Alan Wake 2: Introducing the Game We'll Never See (Topic)

At the end of August, Remedy Entertainment's last game, Control, will be released. Since the first Max Payne, the studio has never ceased to amaze us. A striking example of this was the Alan Wake dilogy. And although the audience of this game is not as large as it could be, many fans, hearing the name of Alan Wake 2, will feel their heart tremble with excitement.

Alas, Alan Wake 2 has been canceled and we are not destined to see a sequel to this thriller. It's a pity, because the first game showed how interesting episodic games can be, divided into parts competently, and that storytelling is the main component of the game, and violence and bloodshed is not the only possible way of entertainment.

The story ended with a cliffhanger, forcing players to build different theories. "What could Alan Wake 2 be like?" - asks Polygon in his material. Let's try to find out together.

This is not a lake; this is the ocean

In the first Alan Wake, you take on the role of writer Alan Wake [it would be funny if Remedy Entertainment named every game by their name], trying to figure out what happened to his wife, who disappeared during their vacation in Bright Falls , Washington state. As Wake delves deeper into the story, it becomes clear that things are not quite normal in Bright Falls, and that elements of the novel he is writing are coming to life.

It consists of episodes that work according to the rules of the series. The episode ends with a cliffhanger, and at the beginning of a new episode, we briefly retell the events of the previous episode.

This is a clever game that takes storytelling seriously, but ends on a note that seems incomplete. This is because Remedy originally planned to split the story into several games.

Long story planning the studio began to practice after working on Max Payne, when it had problems with the sequel.

“I had great pleasure in killing every character in Max Payne,” Remedy Creative Director Sam Lake told Polygon. “However, this led to the problem that we didn't have any characters left for the sequel. This is what pushed us when creating Alan Wake to write history in advance. We knew that we would have to do a lot of work, to write characters, characters, history, but at the planning stage, all these ideas for the future sequel were very rough. ”

After the studio released the game in 2010, it began to smooth out and tidy up all the "rough ideas". They were actively planning Alan Wake 2 and more, says Lake:

“In many ways, we saw not just a sequel, but a whole universe. Alan is a very important character, but there are many other heroes around him, such as his friend and agent Barry Wheeler. Alan Wake's world could be developed in different ways. ”

Prototype

It's one thing to plan or even write a plot, it's quite another to make a game. And Remedy wasn't just tongue-tied. They had a working prototype of a future game, created for demonstration. They used it to attract potential publishers. Lake described it as something that was not yet a full-fledged continuation of the story, but at the same time had clear signs of the very Alan Wake 2.

It is obvious that in the prototype we see Alan Wake as a more experienced fighter in the war against the forces of darkness. The prototype also showed enemies that were not in the original game, new settings, mechanics, ”said Lake. “These were new things that we started working on.

The studio didn't have a single prototype. The one they showed potential publishers was the most workable and perfect piece of the game. Prior to that, the developers had many more crude game prototypes, tests and game elements that were eventually used in Alan Wake: American Nightmare - a separate story told in the Alan Wake universe. And it was this project that became the final point for the studio in the question of the second part, which confirmed that the game would not be released.

They released the prototype to the public, and as the journalist Polygon writes, it was very unusual to show such things. It was then that the thought first crept into his mind that Alan Wake 2 had been canceled.

And as the studio later admitted, at one point they realized that they were not ready to create a sequel, so they released the prototype for general viewing, because there were no spoilers in it, and it was not bad in quality. Supposedly they need more time to prepare for its creation. And a year later, they announced that they did not even think of developing it, as they were busy with Quantum Break.

From American Psycho to Time Traveler

During the period when Remedy entered into an agreement with Microsoft with the condition of creating a game under the intellectual property of the same name, the studio owned the rights to Alan Wake. Ultimately, they were interested in "Microsoft".

"They really supported Alan Wake 2, Phil Spencer was a huge supporter when it came to sequels," Lake said. “We showed it to Microsoft, and I think then they needed a similar project. However, soon our discussion about Alan Wake 2 turned into something else, and something else turned into Quantum Break, which is great and very exciting. ”

A new studio game like Alan Wake is a third-person action game, but more focused on the elements of shooting. The game takes place after a time travel experiment on the campus of a fictional northeastern university failed and created anomalies. One of the highlights of the game's design is that it contained a significant element of live action. After completing an episode of the game, players watch an episode of the show. The plot of the show and the game changed from the choice of gamers.

In 2016, Lake said that it is likely that the company could work on the second part of Alan Wake in parallel with Quantum Break, and they do not exclude this possibility. And Phil Spencer himself admitted that he is a fan of the original game.

Alan Wake 2

A lot has changed since 2010. First of all, the format of the series itself, and the concept of episodic games, has also changed thanks to the heyday of games from Telltale in its time. Remedy themselves are busy with a completely different project that won't stick to episode formats. For the foreseeable future, the studio will not be working on Alan Wake 2.

Back in 2016, the developer did not really know if the publisher had an interest in the Alan Wake franchise, and now, three years later, this is anyone's guess. We can say with confidence that a different time has just come and I am sure that Control will be remembered as much as the story of the moved writer.

The Topic of Article: Alan Wake 2: Introducing the Game We'll Never See.
Author: Jake Pinkman