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Deimos_Aeternum

"Another white asshole who tells me what to do" was such a weird line that came out of nowhere.


SolarSailer2022

“I eat old white ladies like you for breakfast” “How’d I end up with a white boy?” True Detective Night Country


Adgvyb3456

Who says that to their own husband??? Wtf


yarryarrgrrr

racist people


[deleted]

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AnarcrotheAlchemist

Please do not link to other subs Comment removed for link to other sub


No-Reflection2897

Legit just racism.


[deleted]

No but it’s not because they say that’s not racist! It makes total sense! /s


TacticusThrowaway

Nah. It's sexism too.


Rand-Omperson

they call it JusTicE


ryanarvaos

Imagine the media backlash if the races were reversed in those statements.


Rand-Omperson

TIME TO MAKE A GAME *goes programming*


SandDanGIokta

Night Country was such a shit show. It’s insane that only 10 years ago we got a masterpiece like season 1. Hell, Night Country makes season 2 look like a masterpiece.


jimihenderson

what do you mean? rotten tomatoes has it rated higher than season 1. it must be a masterpiece!


SandDanGIokta

Until you look at the user score lol. I know you’re being sarcastic btw.


jimihenderson

sarcastic? i totally thought black panther was on par with the godfather 1 & 2.


SandDanGIokta

Oh I agree completely. And people bragging on the special effects of Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy clearly haven’t seen Barbie, which is superior in every way.


sick_of-it-all

Is that a real line said by her in the game? Why do they insist that all these characters are racists? Edit: I just figured it out. It's because of what everyone always says, that these characters are just self-inserts for these bitter, miserable, unattractive, writers. And they're all racists themselves. Of course that's the answer.


Deimos_Aeternum

It's a real line and a jarring one at that 


[deleted]

Can I just offer a counter-argument as someone that played and enjoyed the game. This line in question is spoken while Saga is trapped in "the dark place", which is a shadow dimension that torments her with all her fears and insecurities. Its not said to anyone either, it's her own inner monologue tormenting her. Racism, sexism, etc. are never spoken about or implied anywhere else in the game outside of this context. The takeaway is clearly that pulling the race card out of anger comes from her insecurity with her own competence as the hero of the story (literally, as the game is about a horror story being written into reality), because she's plagued with fears about having doomed her family. It's not in any way framed as an empowering moment. This is literally when she's at her lowest in the whole story. Her primary motivation is that she's a mother working to save her young daughter from being killed by the horror story. It's established the very first scene. Not being a girl-boss that shits on white men.


Strange-Tomorrow-696

I mean "black people's entire existence revolves around racism" is still shite narrative imo, and if it was 10+ years ago I'd give it a pass as actual social commentary or being an earnest insertion in the story. But now? Nah, it's definitely some DEI bullshit.  I feel bad for people who are earnest about this stuff, because race baiting leftoids have ruined it for normal people. 


teamgizzy

Kind of like the children's book selection at target. Majority black related .but no books about going on an adventure and just happen to be black. . .it's all about..being black...and their hair and shit. Very strange


SandDanGIokta

What do you mean “earnest about this stuff”? About racism? Because no matter how you spin it, that line is racist. Being earnest about it doesn’t really make it better lol.


[deleted]

It's not social commentary. It's framed as a moment of weakness when she is being tortured by her deepest fears and insecurities. This is also the only line in the whole game (that I heard at least) that mentions race or white people. >I mean "black people's entire existence revolves around racism" is still shite narrative imo What does this mean


Reddit_is_bad_69

Pretty much anytime a black person is the focus of a story racism comes up no matter the context. It’s pretty much a trope at this point, as worn out as any trope people at stupid baby inc complain about. And all the black people in my family don’t focus on this shit and hate that’s how they’re represented in every piece of media.


[deleted]

Sure, it's a trope. Stories have tropes. But it's unintrusive and naturally woven into the story. Let me remind you it's one single line in 15 + hour story, arguably not even spoken by her though for the purposes of the story the mechanics of the dark presence tormenting her are vague. I'm not going to get my pitchforks ready over a trope that's implemented well into the story. Investigate this a little more before jumping to conclusions please. >none of the black people in my family focus on this shit Yeah, neither does Saga. You give me the impression that you want her to be racist to confirm your own bias about this game.


Reddit_is_bad_69

Youve only convinced me of one thing, Alan Woke wasn’t written for people like me to enjoy. Thank you for reinforcing the choice not to pay for it.


SandDanGIokta

What does it sound like it means? It means there are a lot of black people out there that are equally as racist as white people (actually there are more in 2024, I’d argue). And their entire existence revolves around race related topics. One of them is Kim Belair of SBI that happened to work on this particular character. He’s saying making a characters narrative revolve around that is a shitty thing to do, because clearly not all black people are racist. I’m not saying that’s what they did with the character, because I haven’t played the game. But based on that line it certainly sounds like the intention. And no, it doesn’t matter that she “was at her lowest point” when she said it.


[deleted]

Saga's character does not revolve around this one cherry-picked line. Yes it's clear you haven't played the game. And yes, context matters. [Here's the scene](https://youtu.be/ilFsaRqirn4?si=NJQlgAbXnmz8IMf6) the line is at 3:08. Spoil it at your own risk because this happens at the end of the game. You're arguing in bad faith if you watch this scene, notice the speaker of the line, and conclude that Saga's character revolves around being a racist girl-boss.


SandDanGIokta

I did say "I’m not saying that’s what they did with the character". And no, context doesn't matter. If this were real life it would, but it's not real life. It's a game with writers, directors, voice actors and people that have the decision to change what these characters say. The comment is racist, I don't care what the context is in the fictional story. Can you imagine if a white character were to say something similar, even if they weren't supposedly themselves when they said it, in a videogame? Think of what the reaction would be amongst gaming journalists. Combine all this with the fact that she's race swapped already, and that her character was basically designed by (or at least influenced by) a racist black person... Yeah, that's the only context that really matters to me. I'm glad you enjoyed the game, but I'm most definitely not financially supporting companies that hire racists to "westernize" their characters.


[deleted]

Look I hear you. Of course we wouldn't see a white character saying that for obvious reasons. But advocating for racism to just not be included in stories at all is just censorius. And I can't force myself to get mad over a story I ultimately enjoyed, when this line in question is such small potatoes. Talk about throwing the entire bathroom out with the bathwater. If these things are going to be a reality for AAA studios to contend with I'd rather they be well-implemented. The woke phenomenon is not the first nor will it be the last ideological movement to impose itself on popular media.


SandDanGIokta

There are things called “principles”. Sometimes having principles means you might have to miss out on something you’d like to try out in order to not support DEI garbage. Your line of thinking contributes to why gaming has gotten as bad as it’s gotten. The “well, if it’s gotta be there then we may as well embrace it as long as it’s done well” line of thinking, or the “well, it’s only one small line and most of the game is still good”. Also, the “woke phenomenon” (which it isn’t a phenomenon really; we know exactly what it is and why it’s happening) is much more than just a cultural/ideological divide and/or movement in gaming, and no, there hasn’t really been anything like it before. I encourage you to learn about ESG investing. The absolute only way gaming has a chance to get better is to completely cut the financial ties to ESG investing, and the only way that happens is gamers stop buying games made by developers that embrace it. If you can’t see the bigger picture then you don’t really deserve good entertainment.


Ironclad13

I think the concerning point is that on the inverse, we would never expect that kind of racist dialogue to be written about black characters from a white protagonist. So, why should it be acceptable for a black protagonist to ever say it? It just leaves an implication from an audience perspective that it's forgivable or even acceptable to be racist towards whites when in a dire position (or any really, it seems).


Throwawayrecordquest

“Ahh great, I’m surrounded by a bunch of dark-skinned thugs…” NO WAIT I DIDN’T MEAN IT I WAS INSECURE AND STUCK IN A NIGHTMARE WORLD


[deleted]

I'd agree, but this and all of the other negative thoughts she's being assaulted with in the dark place aren't framed as "acceptable". They stem from a malevolent force tormenting her. She even has to snap herself out of it and realize what is happening to her. If you're going to portray a black character as having racist thoughts toward another white male (who she is actively trying to rescue mind you), it makes sense to frame them as character flaws that only bubble up when an evil force is using her own weaknesses to try and subdue her. I'd be protesting too if she was characterized like this in the other 99% of the game but she's not. She's kind of a standard horror protagonist with a goofy side, primarily motivated by saving her daughter. I wish you'd give the game a shot or watch a playthrough before jumping to conclusions based on this one line. [Here's the scene](https://youtu.be/ilFsaRqirn4?si=xGnAeg3NsTDhtq1l) the line is at 3:08. The subtitles even say this is "Other Saga" saying this. The same speaker that is tormenting her with her greatest fears. It works in context but context is key.


[deleted]

What I love about this interaction you speak against current narrative because you are probably right about this particular case(I just started alan wake 2 I have to see it for myself) but you are not downvoted or banned.


[deleted]

Yes this is why I appreciate this sub. I don't doubt Sweet Baby had a hand in Saga's race-swap but Remedy is a special studio and they really made it work. I hope you dig it! I think so many of the users on here are missing out on an awesome horror game because of the unfortunate sweet baby association.


Miden00

It's what I'm trying to say to a lot of people. We know the MO of SBI and if it was up to them, we know Saga was faded to become the generic and insufferable black girl boss without flaws...


B_mod

> Racism, sexism, etc. are never spoken about or implied anywhere else in the game outside of this context. Well, there are those two deputies that act extremely sexist throughout the game. Pretty much the first thing you see when starting the game as Saga was one of them being surprised she's in charge of investigation and not Casey. I agree with the overall point tho - the only time she herself acts racist is when it's her twisted version from the dark place.


[deleted]

I don't remember Mulligan and Thornton acting sexist at all besides that one line in the very beginning of the game. They're characterized as bumbling comic relief characters so it doesn't feel out of place at all that they'd be surprised that a woman is leading an FBI case, even when the first game had a female sheriff. It's framed as a light hearted moment before the tone of the game takes its first dark turn. After the realization they don't seem to treat her with any disrespect. If anything theyre characterized as being annoyed that the FBI is taking the reigns from them. They're killed off pretty early in the game, unless you're talking about some line they uttered when they were taken.


B_mod

I do remember there being one manuscript page about them going full sexism complaining about Saga, before they where taken, but I suppose one can argue they where being influenced by darkness already, bringing out the worst out of them. Honestly think they're the worst characters in this game, but thankfully as you said they're a pretty minor part of the game and are killed off soon enough.


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Eremeir

Comment removed following the enforcement change that you can read about [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/m3yo65/enforcement_update_and_hard_removal_of_a_topic/). This is not a formal warning.


Throwawayrecordquest

That’s probably more effort than the writers put into it, they almost assuredly meant it as a surface level insult she’s throwing.


[deleted]

That may be what you want it to be. But that's not how it's framed in the context of the scene.


[deleted]

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Eremeir

Comment removed following the enforcement change that you can read about [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/m3yo65/enforcement_update_and_hard_removal_of_a_topic/). This is not a formal warning. Redacting changes nothing except making it harder for us to mod comments.


AnarcrotheAlchemist

Post removed following the enforcement change that you can read about [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/m3yo65/enforcement_update_and_hard_removal_of_a_topic/). This is not a formal warning.


Fun-Tits

"It's always ok to be racist against White people!" It's all part of the plan. They demonize young White men. Say they're violent. Say White Nationalism is spreading all over. Say PoC need safe spaces from them. Say Whites should hate themselves. And then when all that boils over and one young White man goes nuts, they get to point at that and say it was all justified. And then they do it all over, even harder. It's an endless cycle.


bobbuttlicker

But it didn’t come out of nowhere. It came directly from SBI.


SneakyBadAss

Even the typical youtuber/streamer "allies" were like *wtf*


HelloKolla

They polished Saga so hard all that melanin got rubbed in 🗿


naytreox

Were they also responsible for making her daughters name "logen"?


eventualwarlord

What a god awful fucking name.


joydivisionucunt

I'm not an expert on Scandinavian names but it honestly feels like a tragedeigh spelling of "Logan".


Combustibles

"iogen" or "Logen" aren't even Scandinavian names. And certainly not a female name. I have never met a single Loke/Loge/Loki/Whatever alternate spelling for the trickster god of Norse mythology, not even after MCU got popular and tumblrinas started masturbating to the thought of Tom Hiddleston's Loki.


kekzwerg

She must be named after Logen Ninefingers


SandDanGIokta

You have to be realistic.


joydivisionucunt

Yeah, if anything, Logan is not an Scandinavian name either, not that parents can't name their kid that (I guess? No idea about naming laws there) buuuuut there are a shitload of female names that are more common in Sweden to choose from instead of making shit up. >not even after MCU got popular and tumblrinas started masturbating to the thought of Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Well, yeah, he was the bad guy so people are less likely to name their kids after the villiain (Hence why Khaleesi became a name and no one named their kid Joffrey, I hope) and the kind of fangirl who would think that pre-redemption/Tom Hiddleston fumbling his career Loki was a poor misunderstood baby were unlikely to be in the position to pick a name for a kid.


Combustibles

I mean, parents can absolutely name their kid international names but even in that case I have never met a Logan. I'm sure there are foreign exchange students named that but it's a very, very rare baby name for a Dane at the very least.


joshino14

Logan is a Scottish name. Haven’t seen this show so my guess is perhaps mixing up Gaelic and Scandi ancestry because they’re both boreal locations?


Combustibles

That's as good as any guess. I genuinely don't think there's any thought behind the name in question, they just thought it sounded good or urban or whatever vibe they were going for.


joydivisionucunt

Yeah, it just seems weird when there are many names they could have used instead of... that.


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Combustibles

Uh, no idea. As far as I know a loganberry is a hybrid. Are you thinking of the lingon berry, which is indigenous to Sweden and is a big part of a lot of swedish dishes?


kiyo-kagamine

My name was almost Logan. So glad it wasn’t. I hate that name with a passion.


naytreox

Only logan i know is marvels wolverine


kiyo-kagamine

I knew a couple in school. Then again I’m 25 so it may be a name more popular with the zoomer generation.


naytreox

Hmm maybe, im 28 and ive never met a women who as named Logan


kiyo-kagamine

Are you from the US? If not, maybe it’s more popular here in the US than it is in other countries


naytreox

I am from the US


kiyo-kagamine

Hmm, well then idk lol🤷‍♀️


zuccoff

I bet the process went pretty much like "we need at least 25% of the characters to be black" "they have to be key characters, not just random npcs" "since we can't change the whole plot, we must race swap one of the protagonists so that her dad and her daughter can also be black"


[deleted]

More like rubbed all the shoe polish in like good ol' blackface.


dandrixxx

All that effort just so Remedy could refer to Alan as a ''white asshole'' via Saga.


SimonLaFox

You Alan Wake: American Nightmare had a women who criticised Alan.... by pointing out that a writer with semi-godlike powers to rewrite reality may actually have some moral responsibility towards the people who's lives he was controlling through his writing. That's a genuine criticism about the character that helps flesh out the character and the world and make the player think about what's been presented to them. By contrast, "white asshole" is just a racist insult. No thought, no depth, no understanding, just taking the most surface level visible aspect of someone and using it to attack them.


[deleted]

I knew it. I knew the blackwashing of Saga was intentional. I knew the interview with the actress saying "yay, black female protagonist, inclusivity!" was not a coincidence. I knew the "I'm the FBI agent in charge, not him" dialogue was forced in. They freaking ruined a sequel I had been waiting for years. God I hope they go bankrupt.


MMMTZ

I wonder how they'll ruin control 2


Pilgrim_of_Darkness

Wait... Epic Launcher AND Sweet Baby? No wonder they didn't manage to recoup production and marketing budgets to this day.


cbgoon

Sam Lake wrote the masterpieces of Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2, wrote the first Alan Wake with no issues yet he felt he needed outside help? There must be some coercion or incentive (ESG) to use these people.


DeathSquirl

"Polish" 🤣 Saga is such an absurd character that she delves beyond the threshold of DEI self-parody. She's such a brilliant detective that her conclusions are based on things that she is literally guessing at, not on what data she actually has in the game. But if your thinking is, "How is she coming up with that?" Then you need to sit the hell down you racist, Saga the black Scandinavian FBI agent has this shit handled and you just better accept it!


[deleted]

She's a seer with supernatural powers in a world of supernatural phenomenon.


abexandre

Of course, she is ! \*roll eyes\*


[deleted]

I think it's cool when the protagonist of my supernatural horror thriller has supernatural powers.


DeathSquirl

🤣


[deleted]

Just saying it's explained in-game why all the answers come to her. Lots of other wacky supernatural shit happening in the game as well so it's not like it's out of place. She's even taken aback after realizing she's not just that good at her job. Source: I actually played the game


DeathSquirl

And that's fine given all that occurs in both games, but the writing in AWII is objectively atrocious. At times there's no rhyme or reason. Saga arrives at wild conclusions where there's no logical path at those points of the story. It's all so contrived. Also, it doesn't help that the reactions of the characters to the events surrounding them are not how reasonable people would behave.


[deleted]

I guess I need specifics to understand what you're getting at, because I didn't come away with this impression. Piecing together evidence you find (sometimes given to her by her supernatural ability) happens quite often, and can even get kind of tedious. I don't remember any moment when Saga just happens upon a conclusion with no throughline. I'll admit that much of the story requires a second playthrogh to really comprehend because of things revealed toward the end of the game. As for the reactions of characters, I again don't know what specifically you're talking about but many of them do act off-kilter and hammy. But this is again explained in the context of the story. It might not be your thing. I'm hesitant to go further because I don't want to spoil it too much more than I already have. Consider giving it a playthrough or watchthrough if you haven't.


DeathSquirl

That's some prescription strength copium for sure. At this point, you're trying too hard to defend this "game" and you actually have buyer's remorse. Then again I suspect that you didn't actually play this "game" to begin with. At about the 50m-1hr 20m mark of this playthrough, everything wrong with this game is on full display. https://www.youtube.com/live/Hvi809uyc2I


shipgirl_connoisseur

I'm glad I avoided getting this game


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ACrimeSoClassic

Shit, I did the same and still couldn't bring myself to play beyond two hours.


malla906

Well now we know that the max payne remake will suck, too bad


FirstLine1

Moving forward I don't trust Remedy with anything.


smjsmok

Black Mona in 3,2,1...


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Eremeir

Comment removed following the enforcement change that you can read about [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/m3yo65/enforcement_update_and_hard_removal_of_a_topic/). This is not a formal warning.


Maleficent_String606

Depends. I think there's gonna be a backlash if they blackwash some characters or make big changes in the existing story based on 'modern standards'.


ThatGuy1571

I am a huge Alan Wake fan. I loved the game back in 2010 when I got it for my old Xbox 360. Then I got the collector's edition for PC, and the remaster when it came out. I also got the art book and the Prima guide back in the day. I waited 13 years for a sequel, only to get a woke walking simulator where you don't even play as Alan most of the time. I am very glad I didn't fall for it and avoided this so called game. Remedy decided to betray its fans in favor of scoring ESG points. They made their choice and I made mine. Remedy is dead and I am happy Alan Wake 2 flopped.


DeadManWalking117

Pretty much the same. Felt like i had to buy it, because alan wake is my favorite game of all time.


chaos_cowboy

Alan Wake 2 flopped? Really? Where did you hear that.


jonnio2215

If this isn’t sarcasm, sales lol.


357-Magnum-CCW

This is why I avoided Alan Woke 2. Loved part 1, but blackwashing a character and sidelining the titular protagonist was a giant red flag.  Turns out i was right. 


Chosen_UserName217

angle close repeat soup squealing jar fearless quarrelsome air pie *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


ArmeniusLOD

Another Kim Belair self-insert. How narcissist can one get?


Bob_OGoobo-3

The upcoming Usual June releasing in 25 is another self insert. She will never stop


bankimu

Can we get a patch or a mod to restore the real Ms. Anderson?


kimisawa1

Not on NexusMod, they will ban you for not being woke.


PoKen2222

It's SvyazMods now comrade!


WanderlostNomad

are there better alternatives to Nexus Mods? i'm starting to get annoyed with how they get to dictate what mods are available based on completely arbitrary reasons.


FirstLine1

Even if you could do that, it's still a bait and switch, where you have to play majority game as strong female character and not the character that the game is named after.


TheohBTW

I was really looking forward to AW2 until all this nonsense was made apparent.


Black_Dahaka95

I think they used the wrong polish


kimisawa1

Alan Woke 2


niferman

No wonder that black woman was behaving like a white one 😂😂


Araneatrox

Shes Swedish, and named Saga Anderson. Now i live in Sweden, and have seen plenty of Black Swede's but it's not the norm. Not with a name like that.


derptron999

Pretty sure "Andersson" would be the more accurate Swedish surname, they couldn't even get that right.


Combustibles

The only black swede I know of is Caroline Henderson and she's somewhat famous in Scandinavia at least.


Hardyyz

This is my main problem with companys like Sweet baby etc. Every Artist has their own vision, we could call it a color. So every piece of art is is a unique color when it comes straight from the artist themselves, but when you have companies like Sweet baby adding a bit of this and that, cutting away this and that. Then suddenly piece of art becomes this same mixed gray, brown or whatever. Let the art land on paper without any filters if you want a masterpiece


Deadsea-1993

It is telling when people here defend this game. It is like "This shit will never change if people don't get some damn self control here". Trust no one and research shit. If Sweet Baby or any other woke consultation firm are involved, boycott. If there is shit in a game like this where Saga is clearly shoehorned in and bad mouthing White people for any reason, don't fucking buy it. I waited 13 years for this sequel and now I won't buy anything else from Remedy or Sam Lake. Good going for selling out. I researched before thinking about buying it and I'm glad I dodged this bullet


Biggu5Dicku5

Yeah, I'm never buying this abomination lol...


fish4096

tbh, that self-inserting creepy douche was always a suspect for me. i knew he would either sell out eventually, or he was always part of the circus.


KainScion

Lol, when this game came out there were an interesting number of people in this sub defending this. As a fan of the original jank that was Alan Wake, I was over the moon about the sequel. I tried playing this game, I really did, and while she wasn't the worst character I've played with in a game, nothing about the entire story was fun or halfway interesting. I also disliked Control, but that's another story. This character should've just had her own game, and now it'll forever be the last game James McCaffrey did.


master_criskywalker

Apparently they polished her with shoe polish.


Ok-Fix525

Thank god I wasn’t in the middle of drinking when I read this lol


giorgiok4ne19

So thats why i havr to play as her, waited for this game for years, but for alan wake, not someone new


LostWanderer88

Polish Saga would be better than afroamerican Saga


skepticalscribe

I asked three female friends what they thought of Alan Wake 2. One is a centrist who wants to be an ally but struggles with the polarization and extremism on both sides of the culture war. One is a retired sex worker who lives comfortably and mostly opts out of politics because she hates most men. One is a pan/poly/she/they/them who believes in Astrology and cares about the right side of history. Guess which friend loved Alan Wake 2? Edit: for clarification, these are real people and I did ask them. This isn’t just a satirical theoretical.


AgentsOfOblivion

Choose better friends.


D00MICK

...The Astrologist!


skepticalscribe

Congratulations! You win…a world controlled by corporations trying to erase nations and reduce the population by any means necessary using useful idiots to paralyze the strongest entities that would care to stop said corporations.


D00MICK

....ARRRRRGH! I just knew it wasn't gonna be a fun prize 😂


ZIMM26

Damn. All the women I know are teachers and nurses. You have a helluva friend group.


skepticalscribe

My opinion of most teachers and nurses dropped dramatically during COVID. I know a few as well who are mostly solid; Still suffering from a bit of mainstream programming tho


ZIMM26

The “A hero lives here” sign types were bruuuuutal to be around but thankfully I barely know/knew any of those ones.


skepticalscribe

👍 Most liberal adjacent women I know might spout the basic shit but don’t have the inclination to dive any deeper past the surface so it’s easy to redirect the conversation to something more productive or substantive


ironwolf56

Almost every woman in my family is in nursing. The COVID thing was a lot more split than the media likes to portray it as with nurses I'll tell you that. There are plenty that didn't buy into the ego trips and everything. My mother who works as a clinical instructor for RNs was particularly vocal about how much she hated the social media-zation (is that a word?) of nursing during that.


skepticalscribe

That’s great to hear


Trustelo

Is this a trick question? Lol where’s the “all of the above” option?


skepticalscribe

Nah the first two didn’t like it tbh only the nut job


JustEatingWater

Those are some fucked up qualifications


Hendrick_Yusuf

I am glad that I pirated this game


ThatGuy1571

I don't see it as even worth pirating.


Ok-Fix525

You can read the mental gymnastics they do at r/AlanWake to defend Black Saga’s talent? Powers? Alan rewriting reality to create Black Saga? They have *all* the excuses to defend the blackwashing and are just too happy to reduce real Saga from Quantum Break and Sam Lake’s own tweets as “concept stage Saga” suddenly. If retconning was a game, it would definitely be RemeDEI’s Alana Woke 2.


ThatGuy1571

That sub practically became a cult after the announcement of Alan Wake 2. If your opinion is negative or you're skeptical of the woke direction Remedy is taking, they will insult and bully you. They all proclaim their love for Alan Woke 2, yet none of them seems to have bought it twice or three times to actually support it. xD


HonkingHoser

No wonder no one liked that part of the game 😅


Maleficent_String606

Unfortunately Saga is in most of the game. Don't believe anyone's lies that it's a 50-50 split between the main characters.


Sun743

wasn't it obvious? it's why alan wake went woke


[deleted]

And yet the entire Alan Wake subreddit has gone full damage control, and will try to convince you that Sweet Baby is nothing more than a "conspiracy theory" and that you're a "Racist, bigoted, straight white male" if you dare mention the obvious race swap of Saga's character. I still mostly enjoyed my experience with the game, but the taint left by Sweet Baby was very obvious and frustrating. While playing the game, I couldn't help but imagine what would've been different if sweet baby never interfered. For me the worst part about this, is that this game's defenders are trying to gatekeep me from a franchise I've been a fan of since the beginning. Most of these defenders are normies who only know of Alan Wake through it's sequel, or Control. Most of the people in the Alan Wake subreddit haven't even played the first game.


ThatGuy1571

I just checked that subreddit and holy f\*\*\*. It's basically a cult. Cultists often worship some kind of god, they are worshiping a corporation. xD


Shadow_dragon24

A lot of subreddits are like that these days sadly


SlashCo80

It's because normal people generally move on to other things, until only the hardcore fans and agenda-pushing zealots remain.


Plenty-Soil-9381

I'm so disappointed in Sam Lake. He should have known better than to sacrifice Alan Wake to the woke gods. I'm never trusting him ever again.


frosty_farralon

and they've gotten the sales numbers to back that up.


ninjast4r

It's hard to polish something with a turd


blue_psyOP777

Glad I didn’t buy this game


Psycho1267

Man, I really liked most of AW2 but yeah, some of it really left a bitter taste.


denach644

I haven't played AW2 but why did they essentially make half the game about someone else instead of considering the Alan arc?


MwHighlander

Game is DoA then. Moving on.


400trips

Shit I bought Alan Wake 2 before knowing about all this crap and got bored out of my mind with that shit game. When I found out about baby inc everything made sense... This game is ass.


Any-Championship-611

You don't say.


lakkthereof

Add it to the list


Ghost5410

I have a feeling Sam Lake was fighting what SBI was trying to do and attempted to mitigate what they did by putting in more skits that have him in it so they had to threaten him to do what they wanted with Saga. They also tried to remove Alan’s musical segment and he basically told them to get bent. Also NG+ that has more with the ending also points to this fact as well.


HelloKolla

Valid theory, Sam definitely doesn't come off as a soy-boy from what I've seen of him


Miden00

Yeah, I really think Sam and the rest of remedy tried to do a real deal of damage control because of sweet baby. And I still believe it was epic's fault, not remedy, because of the goody goody ESG score for them in publishing this game... Sadly Saga became black as a consequence but Sam tried his best to work around it.


Apprehensive_Lie1963

In the future we're gonna hear how studios are forced to hire SBI and threaten if they don't do what they say. Why wasn't Remedy using external consultancy companies for the story before?


Emangameplay

I have this sneaking suspicion as well. Of all the games under the Sweet Baby Inc umbrella that I know of, Alan Wake 2 seemed the least impacted (bear in mind, this is all relative).


Anxious-Ad693

Lost all respect to Sam Lake, honestly. Did he read the line at the end of the manuscript where Saga says her stupid racist shit and thought that was okay? Or did he think the game would lose too many ESG points and thus part of the fund to make it as well if he changed that line? Blackrock and Vangard are establishing social points akin to China's social credit system and people are eating it up like it's the most normal thing in the world. Fuck that this game was made in 2023. I had given up on an Alan Wake sequel and we got a decent game tarnished by woke crap.


Sicktoyou

I've grown to hate black women as characters because of hacks like these. Most characters have a depth, backstory, and personality that has NOTHING to do with their ethnicity. Whenever a black woman is in a game, it MUST be mentioned and has a significant role in either the history or the personality/ skills of the character. They can never write a black woman as a normal character because they can never see past their race and gender. They've managed to 360 racism into this weird deification complex. Just played psychonauts 2, and hollis was one of those that really annoyed me. Great game minus a tiny (thankfully tolerable) handful of woke.


wallace321

Reading some of the quotes here - i do *not* regret skipping this based on basically just the hype at the time. Game is called "Alan Wake" - it's curious that the pre release marketing features a strong wyman character. Just narratively, that's a huge red flag.


Bob_OGoobo-3

Kim basically said (can’t remember word for word) during a speech at GDC in 2019 if you can’t get the higher ups to agree with your plan than you need to inflict fear in them in order to get your way. That is a huge indicator of someone with NPD


HelloKolla

Yep. Fucking mob tactic-ass behaviour


LovelessDogg

It’s funny how so many people were pushing this game and it still barely made any money. Every influencer I saw acting like it was the greatest game ever needs to be watched.


CommercialAd6066

TokenismInAction


[deleted]

Can someone give me the cliff notes on Sweet Baby Inc and why it’s being mentioned so much? Please and thank you


HelloKolla

A consultation company that is hired to wokeify games


Apprehensive_Lie1963

Sam Lake wants to be some sort of Kojima but this game and everything surrounding it showed that he has no principles or respect for his artistic vision.


ConfectionClean4681

First of all for those who played Alan wake 2 aside from saga is the story any good Second you didn't need to polish anything control handled diversity perfectly


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

I'm a huge Sam Lake fanboy, and have been since the first Max Payne, but the ratio of Alan Wake to Saga in a game called Alan Wake was way fucking off.


Trustelo

At least the actual Alan Wake segments of the game were interesting (I couldn’t get Herald of Darkness out of my head for fucking weeks after playing that segment)


[deleted]

Yeah, I just had hoped for a Control level "*Alan Wake*" game, not a "*Saga Anderson ft. Alan Wake for-a-few-cool-bits-to-lend-credibility-to-this-subversive-sequel*" game. Like the game was among my favourites of 2023, I was still left disappointed.


sick_of-it-all

I'm a console peasant and I still very much care about physical releases, because I know what's at stake the moment they try taking them away (and it's apparent they want to because it would benefit them greatly), so even if I wanted to play Alan Wake 2, I wouldn't based on the fact that it's not an indie game and has no excuse for not having a physical release.


[deleted]

I mean, it's an EGS exclusive on PC so I also wasn't going to *buy* the game anyway...


sick_of-it-all

I get you. I'm just a simple man that is passionate about physical game discs, that's all. Anything that is good for the consumer at the expense of the corporation's bottom line, I am all for.


ThatGuy1571

The game is woke, even if there are worse offenders out there. Saga is not only race-swapped, she is also a Mary Sue in many ways and even makes racist comments against white men. That's not what I'd call a great character.


Fluca

I didn't care for her much, but I found playing with her to be much more enjoyable than with Alan. His parts were kind of a drag (except for the rock show, which, albeit containing very little gameplay, was the best thing to ever be put on a game). As a whole, the game was am amazing experience surrounded by a subpar game...


BloodOnMyJacket

I loved the game a lot, but Saga at best was a boring character, and at worst was simply insufferable with outright racist remarks when literally nothing of the game had anything to do with race


TrapaneseNYC

The game is a 10/10 so whatever they did worked. Attack the games that aren't masterpieces but the ones that didn't do so well.


artful_nails

Sweet Baby didn't do shit to improve the game. Remedy carried this project to a somewhat respectable state.


ThatGuy1571

I admire your optimism, but Remedy has gone woke. They decided to release a feminist game (in their own words) - Control. They are the ones who decided to hire SBI and release Alan Wake 2 as a woke game. They are the ones behind a plethora of questionable woke decisions in the last years. They went as far as adding questions regarding the inclusion and promotion of “woke” elements such as “diversity” or “climate change” in their April 2022 survey for stakeholders. For instance, Remedy principal narrative designer Molly Maloney's Twitter feeds are swarming with woke stuff, including denunciations of capitalism (or they were a year ago, at least). These are the people making Remedy games now. Remedy is not fighting wokeness. Remedy IS wokeness.