Seeing Treatment Leisure’s cult favourite horror sport Alan Wake make a comeback is an odd feeling. Arriving 13 years after the unique, Alan Wake 2 sees the return of the titular protagonist who can rewrite actuality, all whereas evading the creeping darkish forces that is all the time one step behind him.
However with the sequel, Alan’s story is just one a part of Treatment Leisure’s shift to a extra character-driven and sprawling tackle survival horror—making this observe up an unexpectedly radical departure from the unique.
At a current hands-on showcase, I spoke with sport director Kyle Rowley and principal narrative designer Molly Maloney about making the long-awaited return, constructing a “Treatment Linked Universe” with clear connections to 2019’s Management, and the way the prolonged wait resulted in a extra introspective sequel a couple of grand return.
An Alan Wake Revival in Extra Methods Than One
After 13 years within the metaphysical Darkish Place, author Alan Wake returns to the actual world a modified man. He is nonetheless haunted by Mr. Scratch and the malevolent forces that saved him captive. Becoming a member of him is new protagonist Saga Anderson, who slowly will get sucked into the bizarre and all-too-real narrative of Alan’s battle towards the darkness. Whereas Alan faces his demons, she’ll face her personal within the Cult of the Tree, while crossing paths with members of Management’s Federal Bureau of Management.
The unique Alan Wake and its side-game spinoff Alan Wake: American Nightmare performed with that acquainted Treatment-style self-awareness for its plot, which made for an intriguing and distinctive tackle a horror sport. Alan Wake 2 continues with that by leaning into the truth that Alan has been gone for over a decade. The hole in time provides the sequel an eerie-but-familiar environment that channels the identical vibe as David Lynch’s third season of Twin Peaks.
Selecting a tone like that poses an fascinating problem for Treatment, when making certain the sport is approachable to newcomers. It might give new gamers the impression that they’re in a state of confusion, feeling as in the event that they’ve stepped right into a long-brewing and weird story that is at its mid-point.
Each views are intentional, and one thing that the builders at Treatment Leisure pinned as guiding ideas for the twin protagonists. In response to principal narrative designer Molly Maloney, Alan Wake 2′s twin protagonists anchor one of many sport’s core themes. New protagonist Saga Anderson is just not solely a personality for newcomers however affords a singular perspective on the bigger thriller of the sport.
“One of many core themes of Alan Wake 2 is duality: two worlds, two protagonists, mild versus darkness. So it made plenty of sense from the early days to convey Saga in as a protagonist together with Alan,” mentioned Maloney on increasing the scope of the story. “But, I believe that Saga is a lot greater than that. We talked about her rather a lot from an intro point-of-view, and I believe that’s important on condition that it has been 13 years.”
“However once more she’s a lot greater than that, she gives a very essential perspective,” she continued. “With Alan being so immersed on this world of darkness for 13 years, he comes from a really explicit standpoint. Saga gives the foil to that standpoint, she additionally gives these fantastic alternatives to discover the Pacific Northwest, these locations that I do know gamers are going to be excited to see once more.”
Leaning into character-driven survival horror
Alan Wake 2 continues the sequence’ tackle surrealist horror with an expanded scope. Whereas the unique sport was action-horror, Alan Wake 2 focuses extra on conventional survival horror, taking direct cues from Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake. To provide it that Treatment affect, the builders have a extra character-specific tackle the style, with each protagonists’ situations specializing in various kinds of horror storytelling that match their plots and personalities.
Saga Anderson’s story begins in a chapter referred to as “Native Lady,” which brings her to the small Pacific Northwest city of Watery to research the Cult of the Tree (a harmful group worshiping a supernatural entity referred to as the Darkness). Saga’s chapters within the sport give attention to the eeriness of what needs to be an strange prison investigation. The Twin Peaks affect remains to be evident, however the builders additionally took inspiration from HBO’s True Detective, a gritty and moody detective story that slowly shifts into occult horror.
Dropping Saga right into a Pacific Northwest setting—the identical area the primary sport occurred in—seems like an upgraded tackle the unique sport’s tone and tempo, which is a intelligent thought for a personality targeted on guiding new and returning gamers into the weirder world of Alan Wake 2. Saga’s part felt nostalgic for the unique however equally unnerving with what’s new.
Whereas exploring the city of Watery and its weird Espresso World amusement park, Saga finds new clues to her investigation and fights members of the Cult possessed by the Darkness. Like the unique, the fight loop facilities on weakening enemies together with your flashlight to pierce their darkish safety, then ending them with cautious photographs out of your firearms. These encounters really feel extra heightened inside the survival horror framework, as ammo is scarce and batteries are arduous to return by.
As Saga positive factors extra clues and perception, she will be able to enter her “Thoughts Palace”—one among Treatment’s important improvements for the sequel. It’s an explorable “psychological” workplace the place she will be able to look at clues, look over maps, and piece collectively connections to maneuver her investigation ahead. This house affords a quick respite, permitting gamers to discover a sense of route within the story. It is a intelligent tackle the standard menu system. Nonetheless, it is also a personality assertion as Saga’s perception and intelligence permit her to see the larger image—and the way she suits into the evolving ‘story’ of Alan Wake 2.
Why Treatment loves its mysteries
Talking with sport director Kyle Rowley, the component of thriller is core to all of Treatment’s video games, together with—and particularly—Alan Wake 2.
“There are folks on the market who begin piecing collectively particulars and make theories about issues in our video games, and, you understand, I believe mysteries are an enormous a part of Treatment’s DNA,” mentioned Rowley. “We do not essentially all the time reply all of the inquiries to these mysteries, however we like folks to take a position on them. And, like, having these connections between characters and completely different video games and stuff like that type of permits us to lean into that quite a bit.”
These mysteries grow to be extra entangled when gamers swap to enjoying as Alan. A chapter referred to as “Room 665” which takes the haunted author to a nightmare model of New York Metropolis conjured up by Alan’s unconscious and the Darkness. Alan’s “New York Metropolis” is of his personal making, taking the hard-boiled city hellhole of the fictional Alex Casey novels and filling it with spectral entities who whisper his title from the shadows earlier than leaping in the direction of him. Alan’s story is a stark departure from Saga’s extra slow-burn detective story, absolutely embracing a extra horrifying setting that’s actually out to get you.
Alan’s marketing campaign leans into the truth that he’s a author, and his creations have been twisted to focus on him. Alan meets a conjured-up model of fictional detective Alex Casey, who’s performed by each Treatment inventive director Sam Lake and actor James McCaffrey. (McCaffrey as soon as voiced Treatment hero Max Payne, and he’s channeling that character’s gruff nature right here.) One edge that Alan has towards the Darkness is his potential to regulate the sunshine with a brand new gadget referred to as the Angel Lamp, which permits him to reposition mild sources to light up areas and even open up new paths to hidden areas.
Nevertheless, his strongest potential is to “rewrite” the truth conjured up by the Darkness. Like Saga’s thoughts palace, Alan has his author’s room, which lets him observe clues that may grow to be sources of inspiration to reshape the setting by way of his prose—actually utilizing the inventive course of to write down his manner out of hazard. Inside one space referred to as the Oceanview Lodge, Alan finds details about a darkish ritual carried out by The Cult of the Tree’s darkish ritual that went terribly improper. Alan’s talents let him recreate the occasions in query to uncover how issues performed out. In doing so, the truth of the Oceanview Lodge turns into extra unstable, leading to extra chaos and hostility from the Darkness—as if the haunted home is actively making an attempt to drive him out.
Alan’s situation shifts deep into supernatural and psychological horror, showcasing a lot of Treatment’s extra elaborate methods of world design and storytelling that had been seen of their earlier sport Management —which incorporates live-action storytelling to distinction with the sport’s visuals. It is a tremendously daring tackle survival horror that basically impressed me, and it was an method that Treatment felt was proper for its sequel.
“Horror video games are having a renaissance proper now, and I believe it is a very thrilling time to be a horror sport fan,” mentioned Maloney. “One of many issues that makes this sport distinctive is that the environments are explicit to every character and their tales. Alan is trapped in his personal world that is a nightmarish tackle New York Metropolis, and he’s making an attempt to write down his manner out, and the participant is invited to be part of that. I believe that is distinctive for horror video games and Treatment, and I believe that is very thrilling.”
Returning to a cult-favorite
Alan Wake 2 appears to be benefiting from reviving a sequence and its protagonist from a protracted relaxation. It embraces the truth that this sequel took a very long time to return to fruition, which the devs described as a “meta” method to creating the sequel, with followers ready for Alan to return so long as he was trapped within the Darkish Place.
Whereas Alan Wake 2 is Treatment’s large effort to revive the sequence, it is also linked to the deliberate Treatment Linked Universe with Management and its upcoming sequel. Nevertheless, they’re targeted on making certain that Alan Wake’s large return is sweet sufficient by itself.
“We’re all the time fascinated by exploring methods to attach our video games, however for now, we’re making an attempt to be sure that can stand by itself,” mentioned Rowley. “After we begin video games, it isn’t our founding thought; we begin with what’s essential for the sport itself, after which attempt to determine methods to hook up with our earlier—which we’ve executed earlier than in numerous methods. For us, this idea we’ve for Alan Wake 2 is the most effective one we have made, and I believe all the pieces’s come collectively on the proper time. Horror video games are again now, and we discovered rather a lot from work on Management and its success. So yeah, it is actually the suitable time for Alan Wake to return.”
Alan Wake 2 and its extra purposeful, story-driven tackle horror seems like Treatment Leisure at its most refined and experimental after its success on Management. That method may very well be simply what the long-dormant sequence must make its comeback.