Today's game is Halo CE. I needed to debug an issue i was having with a SymLink on my SSD with the game's Proton data. After that i made sure to double check everything was working fine. I ended up playing through the first two levels. The main screenshot is from the Start of the second level where you have to evade covenant troops. There was this really pretty waterfall i took a picture of. Water just kind of seemed to be the focus of the screenshots for today though (i'm sure !hydrohomies@lemmy.ml will love this though). I had a few extra clips i wanted to share too but i think the file for those got corrupted right after the game crashed.

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Overall CE has some pretty water, like this river here. The way it looks reminds me of Ocarina of Time and the river right out front of Hyrule Castle.

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Here's the river in the Anniversary version. I think i like the classic one more, but that's more so personal preference (and probably my love for OOT). It still looks very pretty though and i love it.

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Finally there was this bulletin board i wanted to share from the Anniversary Graphics (This way no one can say i only shared water pictures in this post). It looks way different there and you can tell the Dev team had a lot of fun with it. I like the cat found poster the most though, it's a very cute cat.

Today’s game is Uncharted 4. I wanted to play some Halo CE (for whatever reason I’ve been craving that lately), but Halo MCC has decided to just stop launching from my external SSD. I ended up biting the bullet and installing it onto my internal SSD on my Steam Deck instead. This whole fiasco with my SD Card dying and me being limited back to 512 GB has me considering buying a new internal SSD for it (though, I do have plans for a expensive Ray Tracing Gaming Desktop I want to build after playing Alan Wake II, so maybe some day)

I ended up calling Uncharted 4 off early today as I got stumped at an encounter and was starting to get frustrated. It was at that point I decided to let it go for a bit before I stopped having fun. I plan to pick it back up tomorrow. I did get some gorgeous pictures though, I tried cropping them all at 5:4 to see if that helped sell the realism like I felt it did with Alan Wake II, I don’t think it did though (I suspect Alan Wake II had some more going on than just a simple crop though)

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This picture, and the main one I picked reminds me of Red Dead Redemption 2. In the northern part of the map up in the mountains there’s a Waterfall with a cave you can pass through behind it. This section of Uncharted and RDR2 have similar lighting I feel like which reminded me of it

! Then there’s this dangling skeleton which reminded me of Ocarina of Time and the Forest Temple. Specifically that section with the courtyard. This one I can’t really narrow it down why it reminded me of that. Maybe it’s all the foliage?

! ! Finally theres these two Cave images, which I thought were pretty. Today just has me very nostalgic ig, because these two remind me of something to. It’s a lot less specific what though. I’m thinking maybe Red Dead 2 again with the cave with the guy who claims he’s satan (and you can use to glitch out of bounds)?

I Continued Uncharted 4 today. I played Chapter 12, which had me driving a boat. The whole section is really pretty, the only part i hated was when i was driving around trying find 3 damn dolphins for an achievement. I found 2, but could never find the last. I have come to the conclusion i hate dolphins.

Despite Dolphins ruining the mood, i got some other lovely screenshots, such as this one: ! The angle makes it hard too see, but the water in the floor gives me Observatory Vibes from Mario Galaxy.

! There was also this screenshot, which i feel like the lighting helped to sell the realism. I also turned off FSR and started running it at a native 720p which makes it look far better in my opinion.

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Finally, out of the bulk of screenshots i picked i wanted to share this one too. I really like the cave and the water in it is gorgeous. This game has some absolutely beautiful water. I have to put it up there with Ocarina of Time and Mario Galaxy as some of my favorite water in video games.

Today's game is Uncharted 4 again. I got back too it with Chapter 11. This whole chapter is really pretty with it architecture and lighting. Another example of what i mean is the lobby of the clock tower you go to: !

This whole section gives me Myst vibes too. I think it's the way the lighting is done, but whatever it is makes, it makes me nostalgic because i had Myst on my old iPhone 1 way back in the day when i was younger.

There was also this screenshot which gave me heavy Assassin's Creed Syndicate Vibes. I think it's because it's a clock tower: !

I also tried my hand at an action shot again. The FSR was making the water really fucking sparkly, i don't think it translated to the screenshot, but if you see some sparkles that's what it is: !

Finally i wanted to share this shot i took while climbing the tower. I really like how it came out with the contrast between the pillars and city: !

Me and a friend were going to play some Halo 2 today, but i forgot about my fucked about SD card, so i had to download the entire game again. ODST finished first, and i decided to just mess around in it since i've already beaten it and i was short on time today and wanted to play something. This was a lovely mugshot i took of a enemy that got stuck.

My screenshots were acting funky today and the timestamps were all off and then for some reason some screenshots didnt save. I only walked away with two really worth sharing, because of that. I think most of my screenshots i picked today were new ones, but i took so many i can't be sure, i know for a fact the Main one i picked is new though.

! this was a picture of a picture of a antelope i took on the Zoo level. idk why but something about it in a Halo game stood out to me. I also have suspicions that this may not be a new screenshot, but was missed in. But i really like this one so i left it in.

I really like ODST's vibe. Master Chief is fun, (and i'm not fully in on the Halo lore so i may be wrong about this) but playing as the rookie and not Master Chief in the Spartan suit feels fun and more commando. I'm a sucker for everyday characters.

Today's game is Sea of Thieves. Me and a friend did the final Monkey Island story line after nearly a year of putting it off. This screenshot i took at the start of our voyage.

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This was a screenshot i took at the end of the Voyage. I thought the sunset was pretty.

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I took this screenshot before rescuing the Charmingly Handsome Captain Coco. We got him a Monocle and he helped us blow stuff up

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This one was taken in a cave in the story. I got curious whether the Lava would actually kill me, so for science i threw myself onto it. Then my friend started talking shit about me, so i took the Compass-Severed-Head-Thing and proved him wrong (this was after he got called out for talking shit about my Rowing skills and then proceeded to crash the boat and i had to fix it)

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This last one was a pretty waterfall i got a screenshot of while trying to hunt down Banana Oil to lather up a Pike with a Skull on it to help captain Coco help us.

Today i Continue Uncharted 4. I Believe i am halfway done (having just got to chapter 11). Pixelfed has been making it easier to share more screenshots, so i have a few more for everybody!

Today's main screenshot i took at the foot of the tower at the end. I'm a bit disappointed i didn't get to climb it, but oh well.

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This here is a Waterfall i took a screenshot of right before driving through it. Something about Waterfalls with caves behind it i love in games (Vent/Crawling sections too which this game has had a few of)

This here was the cave behind the Waterfall. I like how dark and damp it is back there. On my way out i enjoyed ramping out i did it a whole second time

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I found a Lemur to go with my Rat from yesterday. I remember from my first play through in the next chapter there's a lemur you get to play with too. (I think there's an achievement for it as well)

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I got the car stuck here. I wanted to go back and clip it because Sam was telling a joke right before i got unstuck and we fell into the ravine, but my Steam UI locked up for some reason and by the time i was able to get it back my recording was already overwritten

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This was i just thought was funny because it's Nate on a Crate

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Here's a pretty Landscape shot i took of the end of the Chapter. I angled it up again like with the statues from last time to give it a bit more of a foreboding vibe.

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Finally here's the city at the start of the next chapter. this is probably one of the chapters i remember most from last time (along with the last chapter, and the Scotland Chapter)

Today i continued more of Uncharted. I have gotten into taking Clips of my Playthroughs i wanted to share, and so i started reusing my Pixelfed account. Just so everything is the same I will be hosting the images over there and then cross posting them over here (on the main instance). If you want to follow that to my account name is the same as here (Not to advertise or anything, just letting people know there are now options)

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While i was running past this cliff face i swear i saw a Whale leap out of the water. I waited a good 5 minutes and it didn't come back out. I swear i'm not crazy, there was a whale in the sea.

There was also this clip where i panicked and meleed these enemies to death. My fear induced maneuver i feel like came out better than i expected

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I also got this really cool photo of a Statue of Saint Dismas. Crop it right and i think it could make for a really Sick album cover.

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Then there's this really cool bridge i had to cross. I'm trying to get all the Treasures, but i missed one and had to reload a checkpoint as the bridge would not let me go backwards.

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This image was also really sick. I tilted the angle up a little to get a neat perspective. I feel like it really makes these creepy ass statues more foreboding.

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This picture i don't have much of a story behind it, i just like how the rats look in this game.

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Then finally i got a cool Action shot of Nate climbing a pillar. I feel like the tilt on it really added to it.

Today i played some more Uncharted, though, i really didn't get far (today was a busy day for me and i was exhausted)

I took a landscape shot of the monastery in this chapter. Looking at it from this angle i feel like you can really see how it's a video game level. All the parts fit together in a way that is perfectly crafted to be climbable and cater to Uncharted's whole "cover fire" game play, while still offering some level of immersion. It's something i love about video games. Some of them do an amazing job of hiding their video game "elements" while still utilizing it to their fullest.

I attempted the Ghost in the cemetery achievement again a few times. My current route has me following the ledge face, climbing the broken arch to stay hidden, and then dropping down to the other cliff face. Then a enemy will walk past to check out the ledge and I'll stay hidden. once he turns around I'll sneak behind him. That's where i currently get stuck, because I'm not sure how to sneak past all the enemies watching the gate (The location i need to open to get the achievement) without getting killed or my NPC companion stealth killing them. As much as I'd like to do this in crushing difficulty, i think I'll just have to save it for later and come back and do it on easy because it is brutal.

Today's game is Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. I continued my crushing playthrough today. I feel like it suddenly ramped up in difficulty. I ended up stopping while trying to get the Ghost in the Cemetery achievement, which is sneaking through an entire section without being seen or killing. I've come to the conclusion that Sam (The player characters companion for this chapter) sucks, because every single run i've done he's gotten me caught or killed someone by sneak attacking them.

This screenshot was taken in the tombs of a section in Scotland. I really liked the lighting and fog of this scene, and the whole catacombs section is really pretty. It reminds me of The Last Crusade in it's catacombs.

The whole section is gorgeous too though, i'm hoping to nab a screenshot of the Highlands tomorrow to share with everyone because i think they're pretty. The team did a really good job of making the whole game look amazing.

Here's a bonus screenshot i took of the section right after, this one was a close contender for it because i thought it was gorgeous too, but the fog in the one i picked got to me first:

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Tonight was Zomboid night. We inducted a Friend into our Zomboid Group, and have a possible 4th on the way. We started a new world with the group, and decided to take on the prison for fun (something none of us have ever done, at least on the preset difficulty). Me and my Friend who played Cable decided to make a new character and save Jerry and Cable for when it's just the two of us.

My new character is Huey Warner. He's a Doctor who had his license taken away after replacing a patients lungs with a Pigeon to see what would happen. That didn't stop him from practicing medicine though, and he has his own back alley clinic that he runs out of the rose wood church. Right now he's going through a bit of a Governor Arc right now and is only a little off his rocker and has only Amputated a few limbs from scratches from zombies (probably for the best though, don't want to risk that 25% chance).

While clearing the prison i ran ahead and got killed (you can see my last corpse there with the Hiking bag). My friends choke pointed the zombies through a doorway while i made my way back over too the prison. I put Huey in a Hawaiian Shirt and Khaki shorts. The lore reasoning is that the Huey that died wasn't actually him, it was a body double he swapped in last moment. He then took a brief vacation to Hawaii before coming back to help.

Today's game is Uncharted 4. Nostalgically i believe this is one of the first game's i posted a screenshot of too. Playing through Alan Wake II reminded me of this game and how pretty it is, and i wanted to play through it again. This time i'm playing through on Crushing difficulty though.

It can be brutal at some points. Enemies took me down in three strikes and bullets tear through Nate like he's made of cardboard. Luckily i quickly adapted and moved from tanking the hits like a moron to actually rolling out of the way. With this play through I'm hoping to knock out a whole bunch of achievements too, so that means all the Collectibles and photo spots.

This game always makes me wish for Sony to release a port of the Nathan Drake Collection on PC (and maybe a Little Big Planet 2 Port too), especially because it's hard to get RPCS3 to run well with some games and even then it can be unstable sometimes in my experience. I'm hoping one day we'll get a port though, after all, we did get the Red Dead Redemption 1 Port after 10 years. So if that can happen i wouldn't rule it out with how Sony seems to be tossing PC ports lately.

Today's screenshot i took in the First Chapter. I wanted to give an action shot a try for once and this was the result. I like how it turned out, and i think the camera angle helped a bit. I also took a second on from a front angle but i feel like Nate's face came out dorky:

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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:

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Today's game is Lethal Company. I've had 6 days non stop of Alan Wake II, and while i love the game, i wanted to share something different today and some friends invited me to play Lethal Company with them (You'll have to excuse the grey boxes, i censored everyone's usernames). I did get some progress done on the Final Draft today, i hope to be finished with it tomorrow.

This screenshot was taken right before we were sucked out into the Vacuum of Space right after failing to meet the second quota (Luckily we got the bee suit though which is all that matters). I had a egg i was going to sell, but i went to drop it to check the price and it blew up and killed me. While that was happening one of my friends was waiting on me to come back by the entrance, was approached by a man eater, gave it a few wanton shakes like one does a baby, And then set it back down before being killed by it. We can't figure out what happened to the third friend. one moment he was alive, the next he wasn't.

We still had one day left before quota, and determined to make it, we made like pros and failed instantly. My friends brought back one egg we couldn't crack, or so we thought. The moment i set it down right after saying "I guess this one can't be cracked" it exploded and turned a 51 credit egg into a 4 credit key. Then both my friends failed to make a jump, and I was forced to flee because of a forest giant.

I'm no expert but i'm starting to suspect we suck ass at this game. It's still fun though. We wasted 45 credits on a pouch we couldn't figure out how to use.

Today i Continued Alan Wake II's Final Draft.

I took this screenshot while continuing Alan's Side of the Story. This poster is really cool because it's a excerpt from Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Specifically the page Night Springs, the Cult TV Show. This game has a ton more references to the first game that i keep finding more and more.

SPOILER

I'm breaking the bit i have going where I mirror the equivalent post for my first play through, but one thing that i noticed was the whole Spiral thing was kind of foreshadowed in Alan Wake's American Nightmare (Though it makes me wonder why Alan got to keep his Memories in that Spiral but not this one? Maybe it's because he dies at the end of this one?

While also in the VHS tapes we get throughout Alan Wake II we see a Insane Alan who wants to stop writing and give up and die, which is basically the plot line of the Special Episodes The Signal and The Writer in the first game, where we play as the "Sane" part of Alan as Zane puts it. I don't know if these were accidents, but knowing remedy they aren't and they adapted these plot threads for this one, which i think is really neat.

I completed Alan's Side of the Story tonight and i went back to Saga's, since that's where the game is directing me to go.

While Continuing Alan's Story i took a few Macro Photos I thought came out well:

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Today's game is Alan Wake again.

This screenshot i took was in the Subway while making my way back to the Collapsed Train Tunnel. This game really has upped the fear factor. Personally i love the first game's controls more, but this game has a way of constantly keeping me on the edge of my seat. I love it.

The game has a ton of clever references to the first game. For example there’s the shoebox where i can store items, which is a really awesome reference to Zane's shoe box in the first game.

I took a bonus screenshot while Alan was running away and my game bugged out. I don't think he realized the rest of the Subway car was gone already:

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Today's game is Alan Wake II. I beat it today. I'm going to try and put how i feel about it into words but the game was as close to perfect (for me personally) that i feel a game could get. Most likely it will come out as a jumbled mess because i haven't had any time to properly format any sort of essay form to this, but i wanted to get my thoughts on it out there.

I'm going to put any possible spoilers in lemmy's built in spoiler box so people who don't want to be spoiled can at least somewhat understand my points (it will just be lacking the explanations).

Before if i was forced to pick between Alan Wake I or II, it would have been hard but i would ultimately go with Alan Wake I because of Nostalgia. But Remedy's writing and attention to details in this one have knocked it out of the park. There were some points where it legitimately left me holding my breath.

spoiler

There's one segment where Alan gets out of the dark place, and is running through the woods. He makes a mention of how it's just like he started and then the Song Water Pressure plays, which is the same song that plays in the first one, like when he started. I also found myself smiling at his narrations while int he woods. it made me so nostalgic.

Then the game also has a remix of Departure playing in some places which did the same thing. I legit stopped at the Jukebox playing it and went "hey! that's departure from the first game!"

Also, Alice's "Death" genuinely creeped me out though, and the way it was executed had me genuinely believe she might be dead despite seeing the background and saying to myself "That's cauldron lake, maybe she went to the dark place?"

Then with Alan's death, i love how it saves the answer to the question that it might be a loop for an after credit's scene. It left time for the fear that he might actually be dead to sink into my stomach like a weight.

And then there was Saga's segment in her mind palace. It was so well done, because the game spends the entire time setting it up as a safe place kind of like what Fable 3 did with it's sanctuary. Then it rips the safety and control you have over it out from under you. The jumpscare of the cultist legit got me, and i appreciate they only did it once.

I'm so glad i avoided spoilers for this game, because it's one of those games that after beating it i'm left with a pit where it used to be. I unlocked the Final Draft (Basically the game's New Game Plus) which from what i understand adds to the story, i already am making plans to jump straight into that because Alan Wake II has left me wanting more.

As is tradition for what i've been doing with Alan Wake II, i took a couple more portraits too:

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I continued Alan Wake II today. I've been avoiding spoilers for this game so i have no clue if i'm near the end or not, but i'm loving the entire thing and i already don't want it to end. I'm hoping to get a second part of going back to play as Alan but with where i got too in the story i have a feeling i'm close to the end sadly. I also took a ton of screenshots (Though i do that everyday, i just have a lot that i feel are "share-worthy").

Overall i'm enjoying Saga's half of the story just as much as Alan's. While Alan's section allowed for stealth, Saga's embraces combat with boss fights and such.

This screenshot doubled as a experiment, i wanted to see if since it's a dark photo if a bit more grain could help it look realistic. I did a similar thing when the hallway filled with blood, but i think i put too much grain in it:

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I also played around with the portrait mode some more and took a photo of Tor and a enemy. I really like this game's photo mode because it feels like it encompasses it's whole theme of art. So it's very appropriate that it allows for that:

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I also took this screenshot of the road which i loved because i feel like it showcases how pretty this game is. Some of these photos i (personally) feel like could pass for real life at a glance. I think for sure tricks like the motion blur help:

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Bonus pic of a deer head i took because it caught my attention:

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Today's game is Alan Wake II. I got the FSR 3 mod running, bringing my frames up to a far more stable 30 fps outside. There's some noticeable ghosting rarely but besides that it works great.

I took this screenshot while doing Alan's story on my way to the theater. I love the poster because i love how it's the opening of the First Game's dialog. The whole game has so many cool poster and signs in the dark place.

I completed what i assume is the first part of Alan's Story, and it automatically took me back to Saga's. I decided to continue her part since it seems like that's where the game wants me to go.

While continuing her story i took a portrait of Alan and Casey i thought came out well:

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Today's game is Alan Wake. I had a ton of free time and managed to get pretty far. I'm playing on Steam Deck so my frame rates occasionally dip below 30 (You can tell my low video settings by Alan's face). I saw someone online though talking about a FSR-3 mod for it though and how it's super simple. Figured i'd install it. ended up spending 4 hours on it. First the tutorial was outdated and i had to install the mod directly into the game, then the controller wasn't being detected, then it wouldn't launch in game mode, then the mod vanished. At that point i said screw it and went back to the game. I might try again tomorrow because the benefits seem worth it.

This screenshot i took was in the Ocean View Hotel while making my way back into the main foyer area. I love how this game upped the thrill factor. I do prefer the first games controls i think, but this one i think has me constantly on edge. I love it. I also like the nods to the first game too. One example is There's a shoebox where i can store items, and i think it's an amazing reference to the lore of the first game.

I took a bonus screenshot while Alan was getting his face pummeled in by a Shadow. It looks like he's taking a selfie while pissed off:

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