One of The Games of All Time | Alan Wake's American Nightmare Bricky Highlights

[@snowythompson2349]

So, I watched another person play this, and their explanation for the clearly reduced quality is that it was an Xbox Live Arcade game, which were games designed to be cheap and quick to beat.

[@bondrewdthenovel3598]

AW:AN situation fits perfectly in the "Don't Shoot. I'm a Polish" meme: "Don't shoot! I'm Remedy Entertainment" "Why you released that dogshit of Alan Wake: American Nightmare?" "I'm hungry."

[@snowythompson2349]

@@bondrewdthenovel3598 I'm not familiar with that meme. This isn't necessarily to excuse the poor quality. Better games obviously came out that year, it was possible to make a good game.

[@arsonisthotdog5914]

@@snowythompson2349 Yeah someone brought this up near the end of the stream.

[@Ghostel3591]

@@snowythompson2349 Possible? On what budget? This was literally "Take it or die from starvation" situation. Of course being a mere 15$ (and 10$ less than year later) game for XBLA there was no way it would be of high quality. You can clearly see them cutting corners on every turn (low number of "actors", reused localations) and it basically being 3rd DLC w/ gimmick to AW1 w/ Arena Mode attached. But it did allow Remedy to stay alive AND in good graces with Microsoft which lead to them making Quantum Break as Xbox One exclusive 4 years later.

[@bondrewdthenovel3598]

@@Ghostel3591 Funny thing, Quantum Break was originally an Alan Wake sequel, or at least that was Remedy's initial idea. Microsoft was kinda tired of the franchise (translation: "not profitable enough") so they demanded the creation of a new IP.

[@badreprint]

I love Alan Wake and I love this spinoff, but like, I love it how I love the first X-Men movie. It reminds me of a sort of thing we just don't get anymore. This spinoff SCREAMS Xbox 360 action game shovelware. And honestly, we don't get that exact flavor that much anymore. I love steak, but sometimes I still miss the taste of a Big Mac.

[@NameIsDoc]

Sometimes I crave a high quality pizza from a expensive place that has goat cheese and stuff in it . Sometimes I'm hitting up Little Creasers for a hot and ready pizza. American Nightmare is that hot and ready slop that sometimes hits that spot

[@CommissarMitch]

That last line is peak and I am stealing it.

[@BlazingOwnager]

I totally agree. I never played any of the AW games until the last month or two, and I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It's got a charm to it that carries over even if you're not nostalgic for it.

[@scion9588]

The concept of an "Overlap" is explained/discussed more in Alan Wake 2, but I think the basic concept is that for American Nightmare, Alan is in the Dark Place and Arizona at the same time. Like a Schrodinger's cat thing.

[@Jetiko27]

So the NPCs are real people after all?

[@bondrewdthenovel3598]

I prefer the term "Insertion" because this fictional reality is not overlaping the whole State. Alan Wake created the fictional town called "Night Springs" and inserted it in the middle of real Arizona. Indeed, he is still in the Dark Place but the "bubble" he created is in the middle of a real location. Alan can't leave the town (the "bubble") because he is still trapped. This is the same as, for example, the city of Metropolis in Superman: You know that the city named Metropolis is located in US. Is nowhere to be found but you know is in US.

[@Jetiko27]

It's not an Alan Wake. It's an Alan Wocean.

[@stephensmith7327]

I call it the Cody Rhodes Experience. Edit: maybe I should just call it The Rhodes Experience and call each one a different Rhodes because they all went by American Nightmare at one point. Episode 1 is Dusty, 2 is Dustin, 3 is Cody

[@ImTheSchwa]

Fun fact! That "Cringe punk/grunge" song that plays in that last fight, and during Scratch's dance, is by Poets of the Fall! AKA The Old Gods of Asgard! They really got a varied array of sounds

[@gimpscam9976]

Yeah I wouldn’t expect bricky to like any of their stuff.

[@ImTheSchwa]

@@gimpscam9976 I mean, he seems to like Children of the Elder God and Herald of Darkness well enough. Old Gods is just POTF with a "rougher" sound. Their experimentalism grows on you

[@BlazingOwnager]

@@ImTheSchwa The thing with both Poets and Old Gods is I really, really dig their heavier songs. Their less heavy songs are good, for sure, but I find myself listening to their heaviest ones over and over. Well, other than Poet and the Muse, that one is gold.

[@BlazingOwnager]

You know, people say you can only like this with nostalgia.. but I honestly kind of had a fun time with it, and I never played it before recently during a full Remedy playthrough. Don't get me wrong.. it definitely feels way lower budget and more incoherent than the main game.. and it absolutely feels like a game from a generation prior to AW1 (reminding me of old Xbox games like The Suffering) but it had a charm and uniqueness to it that made me see it through. I don't think I've ever played a time loop game, and they executed that part well.

[@Rupertssons]

Alan's Walk is much slower than Baldur's Gait

[@CommissarMitch]

Baller's Gease.

[@pooroldnostradamus]

This is just ideal.

[@bondrewdthenovel3598]

23:44 This image resumes the whole experience xD

[@thesuperculturenerd3873]

Oh poor bricky…just you wait till you get to Alan Wake 2…you’ll scream your lil birches off.

[@hyenav2gunsmith]

Finally, its time for one of the games of all time

[@windsgrace688]

Halfway into the video I couldn't unhear how similar the Night Springs narrator sounds to Raycevick.

[@FrontlinerDelta]

I think it'll be fun to see your reactions to Control and especially to AW2 after being, uh, "less than impressed" by these early attempts, lol. AW2 is such another level and honestly, Control is quite good too (though more of an action game and a bit less immersive but it has a really fun story).

[@Macapta]

I kind of love the aesthetic and vibe of this game.

[@Vin_Venture896]

24:40 can’t wait for Bricky to see Dynamite.

[@stephensmith7327]

I feel the problem with the combat in Alan Wake 1 wasn't that it was clunky and not that satisfying, it was that you couldn't run away properly. Silent hill 2 has kinda shit combat, but the question of "would it be easier to fight this thing or run away" gave combat a purpose beyond filler. The Cody Rhodes Experience goes in the wrong direction and makes the shooting better while making the story worse. REmake 2 is good about this because it kinda does both. Gunplay is fun and responsive and you can run away from fights to save ammo. Also, did you know Alan Wake's(and by extension, Mr. Scratch) VA was in Robinhood: Men in Tights.

[@AshyGr33n]

"The Cody Rhodes Experience" lmao even as a wrestling fan it took me a second to come around

[@stephensmith7327]

@@AshyGr33n really I should be calling it the Rhodes Family experience because Dusty and Dustin went by that too for a while

[@fatidicusaeternus6498]

American Nightmare was mostly remedy trying what Alan Wake would have been if it was more of a shooter. The way they implemented the looping storyline was very tedious and overall the game is pretty bad honestly, but it has some lore hardcore fans enjoy.

[@LapnLook]

I can agree with all the criticisms of this game, but calling Club Foot a "cringe" song is a crime

[@jaffinator2166]

4:24 WOW they really had the smallest seeds planted for so many years 😮

[@wiseman46237]

As a Texan thats what the current gas price is for us haha my condolences Brickmeister

[@NameIsDoc]

Hell thats HIGH for us right now

[@LestFrog]

I really like the song that plays on that first part with the satelite

[@Fernando_Ribeiro]

Club Foot - Kasabian

[@LestFrog]

I know i know jajajja it was more of a comment to the editor that didnt liked it much for what he said jajaja@@Fernando_Ribeiro

[@Fernando_Ribeiro]

@@LestFrog oh alright, my bad. I like this song too.

[@SeekerOf7ruth]

I still hold AW 1 and AN dear to my heart, so it feels bad to see that it has not aged well at all and to see Bricky slowly have the life drained out of him as a result.

[@kallemort]

At least we have a good game coming up next.

[@garfield9150]

12:36 now im mad

[@delmattia96]

About the plot ... I guess [SPOILERS FOR AMERICAN NIGHTMARE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hopefully these are enough. From what I understand it works like this: - This is one of Alan's attempts to escape the Dark Place and reach reality, maybe even a draft of Return; - There are places where the veil between Reality and the Dark Place is thin and Art, while not permanently, might superimpose a Work of Art with that piece of reality (in this case, a small town in Arizona); - Night Springs is the medium Alan uses in the game, trying to get back to reality through an episode he had written in the past; - "Night Springs is a fictional town, all I did is put it for a night in Arizona" definitely makes us think that Alan is, at the moment, in reality; - There are certain episodes of Night Springs that deal with people trying to leave the city and... you can't; - While we are not sure if the first 2 women are real, the third certainly is, as she knows Alice in "real life"; Honestly the game is confusing even after, in the last few months, I actively went looking for answers and explanations. So, I don't blame you.

[@dragondelsur5156]

Well, the end credits list the episode as "return" so that's pretty much one of many attempts.

[@dominicstevens5851]

FoR tHe AlGoRiThM

[@oscarbutler5939]

OH NO BRICKY THAT SONGS BY KASABIAN ITS COPYWRITE….. OH NO HES GOT HIS COPYWRITE FREE AERO PODS IN

[@MinersLoveGames]

I'm willing to give this game a pass because it was originally an XBOX Live Arcade Game. It did not have the budget of the first Alan Wake but I still found it to be enjoyable. Then again a lot of Bricky's takes on things I find to be... uh... yeah...

[@Shadowdrives]

I don't know how they made a sequel after American nightmares lol. Still it's at least entertaining to watch

[@faizolilman642]

@bricky pls reduce the ads in the video

[@gamerin4d]

Im curious, will bricky do Quantum break and then Control, or is he just going to Conteol after this

[@JaySteiny]

He said in his alan wake review hes going straight to control, then alan wake 2.

[@Starashpal]

A little introspective, if you look at script and acting during AW and AW:AN and you think that acting is bad or dialogs is cringe it is because neither Zane or Alan was good writers to begin with. All thing that happend in a games basically theirs writtings. Sam Lake is a little prankster at this point, so its okay Bricky

[@fatidicusaeternus6498]

Control is not a perfect game, but its gameplay is much more fun and it has great worldbuilding.

[@topcat59]

Honestly this game feels more like DLC than an actual game.🐱

[@drepdrained]

cuz of the times

[@MarieAvora]

It's a low budget spin-off for Xbox Live Arcade as I understand

[@oregonborn9769]

Why does everyone call American nightmares a dlc. It's literally its own game.

[@JaySteiny]

Cause it feels like a dlc

[@oregonborn9769]

@Brain-Wormed I played the dlc the game play is somehow worse than the base game and american nightmare. I'm a huge fan boy of the series but the dlc game play was garbage

[@StuckVenus]

There’s a reason this isn’t cannon anymore

[@drcheesenut896]

It is still canon, it's referenced in Alan Wake 2 It was just one of Alan's failed attempts at escape

[@StuckVenus]

@@drcheesenut896 oh

[@TheQueerLeaf]

😂😂😂

[@saberq6413]

For all have sinned and the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus god alone

[@Alexander_the_Greatest]

wat

[@pooroldnostradamus]

@@Alexander_the_Greatest He's saying although this game was somewhat poor, Remedy will live eternally in our hearts. Or something along those lines.

[@LeatherDaddy97]

Whats with this tank control games and putting club foot by kasabian in them

[@kallemort]

I'm not sure what tank controls have to do with this

[@LeatherDaddy97]

@@kallemort theres a lot of tank control games with kasabian in them