65 - Alan Wake

[matt]

In this video I talked about what I liked in Alan Wake and what it inspired in Neverending Nightmares.

[gagaplex]

Ah, Alan Wake. Liked it a lot, even though the combat was repetitive. But the story and story-telling were superb and I really liked a lot of the themes... darkness (and ink), subversion, infiltration... love, redemption, friendship... light to fight the darkness with... yeah, it was great, even made an LP of it (blindly, I might add). I like pulp fiction, horror stories, Steven King, Twin Peaks, all this stuff... besides everything I mentioned, the game just had a nice atmospheric feel to it.

Also... here...


Yeah, the Old Gods of Asgard were awesome, too. I liked how people of various approaches - writers, painters, musicians and various other artists - could be affected by the mystery there, and differently, usually.

I guess personally I was more fascinated by the place, by how it functioned, by how things worked differently for the different people - but always facing that darkness. But yes, the bits with his wife were particularly cruel.

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What did you think of American Nightmare, by the way? Obviously not at all that story-driven and extremely different in tone and much more arcade-y, but I really liked the villain in that one and his background, not to mention the time-travel/Groundhog Day mechanic involved.

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Lastly, speaking of other relatively modern games, what did you think of the FEAR games? Perhaps another video...? Personally, while they mostly relied on jumpscares, I enjoyed them a lot regardless; the mood was pretty grim and the story... oh, hell, the story...

[matt]

I did quite enjoy American Nightmares. I love time loops! One of the actual nightmares that inspired Neverending Nightmares was a time loop. The idea of false awakenings was from a different dream.

I only played the first FEAR and quite enjoyed. I recently picked up the WB collection with Fear 2 and 3 with the Humble Bundle, so I'll have to check them out when I have some time. I'll probably be busy with PS4/Xbone games for a while.

[gagaplex]

Ah, yes, I got that bundle, too. I was still missing FEAR 3, haven't played that yet.

[JPrice]

I only played the first FEAR and quite enjoyed. I recently picked up the WB collection with Fear 2 and 3 with the Humble Bundle, so I'll have to check them out when I have some time.

In terms of the FEAR games, the first one is the best. The second one is pretty good, the variety of locations is way better than the first and the paranormal effects are pretty well done. That said FEAR 2 does lean a bit too heavy on action and set pieces rather than proper horror, especially compared to the first. The story's pretty meh as well from what I remember but it's still a fun shooter at any rate.

FEAR3 is probably the worst as there's a big focus on co-op which is fun and makes the game way more enjoyable, but at the cost of pretty much most of the horror within the game. Also it's short as hell, I think I beat it with a friend in like 4 hours and the story is even worse.

Honestly the progression of the FEAR series reminds me of Dead Space in a way, in that the gameplay just turns into being way more action based with less emphasis on horror each time. Still FEAR2's worth playing and if you can get someone to play FEAR3 with that can be fun as well!

[gagaplex]

Speaking of the first FEAR, I really liked Extraction Point, the first addon that was rendered semi-canon by the actual sequel (to my understanding they did take some story-elements from it); I liked it even better than the main game because of locations like the hospital, closer interactions with some of the NPCs (especially Holiday) and some really bizarre hallucination-sequences they put in there. Very good stuff.

[matt]

The first Fear was a little too actiony for my tastes, but I definitely enjoyed it. I just felt like the super guns and stuff took away from the vulnerability of the protagonist. Still, it was good stuff. Maybe I'll try FEAR 2 today or tomorrow. It's a shame the bundle didn't come with all the expansions. I have FEAR 1 pre-Steam, so who knows if I could even get the expansion still.

[matt]

Gagaplex,

I've now played through Fear 1-3. The Humble Bundle added Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate, so I have them now as well. Would you say Extraction Point is worth playing? What about Perseus Mandate?

Thanks!

[gagaplex]

Awesome, thanks for making a DD on it!
I would say Extraction Point is definitely worth it, in fact, I liked it more than the main game because it had more NPC-interaction, better nightmare scenes and added some twists to Alma (related to the revelation about the player character near the end of FEAR 1's main game). A lot of the locations are also really great, especially the hospital near the end. It's only semi-canonical, but worth it, I feel.
Perseus Mandate is... okay. If you hunger for more FEAR 1, it's a nice additional dose, but it really doesn't add anything new. It's also a story about a second FEAR team, operating partway simultaneously with the one from the main game, so there's really not a lot of new stuff to the established story (instead it adds compleltely new arcs that are left unresolved since there was never a sequel to Perseus Mandate). Some of the locations are truly well done (in a horrific sense), but overall it's more of the same, so...
My recommendation: Play Extraction Point! Only play Perseus Mandate if you're still hungry for more.

[matt]

Okay, I'll be sure to check it out! Thanks for the recommendation!