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Comment by bugglebeetle | Hacker News Reader

I really tried to enjoy the first game, but it was too derivative of its influences (Twin Peaks, In the Mouth of Madness, Stephen King novels) for me to get through. Control did a much better job with this, including it’s retelling of the Alan Wake narrative. I had hoped the sequel would be better, but from everything I’ve seen, they’ve doubled down on the pastiche. Hopefully the next Control game won’t fall victim to the same.

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Most of pop culture is derivative, and the benchmarks we use reveal more about our age than about true originality.

That said, the references to Control in this game definitely feel a bit hamfisted. You even encounter a familiar character from Control, and they seem to have a lot less depth than in the original game.

I mean, there’s a reason we have the notion of pastiche vs. influence. Some works are derivative or unoriginal in a way that damages their artistry. Twin Peaks was wildly influential, but not everything it inspired does the same kind of cut-and-paste stuff that Alan Wake does. Control is, in fact, a better example of this - it’s thoroughly Lynchian without regurgitating so much of the specifics.

For me the main issue with the first Alan Wake was the awful controls. I stopped playing when it became clear I was spending more time wrestling with the game than actually playing.

Yes, the controls were quite clunky and unfortunately the remastered edition did little to fix them.

If your up for it, I recommend the review by YouTuber “SkillUp” on Allen Wake 2 makes some good cases for why someone might enjoy it. He also compares it to the studios other games.

For me it was the other way around. I loved the Alan Wake 1 story. It was clear, easy to follow with enough mystery. Control was a mess, I didn't understand what I was achieving or had to do. The fact that it was "open world" inside the offices of that agency made it even worse. I skipped it and I couldn't continue, despite the fact that I would have loved to learn more about Alan Wake backstory.

Control (the base game) was anti-climatic but I wouldn't call it a mess. The story isn't really about the main character and that certainly affects the aforementioned ending, but everything that's going on is explained in the media you encounter throught the Oldest House.

I really like the visual artistic direction... but the Mind Place feels like a Jira simulator.

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