Alan Wake 2: Proof That Games Are Art

[@mutskun]

A couple of notes that have come up since release: 1. Yes, I know, many characters from Max Payne and Quantum break have direct analogues in the current Remedy Connected Universe and they just couldn’t use Mr. Hatch or Max Payne’s names directly so they had to use Mr. Door and Alex Casey. Still, officially Quantum Break and Max Payne are not canon, so that’s why I said that. 2. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet came out in 2022, my script said “Scarlet/Violet DLC” but my brain didn’t care what old Max wrote so, sorry about that. 3. I know that tons of lay-offs have been happening in the games industry, both in 2023 and already in 2024. When I say that 2023 was a great year for games, I mean from the perspective of game releases. The A.I.pocalypse is coming and we need to do something, studio heads need to keep their talent around and worry less about their own pay checks, I completely agree. Alright, that was all for now, have a good one.

[@lepari9986]

Not cannon 💣💥

[@mutskun]

English is hard 🫠 @@lepari9986

[@meronisian]

I love Alan Wake II: Alan Waker

[@mutskun]

Alan Wake 3: Alan Sleep

[@jonathonpolk3592]

No, it will be Alan Wake III: Alan Wakest

[@keepitretrox]

Playing Alan Wake made me say "this is art,this is a masterpiece." Its just too good. Its a game that should make anybody say those words💯

[@hod2024]

I love Alan Wake 1 and 2 so dearly i will defend them until my dying breath tbh

[@nathanbarrett4402]

Love the choice of Hotline Miami music when talking about Alan wiping out Bright Falls in AW1 😂😂

[@TheBerger]

This channel isn’t a lake, it’s an ocean

[@liquidrufus]

To it's ports we've been, to it's ports we've been...

[@Jacox98]

Excuse me while I indulge in 40 minutes of review on my current obsessive hyperfixation

[@mutskun]

Glad to be the one to perpetuate this

[@nzgberg]

Mood. Literal mood

[@ElicuuKit]

I relate so much 😭

[@cxlesstial]

ur sooo me

[@rivierasperduto7926]

10/10 joke at around 11 minutes. I subscribed just for that

[@TheSmel05]

This video is so good!!! You deserve to succeed man👍

[@EthanRom]

This man has been consumed by the rabbit hole and I'm here for it

[@mutskun]

And I don't ever wanna leave

[@Pinguinodechill]

My man is not in the loop, he's in the spiral...😮

[@osku6025]

Sam Lake's actual Finnish name (Sami Järvi) translates directly in English as Sam Lake since "Järvi" in Finnish means a lake. But the naming in Alan Wake is really fitting. Thank you for such a high quality and entertaining video! I've been binging Alan Wake videos since as a Finn it's a big deal to see anything embracing the Finnish culture anywhere as we're only a small nation 😄

[@mutskun]

As a Belgian, I get you. I cut out a bit where I talk about BG3’s effect on my national pride (larian being a Dutch Belgian studio) and that game had nothing to do with Belgium, so I can’t imagine what AW2 must be like for you. Your culture is awesome!

[@fakewood4025]

116 subscribers for this kind of content is CRIMINAL

[@bad_spike]

I heard herald of darkness and since then Alan Wake has been all I can think about. I’m also stuck in a spiral of watching every video to do with AW 😂

[@bad_spike]

Also great video and you’re a fan of DnD? You got a new subscriber

[@mutskun]

@bad_spike DnD is my biggest hobby atm, besides making these videos 😅

[@jameswolf3302]

Man, i learned the lyrics of "Herald of Darkness", now i keep singing it in the shower

[@CorruptShark]

You my friend are one of the most underrated channels i have come across on youtube and i look forward to seeing what more you have in store for us in the future

[@nickkuroshi0]

I really like Alan Wake 2's endings. Pre-final draft's works great as a meta experience of the book the characters are writing. It's a horror story and the audience has to be left with an ending dark enough for the story to work, which is why the story ends before her daughter picks up the phone, because the horror story ends there.

[@mutskun]

The final draft's ending is a lot more happy, but I feel it's very justified as Alan has been trying to break out of the "horror" genre for over a decade now

[@nickkuroshi0]

@@mutskun yee, its perfect as the draft that escapes the horror story.

[@ElicuuKit]

It is also very meta because the ending must be deserved. Thus it was only released after the audience - us - accepted the game's story!

[@rennevirtanen5639]

Discovered you from this video and have to say, the editing and energy you bring makes you look like you have a million subscribers! Hopefully sometime soon people will discover your channel and give you the recognition you deserve

[@mutskun]

This means the world, thank you!

[@k.l.7788]

Btw, Sam Lake told in a resent interview (in finnish) that he also had a cliker as a child (naksutin in finnish).

[@matthewkrumlauf9990]

Musical Number is actually a term that I am quite familiar with. Usually referred to in theater productions as a “show stopping number”

[@mutskun]

Well then I guess it's pretty applicable to Alan Wake 2, thanks for the info.

[@jubileechambers2604]

YAY MORE ALAN WAKE 2 IS GREAT VIDEOS. I am obsessed with the Remedy verse rn.

[@QuestionableLifeChoices]

i mean, idk about other english speaking cultures, but "musical number" is definitely a phrase in america lol. it's usually only used for musicals as it insinuates a whole scene so i think it applies to herald of darkness another comment for the algorithm btw. this is a great video!

[@mutskun]

Yeah I thought it was but I looked it up and couldn’t find anything. Thx for the correction haha.

[@Chibi-kittenplays]

Ahti fan forever!

[@mutskun]

Perkele!

[@ItsBoobin]

Super great video, 5 seconds in I was hooked

[@indieotaku7968]

Here before the inevitable blowup of this channel, amazing work mate.

[@QuestionableLifeChoices]

lol psych! technically quantum break does and does not take place in the same universe! jack and co are not in the same universe as alan and jesse BUT, there's copious amounts of evidence that tim(e) breaker is an aspect of jack (as a shifter), meaning that while they're not in the same literal universe, they ARE in the same connected universe lmao. omg it's WILD (no pun intended) that remedy actually pulled that "technically not connected UNLESS" shit again; i mean it worked with max payne/alex casey so i guess they figured why not? 😂

[@shunkun8668]

Awesome video man, subbed

[@mutskun]

Thank you very much

[@sayborgoussawa4424]

New Subscriber here... great video with amazing editing, I like all chapters on this video. Dude, I love Alan wake and Remedy... now, I love your video... your video is ART ❤❤🔥🔥 Thank you.

[@mutskun]

🫡

[@HussainAhmed-wg3jx]

God I loved this

[@z3st_35]

woah this channel hav so little subs? god damn i thought i watched another content creator i didnt heard of that has a at least 10k subs, this video is really good for such a small channel

[@mutskun]

Thanks!

[@liquidrufus]

Alan Wake was trapped in the lake by Sam Lake.

[@Mrstone123]

I love this video he is so good at this

[@verityisoki]

great stuff my guy! I'd love to see you do more videos like this

[@mutskun]

Next script is as good as done, more is coming

[@verityisoki]

also Quantum Break is basically canon lol, the only thing stopping them is the license but with characters like Door and Tim being so obviously echoes of Hatch and Jack they make it pretty obvious

[@GoblinTinkerer]

Actually both Quantum Break and Max Payne (1&2) at least are connected to Alan Wake 2 for sure. It's just that Remedy doesn't have the rights to use the character names and thus has to play it a little coy. (Fictional) Alex Casey is strongly implied to be Max Payne, and Mr. Door is almost certainly supposed to be Mr. Hatch from Quantum Break.

[@mutskun]

For sure for sure, but you’re never going to hear the words “max payne” in the RCU, so I didn’t count it. Also, having the character “Tim Breaker” be played by the same guy as the mc of Quantum Break is a big reference. It’s just that though, references to the previous games while trying to imply to the audience that certain characters are supposed to be the same character types as those from QB and MP. Will prlly bring that up if I ever do a Control 2 video

[@jumplow2665]

you deserve more subscribers :(

[@TATERplaysGAMES]

You're gonna be big if you just keep creating my friend. 🤘

[@mutskun]

Next video’s as good as done. Let’s keep this rolling

[@TATERplaysGAMES]

@@mutskun the interludes being manuscript pages you found, written by you, is such a great touch. 🤣 Top quality work sir.

[@chrismann7776]

Good vid. Like and commenting for the algorithm.

[@mutskun]

Thanks

[@nzgberg]

a few things: 1) thank you for not doing a "this year has been a great year for games" because it definitly has not (there ahve been layoffs so much in the past year, and even in this new year, we havent gone a single week without at least one or more). I'm not a gamedev (yet), it just grinds my gears whenever people say this. 2) THANK YOU! GAMES ARE ART! art doesn't have to be beautiful or say anything to be art. It just has to have intent behind it. Even if it's bad. Games are art. And also (side tangentially related rant, that came up due to brain ping pong shenanagins. Not from what you said), no game developers are lazy. Don't like a choice in games, or somethign doesn't seem complete? Not ever the developer's fault. 3) loved the ending lol.

[@mutskun]

Thanks for watching and liking it! The "2023 has been excellent for games" bit, I meant from the perspective of releases. I am very well aware that 2023 and also the beginning of 2024 already have seen a massive amount of layoffs which sucks. We got good games but, if you'd offered me the good games or people keeping their jobs, I know what I would have picked haha

[@nzgberg]

I didn't remember you saying "2023 has been excellet for games" at all. It was just kidn of brought up by my brain doing adhd ping pong thinking. I got the vibe that that was what you meant though in what you did say. You don't need to clarify anything. @@mutskun

[@nzgberg]

@@mutskunI’m rewatching your video and it turns out my brain wasn’t doing its normal adhd brain ping pong. Sorry. The videos still great. I need to do better at paying attention while watching videos, clearly…

[@mutskun]

@nzgberg no worries, thank you for watching 😅

[@SuperArppis]

Everything people do is art. But is it good or bad? That is the real question. Someone saying that something creative isn't art, is automatically wrong. Hell even this comment is art. But as art it might suck.

[@demitrischoenwald1436]

Sam Lake is a great writer in the same way Kojima is a great writer. They're both complete hacks, but they aren't insufferable. They're goofy ass guys who wanna make a cool story involving big robots or an angry dude with a flashlight and God's revolver.

[@jjef8706]

No way this man called American nightmare good and recommended it to people online ☠️

[@E.nuel21]

deserve more subscribers

[@k.l.7788]

Little correction… At 11:40 : Alice is Alan’s wife, Tom has/had a girlfriend called Barbara Jagger.

[@jefverhaegen1248]

😻

[@mutskun]

sugoi

[@standlethemandle]

Scarlet and Violet came out in 2022

[@mutskun]

Very true, my script said “Scarlet And Violet DLC” but my brain must have looked over that

[@standlethemandle]

@@mutskun ala wnake

[@fishsan4508]

😉 Here is one for the algorithm

[@mutskun]

All hail 🙏

[@Alan_The_Jaguar]

Eh, i liked control better

[@mutskun]

Totally valid, I also really like control. Might make a separate video about it once the sequel is out.

[@loolool222]

Haven't watched the video yet, but this is such a dumb title. It looks like you put a lot of effort into this video, but you're completely undermining it. We're so far past the "are games art" argument, there is noone making it in good faith worth taking seriously anymore. It just makes the entire video seem more juvenile than it needs to be.

[@mutskun]

As someone who went to a pretty prestigious game development school for a couple of years, this topic is still very much discussed and there were several students there who disagreed with games being art. If you hear someone make an argument against games being art, you should take them seriously and either accept their opinion or try and debate it (in a friendly way) I did my research for this video, and there are definitely still people who don’t see games as art (at least the big AAA titles)

[@loolool222]

I agree that there are still tons of people that feel that way, but there are also still millions of people who get angry at Duchamp's 'Fountain' and point to it as an example of the degradation of "art" in the modern era, both completely missing the point, and trying to use it as a bludgeon against their subjective disinterest in certain themes, topics, or mediums being explored. What art is to any given person is subjective, and arguing for or against that doesn't go anywhere. Exploring a topic, and expanding upon what it means to you is a great way of potentially bringing people around to your way of thinking, which is exactly what you did in this video. I don't think you're wrong in your approach, but you do cheapen it by pointing to a pretty tired and meaningless argument that people only frame in the way of "are games art" as a bad-faith way of bringing up drawing comparisons to what they do consider "art". I hope that makes sense, I don't disagree with your video, or your argument, I just think the title reduces it to less than what it is.@@mutskun

[@loolool222]

also "as someone who went to a pretty prestigious game development school" doesn't really mean much to random people on the internet, it just makes you sound like an ass.@@mutskun

[@josefun21]

why does everyone "supposedly" with ADHD had and Obsesion to always bringt it up as soon as possible? 🤔🤔🤣🤣

[@mutskun]

🤷‍♂️

[@themortician3186]

Maybe because it has significant impact on their lives and affects the way they behave. If a person always seemed sad or empty, would it be such a problem for them to tell you they have depression, since that is an explanation to their behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I know there are people on the Internet who fake illnesses, especially mental and neurodevelopmental illnesses. And believe me, as someone who is diagnosed with depression and ADHD, those people are absolutely infuriating. But I used to be a person with undiagnosed adhd and depression, and I knew I had both, and low and behold, I do. Yes, absolutely, there are people who fake illnesses for clout or whatever reason. But if we constantly use them as an example, we stigmatise the people who actually need help, especially the undiagnosed, who are they discouraged and don't seek help for the problems they have.

[@piratetv1]

It's called hyper focus. You get really aware that it annoys some people, so some people apologize for it a lot

[@jubileechambers2604]

It's called a hyperfixation ADHD people generally refer to it as an obsession because hyperfixations just a bit more of a mouthful. But basically people with ADHD their brains get caught on a specific thing and they just can't stop thinking about it the only thing their brain wants to interact with.