The first Alan Wake became a cult classic among gamers, and although it had an open final, it took 13 years to finally appear the game. In an interview with VG247, Creative Director Sam Lake said that at that time there were already plans to create a sequel and even ideas for the third game, but, unfortunately, Remedy could not get funding for the project.
After the first game, we planned to immediately do the sequel. We even had some ideas regarding how Alan Wake 3 could be! But the industry moves like a wave, and the trick shifted from the interests of the publisher. We could not get funding because there was no interest in continuing [Alan Wake] and creating a single game.
Immediately after the release of Alan Wake, the atmosphere of multiplayer reigned in the game industry. In the same year that Alan Wake came out, EA made a loud statement that single games were dead. And the legendary developer Mark Sweres at the GDC conference in 2011 stated that single games will disappear in three years, and this point of view did not disappear overnight. Over the years, the studio was more and more convinced that from the point of view of the economy, the release of traditional single games is associated with certain difficulties. And the potential profit from the creation of multiplayer games (and early content focused on microtransaction) was too seductive.
Despite the fact that Lake and his colleagues sought to make the next part of the game to use the impulse of the first game, consumer interest did not answer the vision of Remedy. This strange situation forced the developers to create a completely new IP, leaving Alan Wake (which is quite appropriate) in ignorance.
This led us to Quantum Break. At that time, Microsoft paid great attention to the game cinema. We included this in our proposal for Alan Wake 2; My idea was to make episodes with living actors between episodes of the game. They liked it. And this is the only thing they liked (laughter).
Therefore, we have created a new concept. I rummaged in my bins, where I had ideas, and one of them touched travel travel, which we eventually did. But at that time it was completely clear that, taking into account how the situation changed, it was impossible to conclude a deal with the publisher, as a result of which he would not be the owner of the IP. Therefore, from the very beginning it was clear that Quantum Break would belong to Microsoft, and we did not want to lose Alan Wake.
And right. The excellent start of Alan Wake 2 proved that the watering can was right, wanting to keep IP. And in many ways the success of the game was due to technical achievements – sound design, capture of movements and (importantly) graphics.
Visual effects are always important, – says Lake. "Mikko Kinnunen is our art director, and I really like to work with it. For inspiration, we turned to stylized arthouse horrors. Modern things in photography – for example, shooting flat space in the dark. The use of this layer of stylization, especially related to the supernatural presence in the [Alan Wake 2], I really like. I also really like multi -layer experience; You can move between these two worlds and these rooms in their heads. How instead it is. This would be impossible in previous generations.
As for what is waiting for Remedy and Alan Wake, the future looks very rosy for them. According to reports, the studio not only considers the possibility of creating a Control sequel in the future and the remake of the first parts of Max Payne, but also confirmed that Lake has ideas about the development of Alan Wake as a franchise. "Yes, of course, we think about making him more. But perhaps it’s too early to talk about these ideas. ".