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[Haint]

BRUH. I wasn’t pointing out in my first post that Remedy is Finland. I was pointing out that there are multiple characters that are American and Finnish in Alan Wake 2, and that Norse mythology is a part of the game, not about where the studio itself is located. And when that Gamefaqs poster expressed confusion about what Finland and Norse mythology had to do with Alan Wake 2’s characters, it made it very clear they had lied about even playing the game (or at least playing it anywhere even close to completion).

That‘s what I clearly said. Stop trying to read between the lines there, there’s nothing to fucking read.

I don’t like people who lie about shit like that poster on gamefaqs did, and if they start to “justify” said lying, they will continue to plummet in my estimation of them. PERIOD.

That somehow makes even less sense. How do the presence of Finnish characters or Norse mythology themes discount or discredit complaints about the forced race swapped Sheboss POC main character, or the oppressive white asshole quotes? These things do exist in the game, they're not fake AI creations or photoshops? Then it's also immaterial whether or how far he played the game.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Alan Wake II sucked and it has little to do with wokeness.

The game is a boring slog. Wouldn't have mattered if you were Alan Wake for the whole thing.

Honestly, that might have been worse.

 

[Pop]

Karma for this:

Mannnnn just terrible

 

[Guilty_AI]

Alan Woke you say.

Tbf it wasn't too bad. They got in the arbitrary lesser and a protagonist of colour but whatever it's still top quality.

I should also mention that story looks like a convoluted mess based on what i heard as well as my experience with their previous games. Gameplay is also almost universally disliked.

All in all looks like a 6-5/10 game with added Epic Store inconvenience and potential woke bullshit given the blatant race swap and involvement with a racist company.

 

[00_Zer0]

Maybe next time you make an Alan wake game, dont make someone else the protagonist and have actual combat.

Sounds like a classic bait and switch move right there. This is the tactic Hollywood does now, especially Disney. Subvert expectations in a bad way. Imagine buying a Spiderman game and having to play through Mary Jane levels or as anyone other than Spiderman....oops guess other game studios try this shit too. Pretty graphics don't make up for a shitty story, or boring gameplay. That's why AAA games like these didn't grab my attention anymore. I hope Remedy doesn't subvert expectations or pander to a "modern" audience with Max Payne. I have the old games to fall back on. I will enjoy those if they screw the remakes up too much.

 

[Doom85]

That somehow makes even less sense. How do the presence of Finnish characters or Norse mythology themes discount or discredit complaints about the forced race swapped Sheboss POC main character, or the oppressive white asshole quotes? These things do exist in the game, they're not fake AI creations or photoshops? Then it's also immaterial whether or how far he played the game.

Because it proved they didn’t play the game as both things are a part of Alan Wake 2, and yet they acted like they weren’t aware that they are which gave away the fact that they didn’t actually play the game much if at all. I have said this MULTIPLE TIMES. Are you so obsessed with whining about woke stuff that you can’t hear what people are even saying to you? Dude.

Also, A) Saga was not race-swapped, it is an alternate universe version of the one from Quantum Break (a game Redemy is limited in how they can reference anyway, as it’s a Microsoft exclusive, while the rest of the Remedyverse isn’t. Also, Saga is biracial, and biracial people can sometimes “appear” either mostly/fully black or white, so she wasn’t even actually race-swapped
B) the “white asshole” line comes from the evil darkness antagonizing Saga. Alan has this element in The Dark Place as well. This evil tormenting Saga also forces thoughts of ”you’re a terrible FBI agent” and “you’re a terrible mother” into her, both of which are clearly untrue by this point (which is close to the end) of the game. So the “white asshole” line is clearly being portrayed as AN EVIL THOUGHT. Which means, the game is saying, “RACISM AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE IS BAD!!!” The fact that this caused any sort of controversy proved that a good chunk of people on either side of woke vs. anti-woke don’t actually care about the political or moral angle of it all, they just want to be drama queens 24/7.

Again, people who have actually played the game should know this shit. And, huh, why are YOU asking me if they’re a part of the game? If you had played the game, you would already know that. Hmm……

 

[mitch1971]

I honestly keep forgetting that AW2 is a thing.


I'm saying this as someone who isn't white, but I can't stand dialogue like this. Why make it about color or race, just say "asshole" without the "white" part. For a game that's trying to be "inclusive", shit like this just emphasizes the divide among some people.

 

[Arsic]

Karma for this:

This.
Sweet baby Inc.

If someone doesn’t want to play it because of the two things there, even I wouldn’t try to recommend it to them.

I played before I was aware of sweet baby inc in its full glory, and I initially brought this part up in the AW2 threads.

I loved the game but I can tell you had I known what I know now? Ain’t no way I would’ve bought it. DLC I’ll be watching on YT unless they confirm sweet baby isn’t involved.

That part above, even contextualized, doesn’t belong in the game and made me audibly utter “wtf!?” When I played it. It’s racism no matter the context. Fuck this shit.

 

[P:axMagellanic]

Karma for this:

Yep, they won't ever get this white assholes money.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yep, they won't ever get this white assholes money.

Exactly.

Don’t support political BS.

But give loud and political media/entertainment people credit for trying to amass maximum market share and sales. What they’ve all done the last 5+ years is amp on the anti-white/anti-guy train assuming that they all just take the gut punch like usual. All the while if the media tv show or game or movie has a pro-minority/political group attached to it, the marketing managers are surely trying to prove they can squeak out an extra 5 or 10% sales by expanding the target audience. The typical white guy is assumed to always be there, but now women and POC will by the game more. And if they toss in some anti-white rhetoric it makes those groups want to by the game more.

Looks like a lot of this shit is backfiring the past year in media.

All it takes is consumers blocking with their wallet and they’ll change. Just like when Gillette did guy bashing tv ads and bud light doing that trans person promo. After sales tanked they changed their ad campaigns asap.

Nothing changes a business strategy more than sales dropping 30%.

 

[Kerotan]

I should also mention that story looks like a convoluted mess based on what i heard as well as my experience with their previous games. Gameplay is also almost universally disliked.

All in all looks like a 6-5/10 game with added Epic Store inconvenience and potential woke bullshit given the blatant race swap and involvement with a racist company.

I platinumed it yesterday. It's an 8.5/10. Tiny bit of woke not much at all.

 

[bender]

Remedy games haven't clicked with me since Max Payne 2 which is one of my all time favorites. The original Alan Wake was such a disappointment with a game play loop that wore out its' welcome in the opening hours. I did finish it which is more than I can say about Quantum Break which was the low point in their development history. I know people really enjoyed Control but I had to force myself to complete it. I'd written them off until Alan Wake 2 was revealed and it really seemed like they were going to lean into the survival horror genre which got me legitimately excited and that excitement dwindled which each showing afterward. I recently tried the AW2 trial on PSN which is 2-3 hours long and I'm glad I didn't buy it. The Max Payne games were instantly fun and it feels like Remedy's focus shifted afterwards to everything but that. I'll always have a soft spot for them but modern Remedy games are just so unappealing to me. It sucks that they always seem to struggle financially. I'm honestly surprised they haven't been acquired.

 

[TheloniusFabdul]

Remedy games haven't clicked with me since Max Payne 2 which is one of my all time favorites. The original Alan Wake was such a disappointment with a game play loop that wore out its' welcome in the opening hours. I did finish it which is more than I can say about Quantum Break which was the low point in their development history. I know people really enjoyed Control but I had to force myself to complete it. I'd written them off until Alan Wake 2 was revealed and it really seemed like they were going to lean into the survival horror genre which got me legitimately excited and that excitement dwindled which each showing. I recently tried the AW2 trial on PSN which is 2-3 hours long and I'm glad I didn't buy it. The Max Payne games were instantly fun and it feels like Remedy's focus shifted afterwards to everything but that. I'll always have a soft spot for them but modern Remedy games are just so unappealing to me. It sucks that they always seem to struggle financially. I'm honestly surprised they haven't been acquired.

Absolutely.

They peaked as a studio with MP2.
Control was probably the closest they came to recapturing that magic, but even that I couldn't be bothered to play through more than once.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I platinumed it yesterday. It's an 8.5/10. Tiny bit of woke not much at all.

Sorry but i don't believe the opinion of random internet users, not if they can't make a good case and do a proper analysis. Everything else i've seen and know suggests its just an okay-ish game at best, certainly not worth the asking price or having to go out of my way to get it on EGS.

 

[Edgelord79]

I played about 15 hours of it and enjoyed it. For some reason never went back. I thought it was quite good at the time.

It’s not the type of game If I finished I would replay again though. It’s a story game and once that is known I don't see the point. It’s not like there are multiple builds.

Maybe I’ll go back and finish it.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

They probably shouldn't have made it Xbox and Epic Games Store exclusive LMAO

If 99%+ of your audience can't even play it, you're going to have a bad time when you need to make money

 

[DaciaJC]

"Alan Wake 2 has already recouped a significant part of the investments made by Epic Games Publishing, and we expect the game to be a meaningful revenue and profitability driver for the year."

Isn't this just another way of saying that they haven't actually broke even yet? From what I understand, console sales tend to be quite front-loaded, and on PC the game is exclusive to the desert that is EGS, so how exactly have they convinced themselves that AW2 will somehow be a driver of profitability for the coming year? Through DLC that requires yet more money to be invested?

 

[SRTtoZ]

no physical version of AW2 sure was something. I don't think they realize how many potential customers that turned off, including me.

 

[Kacho]

Isn't this just another way of saying that they haven't actually broke even yet? From what I understand, console sales tend to be quite front-loaded, and on PC the game is exclusive to the desert that is EGS, so how exactly have they convinced themselves that AW2 will somehow be a driver of profitability for the coming year? Through DLC that requires yet more money to be invested?

Yep. If a Steam release is off the table then they seem to think DLC will reinvigorate interest in the game, which seems very unlikely. As you said, console sales are front loaded and nobody pays attention to EGS. I have to imagine sales have all but dried up outside of deep discounts every few months.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Hopefully, they make up for it this year. AWII is a fantastic game.

Sweet Baby Derangement Syndrome is officially a thing

Lets leave it like this. I prefer this over their stupid obsession with “woke”.

OFF WITH SWEET BABY’S HEAD!

 

[Kerotan]

Sorry but i don't believe the opinion of random internet users, not if they can't make a good case and do a proper analysis. Everything else i've seen and know suggests its just an okay-ish game at best, certainly not worth the asking price or having to go out of my way to get it on EGS.

I'm King Kerotan not some random presence.

It's a psychological horror thriller with a lot of crime scene investigation thrown in. Excellent game imo and the first and only time the woke alarm went off was near the end when some woman character mentioned her wife.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'm King Kerotan not some random presence.

It's a psychological horror thriller with a lot of crime scene investigation thrown in. Excellent game imo and the first and only time the woke alarm went off was near the end when some woman character mentioned her wife.

So, King Kerotan, what makes it better than other horror or investigative games? What makes this more atmospheric and immersive than something like DUSK or Resident Evil? What makes the investigative story and characters more interesting than something like The Silver Case, Higurashi, Umineko, etc?

 

[semiconscious]

duplicate...

 

[semiconscious]

"The sales of Alan Wake 2 started well despite a competitive launch window," Virtala said. "Alan Wake 2 has already recouped a significant part of the investments made by Epic Games Publishing, and we expect the game to be a meaningful revenue and profitability driver for the year."

so zero profit at this point? still convinced the game was mostly a big mistake. i hope it turns out to've been worth it to them...

 

[Kerotan]

So, King Kerotan, what makes it better than other horror or investigative games? What makes this more atmospheric and immersive than something like DUSK or Resident Evil? What makes the investigative story and characters more interesting than something like The Silver Case, Higurashi, Umineko, etc?

Do any of those games have deer fest? I rest my case.

 

[Arsic]

"The sales of Alan Wake 2 started well despite a competitive launch window," Virtala said. "Alan Wake 2 has already recouped a significant part of the investments made by Epic Games Publishing, and we expect the game to be a meaningful revenue and profitability driver for the year."

so zero profit at this point? still convinced the game was mostly a big mistake. i hope it turns out to've been worth it to them...

Important lessons learned im sure.

-All platforms matter
-Sweet baby is a menace

In the end they got to make the game they wanted and put it out there. Seems like the studio isn’t closing down and can move onto their next projects.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Keep in mind that the publishing deal they have with Epic means that they won't receive any €$ until Timmy & co recoups their investment. I presume that this hasn't happened yet.

Epic launches publishing label, signs creators behind Control, Inside, and The Last Guardian

An impressive lineup.

www.theverge.com

Well yeah that makes sense companies generally don't invest out of altruism...

 

[unlurkified]

Karma for this:

Was gonna get it eventually. After seeing this, yeah nope. Sorry, you can’t just sneak your white-hatred into media scot free now.

 

[semiconscious]

Important lessons learned im sure.

-All platforms matter
-Sweet baby is a menace

In the end they got to make the game they wanted and put it out there. Seems like the studio isn’t closing down and can move onto their next projects.

well, the lesson that i personally was hoping they might've learned is 'self-indulgent narcissism will only get you so far.'...

 

[PixelatedBeast]

Alan Wake II sucked and it has little to do with wokeness.

The game is a boring slog. Wouldn't have mattered if you were Alan Wake for the whole thing.

Honestly, that might have been worse.

Damn that sucks to hear. So many mixed reviews about this game, but Im not trying to see too much gameplay so I can go in blind and get lost in the story. I just cant support it when AAA publishers choose not to release physical copies, that and the fact I had to buy Control twice just to get the RTX and 60fps update.

 

[CGNoire]

Remedy revenue drops 22.2% to €33.9 million in 2023

Remedy has published its financial results for 2023, and reported a 22.2% decrease in revenue to €33.9 million compared…

www.gamesindustry.biz

I love how many times he mentions Max Payne.

Alan wake franchise?? Why?

 

[CGNoire]

Alan Wake II sucked and it has little to do with wokeness.

The game is a boring slog. Wouldn't have mattered if you were Alan Wake for the whole thing.

Honestly, that might have been worse.

I agree....and yes it would have been worse. Such a downgrade from 1.

 

[Deerock71]

 

[Shut0wen]

If they expect AW2 to make big bucks without them releasing it on the biggest money making PC Platform, then they're delusional.

70% of steam users have epic its the loud minority that doesnt

 

[evanft]

Remedy is not a good game studio. Max Payne 2 was their last truly great game. Everything since then has either been boring as fuck slogs (Alan Wake 1/2) or poor attempts to do action gameplay (Control, Quantum Break). They keep getting pushed by game journos because their games fit into some kind of narrative about games being art or something.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Woke in Alan Wake 2 ? and I tire of the hate against digital.

For me Alan Wake 2 wasn't quite the game it should have been because there was too much switching to the detective board to to game world and it was sometimes really confusing what you hate to do and where you needed to go next.
Still think its a great game mind but it should have been more like Alan Wake 1.

 

[Gamezone]

We went from "people don't care about PC launchers, and will buy the game where its availabe" to "game didn't get a Steam release, so now it's failing".

 

[Zathalus]

Because it proved they didn’t play the game as both things are a part of Alan Wake 2, and yet they acted like they weren’t aware that they are which gave away the fact that they didn’t actually play the game much if at all. I have said this MULTIPLE TIMES. Are you so obsessed with whining about woke stuff that you can’t hear what people are even saying to you? Dude.

Also, A) Saga was not race-swapped, it is an alternate universe version of the one from Quantum Break (a game Redemy is limited in how they can reference anyway, as it’s a Microsoft exclusive, while the rest of the Remedyverse isn’t. Also, Saga is biracial, and biracial people can sometimes “appear” either mostly/fully black or white, so she wasn’t even actually race-swapped
B) the “white asshole” line comes from the evil darkness antagonizing Saga. Alan has this element in The Dark Place as well. This evil tormenting Saga also forces thoughts of ”you’re a terrible FBI agent” and “you’re a terrible mother” into her, both of which are clearly untrue by this point (which is close to the end) of the game. So the “white asshole” line is clearly being portrayed as AN EVIL THOUGHT. Which means, the game is saying, “RACISM AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE IS BAD!!!” The fact that this caused any sort of controversy proved that a good chunk of people on either side of woke vs. anti-woke don’t actually care about the political or moral angle of it all, they just want to be drama queens 24/7.

Again, people who have actually played the game should know this shit. And, huh, why are YOU asking me if they’re a part of the game? If you had played the game, you would already know that. Hmm……

I don't bother anymore; people are going to continue to take that one image out of context to keep reinforcing their beliefs.

 

[kyussman]

They partnered with a bunch of racists.....not racists like many of us on here,lol,pointing out stuff when it needs to be pointed out......no,actual racists that hate white people......fuck 'em!

 

[balls of snow]

Gonna double dip if there is a Steam release. Top 2 of the year for me. Top 4 on gaf I believe.

 

[Astray]

Keep this crap out of every topic.

Genuinely the stupidest gaming discussion I've ever encountered online.

 

[nkarafo]

Sweet baby profited from remedys misery.

It's their fault for hiring and letting them taint their work.

Because it's a good fucking game and deserves to be supported.

No, it doesn't. A bunch or racists altered it and profited from it with the blessings from the devs who hired them.

I don't support racism, sir. These efforts deserve to fail as hard as possible.

I swear you freaks want all these Devs to go bust.

If they hire racists to write their games for them and instill their ideology in them then yes, they should go burst.

 

[Alan Wake]

Sad to see it. But pretty much as expected. Alan Wake is not a mass market franchise to begin with and since Epic were the reason AW2 came to life at all, Steam was off the table from the start. They probably could've made some more money by releasing a physical copy on console, though. I still think they should.

 

[Kerotan]

It's their fault for hiring and letting them taint their work.



No, it doesn't. A bunch or racists altered it and profited from it with the blessings from the devs who hired them.

I don't support racism, sir. These efforts deserve to fail as hard as possible.



If they hire racists to write their games for them and instill their ideology in them then yes, they should go burst.

Who are these racists and who was racially discriminated against? Give me details I'll address them as I've played.

 

[nkarafo]

Who are these racists and who was racially discriminated against? Give me details I'll address them as I've played.

You can read the Sweet Baby topic if you want all the details. Everything about them is exposed there.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Wait. This game is involved with

?

 

[Kerotan]

You can read the Sweet Baby topic if you want all the details. Everything about them is exposed there.

Enlighten me because playing this game I didn't see anything racist. The second main character adds to the game and makes it better then the first.

 

[ResilientBanana]

I'm playing Control right now, and I gotta say. It's boring as fuck. I also didn't like Alan Wake. I almost bought Quantum Break, but after these two, I'm ok. The Max Payne series was fun though.

 

[Radical_3d]

Lets be honest here: the game sold very poorly before the anti-racist racist screamed “boycott!”. When they announced the one million copy landmark on a clearly very expensive project I thought: the numbers don’t add up. This isn’t breaking even. I haven’t played it but, what do you say? 200 millions between marketing and production?

 

[DaciaJC]

We went from "people don't care about PC launchers, and will buy the game where its availabe" to "game didn't get a Steam release, so now it's failing".

That's how the issue has always been presented, though. On one side, you have the "it's just another button" people ignorantly claiming that there's no significant difference between PC launchers/storefronts, and on the other side are the people who recognize why Steam is so popular and why a game available exclusively on the comparatively shitty EGS is practically guaranteed to fail on PC.