*Contains Spoiler / 包含劇透
*Gory, creepy screenshots included, viewer discretion is advised / 包含血腥恐怖遊戲截圖，請審慎決定是否繼續閱讀
Maker: Remedy Entertainment
Genre: survival horror
Platform: Windows, consoles
Saga Anderson
Darkness Prevails
Alan Wake 2, the long-awaited sequel of the critically acclaimed survival horror game "Alan Wake", looks into the unfinished business left at the end of its predecessor, where the protagonist, Alan Wake, stayed in the Dark Place under the Cauldron Lake to continuously writing against the Dark Presence, known as Scratch, in the game, hoping to keep it in check but fails, resulting in several mysterious deaths through out the years and the arriving of the second protagonist, Saga Anderson from the FBI, to investigate the latest murder at the town of Bright Falls after more than a decade later since "Alan Wake".There are several major plot twists in the story. The last one at a climax indeed caught me by surprise, since I was already misled by Saga's previous revelation that there was no time overlap, instead it was Scratch pretending to be Alan. Other than that, however, the story progresses with a predictable path.
Think About Something Naughty? I Can See It
Mind Space
The newly introduced protagonist, Saga Anderson, has a special ability named "Mind Space", a virtual room of thoughts where she can deduce people's thoughts and sort out evidence. This ability occupies a significant role of the gameplay --- but it really gets in the way too much, especially near the end of the game, with repetitive steps and animations.
In addition, although it is to avoid making the game unnecessarily difficult, besides certain absolutely required clues to collect, the majority of "evidence cards" are not vital to move the story forward. Heck, I myself didn't finish solving most of the side cases and sub-sections of the main case. They are more of side quests for players to do without any major gameplay impact, except the "lunch boxes" one, which is related with weapon-enhancing collectables.
A similar issue also occurs to the identical but different ability, "Writer's Room", of Alan Wake. In particular, maps are accessible only through Mind Space/Writer's Room, and they are often loaded slowly even when the game is run on an SSD.
Continuity Breaks Down
Audio of driving cutscenes often gets stuttered and lags behind visuals due to audio being continuously loaded. This seems to be a bug happening to a sizable portion of players, including myself. It is quite a strange phenomenon, since audio playback usually isn't a compute-intensive task.
Dull Driving Cutscenes
Speaking of driving cutscenes, if I remember correctly, the first game, "Alan Wake", progresses through a seamless in-game world, meaning the protagonist goes to places without the need of cutscenes. In the Dark Place of Alan Wake 2, most of the time it is still the case, but in the "reality world" where Saga roams, it is divided into several small maps that are separated by driving cutscenes. Yes, it is necessary to avoid pointless and prolonged walking and driving, but with the audio issue mentioned above, when I was playing and encountering a driving cutscene, it instantly killed the compelling mood built-up up to that point.
Danger Looming, So Let There Be Light
Atmosphere-building is the strongest point of Alan Wake 2. With advanced modern-day computer graphics and carefully used lighting and sound effects, the game successfully builds harrowing environments with darkness creeping around you, with peaceful, mind-blowing sceneries in-between to take a relaxing breath.
Lights lead the way
In the dark, light locations are carefully selected. I like to roam every time I enter a new area, so it took me a significant amount of extra time when progressing the story. For players focusing on progressing the plots, just look for eye-catching lights. On the other hand, tones of ambient light often hint the player of imminent events to come.
Fighting is Awkward at Times
And, just like its predecessor, Lights are more than directional guides or temporary safe havens. Flashlight and other light-inducing items plays a key role in fighting off enemies, or the "Takens", breaking the darkness shield on them to make damage.
A Bloody Scene
Although Alan Wake 2 does not focus on fighting, major plot turning points often involve it. Unfortunately, controls are not well optimized for fighting. Firstly, likely to adapt for consoles, item menu uses a directional pad/thumbstick friendly design that is not the best option for a mouse and keyboard. Being mainly a PC gamer, this adaptation caused me troubles in intense fighting, frequently misusing weapons and items.
NPCs Feel Last Gen
Are you looking at someone I can't see?
NPCs are honestly the biggest disappointment. NPCs do not react to the player's action or position when nearby. They don't even bother to turn their heads to look at the protagonists and would just keep standing their grounds or repeating the same actions. Although NPCs in cutscenes or triggered conversations would temporarily look at the protagonists, as soon as the cutscenes or conversations end, many of them act like the protagonists have never been there. Alan Wake 2's gameplay is heavy in exploration, so these dull NPCs could sometimes kill the mood against the beautifully rendered background scenery.
It's Not an Ocean. It's a Repetitive Spiral
Alan Wake 2 in fact has a DLC "Final Draft", but beside some extra goodies, it basically let the player replay the same whole freaking story, with a tiny bit of altered narration and slightly modified cutscene at the very end. Unless one enjoys fighting against more difficult enemies, Final Draft is not worthy of its price and your time.
Sure, the ending leaves an open end, as many horror series do, for a possible sequel. Several characters and their whereabouts remain unexplained, such as Tim Breaker who is still stuck in the Dark Place, the mysterious Warlin Door, and Alan's wife Alice. It is understandable why Final Draft can not provide a more definite ending, but the way it is conducted feels like a rip-off for some quick buck, like jump scares for some quick fear.
It is a loop disguising as a spiral. Once is enough.
My rating: 8/10
重點單字：
cauldron - 大鍋（請想像女巫的鍋子）
presence - （某種形式的）存在/存在感/
scratch - 抓/搔，但在 Alan Wake 2 中，其含義偏向「取消」，更直白地說就是「劃掉」的意思
plot twist - 劇情轉折
overlap - 重疊
deduce - 推斷
collectables - 收藏品
compute-intensive - 很吃電腦效能的
imminent - 迫在眉睫、即將來臨的
safe haven - 安全庇護所
directional pad - D-pad，十字鍵
thumbstick - 搖桿，俗稱的蘑菇頭
