21st May 2020 Alan Wake and Cities: Skylines Joins XBOX Game Pass

It's a very Finnish week for XBOX Games Pass with both Remedy's Entertainment's Alan Wake AND Colossal Order's Cities: Skylines joining the program today! Both titles will be added through ID@XBOX, a self-publishing service offered by Microsoft.

For the anniversary, the game will be coming to the Game Pass both on XBOX One and PC. As the development team was preparing for the new addition, the studio posted this message on their Discord server and Twitter, "For those who play Alan Wake on PC: As we're doing some work on the upcoming Game Pass version of Alan Wake, PC players on Steam and the Epic Games Store will receive a game update today. We fixed an issue with a potential black screen that could appear on exiting the game in windowed mode. #BetterLateThanNever"

If you're checking out the game for the first time today, we would love to know what you think! 

Alan Wake joins its successor, Quantum Break, which joined the Game Pass library in late August 2018.

Alan Wake Official Synopsis: The wife of the best-selling writer Alan Wake disappears on their vacation, his search turns up pages from a thriller he doesn’t even remember writing. A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.

Presented in the style of a TV series, Alan Wake features the trademark Remedy storytelling and pulse-pounding action sequences. As players dive deeper and deeper into the mystery, they’ll face overwhelming odds, plot twists, and cliffhangers. It’s only by mastering the Fight With Light combat mechanic that they can stay one step ahead of the darkness that spreads across Bright Falls.

With the body of an action game and the mind of a psychological thriller, Alan Wake’s intense atmosphere, deep and multilayered story, and exceptionally tense combat sequences provide players with an entertaining and original gaming experience.


Alan Wake was originally released on May 14th 2010 for XBOX 360.

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20th May 2020 Alan Wake's 10th Anniversary Wrap-Up [Updated 22nd May!]

This past week has been a pretty busy one as last Thursday, the community and developers celebrated Alan Wake's tenth anniversary. While the title was launched on PC in February 2012, the original version for XBOX 360 came out two years prior. With the milestone, there were a number of celebrations and tributes set up around the community. Below is a list of some of those events:

New Communication Creations!

For the occasion, so many brilliant fans shared their memories of the game, created new artwork, or uploaded a new project inspired by Wake's adventures. There was so much amazing content, that we had to have a special dedicated article for it. We saw new pieces of fan art from long-time Remedy fans such as Kristy, Trenchiikoat, Fraser, Evil-Owl-Loki, and AleooW, as well as designs for a haunted attraction by Shelby, and SO MUCH MORE.  

We genuinely loved seeing all of these amazing projects, and you can find more on the article, HERE. 

A Conversation With Matthew Porretta

In late January, we sat down to talk to Matthew Porretta, the iconic voice of Alan Wake. During our chat, we talked about what it was like stepping into the booth for the first time, how he found collaborating with Ilkka Villi to bring the character to life, and what it was like travelling to Helsinki to meet the development team. Interviewing Matt has been a hope of mine for almost a decade now, and I'm really excited that I got the opportunity, especially for the anniversary.

You can read the Alan Wake portion of our interview, HERE! 

Remedy's Twitch Channel's Hosts "Bright Falls Week"

Ahead of the festivities, the developers contacted seven influencers/streamers to take part in a week-long celebration of the title, called "Bright Falls Week". The event kicked off with a livestream hosted remotely by the studio which spoke to some of the people involved with the original game. In the broadcast, Remedy's community manager, Vida Starčević, spoke to Sam Lake (lead writer), Ilkka Villi (likeness and motion capture actor), and Matthew Porretta (the voice of Alan Wake) about their experiences and took questions from chat.

After Remedy's livestream wrapped up, it went straight over to Nikatine to start the Alan Wake playthrough, before heading to FuzzyFreaks, JesseCox, GalmShatterskull, Iomadiah, and OverBoredGaming, and eventually Sly, over the following week.

If you missed any of the broadcasts, you can catch up on Remedy's Twitch Channel, HERE!

New Interviews & Retrospectives

For the milestone, a number of websites celebrated the series in their own way. Places like VG247, Game Informer, and Ars Technica were able to sit down with Alan Wake's lead writer, Sam Lake. The Xbox Hub, uploaded a retrospective detailing the game's history from the game to The Alan Wake Files. And, If you enjoyed the Bright Falls mini-series, you might want to check out Vemon Vlog's interview with its director, Phillip Van.

Alan Wake Receives 90% Discount

On the day, Remedy announced a 90% discount for the game on the Epic Games Store, Steam, and GOG allowing gamers who haven't yet tried the adventure to step on board. 

While the Steam and GOG sale ended a few days later, the discount on the Epic Games Store actually extends to June 11th.

Giveways & Competitions

To celebrate ten years, Remedy commissioned a limited edition run of Maglite torches with the milestone inscribed on the side. These were given out throughout live streams hosted by partnered-influencers and streamers in broadcasts scheduled throughout the week, in addition to a special competition. 

For the competition, Remedy teamed up with The Sudden Stop, PayneReactor, and ComunidadRemedy, where we asked fans to share their favourite memory of the game and to get creative with their entry! 

Our site also ran its own separate giveaway announced a little earlier in the week in which one fan won the Alan Wake Collector's Edition bundle on Steam. The winner was @sensailii, who was announced on May 21st. 

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19th May 2020 Poets of the Fall Spotlights Fragile In New Alexander Theatre Session

Last week, Poets of the Fall uploaded the recording to their fifth Alexander Theatre session! This time they went back to their earlier work with an intimate acoustic recording of Fragile.

Fragile was first heard in the band's third album, Revolution Roulette, which launched on March 26th 2008. After its release, the album went straight to the top of the charts in Finland, and was certified gold just two weeks after. While Fragile was never a single (that honour went to The Ultimate Fling and Diamonds for Tears), the track has been a regular addition to the band's playlist at events.

You can see the full Alexander Theatre recording below:

The video was filmed by Tiia Öhman and Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, and was recorded, mixed, and edited by Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen. Lights were by Tuittu Teivainen. The lighting and camera technician was Henri Ilanen, with extra cameras provided by Studio Varustamo.

Fragile (Alexander Theatre Session) is also available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play!

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17th May 2020 Alan Wake To Join XBOX Game Pass On May 21st

If you haven't yet tried out Alan Wake yet and you own XBOX Game Pass for either XBOX One or PC, make sure to mark May 21st in your diary. Teased in the Alan Wake 10th Anniversary livestream, the original game will be making its way on XBOX Game Pass next Thursday, opening-up the adventure to a brand new audience. 

Alan Wake joins its successor, Quantum Break, which joined the Game Pass library in late August 2018.

Alan Wake Official Synopsis: the wife of the best-selling writer Alan Wake disappears on their vacation, his search turns up pages from a thriller he doesn’t even remember writing. A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.

Presented in the style of a TV series, Alan Wake features the trademark Remedy storytelling and pulse-pounding action sequences. As players dive deeper and deeper into the mystery, they’ll face overwhelming odds, plot twists, and cliffhangers. It’s only by mastering the Fight With Light combat mechanic that they can stay one step ahead of the darkness that spreads across Bright Falls.

With the body of an action game and the mind of a psychological thriller, Alan Wake’s intense atmosphere, deep and multilayered story, and exceptionally tense combat sequences provide players with an entertaining and original gaming experience.

Alan Wake was originally released on May 14th 2010 for XBOX 360.

Quantum Break Official Synopsis: In the aftermath of a split second of destruction that fractures time itself, two people find they have changed and gained extraordinary abilities. One of them travels through time and becomes hell-bent on controlling this power. The other uses these new abilities to attempt to defeat him – and fix time before it tears itself irreparably apart. Both face overwhelming odds and make dramatic choices that will determine the shape of the future. Quantum Break is a unique experience; one part hard-hitting video game, one part thrilling live action show, featuring a stellar cast, including Shawn Ashmore as the hero Jack Joyce, Aidan Gillen as his nemesis Paul Serene and Dominic Monaghan as Jack’s genius brother William. Quantum Break is full of the vivid storytelling, rich characters and dramatic twists Remedy Entertainment are renowned for. Your choices in-game will affect the outcome of this fast-paced fusion between game and show giving the player a completely unique entertainment experience.


Quantum Break was originally released on April 5th 2016, and is XBOX One X Enhanced.

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