So, I have finally finished this game and its DLC's now. I finally managed to beat the AWE DLC boss (using the combo shield and shatter). That boss was a bit BS, imo. And I got the platinum.
When I first started playing the game, before I got invested in it, the game only felt like it might be an ok game overall. The initial negatives, with the bad aiming controls and such, dragged down the rest of the experience alot for me. But as I got invested in the game and got used to the feeling of the controls, I started to like the game more and more. The story and the setting of this game is really really good, imo. Definitely the strongest parts of the game.
I really like the atmosphere in this game and the paranormal thriller theme it has. The story, lore and atmosphere is really really good. Solving puzzles and exploring the environment for documents and recordings, that give you background information to what has happened and what the Federal Bureau of Control is all about, is really satisfying, imo. The game rewards you for exploring and doing side missions. I would actually go so far to say that most of the (background) story is in documents, videos and audio logs. So if you are one of those people who just run through the main story without exploring and doing side missions etc, you are going to miss out on alot of the story.
What is not very satisfying on the other hand is the feeling of the aiming in this game, especially when you are using the gun. When I first started playing the game I thought the aiming was really terrible, but later down the line I got used to the feeling of it. But I would still say that the feeling of the aiming with the gun is one of this game weakest points. It's a shame, because the gun itself is quite cool, with its different modes. My personal favourites (most used) is probably spin and pierce.
When you use your powers it's not as bad at all. That actually feels quite good. You almost feel like a super hero when you throw objects at your enemies. The destruction of objects and the environments help alot with increasing that feeling, imo.
Favourite characters in the game was probably Dr. Darling (Mattew Porretta) and the janitor Ahti. The live action scenes worked strangely well in the game, imo.
It took me almost 70 hours to finish the game, but I wouldn't take that as an indication of how long this game takes to finish. It can probably be finished a bit faster than this. I ran around in circles alot towards the end when I was trying to get the last trophies and finish the last of the side content.
So, this game started out as a 6/10 (or something like that) game for me, but after getting really invested the game grew on me. I would say that this game lands up towards an 8/10 for me. That means it's a really good game according to how I use the scale. If the aiming and the facial animations etc would've been better, this games could've been amazing, imo. Some aspects (like the story for example) of this game is that good.
Pros:
* Story (I really like the paranormal thriller theme)
* Graphics (is really sharp and clean, the ray traced reflections looks really nice, the use of colours)
* The Powers (almost makes you feel like a super hero)
* The use of the DualSense (both vibrations and trigger effects are quite good)
* The Physics and effects (breakable objects and environments, particles and enemy death effects etc)
* Music and other audio (is overall really good)
Cons:
* The Aiming (with the weapon is quite bad)
* Facial Animations (they are out of sync and quite bad overall, especially on some of the NPCs)
Small cons:
* Photo Mode (it's very bare bones compared to others)
* No manual save (the game only has auto save and you start at the latest fast travel point when you die or start the game up again)
* No difficulty settings (I personally didn't have any big issues with the difficulty (outside of the AWE boss), but I still think it's something that should be there in most modern games)
Now I actually think I wanna play Alan Wake and Quantum Break (on PC). But I will probably wait to get them until they are part of a good sale.
Alan Wake is actually $5 on GoG right now. Is it worth it for that price?
