I've done it, i've beaten Alan Wake II's Final Draft today. It was amazing, i was worried knowing (most of) the story would ruin the Final Draft for me, but it was just as amazing. I also did it on Nightmare mode too since i want to be able i claimed i did it, which was a fun challenge. One thing i appreciate about Remedy's Games is that their Nightmare modes isn't just a "Let's ramp the difficulty up impossibly high" like i feel most other game's are. It achieves a good level of difficulty that can be offset by being skilled at the game.
I Picked today's screenshot as i felt it was kind of appropriate for beating the Final Draft with how sort of Serene it is. Ik that's kind of a dorky reason but i just felt like it was appropriate.
SPOILER (THE PART WHERE I TALK ABOUT THE STORY)
This is the part where i talk about the story. I really enjoyed the change to the ending. It felt rewarding enough that i got to see him get free of the spiral, while also leaving the answer up in the air as to what's next/what happened. I'm also curious what Alan means by Master of Many Worlds.
I'm thinking it's that Alan rewrites the Dark Presence to be part of him, basically giving it's origin as it being born from "the small part of" himself "that it had been born from. Alice," (The Final Draft Ending). What i read this as is that without Alice there to be his light and balance him, it created Scratch/The Dark Presence (Or at least that's what Alan writes at it's origins). When Alan is hit with the Bullet of light, that's him achieving the Balance, as he's had that light returned to him, becoming in control of his inner demons.
I think this was hinted at in Alan Wake's American Nightmare too as the "Balance slays the demon" we see, as we're told that "When balance slays the demon, you'll find peace". And once Alan has slain the Demon (The Dark Presence) in Alan Wake II he finds his peace.
I feel this is kind of supported as from what i understand is that American Nightmare was Alan reusing a old draft of Return to fight scratch, and we're told in Alan Wake II that he's had "So many drafts," (The Final Draft Ending) that he used to work his way out of The Dark Place. We see something similar there too with Alice's Film about Alan being used to Slay Scratch (Like the Bullet).
I feel this is even further supported by the Time Loop (Or Spiral) we see in American Nightmare basically being a similar idea. Alan loops around until he's able to defeat scratch with the process to change reality, after which he's returned to his home dimension. Plus we also see overlaps here with Alan bringing the Dark Place over into reality a little "near one of the thin, worn places in the world," (Night Springs, Arizona Manuscript from American Nightmare), and he does this by "forcing the door open a crack so" he "can slip through," (Night Springs, Arizona Manuscript from American Nightmare).
This is by no means a formal Essay (despite the in-text citations). This is mostly just me rambling with things i'm connecting in my head right now. I just beat it so it's still fresh on my mind.
When the music from the first game kicked in again while running through the woods as Alan it had just as much punch as it did the first time. Remedy knows how to perfectly play it's cards right and in a way that doesn't lose it's effect.
Overall i loved this game, Saga was a fun new protagonist (Though i will Always pick Alan as my favorite due to sentimental reasons), and did Alan justice in a way i love, and it was amazing. It was well worth the agonizing wait and is as close to perfect as i'd consider something.
I do feel Alan's segments were a bit short compared to Saga's (I think it was the stealth being an option, along with less areas outside the plaza), and i do wish there was more variety too Saga's section's environments. I feel like the three areas we got, got stale easily compared to the first game where every episode was basically a new area. I also think the reload being relegated too a simple tap X kind of took some of the thrill out for me. These are just my subjective opinions though, so they aren't any sort of fact.
Despite that this game is basically a 10/10 from me and i loved it. I'm sad it's over, and my assumption is that a proper sequel will take another 10 years probably. I know that time will be worth it though and remedy shouldn't be rushed because it hopefully means the game will come out well crafted like this one was.
I also wanted to share a landscape shot i took of New York in the game before wishing everyone goodnight, as i am in love with New York in this game:
Probably because I tried to see how far he could swim out and he ran into an invisible wall. I know I'd be pretty depressed if I ran into an invisible wall and discovered I was confined somewhere