with that I want I want them both above Des I mean obviously it's weird because I'm like I I I want Hollow Knight higher yeah but I think that's probably just is it's already fourth mate I know it's mean it's it's my number it's my number one let's do this first so this is coming out yeah this is going up into number one okay so this is Disco elesium is back at number one number despite we having having exclusive artwork about the fact it's no longer number one how do you do it Harry get down so Al um dis was going number one Alan Wake is sliding in at number two yeah and then tears of the Kingdom dropping down to number three third yeah which I'm actually quite happy about because if death string was in second it was in third sorry it' be like our top three games or about sad middle-aged men yeah we least we got a bright a bright Happy game yeah in so for now then disco lium back to the top I kind of feel like the thing is you know what Alan Wake I love it unbelievable game I don't know if I could recommend it because it's like you have to play Alan weake one where why why do you always care about recommending games because that's like what I that's just what I care about but that doesn't make it game good but okay well Alan Wake 2 is like alake 2 is partly only good because it's standing on the shoulders of alam one where disco lium stands same but I said I don't think I don't think it is standing on the shoulders you have to play one but like I don't think that mean like I think so I I think tears of the kingdom is standing on the shoulders of bre of the breath of the world one but this is like you you so something that I get a lot is like a lot of I get sent a lot on like Twitter and stuff now of like people that are like oh I drew a picture of you when I was like 12 yeah I'm now like 18 and in art college and and I've drawn the same picture again but now I'm an amazing artist and like they send me so I get that a lot that that's not them standing on the shoulders of the original the second one is made better because you can if you've seen the original it's like like cool comparison but that's not like standing on it maybe it's the wrong terminology but you can't enjoy Anam wake 2 as much if you haven't played the first one whereas disco liian exists on its own but you Alan Wake is as good as it is because of Alan Wake one like I I I don't think that's a negative why is that a negative well in terms of being at the top of the list why is that a bad thing like that it's building on the sequel only because Last of Us Part Two wouldn't be as good about playing the first one that's not bad like that's good yeah I just think about like all of a sudden it's I don't know disco lism is like a singular thing and it just exists on its say there's never going to be another one yeah literally I mean there might be another game called disco alium 2 but not with that team Alan Wake 2 needs Alan Wake one same as last Us Part Two needs last us part one yeah I I I'm not seeing that as a bad thing though like I I think that like it just that is part of what makes it good is that it's a great sequel so what's putting disco above Alan for then because I'd have them around the other way for now Definitely Maybe recenty bias but I would have him run the other way I I think disco Elite mik I it's a little bit more unfathomable how it exists like I think like ironically talking about writing I think it's the best written game I've ever played out of any game and the way that the freedom that it gives you and the the openness the uniqueness of the setting you know we talk about you know the the the setting of of Alan Wake is unique for a video game but it's not unique like Disco alium feels like its complete own thing yeah so I I I I think that like maybe if there was like three games I had played that were like disco elesium it would hurt it the fact that I can't think of anything like I can't think of a comparison to it yeah yeah I mean Alan Wake 2 is amazing that it exists because it's so high budget but like that's not really but disum isn't like it isn't High budget in that way yeah but it's like the they OB I don't know what the development time was but the time that was obviously spent to like put into that writing like I just think that disco alium was a completely Unforgettable experience which Al we two is as well we're talking about one and two here but I feel like as you say once you kind of get into the bones of the game play it's like Resident Evil and it's like a third persono and it has that stand it's like whereas disco elium is disc use your gun once or twice and both times are the most hair raising like yeah like intense situations to go through disco elium it's mostly like words and the fact that with mostly just words and some art and beautiful music they they were able to completely transport me to another world like when I'm sometimes reading in bed and I play the Disco elesium soundtrack and I hear that horn coming and I'm like like I I I feel different like I feel like I feel like not even like I remember playing the game like I feel like I'm in another place and it's because you know and and what that place is is basically a picture that Scrolls on the screen the fact that they were able P yeah the fact that they were able to create that with like words and a few very basic animations like I I think it's I think disco elium is the best writing I've ever read yeah I say like not like outside of video games or anything like I think that is the best writing of fiction I ever consumed and it's like the most compelling you different parts of the brain yeah and and I've seen like what at most what 10% of it do you reckon that's in the game you think of all of the different parts of your brain and stuff but and the way that oh I want to play the game again the fact that I have my different parts of my brain and the fact that they the ones that I happen to Speck in talk to each other and will like argue and disagree or like back each other and I'm like how many combinations do I have but like that one little section which was like maybe like eight minutes of dialogue or those talking it feels so unique to me and my experience of it like disco elium is a a special thing and Alan Wake 2 is as well and so is tears of the Kingdom so is everything in the top 10 yeah for sure but disco elium to me was is the most unique okay yeah you're okay with that yeah yeah I'm fine with that I'm happy that Alan wake's at number two yeah are you close close with them yeah I'm close with them I think like maybe I'm thinking Alan Wake because I've just played it yeah but I really like um what I was looking for ear on I couldn't find the words is like I like the self-insert like meta narrative that's like here's someone who's reflecting on their own career and that's what I really like about Twin Peak season 3 and you don't get that in games really so when it was in this game I was like oh it's actually amazing like I feel like Sam lake has designed something to express himself to us and has completely done it perfectly like we Now understand how he's feeling I've never even spoken to him or anything but I understand exactly how he feels about his career which is just amazing and I I to be clear I was not expecting it to be like top 10 alone to like going into it like so I saw like obviously I enjoyed Alam wake one which is now 21 on the list for anyone that's wondering it's being pushed down sorry slay the Spire as well you short short live the top 10 we love you as well you got some big friends that you're you were standing next to there I'm afraid we the there wasn't enough room in the in the top 10 um yeah like going into it so I saw the first gameplay demo which I think was at the game awards and I was like oh yeah this looks kind of like those recent Resident Evil games I like that sort of story like I will definitely play it and give it a shot then I watched nothing else of it so I was completely in in the dark um going into to playing it and from the that opening section of saga I was like okay this is exactly what I expected I was like oh the the caseboard thing that's kind of killing my Pace a little bit and I realized basically to relax a bit and not immediately go to like every time it popped up that I had when I was do I was like oh this might get a little bit annoying like the shooting feels fine though probably about as good as Resident Evil but then from there as I say until the end of the game the line of my enjoyment and my Intrigue just kept going up so at the end while I'd like have a 4-Hour game session and then I'd like take off my headphones and like go like what was that and like and obviously like Kai doesn't wasn't really following it and I know none of my mates were playing it that I knew and I couldn't talk to you about it which was hurt I think I said I think I said it's hurting my heart not being able to discuss this with you as I'm going through like what an experience cuz I played it quite compact as well basically in MO mostly a week cuz I wasn't able to play like basically a week and a couple days extra so I and like I probably got about 18 hours okay so I think I finished it at about 13 yeah I guess I did all the side stuff I guess so yeah so I put a lot of time into it in a very compact time so I would be playing prob 4 hours hours in a row and yeah it was incred was the same as I had that same thing where in the first Alan Wake I was like the part where the the light beam comes and the torch like comes down the light beam and I was like oh this is a weird game and I'm on board for for me for this one it's the part where you put the heart through the sign oh yeah the okay this game is weird like I completely over how strange this is but for me it was that moment I know it's such a minor moment but when you're speaking to the lady in the diner and she's like you live here oh yeah that that was the bit where I was like that really got me in like wait what I I did genuinely think that Saga was like oh here is the normal person to react to the world I didn't know how tied into it and how important she becomes and also I we haven't spoed it completely and I do think you could if you listening to this point and now you're feel like oh wait oh number two they're serious like serious honestly like we would like this podcast would to be as long as the game for us to spoil it all it has so even if you know some of the bigger stuff there's so many little surprises and stuff throughout please if you if you can play horror games because this is a scary game with jump scares if you can play this style of game please do like I you will not regret it yeah bonus points seal of approval absolutely a million percent yeah what is it with these sad man games that we love so much what is it with this year my my top 10 of the year is rid there's games that are getting kicked at my top 10 I cannot believe it I think it's yeah I mean I'm still looking to play Border's gate yeah December 4th apparently maybe oh really have they put a date they haven't they haven't said that someone leaker some leaker online said yeah um so maybe yeah and and this is like and Hollow night silk on didn't even come out this year and I'm glad I'm glad it didn't because I don't know what I would have done I would have my head would have spun in a circle of giddiness if I also got that game this year and we also didn't play Spider-Man yeah no I I'm also keeping a list of the Giant games that I haven't played just to preempt the comments of people saying what about this what what about that game like so there's so many I don't do you know what I don't feel like we've actually done this game Justice because it's so good we haven't we just haven't like you can't you can't talk about how good it is like I think you need to just see it and hear it it's such a visual audio ball experience it's so intense like you feel like you're sitting across from a psycho like you're sitting across the table from psycho for the whole thing that's like I have no idea what they're going to do I don't know what's going to happen next like and I'm on edge because I'm sitting opposite someone that is like completely unhinged like the moments where characters are literally just staring down the camera at you and all you can do is hold the button down to like stare back at them and it's like it's horrible but it's amazing but it's like so unnerving and there's two DLCs coming yeah and also I want to give a little shout out to Friend of the show Eric stury who of course was on when we discussed the Dig who is the lead writer of control 2 yeah which is part of this same universe so if you're watching this Eric we you got you got a big act to follow here but I mean I in particular really LED control so um I do prefer Anam wake 2 I think overall definitely overall this is their Masterpiece this is remed Master this is I think they're Peak but like I mean control is also um incredible so I am like that would be a like I will be doing the equivalent of a midnight launch of that I will be preloading that and yeah I mean maybe we could maybe there'll be enough of a gap we could justify doing it on the podcast I don't know why don't we just change to a remedy remedy podcast I mean I'm more excited for the max pain I like Max P so I'm more excited for those remakes and also now intrigued to see if they try and do anything to merge them I mean fine if they don't there there'll be Easter eggs for sure there'll be there'll be a TV show or or something yeah just there'll be a deer head on on the wall did you ever pet the deer heads bit weird of course I did yeah y anyway so that's Alan Wake 2 a long old episode this one is it yeah Alam W two number two on the list which is pretty um pretty unbelievable uh but well done to to Allan and crew slay the Spire sadly was sacrificed and kicked out top 10 as I said um Alan Wake uh the original is now at 21 so the top five uh as it stands now is at number five um holl KN Y at number four death stranding Y at number three is Tis the Kingdom at number two is Alan Wake 2 and at number one is Disco alium can't believe disco is back at the top yeah oh we made such a big thing Al could even take it from disco it became inevitable like you you were quite before me sure of that and I'd been arming and aring it and to be honest I was just a little bit scared about saying it after all of the phrase we gave it but it's it's still at number three of these games and top 10 of my personal list so it's yeah it's hardly been kicked to the gutter has it no no not at all anyway I see your Poise with releases yes I got my phone out for future podcast episodes first of December two weeks from now we have survival kids which is Game Boy Color game what you laughing at your choice what are you laughing at I just cing we're doing these games back to back I've not I've not played it yet so I don't I've played it it's a it's a game it's a Game Boy Color game Game Boy Color game the by kamami Konami yeah talking too much today if uh you know you can find a way of playing it it is literally less than one megabyte so if you want to download it you can it's it's it will be much smaller than even one of those flash screens that come up I think it's I think it's a five hour play time okay yeah so I've heard um so that's the next game we're doing then in December we're going to do game of the year and the Christmas quiz I should think cuz we're not set in stone yet we're doing both of those I should think the Christmas quiz is coming on the 15th of December and the game of the year is coming on the 29th okay uh but in the meantime we also are on patreon and the reason bring that up is because we have another series called extra credit which is on every other Friday so every week you're not normally get a podcast you get extra credit we've had a huge influx of new users uh I guess new patreons users I'm in work mode new patreons subscribers joining game nights we had loads of game nights recently we've had Halo OverWatch Mario Kart we've got fortnite coming out by time is up for's already done but there's loads of stuff going on in there there's a book club in there as well you can join the book club it's super cool and yeah because it is gated there's a Discord too which is gated it means everyone's really nice so yeah and um also big thank you because like you know we tend to be doing older games or games on game pass and stuff obviously this is a game that's just come out brand new game and so it was bought through the money from patreon that's the sort of stuff like the the money goes to and it just means that you know like it's it's when we're picking our game we're not having to really think about that so much so once again thank you for patreons for buying us way to and enabling this uh this podcast so um yeah it's clear all of the money from patreon is just going towards this it's not paying for our time or anything it's just paying for like any gear we need to get or any music or all these train tickets to to come down in order to to record this stuff so our goal is to hopefully in the future get us set up to do more stuff in person so fingers crossed that will happen so thank you all so much if you are one of the recent users of our patreon yeah that's work talk coming through yeah thank you guys and thank you Joe for like sorting out this in real life setup test it looks very simple we spent about a day working out this the setup of oh two mics and a laptop why didn't we think why didn't we think of that earlier so we won't buy you with the details but it was surprisingly complex we know it it's probably not quite as good audio quality as normal like when we when we do hopefully have a permanent setup it will we will dress it up like like you think of what blood brothers is hopefully we do an equivalent of that uh for the the podcast that is the the goal but anyway this has been a very long podcast thank you so much Ollie for choosing this game like and like forcing it in as well because it was we weren't going to be doing this game and you were like shall we switch it with survival kids and I was on the fence cuz you love survival kids you knew it was going to be number two so I just knew everyone was rushing out to buy it and I didn't want to disappoint them people were queuing up at C saying have you got survival is it back in stock CX like yeah we got it it's £400 cuz they overpriced all that old stuff yeah so thank you so much T thank you all so much for watching or listening uh go play Alam wake 2 and we'll see you later bye cheers bye that was weird Jo

Channel: The Bonus Points

Views: 3,117

Keywords: Bonus Points, Podcast, Ranking, Leaderboard, Gaming

Id: Xi1BpVEacsQ

Length: 109min 19sec (6559 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 17 2023