+ For me now he is most outstanding person in the gaming industry, besides authors of Disco Elysium. The rest of the game developers are less personalized and memorable, except maybe Kojima
I really like the image of Sam Lake and Ilka Villi playing BG3 in Co-op, while the BG3 cast play Alan Wake 2 in front of a huge lore whiteboard. Those are my 2 favourite games this year!
@@delmattia96 Right now I'm trying to make a speculative flowchart map of the "spiral" alongside all of Alan Wake's connections to Control and Quantum Break. It's, uh... spiraling out of control. Alan has stuck himself in a time pretzel.
I love that he picked something as perceptively 'basic' as movement as a game mechanic to highlight. And then full-on broke down the philosophy behind why and y'know what, I find myself totally agreeing lol
@@Blisterdude123 movement within a game is the most important thing for me it has to be smooth or its unplayable for me. and its shocking to me how many games dont get that right.
My pop used to do government contract supervision with a Finnish company here in the States. His take away from visiting Finland was that they were “all beautiful and said what they were thinking”.
I'm just happy that the game industry has someone like Sam Lake in it. Been a fan for a very long time and I'm always delighted when I hear him talk about various things.
When he said he sees traversal in games as important, storytelling in action games and also about seeing games as an artform, it is clear Sam Lake really knows what makes a good game or what makes a game good. This is also what makes me love Kojima so much, I would love for them to work together more.
Listening to him talk about CRPGs... maybe Remedy will get enough courage to make us a classic RPG with amazing storytelling they are so good at?... would be absolutely amazing!
Sincerely hope he is not going to retire any time soon. A childhood hero for many of us, who grew up with their games since the og Max Payne. A true treasure of the gaming industry and entertainment as a whole!
For me Max Payne 2 will always be my favorite game. It’s me in my college dorm, a companion and hope during dark depression, and gave me Poets of the Fall. Very grateful for Remedy.
Seeing Sam Lake talk about games brings me SO much joy. I can’t even explain how happy seeing him makes me! I love what he says about games being an interactive art form and how it’s constantly evolving. The amount of immersion and world building in Remedy games are truly second to none.
What I love abotu Sam Lake is how he's still passionate about games. He's still in love with the medium, and hearing that he loves Disco Elysium...brought a smile to my face. I have yet to play it, but it's on my list of "Games to Play Before I Die."
I only started getting into Remedy's stuff a couple of months ago as I wanted to play Alan Wake 2 since it gave me strong Resident Evil 2 Remake vibes (which I of course love), and I'm genuinely upset it took me thing long! I love listening to interviews like this with Sam Lake since basically everything he says about storytelling and game design really, really resonates with me. I'm just so happy that there are still creatives out there who not only want to use videogames as the art form they deserve to be, but also know exactly how to do that very, very well. Cannot wait to see what's next from him because I will be there on day one.
I love hearing industry pros talk about games in general. Marketing sort of forces them to stay "on brand" but this is an artistic field with influences and inspiration from everywhere.
Sam Lake. THANK YOU. Your passionate is overflowing, not only a spectacular game director but a genuine video game player and hearing him gush over games he used to play and details he still remembers 20+ years is beautiful so thank you Sam Lake from the gaming community.
Max Payne was such a game changer for me when I discovered it in my teens, seeing the real Max Payne in all these Alan Wake 2 interviews brings me back ^_^
Sam Lake has become my favorite person in video games hands down. Remedy kicks ass and knowing that such a wholesome, creative, unique, and passionate dude is behind them makes it all even better.
Imagine if all game studios had this type of creative direction and sense of passion and love for their creations and their piers. Remedy never fails to Deliver... I know what I'll be doing 12 hours and 9 minutes from now.
Sam Lake is like a film director with a strong artistic style across his filmography imo. I wish there were more creative directors who speak with that level of passion and candidness about their games.
Gaming used to have this touch and it was sadly lost by a lot of the old-school greats as well. Love that remedy and the entirety have stayed true to their passion as gaming should be. Absolutely love their work it's truly inspiring
Here is a man that truly understands and respects the medium of gaming. He's also very clearly someone who WANTS to improve his craft and is looking for ways to innovate any narrative he crafts
Sam should really play a short hike. His favorite mechanic is traversal, he wants a short game with an adventure and he wants interaction with other characters. He also wants stylization and something recognizable.
When he was talking about narrative I had a feeling he was gonna mention Disco Elysium. One of the best games I ever played. Loved the art style, world building, characters and narration in the game with added exceptional voice acting from really talented artists. Truly a masterpiece and one of a kind game. Same goes with Alan Wake 2. It's an awesome game and really amazing work of art. Love Sam Lake and whole Remedy for making awesome games since Max Payne.
I've always said "movement" is my favourite thing in video games (outside of their capabilities to deliver interactive narratives), it's so cool to hear Lake has a similar opinion when it comes to "exploration". Also, absolutely LOVING that Alan Wake 2 is out and REALLY GOOD!
It's rare when developers admire other games, and do not really care about awards, they just want to create experiences. Sam Lake isn't a lake, he is an ocean because of this~
Im very happy for Sam and everyone at Remedy. Those guys are truly a GOAT in my life Max Payne 1 and 2 are some of my favourite third person action shooters, I played control last year and while I was rather confused by it story at times the gameplay was incredible and Sam dancing at the game awards to Herald of darkness as well as the video clip from the game, just makes me excited and pumped to want to play there games. And they’ve all just had such unique styles and visions of what they wanted out of each game I have a lot of respect for developers like that and also that they don’t want to be bought out by anyone.
The og Max payne Sam Lake is so good to listen to his understanding and thought process always trying to push the envelope in narrative of the game. The choices are absolute gold
Watching this video on my bright TV as I’m working on my computer gave an imprint on the side of my peripheral like an echo from Alan Wake 2 and Sam Lake was there.
"You'd find that Lady Luck was really a hooker, and you were fresh out of cash" Max Payne Also Sam Lake has a definitely great taste in games Like These kind of games i would expect from a guy who created Mind-blowing stories Remedy is one of the rare cases of group of people or a videogame company who dont look at videogames and see how to earn more money, they desperately trying to bring their idea, their vision. They just want to tell amazing stories, without battlepass, outposts, time savers and etc. They love games and its pretty fucking rare these days
I can't believe I'm watching Sam Lake's video talks about my favourite games (Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 ❤). This is why I'm so eager to play Alan Wake 2. Control was awesome, can't wait for its sequel.
I also started gaming on the commodore 64. Donkey Kong and Dizzy are the first games i ever played. Im as much into gaming as i was then. Im 40 now and just started AW2 this past weekend and its perfect.
The point about moving is definitely true for me. Cyberpunk has a Quicktravel Point to every major location yet I still choose to drive myself, because I enjoy taking Night City in.
Listen to me, I was 17 when I played Max Payne. Only after many years have passed I understood who Sam Lake is (sorry Sami Järvi for us peasants not being able to say YOUR REAL NAME!) and lovely his contributions were to my personal live growing up with videogames. Max Payne was transformational. I never forgot about it, then came Alan Wake, then Quantic Break, then Control................. I could not believe my life growing up and witnessing these games at the same time, it was like a dream but also the realest things I've ever witness in the gaming space. 2023: AW2 finally a reality. Damn, expectations over the roof. OVER THE STRATOSPHERE. Still. you know what? Up to the end I was blown away - every second I could not expect what came next. 30h+ completely intimate and lived-in experience. With all the garnishments of tying together with all your other games. The happiest I could ever be in gaming ever since my dad taught me about his 386SX. Please be happy with your awesome career, Sami, and all the people around you. I was born in 1984 in Portugal and cannot be more grateful to eventually have found your games. I hope, please, you read this. You deserve accolades and respect in your creative/work life. It has been world defining to me - I cannot imagine the world without you, truly. Please don't retire before your next game, I cannot wait for it :)
