Games Speak

My time with Alan Wake 2

My time with Alan Wake 2 was a tension-filled adventure I thoroughly enjoyed. Every environment had a creepy air to it that made the game all the more scary. During the game, you play as two protagonists: Saga, an FBI agent looking into a cult in Bright Falls, and obviously Alan Wake, who is trapped in the Dark Place. Personally, between their two stories, I found Saga’s to be the more interesting of the two, but this will likely depend on the people playing. Once again, the Darkness that trapped Alan in the Dark Place years prior is trying to escape. Alan and Saga are trying desperately to keep this from happening. The way their stories intersect is interesting, and seeing how the two characters go about dealing with their situation is very compelling. Alan has a manic energy about him from being trapped for so long, whereas Saga is calm and collected through most of the story. They are both good characters that make you want to keep pushing through the story to see what happens next. Furthermore, there are quite a few aspects of the game that make it good.

To explain, as you play each of the characters, you do different things to advance the story. For Alan, you are shifting the reality of the Dark Place by writing different situations that you then have to experience. This way, he can find a way out of the Dark Place for good. These sections are more like a puzzle. Feeling out what should go next to give you the desired outcome you want. Some combat is also mixed into it so that these sections don’t get boring. I have to say there was one part with Alan that I found both hilarious and weird, which was quite the experience. As for Saga, her side of the game is often trekking through various areas in her search for the cult said to be plaguing Bright Falls. Her parts are more combat-oriented, but this does not stop the game from being scary. She often visits places alone with nothing but her flashlight and various weapons. These areas are also usually dark, so the darkness enemies can jump out at you when they want. In addition, Saga’s side of the story has boss fights against the various residents who have been taken by the Darkness that is slowly seeping into Bright Falls. Finally, what I enjoyed about the game was the fear it instilled in me. When you play as Alan, there are various shadows that make it hard to discern enemies apart. Then, when you play as Saga, you can hear the voices of Shadow enemies long before you can see them. The small things made the game even more of a treat for me. However, for all of the good things, the game had some faults.

As good as the game was, there were some things in there that annoyed me somewhat. I said so before, but I enjoyed Saga’s parts of the story more because it actually felt like the story was moving forward. Whereas when I played Alan in the Dark Place, I felt like I was running around in circles. New areas would open up as Alan, but we would always end up at the same place on the map in the end. Furthermore, Alan’s sections were a bit confusing. Sometimes you had to make sure you were standing in a specific place before triggering the story function. If you were in the wrong place, it would often take a while to figure out what you were doing wrong. Yes, this happened to me a few times during my playthrough. Overall, the game had some issues, but on the whol,e it is a good game.

To reiterate, I had a great time with Alan Wake 2. It was scary and entertaining and often made me wonder what was coming next. The parts with Alan Wake were a bit weak and somewhat annoying at times but the parts with Saga were interesting enough to balance out the gameplay. Also the weird parts they added into the game actually make the game more interesting and don’t go too far off the rails. I would definitely recommend this game for anyone to play during the spooky season we now find ourselves in.

My Time With Control

I can really only describe my time with Remedy’s Control as mysterious. The further I went into the Federal Bureau of Control the more I wanted to know about the environment I was in. Evil clones, tasty mold, eldritch beings in plastic flamingos. This game gave me no shortage of things to ponder and enjoy. In addition, Control manages to invite the supernatural into everyday life by crossing normal objects with supernatural powers we can’t understand.

In the middle of all of this supernatural madness is Jesse Faden, our protagonist. I would say she is different from other protagonists in that she rolls along with all the supernatural happenings that take place in the FBC. This being because she has some supernatural leanings herself. Of course I will not spoil this specific aspect here. Overall, I like Jesse as a main character because she is willing to roll with the punches and never loses sight of her goal over the whole game. She holds her family up as important while still doing her best to help those around her despite the circumstances she is stuck in. However, apart from Jesse, what really will draw players’ attention is the many weird and maybe not so wonderful things within the FBC.

The things I listed before are by no means the limit of weirdness this game has to offer. Other dimensional mirrors, magical mazes, and even the primary enemy is a mystery considering it is literally a resonance of some kind. Then there’s the many cool powers you can get your hands on. Telekinesis, floating in midair, and a supernatural handgun with multiple fire modes. Top all of this off with the fact that this takes place in the same universe as Alan Wake, and you have a formula for the weird and wacky. Play the game, solve the mystery and end this madness.

My time with Dead Island 2

It has been a while since a game like Dead Island 2 caught my attention. I enjoyed the game so much that I even bought both DLCs (Haus, and SOLA) to keep playing after the story was done. What captivated me the most was the builds I could play with and the many weapons. Dead Island 2 added a card system that would allow various abilities and skills to be used. I mixed and matched these cards throughout my whole playthrough to see if some new build would help me kill zombies even faster than before. Abilities like a ground pound that made zombies explode or even skills that made my zombie mode last longer. Also, you can go zombie mode and use enhanced strength to kill your enemies. In addition to your abilities, there are plenty of weapons with which to slay hordes of zombies.

As for the weapons the game offered, they kept me going through the game, making me try many different types. Some of the weapons that can be used in your zombie slaying include, Electric katanas, saw launchers, flaming broadswords, and electric nail guns to name a few. You can also mix and match the effects of these weapons at the weapons bench at your leisure. This will be necessary for when you face off against the many zombie variants. Mutators, whippers, and butchers are just some of the zombie variants I encountered in my playthrough. Some of the zombie variants are little more than palate swaps of other zombies but each of them has different abilities that shake up gameplay. I found the mutators to be a pain considering they would come out of nowhere and were damage sponges. However, as powerful as we get in the game, they eventually become easy. Furthermore, if all this is not enough to get your curiosity there are two things that very well might.

Legendary weapons and the story. There are about a dozen or so to be found throughout the game and they each have their own effects. Burning brass knuckles, a saw bat, and even an explosive revolver. They can be found or discovered through side missions as well. They may very well tilt the balance further in your favor. Finally, there is the story. The story was something I found to be even better than the first game. The following DLCs wrap up some of your remaining questions and the main story adds an intriguing mystery that is implied will lead to a sequel. Overall, I had a great time with Dead Island 2. So much so I may even try their recently added new game plus.

My time with Lies of P

My time with Lies of P Began with a mysterious voice whispering at me. This then led to my character, a puppet waking from a deep slumber within a train car. This mysterious voice then guides me forward to gaining a weapon and a goal. That goal is to reach Hotel Krat alive. This then led to my character leaving the train car and exiting into the train station. As it turned out the train station was ransacked. Violent puppets prowled the halls looking for their next victim. The rest of the station was not that much better. The halls were littered with the luggage and bodies of people eliminated by the rogue puppets. One thing that is apparent is that we showed up after the majority of the chaos had taken place. As I continued to fight my way through the station, I would come across the station exit. Yet, it was locked, and a key was nowhere in sight. I would eventually find a key in the hand of a rather burly looking puppet. Left with no other choice I engage the puppet in combat and face my first real test. The burly puppet was rather erratic, throwing punches that delayed in between swings. This threw me off and led to my death at least twice. However, gaining an understanding of the games parrying system allowed me to overcome puppet. With that I took the key back to the entrance to finally escape this station. What I walked into next was a nightmare all of its own. Upon opening the entrance, I enter the actual city just to see a massacre of victims lining the streets, and mad puppets roaming the roads. Despite this grim view in front of the station I came across a strange device that radiated with a strange blue glow. This device acted as a save point for me to come back to if I died. It stood as my one place of solace in a city that had fallen into madness.

After a brief rest I made my way into the city. The puppets were everywhere and just as aggressive as expected. What I did not expect was for them to be as crafty as they were. These puppets would hide behind corners and ambush me, hang from ledges to grab me. They would even patrol the area with other puppets and coordinate to catch me off guard. This led me to fight through the city while looking out for traps along the way. I would eventually make my way through the city and make it close to Hotel Krat where survivors were holed up but I would be impeded by a powerful enemy. A giant clown puppet and this took me more than a few tries to bring down. The puppets first combat phase was easy to predict. It was the second phase where things got out of hand the puppets head would come off and would start attacking me with hard to predict moves, I would eventually topple the beast when I was close to having no health. Then I noticed that the puppet dropped something called Ergo that powered the puppets. However, this one is named unlike the ergo from normal puppets. I would go on to pick it up and exit the circus area and head for Hotel Krat. When I made it up the path to hotel Krat two surprises awaited me. One was the distinct lack of puppets in the area. The second surprise was a strange lock on Hotel Krat grand giant door that asked me a question in order to get in. In order to enter I had to do something no other puppet was able to do and that was lie. I had to lie and say I was human to get past the lock. With that the doors opened and my true journey through this fallen city had truly begun.

My Time with Hogwarts Legacy

I can describe playing Hogwarts Legacy as living out a dream I have long held. Being a wizard at Hogwarts and going on my own magical adventures. This game offers players things that the Harry Potter movies have long since instilled in our dreams. Flying on brooms around Hogwarts, going to the house sorting ceremony, spell duels, and attending classes to name a few. This game is mostly full of fun things the movies always made us wish we could do. However, as much as I would like to keep talking about the good parts of the game there are a few downsides.

The biggest downside is that while you can fly on brooms there is zero quidditch in the game whatsoever. The game makes this clear the moment you make it to Hogwarts as well just to drive the point home. In addition, the exploration can get a bit bland after a while. Boring side quests and, similar puzzles in the open world. Although for some of the game’s faults, it also makes up for it with some good content scattered across the game as well. Some of this content includes battle arenas where you use the spells you’ve learned to fight off various enemies from across the game. Enemies like trolls, giant spiders, goblins, evil wizards and more.

Then there are camps of enemies from various factions to clear out and even some mini-bosses hidden in some side quests. One such mini-boss not only scared me but gave me some trouble in the fight that ensued. Apart from combat there is even a bit of management in the game. At one moment you get your own terrarium where you can take care of mythical creatures and grow magical fauna. You can even catch mythical creatures eventually in the story. Some of these mythical creatures can even be ridden on throughout the story.

Overall, Hogwarts Legacy offers an amazing experience that we couldn’t have through any other medium that isn’t gaming. I genuinely recommend this game for Harry potter fans and even those who just want a magical journey.