Hello all!
Mitch and I are taking a dive into the Remedy-verse for the first part of the year. Our first target is Alan Wake, the 2010 survival horror shine-flashlight-at-everything simulator that captured the imagination for fans of Twin Peaks and Stephen King. While sales were initially slow for Alan Wake, word-of-mouth propelled this into a modest financial success for not only Remedy but also the publisher Microsoft.
After the release of Max Payne 2 in 2003, Remedy needed to collect themselves after the crunch of putting out 2 of the greatest and violent action games in the early 00s. Remedy Writer/Producer/Everything Man Sam Lake, after going to school for screenwriting, set out to lean into those meta-narrative threads that started to show up in their work. Moving away from glorified violence, Remedy began development of an open world survival horror game where the player would have to scavenge during the day and defend at night. An early look of the game was shown off to publishers and Microsoft purchased it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) due to pressure to release a game, Remedy had to scale back the scope of what would become Alan Wake. Choosing to focus on the writer who has to write himself a new ending, the game reflected the development of the game. The struggles Alan faces are similar to those Sam Lake and team must’ve felt as they moved away from straight forward action to a love letter to Twin Peaks.
Alan Wake showcases the beginnings of Remedy’s focus for the next several games. That is ambitious narrative design and unique combat. Max Payne had bullet time (the slow down cinematic shoot while diving mechanic) and by the time Remedy gets to Quantum Break, they play with that formula to a crazy degree. Remedy, as we will see, learns from their failures with each game and sets out to correct the trajectory but also fuck with it just a litte more.
All of this examination excites me for Alan Wake 2 which is the only game of theirs I haven’t played yet. Playing their works back to back will help me appreciate their formula and also help me figure out what Remedy wants to say about storytelling.
Playing the remaster of Alan Wake all these years later made me realize how much of a stamp Remedy has on their storytelling - it also made me realize how much they improved. Alan Wake is a certified classic filled with spooky and vibe-y moments that make me feel nostalgic. Their initial case to make an open world game is apparent in several parts of the game too - especially when you have to run around these open areas (or drive) and explore random buildings looking for manuscript pages. The game falters in its repetitive combat and cheap off-camera attacks. After playing Control, it’s clear Remedy was able to find that balance but we will get there!
I hope you enjoy the podcast! Here are some clips of Sam Lake being Sam Lake.
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