I bought ALAN WAKE II on sale and it’s so good I almost feel guilty for not paying full price

When Alan Wake II When it first came out in October 2023, I was definitely interested and intrigued. As a writer myself, a video game where you play as a writer who alters reality by writing in a space that exists outside of reality definitely caught my attention and made me think, “I wish I had.” That’s what I thought up.” However, there were a few things that ultimately made me wait until the game went on sale.

The first reason is that I didn’t play the first game and still haven’t played. I assumed that the first game would contain essential information that I would need to play the second and fully understand the events of the second game. It feels like I’ve been in the game for twenty hours, but according to the Xbox app stats page, I’ve only been in the game for ten hours. So far I haven’t felt like I lack the knowledge needed to understand what’s going on. Maybe I would understand the plot better if I played the first game, but that doesn’t detract from my experience in the slightest.

The second reason is this Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 came out around the same time. I was absolutely thrilled to play this game and almost nothing could distract my attention from it. This is a pretty valid reason in my opinion Spider Man 2 is an incredible game. However, after playing Alan Wake II After what seems like only ten hours, I can already say that it is an equally good, if very different, game.

The third reason is that the standard seventy dollar price tag that comes with all modern games today is usually absurd. Many, many games are released incomplete, buggy and boring. Many games that are released complete, flawless, and entertaining are still not worth the seventy dollar price tag because they are short or simply not fun enough to justify seventy dollars. There just aren’t many games that I’ve bought at full price that I didn’t know would be worth it before purchasing. Black Myth: Wukong was the only game I bought in a long time, except Alan Wake IIwhich I wasn’t thrilled with before purchasing it and ended up being incredible.

Alan Wake II is absolutely worth the price. I picked up the ultimate edition of the game for just forty bucks during the Xbox Black Friday sale and it’s totally worth it. I wish I had played the game sooner. I would have happily paid full price for this game. Not many games make me say that.

Alan Wake II is the first game I’ve played that truly feels like next-gen. The graphics are absolutely stunning. The voice acting is great throughout. The live-action sequences are incredibly well done and feature a sort of filter that blurs the line between real and computer-generated images. The combat is fun and just hard enough to make me aim carefully. The upgrade system for Alan Wake and Saga Anderson is interesting and influential enough to make me want to come back and play more. The puzzles are well designed and make me want to search the map for doll parts to complete them. The game is truly incredible.

Then I’ll find out Alan Wake II is not balanced compared to the costs. This is an absolute disgrace. Alan Wake II and the team that developed it makes a lot of money. I don’t want games like this to disappear either. It’s certainly not an indie game, but like the current cinematic landscape, many games that aren’t established franchises go unnoticed. Unless they have the right to play games that make their money through battle passes and skin purchases, many games will be passed over by the public. Thank God Wukong got the publicity it deserved, however Alan Wake II just didn’t get the same recognition.

As consumers, we vote with our wallets. When the only games we buy are Call of duty, Assassin’s Creeda skin on Fortnite Every now and then, and with every Battle Pass that comes our way, only massive franchises and free-to-play games will remain. Does this mean that any title that isn’t part of a larger franchise deserves to be purchased? Of course not. As consumers, we also need to send the message that we will pay for games, but only if they are high quality.

As Alan Wake II is a game of the highest quality. It made me sad that it didn’t sell particularly well. In fact, I almost feel guilty about buying the Ultimate Edition of the game on sale even though I would have preferred to pay full price for it.

Have you played? Alan Wake II? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments!