#tim breaker (mentioned)

[meliake]

If I read one more fucking fic where Tim begs for his life in Titan's Tower I'm actually going to explode like?? READ IT????

Tim is a little fucking shit the entire time, fully confident in his abilities until the very end. And Jason didn't try and kill him, just gravely injured him to send a message, hence the bloody writing. Like guys- he could have killed him but purposefully didn't to prove his point.

There was no moment of regret for him because the 'pit rage' got to him, he was in full control of himself all throughout electrocuting Cyborg and Beastboy, putting Raven to sleep. LIKE GUYS PLEASE JUST READ THE ISSUE I STG

[xylathesilkwing]

played the Time-Breaker DLC! confusing and both enlightening experience- spoilers under the cut below! It is my feverish ramblings and not professional at all, enjoy

-SAM LAAAAKE I thought you were evil Mr Lake but I only had you for a moment I miss you come back

-JESSEEEE JESSEE jessse hi. hi Jesse (insane)

-no fr though Petri Alanko confirmed that the music that plays during Tim (Shawn?? Jack?? I’m gonna say Tim) and Jesse’s introduction was supposed to be a 1:1 recreation of the music that plays in Quantum Break with Jack and Beth, and I just think that’s neat (going feral)

-the insane scribbling on the whiteboard in the trailer resembles the scribbling the real (original? currently dark place) Tim’s notes:

and since I think it’s confirmed that the DLC episodes are just attempts at Alan Wake trying to escape the dark place, did he see the OG notes and go “oh yeah, I could probably write something with that”? Did he predict what Tim would write that without ever meeting him? Is the multiverse real??

-also, “red headed woman” in both images. obviously in the DLC it’s Jesse, and probably is the same in the actual game (especially with the polyhedrons) but it’d be so cool if he also remembered Beth or those other versions he had seen

-this image alone down below?? listing off names??

obviously we’ve got Jesse, plus Dylan (Faden? possibly her brother?) and someone named Savage, but we’ve also got Lisa, Elisa and Liz being nicknames for Elisabet/related to it. Just sayinnn Beth could be part of that tooo (delusional) (hasn’t finished quantum break yet)

-anyways we continue

-the ocean view hotel is so freaky cool in this world??? The clocks leading you to different rooms, the FBC being present and posting notes on doors and cannonly being there, plus the ENEMIES? I’m afraid of the shadows in Alan Wake’s playthrough but these were also pretty freaky

-JESSEEE I’m sorry I’m just genuinely so insane about her im glad she returned

-while I can’t remember the name of the place she works for, i find it pretty funny she still works for a concealed/unknown agency involved with secret forces. went from supernatural events to the multiverse girl

-the time-sea-whatever outside?? insane. cool. wicked awesome

-“and another version of me got super powers” and it’s her lifting a forklift!! Love the control references, especially the Alien Guardian Angel one.

-“as you say, characters in a video game” METAA

-okay I had to put this here but Tim/Jesse shippers.. I see you. like I’m an avid Jessily shipper but genuinely I see the appeal

LIKE? Obviously this is most likely an homage to the fan theories of Jesse and Tim being echoes of Beth and Jack, but it’s also so interesting Alan-wake wise. I could probably make a separate post for this but like- imagine you’re Jesse and you’re seeing all these versions of a man some variant of you loved die gruesome deaths, and you’re feeling these feelings that aren’t actually /yours/, it’s. I’m insane it’s so freaky and cool and sad and ARGH

And for Tim!! your other versions were trying to find this girl and when you get there you realize that the feelings you feel for her aren’t actually yours either! just some version of you and some version of her that probably didn’t work out! I’m gonna go insane!

-the arcade game sequence was INSANE and I love it so much. I wish we saw more of that universe

-the universe with all the empty time-core-thingies?? insane, freaky, perfect.

-THE VOID? THE TEXT?

-okay so I might be weird for this but instead of thinking about The Master of Many Worlds I thought about the red headed woman I’m so sorry. definitely got caught off track but the way her name is LIS like the names list?? and she’s a DANCER? <—— I’m a dancer

-it was so freaky when all the text and numbers turned into Alan Wake at his desk?? but also so meta and cool?? insane DLC

-awesome DLC! North Star is my favorite so far but tbh this one was super meta I loved it

[entropicquilibriumofchaos]

Fourth Annual Cauldron Lake Ice Hockey Tournament

In the thrilling conclusion to the Fourth Annual Cauldron Lake Ice Hockey Tournament, (sponsored by Coffee World and the Bright Falls Council for Outdoor Recreation), the Oh Deer Diner Deer, led by team captain Rose "the Brute" Marigold, face the reigning champions, the Kalevala Knights, led by team captain Ilmo "the Grinder" Koskela. Which team will rise to the occasion and which will sink beneath the black water of Cauldron Lake?

Read it on ao3

“Alright team!” Ilmo shouted over the rumble of idle chatter. 

All of the heads turned to him as he stood in the doorway of the heating tent. His stance commanded attention; legs spread to keep his balance on the skates on his feet and his arm out to the side, holding an old hockey stick that looked like it had seen better days. He had a look of steely confidence that seemed at home on his features. 

“Last game of the night, last game of the tournament,” he started, walking into the tent to conserve heat. “It's us versus the Oh Deer Diner Deer once again.”

A quiet murmur filled the tent as the team made their comments about their rivals. Ilmo put a hand up, silencing them effectively.

“You may have heard that Bright Falls has a goalie that has been dominating this year. The rumors are true, the new Sheriff, Tim Breaker, is helping out the Deer this year. And yes, he played semi-professional hockey. But, he’s got nothing on Jaakko.”

A few cheers sounded and Jaakko was shoved from side to side in his goalie gear. A small smile appeared on his face as he pushed his teammates back playfully.

“Okay starting line up time:” Ilmo announced, and all the heads popped up. “Jones, ya ready?”

A middle-aged man with grizzled features nodded sharply.

“Good, ‘cause you’re going!” Ilmo shouted, and the team gave a grunt. “Charlie, ya ready?”

Among the older denizens of Watery, a teenaged boy popped his head up. The black and yellow hockey gear he sported seemed to almost drowned him. Nonetheless he raised a fist, “Down with the Deer!”

The team cheered in agreement.

“Good, ‘cause you’re going!” Ilmo repeated. “WIlliams, ya ready?”

Another player grunted, leading the team in cheers. 

“Good, ‘cause you’re going!” he said, before locking eyes with his brother. The two of them stared each other down with fire in their eyes before Ilmo spoke up. “Jaakko, ya ready?”

“You know it, brother,” he replied, “Let’s kick some Bright Falls ass, boys.”

Ilmo belted out one last “Good, ‘cause you’re going!” and the tent erupted into shouts as the team stood up and donned the rest of their gear. 

Meeting in the middle of the tent, over the propane heater, all of the team members put their hands in a circle. 

“Knights on three,” Ilmo instructed, “Yksi, kaksi, kolme:”

The team shouted, “Knights!” in unison before filing out of the tent.

Ilmo made his way to the back of the tent to his brother, who was buckling his mask to his helmet. Jaakko smiled at his brother and grabbed the back of his head and brought their helmets together with an audible clash.

“Go get ‘em, veli.” Jaakko encouraged, making Ilmo smile widely.

The brothers tottered on their skates out of the heated tent and onto the ice of Cauldron Lake. A good-sized rink had been cleared of snow and benches had been hauled out for spectators to watch. Under a tent on the opposite side of the rink, a table with chairs behind and on either side served as the penalty boxes and score-keeper’s table. Behind the table, in a heavy fur lined coat was Ahti, nursing a coffee and leaning against a shovel. Next to him was Rose Marigold, teetering back and forth on her skates. Her team was warming up on the ice as the Knights joined on the opposite side.

Jaakko broke from Ilmo and joined the rest of the team and the captain skated over to the tent. He came to an abrupt stop in front of Rose, sending a flurry of snow at her calves. She just rolled her eyes. 

Ahti just chuckled and shook his head. “Pluck your chickens elsewhere, lapset. Wouldn’t want a repeat of last year, ei?”

Last year’s tournament flashed vividly in Ilmo’s mind. His back still hurt from where Rose had body checked him hard enough to send him into the snowbank. But getting her back with a slapshot between her skates had been payback enough. However, the two didn’t speak for a month afterwards.

“The Deer are committed to sportsmanlike conduct this year, Ahti. No trouble from us.” Rose boasted, leaning against her hockey stick. 

Ilmo rolled his eyes. “Knights are known for their chivalry, you know.”

Rose scowled. “Oh shove your chivalry up your ass, Koskela,” she mocked.

Ahti laughed heartily, throwing his head back. “Ah, ten for the attempt.”

The two players shoved off of the ice towards their respective teams. It was sure to be a close game.

[subjectsix]

He looks back over to Tim, then follows his intent gaze to the table in front of him. A smile pricks at the edge of his mouth as he watches him take a wooden spoon and stir something in a small ceramic pot, perched precariously on a hot plate. It has a quaint little painted pattern on it, with a matching kettle next to it. He can see the steam coming from the pot, watching as he stirs at… something. It smells amazing. “Oh, thanks,” Tim glances up at him and smiles. Alan hadn’t realized he said that out loud. “It’s not the bes— oh wow, are you okay?” His expression shifts suddenly, dropping the wooden spoon against the wall of the pot.

[night-stalking]

The writing in the original Alan Wake never really blew me away, like, it was fun, but very much of its time

Nevertheless, I'm so excited whenever stuff from the original comes into Alan Wake 2 (and naturally, there's quite a bit of it)

Also Alan is literally so skrunkly in the sequel, give that man a bath and 13 blankets, he's been through so much 🥺

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts year 2 day 23

Au where Danny hides his powers and eldrich nature from his husband Tim and Tim hides his vigilante career from Danny.

Both are very successful and neither suspects a thing. Tim had originally planned to admit to being a hero at some point but they were always either interrupted or it just wasn't the right time and then Danny had mentioned a few times during thier engagement and marriage that he couldn't handle being with a superhero or vigilante and that it was a deal breaker. Unfortunately Tim was already deeply in love and couldn't bare to break up with him so now he lives in fear of Danny finding out and blackmailed the rest of the family into never letting it slip.

Danny is in a similar situation, ever since the portal incident people were afraid of his other half and no matter how hard he tried they always ended up hating him. He loved Tim and couldn't bare the thought of his husband having that same look of terror. Of hate. So he hid. Its all he could do. Back when he and his friends went on that road trip and gained the power of the reality gauntlet he had tried to undo his undeath entirely only to find out Danny had glitches spacetime enough that even if he undid it (which the gauntlet was incapable of doing) he would eventually wind up with the portal opening up on top of him at another date. Call it fate or destiny or whatever you like. He was stuck like this.

So he did the next best thing. He erased any proof he had ever existed. Even from the minds of his own friends. He then skipped town-or in this case universes- and used the gauntlets power to carve out a false identity in this new world full of heroes and hope

Luckly there was no one who could rat him out...until some blond guy in a trenchcoat started following him around the grocery store and talking to him. At first Danny was a little confused and annoyed but when he asked what the blond guy wanted he asked, "I wanna know what you are." And Danny went pale.

Constantine then proceeded to blackmail Danny into helping him with a case or else he would expose his dirty little secret to Tim.

Danny made the a deal, ensuring that it would only be this one time. He told Tim that he was being blackmailed but insinuated that it was something petty between him and some of the other high society house spouses. The kind of drama that Tim always made extra sure to steer clear of. He swore to Tim he was this close to spiking Bethanys muffins with a laxative in retaliation for something and Tim gave helper suggestions for how to do it without being caught while they got ready for the day.

Ever since Alfred passed away it was up to Danny and a few other people to keep the Waynes from falling apart. Honestly, no one realized how much that man did until he wasn't around anymore.

To be fair he pretty much spoiled Tim by picking up after him to the point the man can't function after a few days. If Danny ever had to leave Tim alone for prolonged periods of time he would return to a giant mess and something burning in the kitchen.

Danny would clean, Tim would spew a fountains worth of apologizes, he would forgive Tim (as if he was ever mad in the first place. This just reaffirmed that Tim needed him to protect and care for him, making his core vibrate in happiness) then they would...reacquaint themselves. He nearly shifted forms the first few times this happened. That would be one heck of a way for Tim to find out about his ghost half.

Danny smiled, thinking about those memories. He truly adored Tim and couldn't imagine a life without him. He would just have to make sure this trench coated guy never came anywhere near his precious husband.

John would really like to know what this entity was and what it wanted with the Wayne brat. It couldn't really be in love with the kid, could it? He had personally seen these relationships work out before but there many more he had seen that hadn't. He didn't want to take that risk, so he needed to get close enough to evaluate the situation himelf.

[bunny-heels]

AW2 Spoilers. About Warlin Door and what he means in the story.

gonna start this off by saying; i fully think Door is Saga's dad. and the game gives lots of implications and context for it.

Tim Breaker told Alan he'd been having dreams about Door for years, and even drew a picture of what he looked like. When asked by Alan about being related to Sarah and Deerfest still being a thing, he mentions that she helped him find a case about a man going missing in the 80s who apparently got struck by lightning at Cauldron Lake, who looked just like the sketch that he made of Door.

.

When Saga goes to see Odin, there's a paper that talks about the times he's lost his eyes. It mentions that he had it taken out 3 times. It says that the third and last time he had it was in 1988, and that "he who stands on the threshold took it from me".

There's a manuscript that gives the exact details on that very event. Odin and Tor were apparently "facing something even more powerful, something harder to define even." The person they were facing was described as "the dark one who yearned to stand in between, who has always stood in between, who would soon stand in between". It details that the brothers made a deal with this "dark one" to help him, in exchange for him leaving the family alone. The "dark one" makes sure they remember the deal by taking Odin's eye as collateral, and then he leaves in a flash of lightning Odin has been without his eye ever since.

Saga mentions that she never got to know her father, that he died before she could ever remember him, and her mother, Freya, didn't tell her anything. Odin tells her that her mother did the right thing by leaving and taking Saga with her.

Saga asks Tor about him being her grandfather and why they were distant. He apparently wasn't a good father to Freya, which he admits he was wrong to treat her like that. But also mentions that Saga's father was also causing problems for the family.

When Saga asks Tor about her dad, Tor says that "Some doors are better left closed." He explains that her dad was a "complicated bastard" and "always thinking too many steps ahead". He says "there was trouble, and then he was gone.", then says he "didn't handle it well". And that event is what caused Freya to finally separate from the family all together.

.

When Alan meets up with Door for the fourth and last time, Door seems upset with him, being genuinely irritated by what he's doing. Alan's confused and doesn't understand why he's suddenly like this. Door says that Alan is lucky to have so many people fighting for him, mentioning his wife. Alan states that he needs to get to Alice because she's in danger. To which Door says;

"She is, because of you. And so is someone important to me, someone you pulled into this. You keep opening doors, peeking in. Reaching through to get what you want, and that puts you in my path."

.

When Saga goes into the dark place and finds Tim, he gives her a page that describes how Door travels through it. She profiles Door, trying to figure out who he is. He ends up just saying this;

"A door that stands between two rooms is in both. A door that can lead anywhere is everywhere. That door is the center. He governs the currents of reality."

Saga is confused because of all the powers she's seen recently and doesn't "know who is playing who". She then goes; "Opening too many doors. This isn't important right now, I can look into it later."

.

So not only is Saga the granddaughter of the god of lightning and the grandniece of the god of war, she's also the daughter of an entity that can seemingly travel through realities without a problem and can go to any world he chooses. So it's very possible she MIGHT have this power, and that it needs to be unlocked.

This still doesn't really explain why Door seems to have a connection to Tim, why he tried talking to Dylan and telling him about the other worlds, or why he chose to keep Alan entertained from losing his mind in the dark place. There's also nothing to give context as to why Odin and Tor truly didn't like Door, because it can't have just been that they didn't like his powers. Or maybe that was it, Door was so powerful that they knew he would end up hurting Saga, intentionally or not.

It could be that Door is the true owner of the dark place, and that Alan getting mixed up in all this was terrible luck, because it did just end up hurting his daughter, to which he shifts the blame fully to Alan for writing her into the story.

Maybe Door created the dark place originally as some sort of prison for evil entities like Scratch and Baba Yaga and all that stuff, and now it's all back firing because Alan got trapped and had to use real world events to try and escape.

Tor was not kidding when he said the family was fucked up.

[unmarkedhelicopter]

Tim being in Jesse’s episode just seems like a fun detail, until you finish “Time Breaker” and think about how Tim/Jack/Shawn??? was revealed to be destined to always find Jesse/ Beth/Jesbet/the Red Headed Woman in that episode’s story…..

Back to episode 2. Tim is in “North Star”. This feels a bit more implicative of something now. In the core story of AW2 Tim mentions the red headed woman in his notes. And in “Time Breaker”, he used her as a fixed point to focus on when jumping realities…..like a north star. What at first sounded like a reference to Polaris can mean something additional considering Tim’s presence in the story.

I’m just rotating this in my brain right now, brow furrowed. I really, really need to find a way to play Quantum Break

[incomescrane]

random AWII thoughts after finishing Final Draft

or: the ramblings of someone who’s thought about this game way too much. Lore, speculations, and silliness under the cut.

Both endings bug me a bit in terms of how Saga acts towards Alan. Now I’m not going to blame her too much- the stress of what the story is doing to her family is enough to make anyone break, and my girl stays strong in the face of all that. But I do think she was a bit too quick to judge him and assume he wrote those details himself, as opposed to the Dark Place filling them in when she was edited into the story (making up a cause to fit the effect, etc etc).

Following that: Saga is probably critical of Alan because she thinks existing and moving through the Dark Place is as easy for him as it is for her- moreso maybe, since he's been there for 13 years and should be experienced. In reality it's the complete opposite.

Exhibit A: After she's thrown in she experiences the same fragmenting Alan does in the Signal + Writer DLCs, but is able to break out of it easily because she has her Mind Place. She confronts her doubts and insecurities without them manifesting in the Dark Place and actually attacking her in the shape of barrels and tires with annoying physics.

Exhibit B: When she meets Breaker and get the page about Door traversing the Dark Place, Tim mentions he followed the instructions but wasn't able to follow the path, meaning the rules Alan follows actually exist and are not self-imposed. Alan had to write the first draft of Initiation to be able to go through Caldera Street Station and arrive at Parliament Tower. If the story doesn't make sense, reality won't shift. Saga in the meantime is able to will the door to take her where she wants to go, because she is a Door. 

TLDR: Saga’s a superwoman genetically engineered to be able to survive the Dark Place.

Alan’s cheeks look very pinchable. I made this known at every possible opportunity to my friends, who I was streaming the game for.

We are now up to 3 types of people with powers: Parautilitarians (can bind and use OoPs, manifest various effects), Seers (can access and make use of a space they manifest in their minds), and what I’m gonna call Plane shifters (like Door and Ahti, can traverse planes of existence with ease). Granted Ahti might just be a straight up god but who knows, the Remedyverse is complex.

I don’t know if/how Ahti knew the original Tom Zane, but I like to think he calls Alan Tom because he’s friends with the Old Gods, and picked it up from them.

Speaking of Ahti, the last time he and Alan meet, Alan takes care to pronounce his name properly. The interactions between those two get me every time cause they show the softer side of Alan still there even after all the Dark Place’s torture.

No seriously, look at his DBD model and tell me you don’t just want to squish his little face.

Zane in Room 665 doing the exact same dance as Scratch from AWAN, to the exact same music, cannot be a coincidence.

After Alice supposedly offed herself, Barry was left to pick up the pieces and empty out her apartment- that’s why we see the Blessed company boxes there.

Speaking of which: I need an Alan-Barry reunion yesterday. Or an Alan-Jesse team up to deal with Chester Bless and break my boy Barry out of his cult. Control 2 when?

If the Clicker is an OoP then the Angel Lamp might also be one. Heck they might be two bits of the same OoP. Is there a plug somewhere out there that also has a power? Or a lampshade?

After years of references to Campbell’s monomyth, from AWI, to the lyrics to Sankarin Tango, to AWII, the moment Alan calls himself the master of many worlds broke me to tears. Like hell yeah Alan, you go babygirl, you deserve it!!!

[autisticwriterblog]

T, Tim Breaker for the mini fic prompts

-Koskela Knights

T - an obscure AU

I decided to use one of my favourite video games as the AU. It's called 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and I love it a lot. It's full of escape room puzzles and a mindfuck of a story line (but in a good way). Hopefully, this makes sense if you're unfamiliar with 999, but if not, it might help to watch the opening few minutes of the game on youtube, because that's what this fic is based on. Anyway, sorry for rambling. That's the AU I chose. 😂

Title: Trapped

Summary: Tim wakes up in an unfamiliar room with a strange bracelet strapped to his wrist.

Word Count: 608

Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping and drugging

Fic is under the cut. Or read on ao3 here!

Tim wakes up with a horrible headache—a sensation that only gets worse when he tries to sit up and smacks his forehead against solid metal. He cries out, forcing his aching eyes open, and finds himself staring at the underside of a metal bed frame. Is he on the bottom level of a bunk bed? What the actual fuck?

Carefully, Tim turns his throbbing head, staring around his unfamiliar surroundings. It looks like the interior of a cabin, the sort from an old ship like the Titanic. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? And how did he get here?

Everything feels fuzzy, but Tim tries to piece together his memories. Where was he before this? What happened to him? It’s hard to think when his head hurts so badly, but he focuses on his shifting thoughts like his life depends on it. Which may very well be the case.

Eventually, a memory comes to him. Tim remembers arriving home from the sheriff’s station after a long day, but finding the window open in his living room. However, he was certain that he left it locked. Tim would hesitate to call himself paranoid, but with all the strange dreams he has, he often worries about someone coming to get him—hence always double checking his doors and windows are locked. So, if he didn’t leave it open, what was going on? Tim approached the window to close it… and saw the reflection of a figure behind him—wearing all black and a gas mask over their face.

Something metal hit the floor with a thunk, followed by a hissing sound as white gas began to cloud the air… and before Tim could work out what to do, he accidentally breathed some of the gas and everything started to fade. And, with the stranger still in his home, he passed out.

So… someone was in his house. And they fucking drugged him. They must have brought him here when he was unconscious. Fuck.

Could this be Door’s doing? The guy haunts his dreams, so maybe he escalated to kidnapping? Or is this the cult he’s heard so much about? Shit, he doesn’t know.

Awkwardly, Tim eases himself off the bed and drops down to the floor, his feet struggling to keep him upright. His brain feels like it does summersaults inside his skull, his limbs weak and wobbly. He kind of wants to puke, but Tim manages not to. As he stares around the cabin, his eyes glance down… and he notices the strange bracelet on his wrist.

It looks like a watch but has no face—instead displaying a bright red number [5]. Tim turns his wrist over, longing to take the creepy thing off, but he can’t find a clasp, the whole band utterly smooth. So how does he take it off? The thought of someone strapping this to him when he was out cold makes Tim shiver.

He stumbles over to the door, but finds it locked. Tim isn’t surprised anymore. A weird machine sits on the wall beside the door, but Tim can’t make sense of it. He must need to do something to open it, but no ideas come to him.

A cracking sound makes Tim turn his head (and the room spins, throwing him off balance) in search of the noise. He stares at the small, circular window, where a crack has appeared. Tim’s stomach drops. And before he can think of any way to fix the problem, the crack widens and widens… and water begins to pour into the cabin.

And in that moment, Tim realises exactly how fucked he is.

[crabs-with-sticks]

Put the Stars to Shame: A Gale x Tav playlist

Letter To An Old Poet by boygenius ~~ Last Words of a Shooting Star by Mitski ~~ Through Me (The Flood) by Hozier ~~ Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine ~~ Northern Attitude by Noah Kahan & Hozier ~~ First Light by Hozier ~~ Hello my Old Heart by The Oh Hellos ~~ Graceland Too by Phoebe Bridgers ~~ Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You by Stevie Nicks ~~ Home to Me by Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ~~ Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay ~~ Inkpot Gods by The Amazing Devil ~~ Fair by The Amazing Devil

Meta, commentary, and extracts for each song under the cut :)

Letter to an Old Poet

You’re not special, you’re evil / you don’t get to tell me to calm down / you made me feel like an equal / but I’m better than you, and you should know that by now

Slate has a lot of baggage in her life, coming from an abusive long term relationship with Malus and abusive parents, and escaping indentured servitude (read: slavery). Despite that, she has survived, though with deep scars. She has the same theme of ‘abuse’ as the other origin characters, except rather than breaking free of those toxic relationships, she is dealing with the aftermath of leaving abuse behind and how to survive beyond it.

Last Words of a Shooting Star

I always wanted to die clean and pretty / but I’d be too busy on working days / so I am relieved that the turbulence wasn’t forecasted / I couldn’t have changed anyway

From Gale’s perspective after being infected with the tadpole. With the orb, he wanted to be able to die meaningfully and in forgiveness, not in body horror ceremorphosis. Ultimately though, he was prepared to die, this is just an unexpected method. It could be worse- he is relieved that he is far from those he loves, and that his affairs are mostly in order. At least this way, he thinks, his death won't be as hard on Tara and his mother (they’ll think of me kindly / when they come for my things)

Through Me (The Flood)

Picture a man /... swimming out beyond the breakers / like he's done his life before / he feels a coming of the squall / will drag him out a greater length / but knows his strength, and tries to gather it / and he swims on

Following their abduction, Slate and Gale’s situation seems hopeless, and it seems foolish to waste energy struggling. Nonetheless, they join up with the rest of the party, gathering their strength to meet the oncoming storm. It may be impossible, but there is still value in trying.

Dog Days are Over

Happiness hit her like a train on a track / coming towards her, stuck still, no turning back / she hid around corners and she hid under beds / she killed it with kisses and from it she fled

Slate and Gale are both somewhat estranged from happiness. So, when they start to form a bond with the other, they instinctively try to push it away. Slate because she knows that you can only be betrayed by those you trust, and Gale because he thinks himself a dead man walking.

Northern Attitude

If I get too close / and I’m not how you hoped / forgive my northern attitude / oh I was raised out in the cold /… oh I was raised on little light

Slate hasn’t had an easy life, and while she does like Gale, she worries that she is too damaged to be with him. This song is her begging him to forgive her for keeping her heart walled off from the world, trying to assure him that she does love him, even if she can’t say it.

First Light

The sky set to burst / the gold and the rust / the colour erupts /... the sun coming up / like I lived my whole life / before the first light

A classic of Gale playlists (thanks Tim!). Gale letting in the flood of light that Slate is for him, letting himself see colour again. In one sudden moment he is realising what it means to love somebody who brings warmth to him life (unlike somebody we could mention)

Hello My Old Heart

Hello, my old heart / it’s been so long / since I’ve given you away / and every day, I add another stone / to the walls I built around you / to keep you safe

Slate starts to deconstruct the walls around her heart, opening herself up to Gale, and allowing herself to be vulnerable to him. She still isn’t convinced that it won’t end with her brokenhearted, but she is starting to think that even if it all ends in tragedy, the happiness from the good parts will make it worth the pain.

Graceland Too

No longer a danger to herself or others / she made up her mind and laced up her shoes / yelled down the hall, but nobody answered / so she walked outside without an excuse

This song is about loving somebody who is self destructive and mentally ill. One one side, it depicts the suicidal path Gale is being pushed down by Mystra and Elminster. On the flip side, it depicts the struggle for Slate of loving somebody who is suicidal. Ultimately, Gale chooses to find a new path.

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You

Has anyone ever written anything for you? / in your darkest hours / have you ever heard me sing?

Gale to Slate. He knows the she hasn't had many people who have truly been on her side and there for her. Gale wants her to know that she is worthwhile, and that she is worthy of his love; that she deserves to have words and actions of love given to her.

Home to Me

How dare you love me like you never known fear?

Slate to Gale. This portrays Slate’s astonishment at how vulnerable Gale lets himself be. He seems to dive into their love without fear, despite the orb in his chest, despite the very real possibility of the world ending and their souls being destroyed. And despite all that, he is still choosing to love her rather than shutting out the potential of pain.

Something Just Like This

I’m not looking for somebody with some superhero gifts / some superhero / some fairy tale bliss / just something I can turn to / somebody I can kiss / I want something just like this

Slate doesn’t need Gale to be a god. She doesn’t need him to be Chosen. She doesn’t need him to be a powerful wizard. She only wants something just like this.

Inkpot Gods

And to those gods, I will speak bluntly / “we’ve an accord, if you ever touch or harm him / please rest assured that you might not fear a man / but to a woman, by the end, you’ll kneel and plea, ‘cause I’m more than what my mum told me to be”

An anthem to growing despite and overcoming trauma. As two highly traumatised people, Slate and Gale can’t fix mental illness with love, but they support each other, have the other’s back, and rejoice in recovery. Its also Slate's 'stay the fuck away Mystra' song.

Fair

He'll trip and she'll pretend not to have seen / Burying her head into his chest and clinging to the moment / "Where have you been?" she'll whisper/ "I've waited oh so long for you to come" / And as the stars above them hum and hear them / He'll turn to her and say, "That's what she said"

Slate and Gale travel to Waterdeep to start anew. Their love is strong and deep, and their bond has been tested time and time again. Yet, there is also beauty in the mundanity of love; in the everyday. This song has so many great lines it was hard to choose. I love how this song contrasts grand gestures of love (she promises to fight them all when it all becomes too much) and the day-to-day moments (you don’t need to pretend to be someone you’re not / ‘cause it’s not like I’ve never heard you fart and snore). Gale is a man of big, romantic gestures (conjure a beautiful starscape for your lover, intertwine your souls in the astral plane), but the everyday moments are just as beautiful and meaningful, and only become more so after Gale rejects godhood to remain mortal.

[piizunn]

COLD WEATHER TIPS AND RESOURCES (ALBERTA BASED)

all resources will be alberta based as that is where i am located, however i’d like to expand this list to the rest of my nation’s homelands which are saskatchewan and manitoba mainly.

i made this post the other day and i wanted to add more resources and information!

my basic tips for anyone in the cold

1. Layers will save your life wether you have actual winter gear or not. I exclusively wear baggy pants for comfort and style, but also so that i can wear at least 2 base layers, my go-to is a base layer of waffle weave long johns under tapered sweatpants (tapered is important to me personally, It makes it so i can tuck my pants into my boots easily!)

2. the rule with layering is that you still must have your entire range of motion so that you can keep blood flow to all your extremities, ESPECIALLY your fingers and toes. If two pairs of socks make it so you can’t move your toes around, ditch the second layer. Same with gloves. On that note- i prefer mittens to gloves with individual fingers. They might have more mobility but mittens are more comfortable for me personally.

3. Wind protection- staying out of the wind is the most important part of all of this. wind chill can make the air feel significantly colder, wind burn and frostbite can set in within 10 minutes of skin being exposed to extreme cold like the -40 C and below weather alberta has been experiencing. Wether you protect yourself from the wind.

4. if you absolutely have to sleep rough find a place that is a) safe and accessible for you and your needs b) out of the wind, and c) a place you can set up a tent or tarp. i can’t stress enough how much colder the wind makes things.

5. FOR HOUSED FOLKS. ESPECIALLY SETTLERS. if you see someone sleeping rough, use the resources provided. ask them if they need help. hell, if you have a spare room, heated garage, empty basement, fucking let your neighbours in!!! do what you can within your means and with the privilege you have. if you can’t provide a warm space you can provide other necessities.

necessities for unhoused folks braving this weather:

-MONEY (i can’t stress this enough. i don’t care if they buy drugs or alcohol, harm reduction saves lives)

- hand warmers

-easy to eat snacks (nothing crunchy, lots of folks have dental issues)

-gloves

-toques

-scarves

-socks

-long johns and leggings (waffle knit is everything in this weather)

-wind breakers/wind pants

-winter jackets and snow pants

-sturdy warm shoes

-water bottles

-cigarettes

-gift cards for food (i know a lot of you got tim’s cards for christmas)

EDMONTON/CALGARY/LETHBRIDGE RESOURCES:

Mohkinstsis/Calgary

Bear Clan goes out on patrol every friday night. there are also bear clan groups in manitoba!

https://instagram.com/bearclanpatrolcalgary?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=

CALL 211 IF YOU SEE SOMEONE IN DISTRESS! THIS NUMBER ALSO WORKS IN EDMONTON.

Amiskwaciywâskahikan/Edmonton

PRAIRIE SAGE PROTECTORS

https://instagram.com/prairie.sage.protectors?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=

BOYLE STREET COMMUNITY SERVICES

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ʏᴇɢᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛᴏʀ (@yegconnector)

again, like i mentioned before you can also call 211 in calgary for someone in distress!

SIKOOHKOTOKI/LETHBRIDGE

user @goldswords informed me of Sage Clan in Lethbridge who are out there saving lives in the community! here is their profile. keep in mind these are only the major cities of alberta, please feel free to add any resources you know of!

https://instagram.com/sageclanlethbridge?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=

REMEMBER THE LAND NEEDS THE COLD. THIS COLD IS NATURAL, WHAT IS NOT NATURAL IS THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE WEATHER AND THE FACT THAT PEOPLE ARE DYING ON THE STREETS.

[taniushka12]

did alan ever tell saga and alex about tim breaker being stuck in the dark place? did he forgot? did he just mention "some guy" and they glossed it over everythign else? HELLO?

[coolcatteacher]

My Favorite Books of Summer 2022

My goal is to read books for an hour each night. In this episode, I wanted to share some of the books that have me thinking this summer. It is a wide assortment of books that I've linked to at the bottom of the show. From technology to interpersonal skills to ponderings from history, sometimes patterns emerge between random books in surprising ways. If you have books you'd like to suggest for my reading list, message me on Twitter or use the contact us form on my website. I'd love to hear what you're reading!

Today’s sponsor is Lum.io, an award-winning digital learning tool that will transform your lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences If you’re looking for a collaborative learning tool to make it easy to level up your lesson materials you already have with assessments, game-based activities, collaborative spaces and lots more all in one place, Lumio is the perfect choice for you. Head to Lum.io for more information and to sign up for FREE.

Editing note: I used the pretty awesome Descript AI app for editing the audio. I also programmed an AI voice to overdub a few places where I made a mistake (instead of recording a word here or there.) I did have to give it permission (in my voice) and permit it to create a Voice clone of me. So far, I'm pretty impressed.

As a note, this summer I'm also learning about AI and testing many apps like Descript to see where AI tools and assistants can help me be a better teacher and continue to share what I'm learning with those who find it interesting and helpful. You'll see lots of info on past blog posts and in my newsletter.

Notes - https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e787

I hope you'll listen to the show to see my thoughts on this assortment of books mentioned in this episode.

To Access Your Kindle "notebook" if you take notes in your Kindle - read.amazon.com/notebook 

Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens 

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies are Transforming Business, Industries and Our Lives by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

The Tech-Wise Family: Every Day Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place by Andy Crouch

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

Deep Work by Cal Newport

The Last Lion - Alone 1934-1940 - Part 1 - by William Manchester

Author Vance Havner

New 10 Minute Teacher Podcast episode

[alynicoleee]

Beginning of Forever: Chapter Sixteen

Title: Beginning of Forever (Chapter 16) Pairing: Tim Lincecum / OFC POV: 3rd Person - OFC Rating: PG-13

Alyssa didn't know why she responded. She should have left the text go unanswered like he had, but she couldn't, so she responded.

"Hi".

She didn't know what else to say. She wanted to say a lot - wanted to know what happened. But she also didn't want to attack him right away. That would have been rude.

"Can we meet up to talk? Grab a coffee if you're not busy?"

Alyssa thought about it for only a few minutes. Whatever he wanted to say he wanted to do in person. That could be a good thing, but it also gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She agreed to meet him at a Starbucks location that was the halfway point between them in an hour.

When she arrived Tim was already there - her coffee order in his hands.

"Thanks", she replied.

He motioned towards a corner table and they sat in silence for a few minutes before Tim finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. I owe you an explanation."

Alyssa shook her head, "You don't owe me anything".

"Okay, you deserve an explanation. You deserve an apology. You didn't deserve me ghosting you."

Alyssa looked up at him and tried to hide the sadness in her eyes, but it was apparent he could see it. His green eyes were dark, a sense of melancholy displayed in them.

"I panicked. It's what I do. Things were going good. And everything seemed so easy with you that I convinced myself it couldn't be true. Good things weren't supposed to come so easily. At least they never have before. I got scared. I'm telling myself that I'm ready to move on and continue with my life - but I'm terrified to get hurt. I don't know how much more pain I can take."

Alyssa sat there holding her breath as he spoke. But the more he spoke the more she slowly let out the breath she was holding and began to breathe again.

"I don't know what to say Tim. We kinda just jumped in. We talked, but not about anything deep - I guess not about the important stuff in our lives. Maybe we should do that before we figure out where we stand."

Tim agreed and for the next two hours they sat in their little corner table and talked. They talked about the past - Alyssa had been hurt countless times and Tim had lost love. They talked about their experiences - neither had a plethora of history, but while Alyssa was mostly inexperienced - Tim had been tied with serious relationships for most of his adult life. They talked about their ideologies around love - Alyssa still believed in fairy tales and happily ever afters and Tim had doubts if anything lasted forever. They talked about what they were looking for - Tim wasn't sure what he was looking for but he knew he wasn't looking to have kids, he mentioned it slowly as if it was almost a deal breaker. Alyssa was looking to feel and give love, to be happy with someone and she wasn't sure if kids were part of her future, it could go either way. They talked about their love language - Alyssa craved connection with someone and Tim realized that he did too.

They agreed they would continue to talk, see each other, and see what transpired.

Alyssa made it home that evening feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. Somehow she felt freer than she had in a long time. A lot of things she said aloud today had been weighing her down, even if she hadn't realized it.

[wozman23]

Alan Wake II - My Spiral into Its Madness

[THERE WILL BE SPOILERS HERE. AND THEORIES SURROUNDING THE ENDING. IF YOU PLAN ON PLAYING ALAN WAKE II, DON'T READ THIS. GO PLAY IT!!!]

After trudging through every square inch of The Dark Place, credits have rolled on Alan Wake II, and the platinum trophy is mine! It's such a phenomenal game! It's got so many qualities and small details that make it such.

First off, after a decade of hoping for a sequel, I'm just so happy that it has finally come to fruition! And I'm so pleased that its... RETURN... was in such a superb manner. Director Sam Lake himself said that he's “happy” that this is the Alan Wake II we got. It wasn't Remedy's first draft. Both Quantum Break and Control spun off of Alan Wake failed sequel concepts. Over the last 13 years Remedy has honed their skills, and introduced and iterated on many concepts since the original Alan Wake. And the result here is a culmination of all those years of hard work.

Connected universes and multiverses are hip right now. This has been a concept in video games for quite some time, with people suggesting that merely an Easter egg like a newspaper mentioning a “deadly virus” in Uncharted 3 means that The Last of Us and Uncharted coexist. Some people even go as far as to say that because there's also a Precursor Orb collectible in Uncharted, Jak & Daxter also reside in that universe. At a certain point, it becomes a bit absurd. But Remedy has really found unique and interesting ways to tackle the concept of a shared universe that always feels organic and never forced.

Remedy doesn't own all of its IP, particularly Max Payne or Quantum Break. Yet they've found creative ways to incorporate characters and ideas from both of those franchises. And it feels as if these plans have been in place since their Alan Wake's inception, if not earlier. I never played their Max Payne games (only Max Payne 3) but I'm hoping the talks of them remaking them changes that. Because I'm really excited to see not only what they were about, but how they'll almost uncertainly tie even more things to their connected universe.

Alex Casey is certainly a nod to Max Payne. They share many similarities, even down to the Sam Lake likeness. Yet within Alan Wake, he's also just the lead character of Alan's past novels. Does he even really exist? Was he simply birthed into the world by Alan's writing? Multiple times, events contradict themselves so that were never really sure what the truth is. And I think that's one of the most fascinating things about the Alan Wake franchise, and their other works by extension. Every single character in the world is a walking contradiction, an enigma. Alan Wake, Thomas Zane, Alex Casey, Saga Anderson, The Anderson brothers, Tim Breaker... every character intertwines like a chaotic ball of yarn.

I think this is never more clear than with Thomas Zane. At face value, he's an auteur, a muti-hyphenate, who became trapped in the Dark Place after his own events at Cauldron Lake. In the original game, he acts as Alan's guiding force, often a deus ex machina. Who or what exactly he is or was was one of my biggest questions entering the sequel. I'm still not sure. Oddly, he looks just like Alan. Ahti, an eccentric character we'll talk about later, even refers to Alan as Tom. And much of Tom's work is credited to Alan Wake, either through their Americanized names, or Finnish names. It wouldn't be crazy to say that Tom doesn’t even exist, and is merely a plot device, a character created by Alan himself to deal with his own situation. Yet somehow the inverse could also be completely true. Maybe Tom created Alan to deal with his own trials of being trapped in the Dark Place. Maybe he wants Alan to replace him in The Dark Place...? Then there's the Clicker, a switch that apparently was cut off of a lamp that Tom had, that Alan also had a kid to help him combat his own fears of the dark. It's also known as an OOP – an object of power – thanks to Control's Federal Bureau of Control, postulated to somehow act as the key to making written art come true. The ambiguity and overlapping with everything is both intriguing and maddening. And that nebulousness is exactly why I love Alan Wake and Remedy so much.

The same questioning could be applied to every other character. Has everything just been created by Alan to deal with his situation? Is that situation even real, or all in Alan's head? How do you tell the truth from the lies? At the end of the original game, The Dark Presence, manifested as Barbara Jagger, tries to convince Alan that his entire world is a delusion, a ruse created by him so that he doesn't have to deal with the fact that he was actually the one responsible for the death of his wife. It's a short interaction, and it's brushed off by Alan as an attempt by her to stop him from defeating her, but who's to say that it's not the truth? Maybe everything we're playing is merely a dream. Maybe Alan's bad temper or addictions either drove her away or got her killed...

Alan Wake II really doesn't answer a lot of questions. It more-so just doubles down on this approach of contradictions and confusion. I'm really no more certain who Alan, Tom, and Alice are, or whether or not they even all exist. And now we've just added more characters and more questions.

I tried to go in blind. I really only knew that Alan was in The Dark Place and there was a second playable character, Saga Anderson. I feel like I put a few details together early in the game as to who we were interacting with. I knew we'd be running into Tom. Yet despite knowing Saga's name, her lineage reveal took me by complete surprise! I think the differences in race from the Anderson brothers made me never even consider that. However, because of it, I do have a theory on one of the game's biggest unanswered questions: Who is Saga's father?

Mr. Door, Warlin, is a wild card. We really don't know anything about how he operates or what his motives are. But I have some theories! Some of which I came to. Others which I agree with after falling down the rabbit hole of internet debates. Warlin is Saga's father. There's really not much to go on. Tor and Door himself say a few things that seem to suggest it. Then there's the man researching Door, Tim Breaker, played by Shawn Ashmore – who also gave his likeness to the lead in Quantum Break, Jack Joyce. I don't remember a lot about Quantum Break, but his use of white boards can't be coincidence. Nor can his name which is one character shy of “time breaker.” This has to be another situation of skirting IP. Tim does have family in the world of Alan Wake via the Breaker family in the Bright Falls Sheriff Office. Are these two characters one in the same, mirror images in opposing universes? I'm curious to finding out more about this as well, and what role Tim plays in everything.

The internet also helped with with a few theories as well. Early on, Tim mentions a “redhead.” I assumed it was a reference to Jesse Faden, the protagonist from Control. But it would also reference Beth Wilder from Quantum Break. In these situations, both characters share character models, which isn't unheard of for multiple project from video game studios. But here it just feels like it has to mean more. Could they also be multidimensional counterparts? Clearly as is the case with Casey and Breaker, names don't have to be the same. Yet the person essentially is.

Then on the flip side of things, you have characters who don't look alike, but feel like they're counterparts as well. Mr. Door and Quantum Break's Mr. Hatch share some interesting similarities. Door... Hatch...synonymous...? The unfortunate thing here is that I'd assume Mr. Door was originally intended for Lance Reddick, the actor who played Mr. Martin Hatch, before his untimely death. (Lance is mentioned in the credits.) But a recast was required. Again Martin... Warlin... all to similar as well...?

One thing is for sure: I need to play Quantum Break again.

Details like that also make me consider some other absurd theories. Are Alan and Tom counterparts from differing dimensions? Perhaps either Alan or Tom doesn't truly belong in the dimension we're witnessing. Maybe that crossing of universes is responsible for so much of the chaos, similar to the show Fringe... which also featured multiple dimensions and Lance Reddick. Let's make it canon!

Ahti probably knows, and he's perhaps the most interesting character at this point. Appearing first in Control, as a janitor, he seems to be omnipresent and all knowing. He reminds me a lot of Tom from the original game. The janitor trope has come up many times before: Neil Flynn in Scrubs, Mop Girl in Disenchantment, Ahti... what's that about? Now, finding his way into the world of Alan Wake, he just creates more questions, straddling the line between eccentric old Finnish man and god. Him singing was great. Actor Martti Suosalo who portrays him won a BAFTA for his role in Control, and deserves so much praise here as well. I just watched a podcast with Sam Lake talking about how talented he is as an actor and singer in Finland.

Maybe I need to replay Control as well... There's also so much lore here about Altered World Events, Objects of Power, and parautilitarians to further explore. As well as plenty of direct references to Alan Wake that may now be a bit more enlightening. But back to the the all knowing and the omnipresent.

The Old Gods of Asgard occupied that role in the original game, and still do somewhat. Here we learn that they're immune to the effects of Alan's writing, and by extension so is Saga. While her mother, Freya, is dead in this time line, she would certainly be as well, should she or one of her doubles appear.

I love The Old Gods of Asgard so much, as characters. I'm curious to see what's in store for them considering the conclusion of the game. But I mainly like them for the musical contributions that come from the real life band Poets of the Fall! Remedy has done a terrific job commissioning music throughout the franchise. The songs that served as transitions between chapters in the first game were great. Here, they're even better! Not only is the Old Gods stuff amazing, but the other collection of artists really impressed even though they're outside of my typical genre of choice: rock. I'm not even sure what genre to put a lot of the stuff in. Many of the tracks feel kind of industrially, like a female version of Nine Inch Nails, or maybe Billie Eilish. And their excellence makes me want to explore more artist in that vein.

I talked about this last time when I wrote about Alan Wake. More games need to commission musicians to create unique songs for them. Everything here feels custom crafted for Alan Wake. Similarly, one of my other favorite games, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy - which I'm still hoping somehow gets a sequel after nearly 20 years - also commissioned a band, Cold, to write the song "In My Mind," and it was also perfectly executed.

I think Remedy's dedication to partnering the project with excellent music is also indicative of another of the strengths of Alan Wake II. It's a story about an artist, that values artist. The overall art direction is beautiful despite it dire and macabre tone. It's intermingled with beauty. I just read today on twitter about how all of the graffiti scattered throughout The Dark Place was created in collaboration with graffiti artist, Irwin Suimuri. So many times, the art and artists in games do not get the credit they deserve, so it's lovely to see people appreciating some of the finer details in this large project.

This reliance on art and sound really comes to a head at the point that many are calling the game's best moment: it's musical section. Apparently it was almost cut because it was hard to execute, but Sam stubbornly stuck to his guns and made sure it shined. I had a grin on my face the entire time, especially watching both Alan and Sam dance. (Was it Casey or Sam himself since he's also appeared in the world?)

The first game had glimpses of humor, mainly through the comic relief that Alan's agent, Barry, provided. Because of that, he's one of my favorite comic characters in all of gaming. One of my only disappointments with Alan Wake II is that he never appears. Yet somehow the game is even funnier. It's also far darker and more gruesome. So that dichotomy is even more impressive.

There were also the Koskela Brothers, who made some genuinely gut bustingly funny videos. Jaakko's fumbling of the pronunciation of quinceañera was probably the most hilarious moment in the game. Their inclusion was much appreciated. And there's the whole other rabbit hole to go down about their parallel to the Huotari Well incident which makes one wonder who or what is exactly real in the world. Plus, the town of Watery and Coffee World were great additions as well. There's nothing better than a decrepit theme park. Pat Maine had some fun, odd radio shows as well, obsessing over Wendy Davis and her Family Beef Jerky. Hickory teriyaki! It could be that he's losing it, or maybe like the Anderson family, he's immune to the changes in the story and remembering the past.

Another common praise that I see coming up time and time again is how the game seems to project a love for Finland, and feel Finnish. The platinum trophy itself is labeled "Sisu," which is defined by Wikipedia as "a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness... to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a literal equivalent in English. In contemporary psychology, sisu is shown to have both beneficial and harmful sides which can be measured using a designated scale."

The Koskela Brothers, Ahti often slipping into Finnish and singing "Yötön Yö," Wake and Zane sometimes being referred to as Seine and Viekko. It all makes me want to move to Finland, or at the very least, learn the language just to see if they've tried or try to slip anything past us English speakers.

Another thing I did know was that the game was going to stray from its original design quite a bit, which was a concern for me going in. There was a lot more emphasis on exploration (and thankfully less collectibles). Combat wasn't as center stage as the original either, with encounters feeling fewer and farther between, in favor of new, unique investigating and writing mechanics. Overall it didn't feel anywhere near as action driven, and because of that combat seemed a bit more one dimensional. While there were probably just as many weapons, and more choices for explosives, it didn't feel as if the game was encouraging you to experiment with the combat mechanics as much. So I mainly relied of my favorite guns, and the occasional flare. Wolves, which were a scrapped enemy type from the first game were present, but with their middling execution, I think I'd have preferred keeping the uniqueness of the various possessed objects the original had, whether they were beams or barrels, or a menacing tractor or train. One feature that I'm glad got axed though was the driving mechanics, which were very unrefined in the original. I did really enjoy the inclusion of audiovisual “jump scares.” On more than one occasion I got spooked. And the atmosphere, particularly in the Overlaps, where worlds felt as if they were blending together was a really cool touch. I do think I'd have still been okay with a form more similar to the original, but I do know some criticized it. The changes did really encourage me to really take my time with everything. I tried to explore every nook and cranny over my leisurely 31 hour play though. Letting the game breathe more gave it a nice ebb and flow. I often didn't want to put it down, staying up way past my bedtime, exchanging my enjoyment within it for the tiredness I'd face the next day at work. I managed to find nearly every collectible, solve every rhyme, and close out most of Saga's cases. There were a few things I used the internet to track down, I missed petting one deer, and a few cases weren't closed. But I enjoyed every second of it! I also really enjoyed Alan's portrayal in this installment. In the first game, he was unwavering and pretty clear headed. But 13 years in The Dark Place and with The Dark Presence - regardless of how long it has felt to him - really started driving him mad. We started to see cracks. I assume even the smallest details are crafted by Sam Lake. I felt like the Alan Wake is and has always been Scratch twist was brilliant. There's this back and forth about who is who, and who is writing Return, and even Initiation. And early on to me it felt like Alan's flowery prose was swapped for clunkier lines of thought and sentence fragments. I thought, "Boy, Scratch is such a shit writer." Turns out, it's probably just Alan going crazy, or his mind being invaded by The Dark Presence. At some point it's also mentioned that no one has ever returned from Cauldron Lake unaffected, which should have been some foreshadowing that the real Alan was never going to return completely as himself. Yet up until seconds before Scratch escaped from his jail cell, I assumed an unaffected Alan. Then later, there's the ultimate payoff that the two are one-in-the-same when it's revealed that the thing tormenting Alice is actually not Alan's doppelganger who made it to her reality, but just Alan bleeding into that dimension.

It's not very often that I finish a game and question what the hell I'm going to do next. I've got Super Mario Bros. Wonder ready to go. Jusant is ready on Game Pass. And Spider-Man 2 - which despite being from my all-time favorite developer - which got put on the back burner because I wanted to prioritize Alan Wake II, should be on the way since I picked it up a few days ago thanks to Wario64 mentioning a sale online. But I really don't want to play anything right now. Its a odd phenomenon that happens every so often after a truly great game. I saw someone else online say this as well. The only other time I can think of this happening in recent memory is with The Last of Us, a series I regard as the best ever. I'm kind of sad Alan Wake has now come and gone. In listening to the soundtrack afterwards, I began to weep seconds into RAKEL's "Follow You into the Dark." It's nearly an alien feeling for me. But the finality of finishing up the game and being so grateful for it existence really got to me. And I think those companion music pieces probably exemplify best what makes the game so damn great. Whereas most games feel like games comprised of various works of art, broken down into chunks like art design, sound design, visual effects, etc., Alan Wake II feels like the inverse. It's a collection of beautiful works of art, like custom songs, and custom graffiti, and all of those other more mundane components that go into making a game, that somehow work together to form this amazing game with a riveting story.

I'm sure I'll pick up one of those other games soon. With Mario I expect a series of levels of varing degrees of difficulty. It's a tried and true formula that we've seen in gaming for 30+ years, with a fresh coat of paint. With Spider-Man 2 I expect the modern AAA game: fancy graphics and effects, a large open world, and plenty of side missions to keep me busy and extend play time. It will be Spider-Man 1 with a few more bells and whistles. In both cases, those experiences will probably be fairly "game-y." By contrast, Alan Wake II was created with such a bold vision, reckless ambition, and an overall love that made it feel completely unique, transcendental of video games, and more like an experience than a cliche video game.

Right now all I want to do is talk about Alan Wake II, and go down the rabbit hole of reading about others' experiences with it and their own theories.

It's such a treasure. It definitely wouldn't exist in its current state had it come out around 2013. The wait was horrendous. But like Sam, I'm so happy it exists in 2023. The thirteen years it took felt like an eternity. But during that eternity Remedy continued to toil away at quietly adding more to the Alan Wake lore even when they were busy with other projects, not working directly on the franchise. Alan Wake II feels like a great sequel that builds upon the strengths of a great game. But it also feels like it contains great elements from the projects that they've held us over with since the original. The seamless blend of live action videos feels like the evolution of ideas in Quantum Break. And the connected universe idea pulls heavily from Control. Without those games, Alan Wake II may just not have been quite as special as it turned out to be.

That being said, I hope it performs well commercially, enough to justify a sequel within a much shorter time period. Because I'm so obsessed with the world, and Remedy's grand schemes. I'd like to know who Mr. Door, Tim Breaker, and Ahti actually are. I'd like to get a better idea of what their motives are, as well as those of Tom. I'd like to see what the crazy old Old Gods are up to. I'd like to know if Logan is okay. I'd like to see if Alan and Alice can triumph and return to a normal life. I'd like to know if the Bookers, the latest artists to visit Bright Falls, will play a larger role. I'd like to learn more about all the cool little details and ways that Alan Wake, Control, Quantum Break, and Max Payne intersect. I don't expect much of that to actually be answered, because a lot of the fun of the franchise is pondering the unknowns and unknowables. So maybe I'm really just looking forward to another riveting story, more great music and art, and even more questions that make me wonder what the hell is really going on.

BRING ON ALAN WAK3!!! Hopefully before I'm 53.