If you’re looking for spooky games in October, you won’t encounter a shortage, as the month is stuffed with more than you could possibly play.Alan Wake 2is one of the most anticipated upcoming horror titles, and though it’ll be taking us back to Bright Falls, it is evident that there’s plenty of new content awaiting.
Recently, Remedy’s Sam Lake, dressed in a dapper suit, visited Kinda Funny Games and discussed a lot aboutAlan Wake 2, the Remedy Connected Universe, and the gaming industry as a whole. A lot of interesting information was unearthed, including the fact that developers once considered a first-person perspective for the upcoming horror game.
This idea was sparked byResident Evil 7‘s successful use of the perspective. As Lake explained, in many ways first-person is ideal for horror games, as it puts you up close with the monsters that’ll jump out at you. However, the team decided that it wouldn’t be the right fit forAlan Wake 2due to the game’s heavy focus on its characters and story. Consequently, they concluded that “seeing the character on the screen” feels too important to the game to ax.
The many influences of Alan Wake 2
Remedy has been quite open with how deeply it has been inspired byResident Evil‘s take on the survival horror genre. Gameplay footage from IGN has illustrated how muchAlan Wake 2‘s gameplay feels likeResident 2 Remake, and the comparison is only made stronger by the fact that both games feature two story campaigns.
The firstAlan Wakegame took great inspiration from 90s teen horror likeTwin Peaks. This time around Remedy looked to a slew of horror, suspense, and crime films such asSilence of the Lambs,Midsommar,Hereditary, and the works of David Lynch.
The interview is also worth listening to because of what Lake reveals about the ever-growing Remedy Connected Universe. He explains that the Remedy Connected Universe is limited to games owned by the studio. Hence,Max Payneisn’t part of the world, as it hasfound a new home with Rockstar.Quantum Breakis also not part of the universe because it was developed for Microsoft.
Alan WakeandControlare certainly part of the universe, and the franchises will further intertwine inAlan Wake 2. Though he is careful to not reveal too much, including whether we’ll see Jesse Faden, Lake does state that “there are connection points toControl” in the upcoming game. We may have already seen hints of this, asgameplay footage has shown Ahti the FBC janitor in Bright Falls.
It is exciting to imagine whatAlan Wake 2would look like as a first-person game, but Remedy’s decision for not going in this direction makes sense. We’ll finally get to see the next chapter of Wake’s adventure on October 27 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
