The release of Remedy’s Quantum Break is around the corner and the question on everyone’s mind is obvious, when is Alan Wake 2 coming out? Remedy’s Creative Director Sam Lake has never been shy in the past about the company’s intentions with Alan Wake. They haven’t forgotten, they’re waiting for the right time. Now it seems that Lake has let a few more details slip.
In case you are unfamiliar, Alan Wake is a horror game in the vain of Twin Peaks and is heavily influenced by the works of Stephen King. The player takes control of troubled writer Alan Wake in his search for his missing wife in the mysterious town of Bright Falls. Sales weren’t great at launch, but was well received by critics and average gamers alike. The games has since sold more than 4.5 million copies .
DualShockers attended class at Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris where Lake spoke about the sequel to Remedy’s cult classic. According to Lake, production began shortly after Alan Wake was finished, you can check out a conceptual prototype over at Polygon. Sadly nothing they did seem to fit for the sequel.
We tried to create Alan Wake 2 right after Alan Wake…You need the right concept…We were looking into it. We were doing prototypes. We were doing demos and experimenting on that…but it felt like Alan Wake at that time wouldn’t work, in the way we wanted it, at that time, to work.
It was through those prototypes and discussions with Microsoft, who published the first two games, that they had the idea for Quantum Break.
It was really through that discussions, that eventually with Microsoft, that we had partnered with for Alan Wake, led into the idea of Quantum Break.
Sam Lake assured everyone that the studio’s time with Quantum Break has not shifted their focus totally away from Alan and his fight against The Darkness. The ideas have been flowing, and they’re getting better.
I think that it as been, in a way, fortunate, because, you know, we have been iterating the idea of what an Alan Wake sequel could be, and along the way there has been much better ideas that what the concept coming out of Alan Wake was for the sequel.
You have to respect Remedy, they could have released Alan Wake 2 years ago, but they felt that it wouldn’t do the fans or the franchise justice so they let it set. It shows real restraint in an industry where bland sequels have become the norm rather than the exception. Still I wish they’d hurry up a bit.