General Gaming Alan Wake II (PS5/Xbox Series/EGS) - update: upcoming patch (03/06) drastically improves GTX 10-series performance

[best3444]

20 hours ago, Ominous said:

Pretty sure 2023 is going to be peak video game for at least the next 10 to 20 years. 

 

It's ridiculous how good this year has been. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Alan Wake 2: Creating The Dual Protagonist Experience - IGN First - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Alan Wake 2's dual protagonists provide two different approaches to survival horror. Learn how Saga and Alan offer unique experiences as part of IGN First.

 

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His name may quite literally be the title of the game, but Alan Wake is not the only main character in Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming survival horror. The ‘2’ in Alan Wake 2 doesn’t just point to its sequel nature, but also to the duality that runs through the entire game. Two protagonists. Two perspectives. Two worlds. And two approaches to gameplay.

 

“Obviously we're making a sequel and we knew that Alan was going to be a big part of it,” says Kyle Rowley, Alan Wake 2’s game director. “But we also knew that we wanted to have a different perspective for the players who are maybe not familiar with Alan Wake 1.”

 

The second perspective is that of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent investigating a ritual murder. For September’s IGN First we spoke to two developers at Remedy to learn how they created different experiences for both Alan and Saga, how they developed two unique spins on the core survival horror gameplay, and how swapping between the two leads affects the way Alan Wake 2’s story unfolds.

 

 

 

[Mercury33]

Poets of the Fall confirmed to have recorded multiple songs for the game under their Old Gods of Asgard name they used for Alan Wake. Also actually going to be characters this time around.  
 

Probably just me because I love the band  in general but the sequences where they use their music are some of my favorite in all of gaming. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

4 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

Poets of the Fall confirmed to have recorded multiple songs for the game under their Old Gods of Asgard name they used for Alan Wake. Also actually going to be characters this time around.  
 

Probably just me because I love the band  in general but the sequences where they use their music are some of my favorite in all of gaming. 

 

 

[Greatoneshere]

24 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

Poets of the Fall confirmed to have recorded multiple songs for the game under their Old Gods of Asgard name they used for Alan Wake. Also actually going to be characters this time around.  
 

Probably just me because I love the band  in general but the sequences where they use their music are some of my favorite in all of gaming. 

 

That's awesome news, and I agree their music is great and was used very well in Alan Wake. 

[Mercury33]

 

Before the Ash Tray Maze there was this piece of awesomeness. 

[Pikachu]

Alan Wake 2 hands-on report: illuminating new gameplay details

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We survived a session as Saga in Bright Falls and Alan Wake in The Dark Place.

 

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Surviving the horror.  For all its horror trappings, the original Alan Wake had a brisk, energetic pace that felt more at home in an action-adventure game. With Alan Wake 2, Remedy is taking a page from survival-horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Movement speed is slower and more methodical, while the claustrophobic camera is positioned tight over your shoulder to heighten tension. Your otherworldly foes hit hard with melee and ranged attacks, but you can tap the L1 button to dodge and help escape damage. Ammo and health are scarce, so you’ll need to fight carefully in order to preserve resources. The high-stakes combat is a welcome, fitting shift to match the game’s moody and ominous atmosphere.

 

Two to tango. FBI agent Saga Anderson’s adventure takes place in the twisted town of Bright Fall and Pacific Northwest, where a local cult is up to no good. Meanwhile, horror writer Alan Wake is stranded in The Dark Place, a Limbo-like realm that feeds off his dreams and nightmares to keep him trapped in a ghostly New York City. Both characters have the same basic abilities and combat skills, though each brings their own unique approach to progressing the narrative. Saga’s FBI profiling skills can analyze evidence and open up new leads and locations to advance the story. Alan Wake’s writing skills can manipulate the reality of The Dark Place, reshaping the environment and leading him closer to escape.

 

After the introductory sequences, you’ll be able to swap between playing as Alan and Saga at will. Both characters’ fates seem to be tied together — let’s take a closer look at what’s in store for each.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Hands-on previews articles:

 

Alan Wake 2 Final Preview - My Name is Saga Anderson and I'm Not a Writer

WCCFTECH.COM

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Wccftech recently saw both sides of the Alan Wake 2 Remedy coin, with a chapter playthrough for each of the two playable protagonists.

 

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The minute details of the sleepy Washington towns that Saga investigates throughout Alan Wake 2 are a slice right out of cultural American with some unique Finnish culture throughout. As Saga first starts her exploration, she passes by a community center with retirees and an old gentleman singing his heart out which, through the magic of subtitles, spills the beans on what might be important story details if players stick around long enough to listen.

 

Seeing Alan Wake 2 firsthand has been nothing short of positive in the two times I’ve seen Sam Lake and his team at work. However, actually getting hands on the controller is an experience all its own. Remedy has become masters of their craft with the Northlight engine and the Remedy Connected Universe that brings together years of their more recent titles (except Quantum Break, which isn’t brought into the fold, although Shawn Ashmore does have his own role to play in Alan Wake 2).

 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Q&A - Sam Lake on the Remedy Connected Universe and Moving Toward Open World Games

WCCFTECH.COM

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We interviewed Sam Lake, Creative Director on Alan Wake 2 at Remedy, to talk about this sequel, the Remedy Connected Universe, and much more.

 

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At a recent Alan Wake 2 preview event, Wccftech had the chance to interview Remedy's Game Director Sami Antero Järvi (known by most with the pen name Sam Lake) to discuss the sequel due in exactly one month, its place in the larger Remedy Connected Universe, and the potential move toward open world games.

 

 

Sam Lake and Remedy on Alan Wake 2's move to survival horror and pushing the franchise's boundaries

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Sam Lake, Molly Maloney and Kyle Rowley chat with Victoria about Alan Wake 2, and what's next for Remedy's connected un…

 

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It's been 13 years since Alan Wake launched himself into the murky waters of Cauldron Lake in a bid to save his wife, Alice. For over a decade, he has been left languishing in the Dark Place, with surreal visions and a nightmarish hell dimension his only company. But now he is back in Alan Wake 2, Remedy's much anticipated sequel, and ready to burn the darkness away once again.

 

This time, however, Remedy has decided to take the series in a new direction. The developer is shaking off the action-adventure genre that came before, and is instead treading a new path - that of survival horror. But how and why did Remedy make this jump between genres? And, why now?

 

 

 

Why Remedy is glad it took 13 years to make Alan Wake 2 | VGC

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After more than a decade struggling to get its sequel off the ground, the final result is a bold and ambitious horror game…

 

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Remedy’s intention is that the two campaigns mirror each other, with one side predicting the events of the other, or adding valuable context for moments past. It’s most definitely an ambitious concept and you can see why the developer is glad it was able to wait and gestate a bold concept, rather than a comparatively safe follow-up we may have ended up with had it been greenlit earlier.

 

 

Alan Wake Hands-On Preview: I Can't Alan Wait

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Alan Wake 2 is 13 years in the making and the culmination of all of Remedy's storytelling ambition.

 

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There’s a lot more going on in Alan Wake 2 that I can’t say much about yet, both because of Remedy’s strict coverage guidelines, and because I haven’t quite grasped the concepts yet. Much has already been made of the Mind Place, Alan Wake 2’s menu system where you’ll collect clues and assemble them on a cork board to build your cases and unravel the game’s many mysteries. Every time I was directed to the Mind Place to move an objective forward I found the whole thing very confusing. That may be because it wasn’t properly tutorialized during the preview (I didn’t start playing at the beginning of the game) and I didn’t have much time to sit and tinker with it either.

 

I also don’t know what to make of the plot yet. Again, I was thrown into the middle of the game with this preview, but as much as I was able to follow what I played, Alan Wake 2’s story is decidedly dense, heavily metaphorical, and often esoteric - in a good way. The atmosphere and gameplay are going to be a strong enough hook for any horror fan to enjoy, but just like the original this game is heavy on ambiguity and gives you a lot to digest. Fans of the original shouldn’t worry that the sequel has gone mainstream by adopting so much of Resident Evil’s gameplay. It’s just as abstruse and thematically complex as the first, if not more.

 

 

 

Hands-on with Alan Wake 2's two protagonists and their very different realities

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Victoria went hands-on with Alan Wake 2 ahead of its release next month.

 

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Overall, I was impressed by my time with Alan Wake 2. As Alan, I felt that desperate sense of isolation, the need to push on to achieve his often illusive end goal while grasping any threads of sanity he can. I relished the 'Remedy-ness' of it all, while also appreciating the new directions the team has decided to go. As Saga, meanwhile, I believed in her dedication to her job and desire to discover the truth as she made her way around the dank and unsettling Watery. The game may not have her name on it, but there is no doubt it's as much Saga's story as it is our titular writer's. Perhaps that '2' is more than simply to denote this is a sequel. Perhaps it's to denote the second character, and second gameplay perspective as well.

 

Regardless, Remedy set out to realise a sequel that cements its place in the survival horror genre, and from what I have seen it is on course to achieve just that. Alan may indeed be stuck in a hell of his own creation, but I believe this sequel has the potential to be a dark yet heavenly release for Remedy fans, old and new.

 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 hands-on: Scarier than the first game, even trippier than Control, and a bold new direction for Remedy | GamesRadar+

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Preview | I played three hours of Alan Wake 2 and left feeling confused and terrified in the best possible way.

 

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Repeatedly dying over the course of my Alan Wake 2 hands-on preview taught me to forget everything I learned from the first game. The amount of times I died in just three hours made me approach this sequel in a more studious manner, take my time lining up headshots to conserve precious resources, and experiment with the game's systems in order to successfully navigate its shape-shifting, labyrinthian world.

 

This is Remedy unleashed, a passion project from developers emboldened by the success of their wackiest ideas from earlier games, particularly 2019's Control. In fact, after playing Alan Wake 2, Control seems comparatively restrained, as if it were a mere stepping stone - albeit, a brilliant one - to something even more bold, mind-bending, and mysterious.

 

 

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Yes, I felt vulnerable and under-armed as I often do playing Resident Evil or Silent Hill. It's also true that thinking through cryptic puzzles was a lot more stressful with menacing foes drawing ever closer. But the bigger reason Alan Wake 2 scared me is for fear of what's to come. It was very clear in my time with the game that The Dark Place has earned its ominous title and that what bewildering horrors I had experienced were only skin deep; that something much more monstrous lives at the deep end of this murky, interdimensional lake.

 

The two chapters of Alan Wake 2 I played seemed purposefully curated to create the impression that, a) This is very much still an Alan Wake game in its tone, atmosphere, and story, and also b) It's not afraid to take risks. This is a bold new direction for Remedy that'll surprise and challenge the way you approach and think about it, and for me, that spells interesting things to come not only from the Alan Wake franchise, but from the Remedy Connected Universe it's ushering in.

 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Hands-on Preview: Remedy's Sequel Rewrites the Franchise

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At a hands-on preview event for Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment offers brief looks at the gameplay for Saga and Alan's sections of the game.

 

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While the Saga section felt more like signature Alan Wake, the Alan section is a lot harder to describe but equally compelling. With Remedy splitting the game 50/50 between the two characters, the developers knew they needed to give a nice balance to the gameplay where it becomes a hard choice to decide who to play as next. In that vein, the preview made it difficult to say which section was our favorite. Saga has that signature Alan Wake feel and the choice to lean towards survival horror works well for the setting and story. At the same time, Alan’s section is so bizarre that it’s impossible not to want to know more.

 

Luckily, Alan Wake 2 players can approach the game however they like and if the preview is any indication, they will be satisfied either way. Sam Lake might feel relief with the finish line in his sights, but he also acknowledges that the 13-year wait allowed Alan Wake 2 to evolve into what it is now. The technology and the creative experience gained working on games like Quantum Break and Control made Alan Wake 2 a better game. And if this preview is any indication, this could be Remedy Entertainment's best game yet.

 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Is Tough, Dark and Compellingly Strange

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Remedy Entertainment's sequel to the beloved 2010 game is a new chapter in the studio's intriguing game style.

 

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To prepare us for our Alan Wake 2 game sessions, Remedy developers described it as more of a survival horror game than the action-packed original, and they're right. Enemies hit harder and take more rounds of your ammunition before they go down. While the third-person camera still hovers over your shoulder, Wake and Saga both move slower, making encounters tougher to run away from. Ammo isn't too scarce, but it's not bountiful, either. 

 

You'll still have to train your flashlight on Taken enemies until they're corporeal enough to shoot, and during climactic moments in the segments I played, half a dozen enemies rushed me at once -- far too many to make vulnerable with my flashlight. I died and reloaded multiple times to get the timing of a fight down and frantically tossed flares and flashbangs to force enemies back and give myself breathing room. The sequel is by no means the breezy action game that its predecessor was.

 

If you've played other survival horror games, the difficulty won't be too grating, and the new inventory system will be familiar with its Resident Evil-style grid. You can also set up to eight items as shortcuts (two for each cardinal direction on a d-pad) for quick access, which is handy in a fight. 

 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Preview - Hands-On With Saga's Investigation Of Watery - Game Informer

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I take Saga Anderson through the small town of Watery in pursuit of a deadly cult.

 

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My demo begins with Saga in the third chapter of her campaign. She arrives in the small town of Watery in search of the Clicker, a serial killer who seemingly has ties to the menacing Cult of the Tree. 

 

Investigations are Saga’s forte, and I’m tasked with probing Watery’s various villagers in search of leads. Touring the town gives me strong vibes of the first Alan Wake game; in fact, at this point, I have the option to hop in a car and fast-travel to Bright Falls. As an FBI agent, this early section heavily focuses on collecting clues based on gathering information from certain residents and reading documents, signs, and other texts. 

 

 

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Saga’s section offered a nice mix of low-key investigative gameplay and tension-filled action. While a little more grounded than Alan’s side of the story (relatively speaking), it still featured plenty of bizarre moments and feels like an improved, modernized take on the first game’s vibe. 

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Preview - Exploring A Killer Hotel As Alan Wake - Game Informer

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I take control of the tortured author as he fights to survive a deadly hotel.

 

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I then took control of Alan, trapped in the Dark Place and in search of an escape. The Dark Place takes the form of a twisted version of New York City, and players navigate roads from a central square to reach various destinations. A lead by Alex Casey, the hard-boiled detective character from his novels (performed by a live-action Sam Lake), points Alan towards the Oceanview Hotel. 

 

Using Alan’s new Dark Place Lamp (DPL), a light-capturing rod, I circumvent obstacles and create new paths by absorbing light charges, which instantly transform areas. For example, I find a shotgun trapped behind a locked door, but capturing the light from a nearby lampost shifts to the “dark” version of this spot, in which this barrier vanishes. The changes can sometimes be more subtle to the point that I was swapping between the light and dark versions several times in some spots in search of new paths. But it’s a neat effect that lends itself to some generally fun puzzle-solving.

 

 

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It took me around 90 minutes to explore The Dark Place’s spin on New York and most of the Oceanview Hotel. Between the DPL and Plot Elements, manipulating environments is a thoughtful treat, and I can’t wait to see how far Remedy pushes this mechanic. The studio has already encouraged players to experiment as much as possible, and hopefully, doing so will pay off with some creative solutions and discoveries.

 

 

Alan Wake 2: The Final Preview - IGN

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In our final hands-on preview of Alan Wake 2 ahead of its October 27 release date, we played two missions midway through the game: one as FBI agent Saga Anderson, and one as tortured writer Alan Wake set in the Dark Place. Find out why we were incredibly impressed by Remedy's latest (and greatest?) game.

 

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It's almost difficult to put my finger on exactly why I enjoyed what I played of Alan Wake 2 so much. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll say it this way: I suppose it starts with the story, as there's way more to get invested in here, narratively speaking, than most games in the survival horror genre. That the player is actively involved in shaping that story through connecting clues on the Case Board, and rewriting reality as Alan, only deepens my attachment to Wake's world and, indeed, his fate. The fantastic graphics certainly don't hurt, and the creepy mood and unusual tone that mixes horror, drama, and occasional absurd comedy all combine to make Alan Wake 2 feel wholly unique. I can't wait to experience the rest of Alan's new nightmare, and if we're really lucky, maybe this is only the beginning rather than the end.

 

 

Alan Wake 2 Is What You Get When Remedy Believes In Itself - GameSpot

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We went hands-on with Alan Wake 2 to see how Remedy is taking its brand of weird to the survival-horror genre.

 

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I played close to two hours of Alan Wake 2, and, in numerous respects, it was impressive. Lake's quote specifically referenced the shift to survival horror and, based on limited slices of the game, it's already clear that was the right call. There are core mechanics carried over from the first Alan Wake that just make so much more sense in this Resident Evil 4-inspired survival-horror mold. The gameplay systems now feel like a vital part of a cohesive whole, as opposed to a fun gimmick with limited mileage layered on top of a thriller-themed action game.

 

As a longtime fan of the studio, however, the most exciting thing for me wasn't how good it felt to burn away the shrouds of darkness enveloping enemies before firing gunshots. Nor was it investigating an environment and piecing clues together to open up a lock. Or even soaking up the unsettling atmosphere of the Dark Place, a surreal alternate dimension that now serves as Wake's prison. What really stuck with me was the pervasive sense of confidence in the execution of ideas, stylistic choices, and decidedly Remedy flourishes. Making Alan Wake 2 a survival-horror game may have been the big breakthrough for Remedy, but it feels like its greatest triumphs could only have come after the games the studio created since Alan's first visit to Bright Falls.

 

 

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Maybe it's reading too much into it, but "trusting" in the ideas to come together is a big deal for a studio that has built its reputation on doing unproven, weird things and hoping they work. It's not a leap of faith anymore; it's more of a calculation, and one made based on years of experimenting and learning from the successes and failures that come with that. Even at the preview stage, Alan Wake 2 feels like a game from a team that has a much stronger grasp of its own identity and isn't shy about showing it off, and that's incredibly exciting. Whether it's being smart enough to take ideas from Alan Wake and reinterpret them for survival-horror, leaning into the weirdness of Control, or having the confidence to return to the fully live-action sequences of Quantum Break, Alan Wake 2 is poised to be the most Remedy game Remedy has ever made. And it's definitely one that the studio could only have made now.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Hands-on previews videos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Alan Wake 2: Building The Remedy Connected Universe - IGN First - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Alan Wake 2's creative director explains how the upcoming survival horror connects to previous Remedy games, from Control to (sort of) Max Payne.

 

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13 years after the launch of its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 finally continues the story of gaming’s favourite haunted novelist. But the sequel is expanding more than just Alan’s tale. This game is the third entry in the Remedy Connected Universe, an idea that will see the Finnish studio’s works overlap, connect, and influence each other.

 

For IGN First we spoke to Sam Lake, creative director of Alan Wake 2 and Remedy’s beloved storyteller, to learn more about the Remedy Connected Universe and how the studio’s games have always been linked in weird and interesting ways.

 

 

 

[Ominous]

Another 30 fps Xbox s game. 

[stepee]

4 minutes ago, Ominous said:

Another 30 fps Xbox s game. 

 

The more surprising thing is there will be a mode that aims for 60fps on the other current gen systems! The way it’s being talked about makes me all but certain it will nowhere near lock 60fps but could be good with vrr

Meanwhile, I’m super pumped for the literal next gen already pc version. I kinda wasn’t getting excited because I was so sure it would be delayed but I guess not! Hard to believe it’s happening but fuck ya.

 

I just played through the AWE Alan Wake dlc for Control, I’m now playing the two dlc from Alan Wake Remaster, then I’m going to tackle American Nightmare. Also watching a recap and lore dive of Alan Wake to make sure I’m all fucking ready.

[best3444]

28 minutes ago, Ominous said:

Another 30 fps Xbox s game. 

 

I'm completely fine with a rock solid 30fps as a peasant console owner. Imo, Starfield runs great for me at 30 so I have no issues with 30fps. 

[Ominous]

24 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'm completely fine with a rock solid 30fps as a peasant console owner. Imo, Starfield runs great for me at 30 so I have no issues with 30fps. 

"rock solid" 😂😂😂😂

[best3444]

2 minutes ago, Ominous said:

"rock solid" 😂😂😂😂

 

I meant to say 30fps with no hiccups. I'm so accustomed to 30fps and it runs perfectly fine for me. For example, Starfield. It's perfectly smooth enough for me to enjoy my experience. I've played a few games in 60 and it's great but it's just not a reality on consoles going forward. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I visited the Alan Wake 2 live-action set and it blew my tiny mind | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

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Feature | On the Alan Wake 2 live-action set, I was stunned by Remedy's commitment to experimentation and authenticity

 

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You've seen Max Payne wear a grimace, but what about a smile? Standing across from Sam Lake is surreal at the best of times, with Remedy Entertainment's creative director having not only shaped some of the best action games of all-time but starred in them too. Now, in the physical manifestation of a world that he wrote into reality, surreal barely cuts it. 

 

We're on a soundstage in Helsinki, Finland, and Lake's wide-eyed enthusiasm is becoming infectious. My grin begins to mirror his own as Ilkka Villi swaggers onto set as Thomas Zane, the actor having now swapped Alan Wake's disheveled suit for a white silk button-down shirt and a pair of tight leather jeans – The Doors' frontman Jim Morrison personified, circa '68. Just when I think I have a handle on Alan Wake 2, Remedy shatters every one of my expectations. 

 

Lake may have been a principal architect of this scene, a live-action echo that will ripple into reality in Alan Wake 2's 'Room 665' mission, but his joyful reaction to seeing it unfold is entirely unscripted. "It was the first moment I saw Thomas Zane come to life – hair, makeup, costume, attitude, all," he says. "We had rehearsed the part with Ilkka, but this was the first time in the room with Zane, and I knew that the scenes we were going to shoot would be among the best of the game." 

 

Earlier this year, I spent a day in the Dark Place – the torturous dreamscape where Wake has been trapped for 13 years. It had been brought to life in the physical world as a series of intricately-dressed sets, each designed to reflect a key location from Alan Wake 2 in service of Remedy's vast interactive storytelling ambitions. The studio has invested further in filmed live-action than ever before, and the commitment to experimentation and authenticity is truly electrifying.

 

 

[stepee]

Is it just me or is this going to be REALLY fucking good? 

[Moa]

I'm so excited for my PC to not be able to run this!

[Greatoneshere]

14 hours ago, stepee said:

Is it just me or is this going to be REALLY fucking good? 

 

It's going to be really fucking good if Alan Wake and Control are any indication.

[stepee]

I just finished this recap: 

 

Im officially more hyped than ever remembering exactly how damn good this whole lore and story and game and Remedy are. I think I’m most hyped for this now besides Mario, but over Spiderman 2 which is saying something. 

 

I recommend watching that video if you have time (I watched it while exercising over a few days) as if you haven’t played since around the original release there is definitely a ton of shit you forgot.

 

But yeah I think the video did a good job of explaining everything, in an order that helps you process it all, and without giving into personal fan theories unless it’s just mentioning that it’s a guess. I was impressed with the job they did. Feels good to be all ready for this now and to dive into another Remedy masterpiece! 

 

 

 

[Firewithin]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:36 PM, stepee said:

Is it just me or is this going to be REALLY fucking good? 

too bad its marooned over on EGS

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

IGN also published a "Story So Far" video.

 

 

[LazyPiranha]

On 9/29/2023 at 12:51 PM, Greatoneshere said:

 

It's going to be really fucking good if Alan Wake and Control are any indication.

Control?  Yes.

 

Alan Wake?  No.

 

The first Alan Wake is clunky, bloated, and his wild tonal swings.  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

17 hours ago, Firewithin said:

too bad its marooned over on EGS

 

According to Remedy's most recent half-year financial report, Alan Wake Remastered -- which Epic both funded and published -- has yet to generate any royalty income for Remedy:

 

https://investors.remedygames.com/app/uploads/2023/08/remedy-h1-2023-half-year-financial-report.pdf

 

This doesn't just reflect royalty income from EGS sales as Epic was the publisher for the console versions of Alan Wake Remastered as well.  What this means is that the game simply hasn't generated enough sales revenue overall for Epic to recoup its own development/publishing costs to clear the threshold for Remedy to begin receiving royalty payments.  It's safe to say that the Remaster had pretty lackluster sales performance and it wouldn't surprise me if Remedy isn't a bit nervous about Alan Wake II's financial prospects.

[Keyser_Soze]

Unfortunately Remedy has never really lit up the world on the sales charts which is why they seem to constantly play musical chairs with their publishers.

That Alan Wake "Remaster" was barely anything that even failed to generate hype from fans of the game, a game that has some divisive opinions from those who've played it.

 

This being stuck on EGS isn't going to help the game. They better hope for some epic hype console numbers in an already busy year.

[Greatoneshere]

3 hours ago, LazyPiranha said:

Control?  Yes.

 

Alan Wake?  No.

 

The first Alan Wake is clunky, bloated, and his wild tonal swings.  

 

It's not perfect but it was a great game - the wild tonal swings are part of why I like it. The fact it has hung around all these years to get a sequel speaks to how its lasted. Control is better though.

[stepee]

Alan Wake Remaster wasn’t that well received in general. Remedy only assisted and another studio drove that project and it really seemed like a bit of a cash in, which apparently, didn’t work.

 

Remedy fans I think are used to some cutting edge tech with their games, and this was a last gen level remake released after current gen already started. After Remedy already released two games with more advanced tech than the Remaster. I guess they couldn’t wait since the sequel was coming and it’s better than nothing, but it’s a shame we couldn’t have had a remake on the latest northlight with path tracing instead. I feel like the AW Remaster as is would have done okay if it released in like 2017/2018 or something.

[Greatoneshere]

They put out the remaster to help get people ready for Alan Wake II. It not selling a lot isn't a surprise, do remasters of Xbox 360 era games sell like gangbusters? It was still a smart decision to release the remaster ahead of Alan Wake II. I'm not worried about Alan Wake II not selling unless it turns out its just a bad game like The Callisto Protocol.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

"Follow You into the Dark", the first track from the "Chapter Songs" soundtrack album has been released.

 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The Alan Wake 2 Soundtrack Was Custom-Made To Expand The Lore - GameSpot

WWW.GAMESPOT.COM

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We spoke to Remedy and Finland's Fried Music about the ambitious collaboration that helps shape the survival-horror sequel.

 

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For the songwriters and producers involved in the collaboration, having the lyrical jumping-off point helped solve one of the hardest parts of making music. "Usually the bottleneck in any co-writing session is the lyrics, you know, that takes up most of the time," said singer and songwriter Teemu Brunila, who was the lead vocalist for pop rock band The Crash. "So it was super convenient for us to have the narrative out there already, and a lot of starters for the lyrics and ideas and lines that we could use."

 

Given the secrecy that so often surrounds games, the collaboration was done in person, and artists didn't immediately know they would be featured in a video game. It took place at a song production "camp," a routine process for the recording studio, even as a video game studio made for a novel client. Around 20 music collaborators visited the camp and worked in different rooms creating songs. This was done, in part, from a comically thick stack of Lake's writings. Fried Music founder Jukka Immonen's gesture with his hands, if accurate, suggested dozens of pages that Lake delivered to the folks at the studio.

 

"It was such a luxury as a writer and a producer to have this treasure trove of these like dark Lovecraftian poems to be inspired by and straight-up just take lines from," said producer and songwriter Jurek Reunamäki. "It made the whole process so easy; it was amazing."

 

Along with the creative reasons to go this route, there are also practical implications. Music-streaming rights are difficult to navigate, so much so that some past Remedy games have been briefly delisted while music rights were re-sorted. By cooperating with Fried Music and its group of artists, Remedy has ensured a future in which Alan Wake 2 won't be ensnared in music licensing hang-ups. That means streamers need not switch to a streamer-friendly mode which would deactivate these songs to avoid triggering copyright issues.

 

 

 

'Alan Wake 2' soundtrack: the making of "pop songs for weirdos"

WWW.NME.COM

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How poetry and a mysterious songwriting camp resulted in seven end-of-chapter tracks for Remedy Entertainment's highly-anticipated horror

 

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It all began with a mysterious songwriting camp, where musicians from all over the world were flown to Finland, with no clue they would be soundtracking Alan Wake 2 until they 

arrived. “One of the hardest things was getting people to come here without knowing what they were signing up for, and selling this idea without telling anyone,” says Teemu Brunila, a songwriter who helped set up the camp.

 

The only rule, Lake told musicians at the camp, was that their lyrics had to tell Alan Wake 2’s story. Everything else was up to them – an approach that his collaborators found refreshing. “Usually you’re just chasing hit singles,” says Brunila, who has co-written and produced for the likes of Kylie Minogue and David Guetta. “It’s always up-tempo and uplifting. Nobody ever asks for haunting downtempo stuff and weird shit. If they say ‘We want it to be crazy’ and you give them something crazy, they say: ‘Why did you give me something crazy!?’”

 

“Style-wise, there weren’t any restrictions,” agrees Antti ‘RZY’ Riihimäki, who worked on ‘Wide Awake’. “There wasn’t anything we couldn’t do – it was really inspiring.”

 

“The brief that Sam gave us was so well done and coherent,” says Jurek Reunamäki, a singer-songwriter who grew up playing Remedy games. “For me, it was really easy to jump right in. The poems were really beautifully written, dark, and super cool, so it was such a treasure trove of material to start with.”

 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Remedy Opens Up About Challenges Developing Alan Wake 2 for Xbox Series S - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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In a recent episode of IGN’s Next-Gen Console Watch, below, Remedy’s communications director Thomas Puha talked openly about the challenges the studio faces getting Alan Wake 2 running well on the Xbox Series S.

 

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“Series S, the CPU is pretty much the same as on Series X,” Puha said. “But the GPU is an issue. It really is. And then, having less memory is a pretty big problem. And we often get, ‘okay, you make PC games, surely you know how to scale.’ Well, memory is not a problem on PC. It really isn’t. And that’s one of the struggles when you talk about resolution and framerate. It’s just not enough to drop the resolution heavily. That’s what we’re doing on the S and we’re really, really working hard to make sure the visual quality still holds up.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Alan Wake 2 will have free and "significant" DLC

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Remedy Entertainment has confirmed Alan Wake 2 will have "significant" free DLC updates. Confirmation came via Remedy E…

 

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Remedy Entertainment has confirmed Alan Wake 2 will have "significant" free DLC updates.

 

Confirmation came via Remedy Entertainment's creative director Sam Lake, who was at EGX this weekend, talking about the return of Alan Wake.

 

These free DLC expansions come on top of the two post-launch content drops Remedy detailed earlier this year, hinting there'll be plenty to do post-end game after we jump into Wake's new nightmare later this month on 27th October.

 

"We do have free DLCs drops coming, and they too are pretty significant," Lake told the crowd at EGX, as captured in the tweet/x post below.

 

"I'm expecting us to be going more into detail pretty soon after the game is out, but all of that will be free for everyone who gets the game."

 

 

[Brian]