Originally announced all the way back in October 2021 at The Game Awards, Alan Wake 2 is closer than ever with it due to release on October 17th, 2023. Showcasing the first gameplay trailer earlier this year at the Summer Game Fest, there seems to be a constant state of news surrounding the game.
Recently Remedy have been releasing their behind-the-scenes developing videos, giving fans an idea of what the game looks like to make, as well as a viewpoint on the creative process for the studio and their most recent one is illuminating to say the least.
Remedy Love a Little Horror
Remedy have certainly etched their own niche in the horror genre of video games, with their biggest and best being the original Alan Wake and the more recent Control, which featured the a DLC that looks to be bridging the long gap between the first and upcoming second game.
Both of those released games have a certain tense tone to them, with players never entirely sure how to proceed and what’ll greet them round the next corner, or through the next door. Alan Wake 2 looks set to take all the lessons of the previous games and double down on the horror and atmosphere of it all, with Remedy describing the game as their “first survival horror” video game.
Related: Alan Wake 2’s Developers Championing Single Player Games, Putting Story and Experience First
The introduction of a new protagonist in Saga Anderson, an FBI agent who happens to end up on a murder case in Bright Falls – the same town that the first game’s tale of loss and grief was placed in – brings a True Detective-esque feel to the game, along with the returning Twin Peaks aesthetics and mind-bending feel to proceedings. Not a huge amount has been divulged story wise by Remedy, but if it follows the same rules as both Alan Wake and Control, it’s evident we won’t really have a grasp as to what is going on at any point, and be the better for it.
Creative Director Sam Lake, who has been on board with the franchise since the very start, had this to say regarding Wake and the type of man he is.
“What’s very very important to me is to come up with a hero character who is not a professional hero. Him being a writer allowed me to explore creating prose and writing prose as part of the plot, which keeps on being an element of course, in Alan Wake 2 as well.”
Anyone that has played the first Alan Wake game will know the importance of Wake being a writer, and how that presents itself in the world we play in. Judging by this those same mechanics will be at play here, but it’s not clear as to whether this might mean Wake himself has caused the events that have summoned Saga to Bright Falls. Maybe in an effort to free himself from his nightmarish prison of his own creation?
Either way, the behind-the-scenes series of videos are essential viewing for fans of Remedy and the franchise, or just those interesting in game development as a whole.
Due for release on October 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, via the Epic Games Store. Will you be buying Alan Wake 2? Do you think it could live up to the original? Let us know in the comments!
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