Alan Wake 2 is the direct sequel to both Alan Wake and Control so you should definitely get it if you liked Control. There is also a Control-centric expansion for AW2 just as there was an Alan Wake expansion for Control.
I recently played through both Alan Wakes and Control with all the expansions and it’s an AWEsome experience on par with playing through the Mass Efect trilogy IMO.
If you’re strictly speaking about how many hours of playtime you will get out of it, than BG3. Both games are awesome though (in totally different ways).
Agreed, I’m also surprised how much more alive the NPCs feel. They start conversations with each other and have their own lifes. It’s feels much more dynamic than Skyrim’s dumbed down version of the same system.
What I don’t understand is why games look prettier but things like NPC AI (which is really path-finding and decision trees, not actual AI), interactivity of the game world, destructability of game objects - all those things are objectively worse than they have been in a game of 10-15 years ago (with some exceptions like RDR2).
How can a game like Starfield still have all the Bethesda jank but now the NPCs lack any kind of daily routine?
Most enemies in modern shooters barely know how to flank, compare that to something like F.E.A.R. which came out in 2006!
Not OP, but it’s a very good game that gets better the longer you play it. It more like Mass Effect than Dragon Age in many ways though, but the final stretch especially was almost on the same level as the suicide mission of ME2 IMO. Characters and gameplay are great, dialogue and level design could have been better and the only element that really sucked for me are the godawful outfits and weapons and lack of variation thereof.
I would say do every actual sidequest but don’t bother clearing the map of all question marks. Hunting for Witcher school gear is also just mostly cosmetic and optional, but they’re the coolest armors and swords.
Also, if you’re not playing on the lowest difficulty, read the infos in your journal regarding the creatures and prepare accordingly.
Yep, they also made me want to rewatch X-Files and Twin Peaks, two obvious inspirations (plus Stephen King particularly The Dark Tower, another kind of house that is the linchpin of universes).
I can also recommend The Lost Room mystery series from 2006. It’s use of magical, but mundane objects and a timeless hotel room also seems to have been a direct inspiration.
I never played Alan Wake through to the end until recently when I got the second one.
Then I played through the first one, followed by Control including the DLCs and then Alan Wake 2. I can’t recommend this enough, it’s an incredible ride.