Alan Wake Remastered

[markec]

Man they really are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel for remasters.

 

[Jarpie]

This is one of those games whose cult-ish status continues to baffle me.
It's just so bland on nearly every level.

Based on a few interviews I've seen/read with the devs, Alan Wake was originally meant to be weirder, wackier and creepier than it was in the end, because of the "feedback" from Microsoft they toned it down to be more "market friendly".

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/alan-wake-remastered

 

[Lyric Suite]

It looks the same?

 

[Viata]

It looks the same?

Next level remaster. They just re-release the game saying it is a remaster.

 

[Carrion]

Yeah, looks like Alan Wake. Wouldn't realize there was any difference if it didn't have "remastered" in the title.

Wasn't a huge fan of the original, even though the setting's really up my alley. Sam Lake's writing worked fine in Max Payne, which was a bit more tongue-in-cheek, but in Alan Wake I would've wanted to see something more than just blatantly emulating American works of fiction. There's not much substance under all that style. The whole horror aspect also fell flat when the gameplay mostly consisted of mediocre shooting. The endless combat sections really killed the game for me, which is a bummer considering these guys made MP1&2. The game would've needed better combat, much tighter pacing and/or more diverse gameplay mechanics (e.g. more adventure game stuff, puzzles, dialogue, exploration etc.) to really live up to its potential. Maybe the original vision was more ambitious and interesting than what the final game ended up being.

 

[J1M]

This is one of those games whose cult-ish status continues to baffle me.
It's just so bland on nearly every level.

Based on a few interviews I've seen/read with the devs, Alan Wake was originally meant to be weirder, wackier and creepier than it was in the end, because of the "feedback" from Microsoft they toned it down to be more "market friendly".

Blaming the publisher is the oldest trick in the book.

It is a story about a writer written by people who identify as writers that aren't nearly as smart as they think they are.

Microsoft didn't make their protagonist boring or unlikable.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alan Wake is very derivative but works somewhat precisely because of that. If you ever enjoyed any of the kind of things the game draws from you might find yourself at home in Alan Wake. Some of the locations were nice at least.

But, because it is so derivative and because the gameplay is so bland there's really not much of a reason to play it more then once.

 

[Fedora Master]

I never understood the love people have for Alan Wake. The gameplay is mediocre at best and the supposed spooky story is derivative as hell.

 

[molcandr]

I liked the mood and the feeling of this game. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and sometimes it feels cheap. Sometimes it feels great. Not sure if a remaster is neccesary, maybe yall want to run it in 4k or something, or if an unlocked framerate breaks the engine.

 

[Ash]

The original game was mediocre as fuck. Must have still sold well, the statistics are all that matters when it comes to re[tard]makes.

It had super bland 5/10 gameplay if that, the story was completely uninteresting yet desperate to please at the same time...at best it had an OK atmosphere.

I do remember quite a few decline enablers with zero standards sucking this piece of shit off around release, but don't recall huge fanfare. Definitely must be running out of games they can remake. Soulless fucks.

 

[Outlander]

Inb4 a remaster of that Quantum-something game...

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Maybe remasters go to GOG finally. Seems steam has everything including Death Rally, Quantum Gate & All Max Paynes. Oh... they'll remaster them and even Agentsof Storm the OFFLINE ULTIMATE EDITION. You know you want that: (a mindless game)

 

[Btan0]

Maybe the original vision was more ambitious and interesting than what the final game ended up being.

It was one of the many victims of console exclusivity:


The video quality is ass, but this was some very impressive tech being shown off at the time. It was when quad core processing was being released, so around 2005-2006. Unfortunately Microsoft saw a bigger market in the Xbox 360 and scrapped the PC version, so the scope they originally had for the game had to be severely reduced in order to accommodate console hardware. In the video above there are comments from over a decade lamenting about Alan Wake being console exclusive. This one still pains me.

 

[Wunderbar]

Maybe the original vision was more ambitious and interesting than what the final game ended up being.

It was one of the many victims of console exclusivity.

The video quality is ass, but this was some very impressive tech being shown off at the time. It was when quad core processing was being released, so around 2005-2006. Unfortunately Microsoft saw a bigger market in the Xbox 360 and scrapped the PC version, so the scope they originally had for the game had to be severely reduced in order to accommodate console hardware. In the video above there are comments from over a decade lamenting about Alan Wake being console exclusive. This one still pains me.

The released version is already boring as fuck, i can't imagine how boring it would've been if they kept the open world.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

VR, treadmill..... walking simulator. Exercise for the whole family.

oh yeah, I keep forgetting it is supposed to be inspired by the Ole Pacific Northwest. I dunno, free world would be fine asuming he can swim.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Maybe the original vision was more ambitious and interesting than what the final game ended up being.

It was one of the many victims of console exclusivity.

The video quality is ass, but this was some very impressive tech being shown off at the time. It was when quad core processing was being released, so around 2005-2006. Unfortunately Microsoft saw a bigger market in the Xbox 360 and scrapped the PC version, so the scope they originally had for the game had to be severely reduced in order to accommodate console hardware. In the video above there are comments from over a decade lamenting about Alan Wake being console exclusive. This one still pains me.

The released version is already boring as fuck, i can't imagine how boring it would've been if they kept the open world.

The world building and characterization was the best part of the writing though.

The horror stuff was the retarded part.

 

[antimeridian]

The world building and characterization was the best part of the writing though.

The horror stuff was the retarded part.

Too much is made of the horror elements in this game. It's a third person action game. The horror is usually handled in a cheesy, pulpy way, it never seemed concerned with being that scary. I think it meshes well with the worldbuilding and whatnot. Looking back at the (incredibly pulpy) Max Payne games, it's clear that this is just Remedy's schtick (their writers are obviously big fans of over the top, trope-y storytelling). My favorite parts of Alan Wake were the combat itself (on hard) and Alan himself, who is an amusing shithead to spend time with.

idk I like this game and Remedy in general. Alan Wake and Quantum Break were Microsoft trying to get some exclusives in that typical Sony style of cinematic, linear third person action games (Uncharted, TLOU, God of War) but I find Remedy's games way cooler than any of the PS exclusives in that vein.

It's cool to see the vids floating around of earlier builds of Alan Wake. Maybe unfortunate that it isn't what we got, but I think Alan Wake 2 is finally in development and I'd be surprised if it's not more open in design given Control was already a big change from Remedy's earlier games (still linear, but lots of backtracking, opening up new areas, generally unlocking the game world gradually rather than playing through linear levels).

 

[toughasnails]

Well you have your open world Twin Peaks horror investigation game, it's Deadly Premonition... Only it's made on no budget on godawful tech, so it's not graphic whore bait. Among other things... But it's probably the closest you will get to what people seemed to originally expect from Alan Wake.

 

[orcinator]

idk I like this game and Remedy in general. Alan Wake and Quantum Break were Microsoft trying to get some exclusives in that typical Sony style of cinematic, linear third person action games (Uncharted, TLOU, God of War) but I find Remedy's games way cooler than any of the PS exclusives in that vein.

Someone actually liked Quantum Break?

 

[antimeridian]

Someone actually liked Quantum Break?

Yeah I probably shouldn't have admitted to that on here. Thought it was fun for what it was, and I don't even like time-travel stories in general. The TV show segments were so awful that they became enjoyable (kind of). Also CIA was the bad guy.