Some quick thoughts on Alan Wake II (and it's DLCs)

Base Game

I enjoyed most of the meat of the game. It was like a playable David Lynch film wearing a Resident Evil suit. The game-play wasn't as good as a RE game, but very forgivable considering how good the vibes and general writing were. It's also very Remedy to kind of kill it in the narrative/vibes department but have quasi-bad game-play (a tradeoff I'd make every time).

The ending was very underwhelming. It seems like they didn't have a satisfying ending, and instead of working it out, they decided to lampshade it instead. I was really invested in the whole Tim Breaker/Warlin Door subplot and they just kind of... left it? I know that the Final Draft ending provides a little more closure in terms of Alan and Saga, but not for Door/Breaker which is disappointing.

Night Springs DLC

The Number One Fan and North Star episodes were fun little romps that felt very on brand for what Night Springs means in the Alan Wake universe.

However, the Time Breaker episode did not work at all for me. In retrospect, it actively harmed my AW2 experience and I wish I had not played it at all. Not only did it not feel like a Twilight Zone episode, but Twin Peaks and Marvel do not mix. At all.

Lake House DLC

Aside from a few bumps in terms of difficulty calibration (I recommend "Story" for this so that enemies don't turn into bullet sponges), this DLC was amazing. In a lot of ways, this expansion is exactly what I expected and wanted out of Control, so I got my wish fulfilled here.

Conclusion

This is an extremely tough game to review. It's not a mediocre game, but it might average out to a mediocre experiences. The peaks are high, but boy, the valleys are also deep as well.

That said, I think this is my favorite Remedy production. Control and the first Alan Wake was a completely whiff for me in terms of game-play and pacing. The survival-horror framework really works for the vibe they're trying to do, and I'll probably check out whatever they do next.