OP
OP
- Pronouns
- He/They
For those of you who are unaware of the significance of this reveal, i've decided to create a quick recap of the history of the series.
Part I: It's not a lake, it's an ocean
Originally revealed all the way back in 2005 (really), the game was originally pitched as an open-world adventure game influenced by such works as Twin Peaks.
In theory, this would have been a massive grab for them. Remedy was of course hot off the heels of finishing their work on the highly-acclaimed Max Payne series.
But the concept of combining an open world with their standard storytelling proved to be a massive roadblock, which ate into their development time for over three years, and required a retool into something more linear. As recounted by Sam Lake in this Youtube video.
Notably, the final build is still using the exact original map they created. With areas not normally visited by the player in each chapter being used as background detail (Made visible thanks to the engine still being built around open-world stuff in terms of things like draw distance.)
This revised version eventually hit store shelves in 2010, with the PC version completely vanishing in the meantime. It reviewed exceptionally well, but was overshadowed by the fact it happened to share it's release date with the much highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption. The game would also be supplanted by a pair of DLC "episodes", the first of which was bundled with new physical copies of the game.
Of course, Remedy didn't want to end the series right then and there through one game. With the very next year seeing a leak suggesting that the next game would be a downloadable title. Eventually revealed under it's final name "Alan Wake's American Nightmare" at the Spike VGA awards by the end of the year.
(Notably, the screenshot up there was naturally sourced from the infamous Partnernet development server. and caused quite a headache for game preservationists at the time.)
It was a rather unusual take on the series. Downplaying it's more subtle horror in favor of a deliberately cheesy "grindhouse" setting. When the main villain's theme song is solely about describing how much of a "psycho" he is, you can definitely tell things went in a different direction.
Regardless, it was clear Remedy did not want this to be the end for the series. With the credits cryptically claiming that "Alan Wake's journey through the night will continue."
Part II: This House of Dreams
Shortly before the release of American Nightmare, the initially planned PC version of the first game finally resurfaced thanks to Remedy constantly asking Microsoft to save it, alongside some development help from fellow Finnish studio Nitro Games.
But the real future of the series would surface thanks to a mysterious blog that looked to have been run by Sam Lake himself.
Written by a woman solely referred to as "Samantha". It depicted a tale of a old house the author bought. Filled with strange poems
bizarre photos
and vivid nightmares recounted by the author.
With the Eighth Generation gradually creeping into the limelight, it seemed like the series would be building up for a proper sequel on there, and by May 21st, 2013. Microsoft was finally ready to show off their next system.....
I think everyone knows what happened next at this point, but what seemed like could have been a proper bright spot was them mentioning Remedy. Could this be Alan Wake 2?
Well, not quite.
Remedy's next project would instead be a brand new IP called "Quantum Break", and was planned to blend a Video Game with a live-action TV series. A natural extension of them consistently blending Live-Action cutscenes into their games, but not really what people were expecting.
So what happened here? It turns out Remedy actually did pitch a proper sequel to Alan Wake to Microsoft. But it was rejected.
The remnants of this pitch were used to create the much smaller scale American Nightmare, and this eventually culminated with Microsoft instead suggesting they create a new IP.
Quantum Break would eventually make it to stores by 2016, quite a bit later than intended. But it did at least show Remedy was still thinking about the series, most notably in the form of a live-action clip featuring the character. Labeled as "Return". Remedy even acquired trademarks for the name "Alan Wake's Return" but they were insistent that it was solely intended for this easter egg.
However, mentions of "AWE", the mysterious agency briefly described in the This House of Dreams blog. Would make multiple appearances as well.
Aside from this text about conspiracies of a "Bureau of Altered World Events", the word frequently shows up on in-game graffiti, and a whiteboard suggests another meaning.
Alan Wake Experience.
Part III: Take Control
With the gap between the release of American Nightmare and the present day steadily growing, it seemed more and more unlikely that the series would come back, especially considering the original game got delisted in 2017 due to licensing issues relating to Music, and Remedy's next project would not involve Microsoft at all, instead being published by 505 games. (and became a timed Epic Games Store exclusive, more on that in a second.)
Of course, things aren't always ɥoʍ ʇɥǝʎ sǝǝɯ
...
sorry, "how they seem."
The premise, of course. Was about a mysterious Bureau devoted to investigating Altered World Events. Sound familiar?
But the real madness began on July 2019, where Remedy publicly revealed they had regained all publishing rights to Alan Wake. With the year prior involving them magically getting the original game back on digital stores.
Once the game released the very next month, the truth was revealed.
CONTROL didn't just have "easter eggs" referencing the series, it was explicitly confirmed to take place in the same universe. Something which would be further explored in the AWE (I.E. Alan Wake Experience) DLC.
Sam Lake himself described these connections as being "10 years" in the making, something which can definitely be inferred from this recap. Things have certainly been changed over time, such as the rebranding of "Altered World Event" agents into the more standard "Federal Bureau of Control" agents. But the basic idea of merging their IPs like this had been there from the beginning.
Which leads us to today, thanks to the support of Epic Games (A partnership that wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for 505 taking the EGS deal.) Remedy can finally go back to where the "connected universe" began. Bringing back a franchise people have wanted to return for quite some time.
....Oh, and that quote about the original Alan Wake never coming to Playstation? That's been taken care of too!
Part I: It's not a lake, it's an ocean
Originally revealed all the way back in 2005 (really), the game was originally pitched as an open-world adventure game influenced by such works as Twin Peaks.
At the time, they were still actively looking for a publisher. But it only took about a year for Microsoft to step-in. With plans to release the title as an Xbox 360/Windows Vista exclusive. (The latter of which was even pushed by Intel themselves at a PC developer briefing they did.)
In theory, this would have been a massive grab for them. Remedy was of course hot off the heels of finishing their work on the highly-acclaimed Max Payne series.
But the concept of combining an open world with their standard storytelling proved to be a massive roadblock, which ate into their development time for over three years, and required a retool into something more linear. As recounted by Sam Lake in this Youtube video.
Notably, the final build is still using the exact original map they created. With areas not normally visited by the player in each chapter being used as background detail (Made visible thanks to the engine still being built around open-world stuff in terms of things like draw distance.)
This revised version eventually hit store shelves in 2010, with the PC version completely vanishing in the meantime. It reviewed exceptionally well, but was overshadowed by the fact it happened to share it's release date with the much highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption. The game would also be supplanted by a pair of DLC "episodes", the first of which was bundled with new physical copies of the game.
Of course, Remedy didn't want to end the series right then and there through one game. With the very next year seeing a leak suggesting that the next game would be a downloadable title. Eventually revealed under it's final name "Alan Wake's American Nightmare" at the Spike VGA awards by the end of the year.
(Notably, the screenshot up there was naturally sourced from the infamous Partnernet development server. and caused quite a headache for game preservationists at the time.)
It was a rather unusual take on the series. Downplaying it's more subtle horror in favor of a deliberately cheesy "grindhouse" setting. When the main villain's theme song is solely about describing how much of a "psycho" he is, you can definitely tell things went in a different direction.
Regardless, it was clear Remedy did not want this to be the end for the series. With the credits cryptically claiming that "Alan Wake's journey through the night will continue."
Part II: This House of Dreams
Shortly before the release of American Nightmare, the initially planned PC version of the first game finally resurfaced thanks to Remedy constantly asking Microsoft to save it, alongside some development help from fellow Finnish studio Nitro Games.
and American Nightmare was quickly brought over itself in May.
But the real future of the series would surface thanks to a mysterious blog that looked to have been run by Sam Lake himself.
Written by a woman solely referred to as "Samantha". It depicted a tale of a old house the author bought. Filled with strange poems
bizarre photos
and vivid nightmares recounted by the author.
With the Eighth Generation gradually creeping into the limelight, it seemed like the series would be building up for a proper sequel on there, and by May 21st, 2013. Microsoft was finally ready to show off their next system.....
I think everyone knows what happened next at this point, but what seemed like could have been a proper bright spot was them mentioning Remedy. Could this be Alan Wake 2?
Well, not quite.
Remedy's next project would instead be a brand new IP called "Quantum Break", and was planned to blend a Video Game with a live-action TV series. A natural extension of them consistently blending Live-Action cutscenes into their games, but not really what people were expecting.
So what happened here? It turns out Remedy actually did pitch a proper sequel to Alan Wake to Microsoft. But it was rejected.
The remnants of this pitch were used to create the much smaller scale American Nightmare, and this eventually culminated with Microsoft instead suggesting they create a new IP.
Quantum Break would eventually make it to stores by 2016, quite a bit later than intended. But it did at least show Remedy was still thinking about the series, most notably in the form of a live-action clip featuring the character. Labeled as "Return". Remedy even acquired trademarks for the name "Alan Wake's Return" but they were insistent that it was solely intended for this easter egg.
However, mentions of "AWE", the mysterious agency briefly described in the This House of Dreams blog. Would make multiple appearances as well.
Aside from this text about conspiracies of a "Bureau of Altered World Events", the word frequently shows up on in-game graffiti, and a whiteboard suggests another meaning.
Alan Wake Experience.
Part III: Take Control
With the gap between the release of American Nightmare and the present day steadily growing, it seemed more and more unlikely that the series would come back, especially considering the original game got delisted in 2017 due to licensing issues relating to Music, and Remedy's next project would not involve Microsoft at all, instead being published by 505 games. (and became a timed Epic Games Store exclusive, more on that in a second.)
Of course, things aren't always ɥoʍ ʇɥǝʎ sǝǝɯ
...
sorry, "how they seem."
The premise, of course. Was about a mysterious Bureau devoted to investigating Altered World Events. Sound familiar?
But the real madness began on July 2019, where Remedy publicly revealed they had regained all publishing rights to Alan Wake. With the year prior involving them magically getting the original game back on digital stores.
Once the game released the very next month, the truth was revealed.
CONTROL didn't just have "easter eggs" referencing the series, it was explicitly confirmed to take place in the same universe. Something which would be further explored in the AWE (I.E. Alan Wake Experience) DLC.
Sam Lake himself described these connections as being "10 years" in the making, something which can definitely be inferred from this recap. Things have certainly been changed over time, such as the rebranding of "Altered World Event" agents into the more standard "Federal Bureau of Control" agents. But the basic idea of merging their IPs like this had been there from the beginning.
Which leads us to today, thanks to the support of Epic Games (A partnership that wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for 505 taking the EGS deal.) Remedy can finally go back to where the "connected universe" began. Bringing back a franchise people have wanted to return for quite some time.
....Oh, and that quote about the original Alan Wake never coming to Playstation? That's been taken care of too!
