Alan Wake 2 Simply Makes a Lot of Sense

Remedy Entertainment has been making quite the name for itself in the gaming world, with Control being a massive hit back in 2019, nominated for numerous Game of the Year Awards. Fans of the psychological action thriller were treated even further with the launch of Control's DLC expansions, one of which connects this title to Remedy's previous IP Alan Wake. With that franchise brought back into the spotlight, rumors have begun circulating that Remedy has bigger plans for Mr. Wake in the future, with a potential full blown sequel to the original game.

Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but a proper follow-up to one of the Xbox 360's hidden gems is long overdue. More than a decade now separates the first Alan Wake from whenever the sequel would hypothetically drop, which would be more than a welcome return to one of the most underrated horror games in recent years. Based on Alan Wake's recent connection to the world of Control, as well as survival horror games recently making a comeback in popularity, now seems like the prime moment for another journey to the haunting town of Bright Falls.

The "AWE" DLC expansion for Control served as a crossover between the paranormal happenings between it's own universe and those seen in Alan Wake. Now that the two are confirmed to be interconnected as one larger shared world, it opens doors for what can come next in supernatural adventures developed by Remedy. While a second Control is being just as anticipated by gamers, make no mistake that the crossover with Alan Wake was by no means a fluke. Considering the time and effort that would go into developing even just the DLC alone, it is unlikely this was just a passive creative decision tossed in for pure fan-service.

Similar to how films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe all play off of and lead into the next, Remedy has stated it's planning a larger "Remedy Connected Universe" with its games. This recent DLC would serve as a re-introduction of Alan Wake as a character to familiar players and newcomers alike, and help establish him once again before a new game is launched. Remedy clearly has a fondness for the character, as there was in fact an Alan Wake 2 in active development not long after the original released, but was ultimately scrapped by Microsoft at the time due to its poor sales.

With Control proving to be a huge sales success, and Remedy's independent publishing allowing more leeway into how the developer can handle its IP's, Alan Wake may rejoin the fight against otherworldly beings.

Even outside of Remedy's own shared action horror universe, games that deliver pulse pounding scares have been on the rise this past generation. From Resident Evil completely reinventing itself to Alien Isolation's terrifying recreation of the classic films, there's plenty to love for fans of all things that go bump in the night. With rumors of Silent Hill being rebooted as well, it seems that every franchise is trying to capitalize on this newfound popularity in the genre. While Remedy's efforts aren't technically focused on outright scares, there are enough atmospheric genre similarities to be grouped in with all things macabre and and spine chilling.

One way that Alan Wake can differentiate itself from all of these other offerings is its emphasis on ambience and mind games over more physical threats. While by no means a bad thing, games like Outlast and Resident Evil 7 challenge the player with more directly physical obstacles, typically in the form of grotesque monsters. Control and Alan Wake opt for a more cerebral experience: Environments play visual tricks on the player, supporting characters are bizarre and the player often has supernatural tricks as well.