Alan Wake 2

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Alan Wake 2
Developer(s)Remedy Entertainment
Publisher(s)Epic Games Publishing
Director(s)
Programmer(s)Antti Kerminen
Artist(s)Janne Pulkkinen
Writer(s)
  • Sam Lake
  • Clay Murphy
  • Tyler Burton Smith
Composer(s)Petri Alanko
EngineNorthlight Engine
Platform(s)
Release27 October 2023
Genre(s)Survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

Alan Wake 2 is a 2023 survival horror video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games Publishing. The sequel to Alan Wake (2010), the story follows best-selling novelist Alan Wake, who has been trapped in an alternate dimension for 13 years, as he attempts to escape by writing a horror story involving an FBI special agent named Saga Anderson.

Alan Wake 2 was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 27 October 2023. The Xbox Series X version received critical acclaim from critics and the other versions received "generally favorable" reviews. The game was nominated for multiple Game of the Year awards. It sold over 1.3 million units by February 2024, making it Remedy's fastest-selling game.

Gameplay[edit]

A screenshot of Alan Wake 2, showing the player's character, Saga Anderson aiming her flashlight and handgun at an enemy, in an exterior environment.
The player, as Saga, fights an enemy using a pistol and a flashlight. The ammo counter and flashlight meter are visible at the bottom right.

Compared to the original Alan Wake, which is an action-adventure game with horror themes, Alan Wake 2 is a survival horror game played from a third-person perspective. Players play as Alan Wake or Saga Anderson in two separate single-player stories, which can be played in any order the player chooses, although the opening and ending sequences can only be played as Saga and Alan, respectively.[1][2]

Wake and Anderson traverse environments and fight enemies using various firearms and a flashlight, the latter of which can be "focused" to render enemies vulnerable to firearm attacks. Focusing the flashlight drains its battery, and players need to strategically use a limited amount of batteries and ammunition in order to survive. When enemies are close, Alan or Saga can perform a dodge maneuver.[3]

Alan Wake 2 incorporates detective elements: when playing as Saga, players can access an enemy-free space dubbed the "Mind Place".[3] Described by Remedy as a "3D menu", the Mind Place is a visual representation of Saga's thoughts. In the Mind Place, players manage a pin board in which they can connect clues to piece together the main mystery, as well as profile characters to gather clues.[2] As Alan, players have access to the "Writer's Room", where they can see the outline of a novel he is writing. By adding and changing plot details on the outline, they are able to manipulate the space around Alan.[4] Both the Mind Place and the Writer's Room do not pause the outside world.

A returning element from Alan Wake is of finding manuscript pages that foreshadow upcoming events in the story. Alan Wake 2 features a dialogue tree system.[2]

Plot[edit]

The game starts with a monologue by Alan while showing him with a glowing hole in his forehead. A naked man emerges from the dark shores of Cauldron Lake, experiencing visions of a man violently screaming before he is found and has his heart cut out by a group of men wearing deer masks.

FBI Special Agent Saga Anderson and her partner Alex Casey are dispatched to the town of Bright Falls to investigate a series of ritualistic murders. They investigate the latest victim, the naked man, who is revealed as former FBI agent Robert Nightingale. It is believed he was murdered by a group calling themselves "The Cult of the Tree." In addition to Nightingale's corpse, Saga finds a mysterious manuscript page that seems to predict the future. While in the town, they encounter Sheriff Tim Breaker, who promises to assist their investigation, as well as waitress Rose Marigold, who recognizes Saga and acts like Saga was a local of the area, despite this being her first visit to the town. Saga then performs an autopsy on Nightingale's corpse, but it suddenly reanimates and escapes the morgue after Breaker mysteriously vanishes.

As they pursue Nightingale to Cauldron Lake, Casey says he had investigated a murder cult in New York dedicated to bringing back the missing author Alan Wake by reenacting the murders described in his books, and that Nightingale came to Bright Falls to pursue Alan thirteen years prior. Saga encounters Nightingale, now converted into what the manuscript called a "Taken", and is forced to kill him. Saga then finds a very-shaken Alan Wake washed up on the shore of the lake and takes him into custody while also discovering evidence that an organization called the Federal Bureau of Control has a presence in Bright Falls. Saga and Casey take Alan back to the inn, where he recounts how he escaped from a dream-like dimension called the Dark Place.

While trapped in the Dark Place, Alan continually tried to find a way to escape. After appearing in a mysterious talk show called "In Between with Mr. Door," Alan found an angel-shaped lamp that, in combination with his writing ability, allowed him to manipulate the Dark Place to better navigate it.

Alan began navigating a dark, twisted version of New York City, following the trail of Alex Casey's investigation of the "Cult of the Word" led by Alan's evil doppelganger, Mr. Scratch, who survived his erasure from existence, which brought him through the various scenes of the murders committed by the cult. Along the way, Alan also encountered Breaker, who was searching for the talk show host, Mr. Door, believing him to be responsible for trapping him in the Dark Place. Alan also occasionally made brief contact with Saga, the two of them trading vital information when they could. After believing he had killed Tom Zane, who had gone insane from his captivity inside the Dark Place, Alan was contacted by an alternative version of himself, explaining that his repeated attempts to escape the Dark Place are causing him to experience time loops.

Back in the present, Alan explains that he wrote a new novel, Return, that helped him escape the Dark Place. However, Scratch re-edited the manuscript into a horror story now taking effect in reality. Alan warns that Scratch is searching for the Clicker, which is the key he needs to free the malevolent Dark Presence completely, but also the key to permanently defeating it. With one of the manuscript pages mentioning the Cult of the Tree possesses the Clicker, Saga decides to follow its trail and realizes that Return has rewritten her past so that her daughter Logan drowned in an accident. Angered that Alan wrote her and Logan into his story, Saga recovers the Clicker from Taken deputies Mulligan and Thornton, but before she can get it to Alan, agents from the FBC led by Agent Kiran Estevez arrive and apprehend him as well as the Cult leaders, revealed to be town entrepreneurs Ilmo and Jaakko Koskela.

With no other options, Saga tracks down Odin and Tor Anderson, who know more about the Clicker. As she communicates with them and rescues Tor from a Taken Cynthia Weaver, she learns that Odin and Tor are actually her grand-uncle and grandfather, respectively, and she inherited their seer abilities, allowing her to discern the changes to reality Return is causing. Odin and Tor also explain that the Clicker does not do anything by itself but instead dramatically enhances the creative power of the person using it, which is why it is important to Alan and Scratch. Saga then heads back to Bright Falls to get the Clicker to Alan but finds out that the Alan who escaped Cauldron Lake wasn't Alan, but Scratch. With his identity now exposed, Scratch kills Jaakko and escapes from captivity, attempting to take the Clicker from Saga. He is temporarily thwarted and banished, thanks to the FBC's light technology, leaving Saga wondering what to do next.

Ilmo reveals that he and Jaakko formed the cult in order to scare townsfolk away from the dangers of the lake, while they perform their 'ritual killings' on whatever Taken emerges from it, such as Nightingale. Realizing that Alan is still trapped in the Dark Place, Saga enlists the help of Casey, Odin, Tor, and Estevez to carry out a ritual to summon him to the real world. Meanwhile, Alan continues to try and find a way out of the Dark Place, eventually making his way to his old apartment. There, he discovers his wife Alice had been tormented with visions of Scratch, which she photographed and turned into an art exhibition called "the Dark Place", hoping to find Alan through them. However, her obsession drove her to despair until eventually she photographed her own suicide. In anger, Alan kills who he believes is Scratch but is actually a version of himself attempting to fix Scratch's ending of Return, perpetuating the loop. Realizing that he was the one terrorizing Alice instead of Scratch, Alan lets the Dark Presence possess him.

Back in the real world, the summoning ritual fails to summon Alan in the current time and instead was responsible for his initial appearance earlier in the story. Both Saga and Alan come to the realization that Alan and Scratch were always the same person, with Scratch being Alan, who is possessed by the Dark Presence at the end of every loop, which Alan later realizes became weakened from crossing into the real world, forcing it into dormancy while regaining its strength. Scratch arrives at the summoning site and Saga is able to banish him from Alan's body, only for Scratch to possess Casey instead, steal the Clicker, and throw Saga into the Dark Place.

With Scratch in possession of the Clicker, Alan concludes that the only way to stop him now is to find the manuscript and write a completely new ending for Return. He returns to his Writing Room and tries to work out how to write a perfect ending that saves everybody while staying consistent with the horror genre, realizing that Saga is his co-author to help write the ending together. Meanwhile, trapped in her mind palace, Saga fights off the Dark Presence's attempt to overwhelm her with her own negative emotions and self-doubt. Now in the Dark Place proper, she reunites with Breaker, who remains there in his search for Door, heavily implied to be Saga's missing father. She then receives aid from an anonymous woman, implied to be Alice, who directs her to the Clicker and a Bullet of Light. Saga takes the two items and escapes back to the real world by mimicking Door's actions on a manuscript page. Connecting to Alan through her mind palace, they realize they are the heroes of the story, but for the ending to save everyone, one of the heroes needs to pay a heavy price. With the Clicker and Alan's revised ending for Return, Saga is able to banish Scratch from Casey's body. Alan goads Scratch into possessing him again, and Saga shoots him with the Bullet of Light, seemingly killing him and Scratch but looping his monologue back to the beginning of the game, creating a time-loop for each playthrough. As Casey recovers from his possession, Saga tries to call Logan to confirm her safety, but the scene cuts short before any answer can be heard.

In a post-credits scene, a recording left behind by Alice reveals that after speaking to the FBC at their offices(as mentioned in Control), she had managed to fully regain her memories of what happened to Alan and her time in the Dark Place. She used her exhibition to trick Alan into thinking she committed suicide but instead chose to return to the Dark Place as part of a plan to help him eventually escape, explaining that the only way he can escape the loops is through either "destruction" or "ascension". Alan must continue the loop and keep going through destruction until he's ready for ascension, with Alice's words and love as his light preparing him bit by bit. Alan then revives from his gunshot wound and says, "It's not a loop, it's a spiral."

The New Game Plus mode, The Final Draft, has a different ending: as he hands Saga his revised ending for Return, Alan remembers that the Dark Presence has caught them in a time loop that makes them forget right until the end, and that choices in the Dark Place can affect both the future and the past. He realizes that the Dark Presence was born from the remains of darkness from Alan after he was shot by the Bullet of Light. The Dark Presence eventually found Alan in the past and influenced him, kick-starting the plot of the first game. The link between it and Alan was severed after finishing Return, but the Dark Presence remained as Alan was missing the part of himself it was born from: Alice. Realizing that he and Alice are still connected through his writing and her photos, the Bullet of Light finally succeeds and kills Scratch for good, breaking the loop. Saga's call connects, confirming Logan's survival, and Alan revives soon after to the surprise of her and Casey. Confirming the ending worked, he thanks Alice, then declares himself the bearer of the light and the master of not just two worlds, but many. A video Alan can find in the Final Draft shows an earlier version of himself that theorizes that the notes, clues and writings that guide him on his journey, which he thought were from himself in previous loops, may also partly be from a future version of himself from beyond the loops – "some elevated, enlightened version" – using the current Alan as a pawn to create his own apotheosis.

Development[edit]

Pre-production[edit]

Remedy Entertainment released Alan Wake in 2010. Learning from Max Payne, they wrote Alan Wake in a way that allows additional story to be told through sequels and further installments. The team began discussing sequel ideas after Alan Wake was shipped, which would continue to star Alan Wake as the protagonist, but also explore the stories of the supporting characters including Wake's friend Barry Wheeler and Sheriff Sarah Breaker. A prototype was created to show off the gameplay of Alan Wake 2 when the studio was showing the game to potential publishers. The game would have been a direct sequel to Alan Wake, featuring new enemies and new gameplay mechanics, such as being able to rewrite reality, which were showcased in the prototype. Ultimately, Remedy pitched the project to Alan Wake publisher Microsoft Studios. Microsoft, however, at the time was not interested in a sequel and instead, tasked Remedy to create a new game. This ultimately became Quantum Break, released in 2016. It included, alongside other easter eggs to Alan Wake, a short live-action film, titled Alan Wake: Return. It features two FBI agents, one named Alex Casey, investigating the reappearance of Wake, which had been created by Remedy as to help promote a sequel to publishers.[5][6] The other FBI agent was Saga Anderson, who was portrayed by Malla Malmivaara. She was later recast with Melanie Liburd. Most of the ideas for Alan Wake 2 were implemented in American Nightmare, a downloadable follow-up to Alan Wake.[7] Remedy CEO Tero Virtala stated that any further sequels to Alan Wake would require Microsoft Studios' approval as the publishing rights holder, though Remedy otherwise owns all other intellectual property rights to the series.[8]

When Quantum Break was announced, Sam Lake explained that a sequel to Alan Wake had been postponed, and that Alan Wake was not financially successful enough to receive the funding they needed to continue developing the sequel at the time.[9] Director of communications Thomas Puha stated in April 2019 that Remedy had briefly returned to work on an Alan Wake property about two years prior, but the effort did not work out, and the company was booked for the next few years, between their own new game Control, supporting Smilegate on its game CrossfireX, and another new project. Puha said that the only limited factor for them to work on an Alan Wake sequel was "time, money, and resources".[10] Despite that, Lake continued to be part of a team in Remedy to brainstorm ideas and work on different incarnations for Alan Wake 2. Internally, the project was code-named "Project Big Fish", which represented its importance and significance to Remedy.[11] In the second downloadable content pack for Control, Remedy's next game following Quantum Break, Alan Wake was featured as a character. According to Remedy, Control established the "Remedy Connected Universe" which is shared by both Control and Alan Wake, and that the next game released by the studio will also be set on this universe.[12]

Remedy fully acquired the rights to Alan Wake from Microsoft in July 2019, including a one-time royalty payment of about €2.5 million for the game series' past sales, which helped pave the way for a sequel.[13] Remedy had signed with Epic Games Publishing in 2021 for the release of two games. Remedy released Alan Wake Remastered in October 2021 as the first game of this partnership,[14] while the second, larger game, Alan Wake 2, was announced at The Game Awards 2021.[15] Remedy's communications director Thomas Puha said that Epic allowed Remedy to create the game they wanted to make with minimal publisher interference, while providing extensive feedback to help improve the game.[16]

Production[edit]

With Epic as their publisher, Remedy began production on Alan Wake 2 in August 2019.[17] According to Sam Lake, the game would be powered by Remedy's own Northlight Engine, which they used for Quantum Break and Control. Lake also stated that Alan Wake 2 would be a survival horror game, as opposed to Alan Wake, which Lake said was "an action game with horror elements", though he did not explain the difference between the two. Lake further added that players will not need to play the previous games in order to understand Alan Wake 2.[11] The sequel continued to draw inspiration from the works of David Lynch, particularly Twin Peaks, while also bringing more detective themes from works like Seven, The Silence of the Lambs, and True Detective.[18] Lake said that his approach to Alan Wake 2 was bolstered by the success of the film Everything Everywhere All At Once.[19]

Remedy confirmed the game would remain in the third-person perspective despite the switch to survival horror, and that both Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta would return to provide the appearance and the voice of Alan, respectively.[20] Other cast include Melanie Liburd as the live-action and voice of Saga Anderson, David Harewood as both the live-action and voice of Mr. Door, James McCaffrey and Lake as the voice and live-action appearance of Alex Casey, respectively.[21] Further, Alan Wake 2 includes cameos from characters in Control, including Jesse Faden (voiced by Courtney Hope), Dr. Darling (Porretta) and the mysterious janitor Ahti (Martti Suosalo).[22]

Alan's story includes a mission known as "Initiation 4" or "We Sing", which has the player guide Alan through a surreal set while Alan's psyche, Mr. Door, and others sing "Herald of Darkness", a musical (via live-action video) summarizing Alan's story to that point, with music provided by Poets of the Fall (playing as the fictional band "The Old Gods of Asgard").[23] Lake said the idea for the musical sequence was inspired by Alan Wake's concert standoff as well as the Ashtray Maze level in Control, both set to Poets of the Fall's music. Lake also knew that Porretta (Wake) and Harewood (Mr. Door) could sing, and Poets of the Fall were able to help with choreography. Frequently through development, some of the developers questioned the need for the musical sequence due to both the strangeness of the sequence in the horror game and the difficulties in pulling it off. However, Lake insisted that the sequence be kept.[24] The song was played live at The Game Awards 2023 by Poets of the Fall, along with Villi, Porretta, Harewood, and Lake reprising their roles.[25]

Overall, the game took 13 years to develop. In an interview, Sam Lake said this was because "The sequel contains many characters and locations, as well as a continuation of the supernatural lore established and introduced in the original Alan Wake."[26]

The Budget for the game reportedly stands at €70 million, with €50 million in development and an additional €20 million spent on marketing.[27] This is considered to make the game one of the most expensive cultural products in the history of Finland.[28]

Graphics technology[edit]

Prior to the release of Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment had earned a reputation for pushing visual boundaries and graphics technology with releases such as Control and Max Payne 2.[29] Alan Wake 2 was developed with ninth generation consoles in mind. For its traditional graphics rasterization, Alan Wake 2 harnesses mesh shaders that are only supported by the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 20 series or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs and later on PC.[30] The game was the first to be released with native support for mesh shaders.[31] As opposed to older vertex and geometry shading techniques, mesh shaders try to reduce the bottleneck from rendering a large number of fixed vertex triangles by instead flexibly rendering large groups of triangles. Developers are given greater control over rendering complex geometry as mesh shaders can be segmented into smaller meshlets that can be re-used and rendered in-parrallel while making less calls for data from memory.[32] The graphics pipeline is also shorter with mesh shaders as opposed to a traditional vertex and tessellation pipeline.[32] Alan Wake 2 running on hardware without mesh shaders support, such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 10 series or AMD Radeon RX 5000 series GPUs, results in poor performance and visual errors.[33]

Ray tracing is extensively used in Alan Wake 2 to better simulate how light reacts realistically behaves in the real world. Scenes are lit using global illumination and the light provided by the global light source bounces off surfaces and diffuses depending on the materials present. The use of ray tracing is particularly important for adding ambience to dark scenes in the game that feature flashlights as a sole light source.[34] Alan Wake 2 even goes beyond ray tracing to incorporate path tracing where diffused light will also bounce across duller surfaces in addition to reflective ones.[35] Path tracing's computational demands means that it is not not available on the limited console hardware.[36] Alan Wake 2's extensive use of ray tracing made it a promotional vessel for Nvidia's graphics technologies such as supporting DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction. DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction on Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards seeks to improve ray tracing visual quality and performance by not performing calculations on multiple rays per pixxel and instead using machine learning to fill in the gaps.[37]

Release[edit]

Remedy announced in May 2023 that Alan Wake 2 would be a digital-only release, rationalizing that many players had already shifted to only buying games digitally, so they wanted to ensure the game maintains a low price, and they didn't want it to require a separate download even if a physical version was released.[38] Originally planned to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 17 October 2023, Remedy delayed the game by ten days to 27 October to avoid competition from other major triple-A releases.[39] The PC version is exclusive to the Epic Games Store for "a long time".[40] Free downloadable content packs and two paid expansions, titled Night Springs and Lake House, will be released after the game's initial launch.[41]

Marketing[edit]

An Alan Wake cosmetic outfit was added to Fortnite Battle Royale as part of the "Fortnitemares 2023" event[42] and a retelling of the first Alan Wake was available within Fortnite Creative in the weeks prior to the sequel's release to help new players come up to speed on events from the first game.[43]

From 10 October to 13 November 2023, a free copy of Alan Wake 2 was included in a promotional bundle with the purchase of certain Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs.[44] The eligible GPUs for the bundle were the RTX 4070, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080 and RTX 4090.[45]

Alan Wake was added to the video game Dead by Daylight in January 2024. Additional cosmetics were included with his release, including skins that turn the character into either Saga Anderson, Rose Marigold, and Mr. Scratch. [46][better source needed]

Reception[edit]

Alan Wake 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics for the PC and PS5 versions, while the Xbox Series X version received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[47][48][49]

Andrew Farrell of PCGamesN in his Alan Wake 2 review awarded the game 9 out of 10 saying, "Alan Wake 2 is a marvel, serving up intense gameplay, a twisty, dark story, and more secrets and surprises than you could possibly imagine. Remedy has outdone itself here, delivering a truly remarkable experience."[61]

Alan Wake 2 was ranked first on Time's top 10 best video games of 2023 list.[67]

Sales[edit]

By the end of December 2023, Alan Wake 2 had sold 1 million units, and by February 2024, had sold over 1.3 million units, making it Remedy's fastest-selling game. It sold more units and over three times more digital units in its first month than Control did in its first four months.[68][69]

Awards[edit]

Date Award Category Result Ref.
2023 Golden Joystick Awards Critics Choice Award Won [70][71]
Best Game Trailer (The Dark Place Gameplay) Nominated
Best Lead Performer (Ilkka Villi / Matthew Porretta) Nominated
Best Lead Performer (Melanie Liburd) Nominated
Ultimate Game of the Year Nominated
The Game Awards 2023 Game of the Year Nominated [72]
Best Game Direction Won
Best Narrative Won
Best Art Direction Won
Best Score and Music (Petri Alanko) Nominated
Best Audio Design Nominated
Best Performance (Melanie Liburd) Nominated
Best Action / Adventure Game Nominated
2024 13th New York Game Awards Big Apple Award for Game of the Year Nominated [73][74]
Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game Nominated
Statue of Liberty Award for Best World Won
Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game Nominated
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game (Melanie Liburd as Saga Anderson) Won
27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Game of the Year Nominated [75][76]
Adventure Game of the Year Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Won
Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Character (Saga Anderson) Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Story Nominated
Outstanding Technical Achievement Nominated
22nd Visual Effects Society Awards Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project Won [77]
24th Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Honorable mention [78][79]
Best Narrative Nominated
Best Technology Nominated
Best Visual Art Won
Audience Award Nominated
20th British Academy Games Awards Best Game Nominated [80][81]
Animation Nominated
Artistic Achievement Won
Audio Achievement Won
Game Design Longlisted [82]
Music Nominated [83][84]
Narrative Nominated
Technical Achievement Nominated
Performer in a Leading Role (Ilkka Villi as Alan Wake (Live Action + Mocap)) Longlisted [85]
Performer in a Leading Role (Matthew Porretta as Alan Wake (Voice)) Longlisted
Performer in a Leading Role (Melanie Liburd as Saga Anderson) Longlisted
Performer in a Supporting Role (James McCaffrey as Alex Casey (Voice)) Longlisted
Performer in a Supporting Role (Martti Suosalo as Ahti) Longlisted
Performer in a Supporting Role (Sam Lake as Alex Casey (Live Action + Mocap)) Nominated [86][87]
Nebula Awards Best Game Writing (Sam Lake, Clay Murphy, Tyler Burton Smith and Sinikka Annala) Pending [88]
Hugo Awards Best Game or Interactive Work Pending [89]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Puha, Thomas (24 May 2023). "Alan Wake 2 launches on PS5 October 17". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Robinson, Andy (10 June 2023). "Alan Wake 2 interview: 'True Detective was definitely on our mind'". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b Indovina, Kurt; Caswell, Tom (10 June 2023). "Alan Wake 2 Gameplay Impressions | Summer Game Fest 2023". GameSpot. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  4. ^ Simelane, Smangaliso (27 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2: How the Mind Palace and Writer's Room work". Destructoid. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  5. ^ Robinson, Nick (1 March 2016). "Quantum Break is full of Alan Wake easter eggs". Polygon. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  6. ^ Robinson, Martin (7 March 2016). "Remedy still in talks about Alan Wake 2". Polygon. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  7. ^ Crecente, Brian (20 April 2015). "Introducing the Alan Wake 2 you will never play". Polygon. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  8. ^ Batchelor, James (16 July 2018). "How Remedy is taking Control of its own destiny". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  9. ^ Narcisse, Evan (22 May 2013). "Alan Wake Creator Explains Why We Are Not Getting A Sequel". Kotaku. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
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  11. ^ a b Lake, Sam (9 December 2021). "Alan Wake 2 announced for PS5". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  12. ^ Chalk, Andy (7 August 2020). "The next 'Remedy Connected Universe' game is already in development". PC Gamer. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  13. ^ Phillips, Tom (1 July 2019). "Alan Wake developer Remedy regains publishing rights". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  14. ^ Marks, Tom (10 September 2021). "Alan Wake Remastered Release Date Announced". IGN. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  15. ^ McWhertor, Michael (9 December 2021). "Alan Wake 2 revealed, will be Remedy's first survival horror game". Polygon. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  16. ^ Nelson, Will (30 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 devs could make the game 'we wanted' thanks to Epic". PCGamesN. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Company announcement 09:00 am (EET) 12 November 2021 BUSINESS REVIEW January–September 2021 (unaudited)", Remedy Investors, Remedy Entertainment Plc, 12 November 2012, In September, we announced that the smaller of the two Epic Games Publishing projects, Alan Wake Remastered, was completed and ready to be launched in October on PC on the Epic Games Store, Xbox, and for the first time in the franchise's history, PlayStation console [..] Another key milestone was the entry of the bigger Epic Games Publishing project into full production in August.
  18. ^ Fillari, Alessandro (13 November 2023). "Why Remedy Entertainment went all in on Saga Anderson in Alan Wake 2". Game Developer. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  19. ^ Park, Gene (16 December 2023). "Sam Lake, gaming's genre-bending auteur, on breaking reality". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  20. ^ Cryer, Hirun (14 December 2021). "Alan Wake 2 is bringing back the third-person camera and lead actor Matthew Porretta". GamesRadar. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  21. ^ Erskine, Donovan (2 November 2023). "Alan Wake 2 voice actors & cast list". Shacknews. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  22. ^ Moiseyev, Dennis (9 November 2023). "Alan Wake 2: Every Returning Character From The Original And Control". The Gamer. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  23. ^ Mahardy, Mike (30 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 has the best 15-minute stretch in a video game in years". Polygon. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  24. ^ Delaney, Mark (4 November 2023). "Alan Wake 2's Best Scene Was Nearly Cut From The Game, Sam Lake Reveals". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  25. ^ Mahardy, Mike (7 December 2023). "The Old Gods of Asgard are The Game Awards' best musical guest yet". Polygon. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  26. ^ Hussain, Mudassir (17 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 Interview: 13 Years Of Struggle, Saga's Relation, And Significance Of DLCs". eXputer. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  27. ^ Niemi, Liisa (27 October 2023). "Alan Wake II on yksi Suomen kalleimmista kulttuurituotteista, ja siitä voi tulla Remedylle kultakaivos" [Alan Wake II is one of the most expensive cultural products in Finland, and it can become a gold mine for Remedy]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  28. ^ Mattila, Mattias (26 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 on kymmenien miljoonien eurojen selviytymiskauhua – yksi vuoden odotetuimmista peleistä on täynnä Suomi-viitteitä" [Alan Wake 2 is a survival horror worth tens of millions of euros - one of the most anticipated games of the year is full of Finnish references]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  29. ^ Mackenzie, Oliver (26 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 on PlayStation 5 - Remedy raises the bar for visuals yet again". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  30. ^ Tyson, Mark (30 October 2023). "Alan Wake 2 Requires Mesh Shaders, Excluding Most Older GPUs". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  31. ^ Evanson, Nick (30 October 2023). "Mesh shaders explained: What are they, what's the big fuss, and why are they only in Alan Wake 2?". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  32. ^ a b Kubisch, Christoph (17 September 2018). "Introduction to Turing Mesh Shaders". Nvidia Developer. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  33. ^ Battaglia, Alex (3 March 2024). "Upcoming Alan Wake 2 patch drastically improves GTX 10-series performance". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  34. ^ Swan, Cameron (3 November 2023). "Alan Wake 2's Use of Lighting Shouldn't Be Taken for Granted". GameRant. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  35. ^ Battaglia, Alex (5 November 2023). "Alan Wake 2: a deep dive into Remedy's high-end ray tracing". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
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