Mark your calendar for October 17th! In addition to a brand new gameplay trailer during the PlayStation Showcase, Remedy has released a ton of fresh information.
Known for her breathtaking photographs, Lily's passion for Control series has helped shaped so much of the fandom and also influenced the studios' online activities.
To celebrate the game's 10th anniversary, we sat down with Matthew Porretta, the incredible voice actor behind Alan Wake, to talk about his experiences and memories.
This week, Remedy posted the third image in their Alan Wake 2 Character Card series, a social media series which explores the motivations and backgrounds of key individuals in the upcoming adventure.
The feature began during Gamescom, where Saga Anderson marked the debut of the series. More recently, we heard more about Alex Casey, the hardboiled detective who had previously just been a character on a page.
Today's card is the one that many fans have been waiting for... that tweed-wearing, flashlight-slinging writer himself, Alan Wake.
The unexpected gap between the first game and its sequel has become a key aspect in Alan Wake 2. The protagonist has been trapped in the Dark Place for over a decade, attempting to leave. We arrive back to the story after he's been fighting back insanity, relearning his strengths, and pathing a new way to escape.
Alan Wake has been trying to escape a nightmare dimension for over a decade. The writer's words are one of his strongest weapons, but will they be enough? #AlanWakepic.twitter.com/Jp0iz5e18F
Text Reads:"Alan Wake, once a bestselling author of hardboiled crime novels, is now a prisoner of the Dark Place, a nightmare dimension where he's been trapped for 13 years. He has been fighting to stay sane, he has been writing to try and escape back to our reality. Around him, his nightmares, his fears, and his stories manifest, and the Dark Presence stalks him. So far, he has failed to escape."
Today, Remedy released their fourth Alan Wake 2: Behind the Scenes video, this time exploring the audio and music behind the upcoming adventure. We heard from some of the audio engineers behind the project on how they approached collecting sound effects and from composer Petri Alanko on his return (this time with Marvin!) to the series.
We also received the exciting news that Poets of the Fall will be returning to the series and in a bigger capacity! If you're a fan of their music too, this video is not one to miss! We'll have a new song, and they'll also show up in some of the live action footage, including at In Between with Mr Door.
If you missed any of the Behind the Scenes videos, you can catch all of them, HERE!
Transcription & Visual Description:
Kyle Rowley: For me personally, one of the key components in creating these kind of atmospheric experiences is definitely sound.
Richard Lapington: There's not a rulebook, a playbook for, "Okay, this is how you how you make horror."Horror is more to do with the subconscious, the drawing on fear. It’s like really trying to manipulate the player into feeling something and feeling anticipation and dread. And that is one of the hardest things and one of the most exciting things that a sound designer could actually do.
Gulli Gunnarsson: To be able to create those, sort of, tension moments, we have to focus quite a lot on how the player feels. Focus on foley and breathing, for example, because foley and breathing within that world will bring the player so much closer to the characters.
Visual Description: During the interview, we see two clips of behind-the-scenes footage amid gameplay scenes. The first is a man falling into a Finnish lake; another man holds a boom with a microphone beside him to capture the splashing. In the second scene, they are recording the sounds of a tree moving strongly.
[In-Game] Saga Anderson: FBI, show yourself!
Gulli Gunnarsson: Before you hit those tensions, before you build up to these moments, then you have to get the player to feel like Alan or like Saga, and it's a lot of focus that goes into getting that correct.
Petri Alanko: If you have ever experienced something that shocks you, it takes a little while to really understand what happened. That's called the nervous delay or nerve delay, basically. If you delay that sound effect for just a little bit, it increases your own bodily effect and it becomes much more powerful that way.
Richard Lapington: We play the game a lot ourselves and go "Ok, what are you feeling at these points?" But we often are chasing something that we've seen somewhere else, like pacing of the scenes is really important. Looking at how TV shows are paced and how we build the narrative across time, throughout the entire game.
Petri Alanko: We had to use some extraordinary instruments. Among them, Marvin.
Visual Description: Alanko points behind him when he says the name, "Marvin". The instrument is a 2D metal frame on three sides, with what looks to be violin strings at the top. Springs of different lengths are spread evenly throughout the frame.
Petri Alanko: It's interesting to play those instruments because they aren't equipped with a keyboard or despite the fact that you bow them, they don't reproduce anything that resembles, even closely, any string instrument or whatnot. They are just producing noise.
Gulli Gunnarsson: We did a lot of recordings on instruments as well on the audio design side. So we were smashing them up, submerging them, bowing them. We send these to Petri. Petri sends us his stems. So, it's a very collaborative effort, specifically in the Dark Place, because we want to blur the line between sound design and music.
[In-Game] Alan Wake: Hello.
[In-Game] Caller: Alan Wake?
Sam Lake: Music is part of the storytelling and an important component. When Petri Alanko was working on the soundtrack of the first game, it was a wonderful experience and collaboration. I feel that looking back to the soundtrack that went on to win multiple awards, it's a huge part of the feeling, emotion and it captures the Pacific Northwest landscapes and the scary parts of the experience so well.
Petri Alanko: Remedy’s quite clearly in a league of their own when it comes to storytelling, characters and so forth. It's important to me as a composer because they sort of give you the brain food for the themes, motifs and orchestration.
Sam Lake: I really, really wanted to keep on working with Petri. There was no question about him not returning to Alan Wake 2. It's been wonderful having him back working on the soundtrack for this game.
[Song] Poets of the Fall: Look in the mirror. The-
Visual Description: The three founders of the band; Marko Saaraesto, Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, and Olli Tukainen, are dressed as members of the Old Gods of Asgard band. Throughout the interview, we see shots of them performing something new.
Richard Lapington: The relationship that we've had with Poets has been going on for a long time and it's been really cool to watch them grow and get more used to what we have to do.
Sam Lake: We've been collaborating with Poets of the Fall ever since Max Payne 2, and the big step forward in that was the idea of them assuming the role of an in-world fictional band of Old Gods of Asgard for Alan Wake. And songs that were custom-made to comment on the plot and the lore of the world.
Marko Saaresto: When Sam came back to me and said that they're actually doing more Alan Wake and they wanted Old Gods to have an even sort of bigger role in it, that was very exciting. I don't think there was ever a question in our minds about whether we would do it or not. It's always been so much fun to do that stuff and it's challenging in its ways, but it's also educational. From the get-go it was like, yeah, let's do this.
Sam Lake: We have absolutely stunning pieces of music that we are using to give you a further perspective into the story, custom-made for Alan Wake 2.
In a brand new teaser, IGN First has revealed the initial introduction between Alan Wake and his until-then fictional detective, Alex Casey. The footage shown was the first look into an extended 4K RTX gameplay from the experience, following Nvidia's earlier clips at Gamescom 2023.
Spoiler Level: From the sounds of it, the footage takes place very early in the game. Alan doesn't even have his gun and flashlight at that point. If you're looking to go in fresh, this actual gameplay clip might be one to return to later.
In the footage, we meet Alan mid-way through a level as he walks cautiously down a damp, twisted New York street. As he tries to resolve a puzzle, he is interrupted by a man in the shadows who approaches him.
For fans of the original adventure, Matthew Porretta's voice jumping in with a description of the events and Alan's mindset is a very welcome return after eleven years. For Control fans, the style of the introduction is familiar too, with live-action (almost Director-esqe) footage overlapping the gameplay, sharing the character's set of mind.
Alan Wake 2 Exclusive: Alan Meets Alex Casey Gameplay Clip (4K RTX) - IGN First / Transcript and Visual Description
Alan Wake walks across the pavement in a dark, abandoned, nightmare version of New York. Shadows creep in from the sides.
Shadow: [Distorted] I've read your mind.
Alan Wake: Fuck! Okay, don't mind me, just passing through.
Alan Wake V.O: Shadows stirred like there was someone there, but there was no one. I wanted to keep it that way.
He walks to where the subway station should be.
Alan Wake V.O: The Caldera Street Station sign was there, but the entrance was missing. I had to make it appear. Maybe I could use the lamp to reveal the station entrance?
Voices around him, Alan turns to an alleyway bathed in a cool light. Beside the path, a red neon sign points to "Neighborhood Illumination".
Alan Wake V.O: There was light at the end of the alley ahead.
He walks down it and into a cutscene.
Alex Casey: Is this the way it was on the page?
Casey stands to the side, his body in shadow.
Alan Wake: What the hell?
Casey moves slowly towards Wake, slightly menacingly.
Alan Wake: Oh... hey. We met at Door's show.
Alex Casey: Alan Wake. The writer. I'm Alex Casey. Looking into a murder.
Alan Wake: C'mon... what- What is this?
Alex Casey: There's a piece of evidence, a manuscript of a novel. You wouldn't know anything about it?
Alan Wake: A manuscript? What manuscript? I need to see it.
Alex Casey V.O: Rumour had it that manuscript contained the details of the murders. A murder cult was following a story to commit their gruesome acts. Was Wake their leader. Had he... written this? How far would he go to create a perfect work of art? Or would he be the next victim?
Casey reaches for his revolver and steps towards Wake. The light down the alleyway flickers to a deep red.
Alex Casey: Stay here.
Alan Wake: No! Wait! I need a gun!
Alex Casey: No chance.
Casey runs down the alleyway, taking a moment to pause at the corner and carefully look around. He steps out, his shadow showing clearly against the red light on the building. The alleyway falls into darkness. Gunshots are heard, Casey's scream and the darkness' mixed into one. Slightly reluctantly, as he's without a firearm, Alan follows Casey.
Alan Wake: Casey! Damnit.
Casey is on the floor, covered in blood, illuminated by the flashlight beam. A shadowy image of him beside him, almost evaluating the scene in front of him.
Alex Casey V.O: I remember dying in this alley in a dream I had. it was just a kid killing me here. Loop by loop.
Alex Casey: You're not going to get what you want. You think you know. You know shit. You don't really wanna know. You're gonna get what's coming to you.
As Casey dies, Wake edges closer and picks up the flashlight and gun left by the detective.
Alan Wake: This was an echo of the books that I had written for years. Picking up Casey's gun felt like I was assuming the role of the detective.
Alan uses the Angel Light to claim a nearby light source. It flickers into the device.
Alan Wake: I had a light now. I needed to get back to the subway station entrance.
Alan turns to leave, back through the alley.
Shadows: Wake.
Alan Wake: Shit.
Alan Wake V.O: With the alley in darkness now, restless shadows blocked my way.
The first set of shadows walk by him. He manages to ignore him. In the distance, shapes on the brick walls become physical creatures.
Shadows: Alan Wake... Let me sleep.
One of the shadows lurches towards him.
Alan Wake: Oh, fuck!
He burns the darkness away.
Alan Wake: (Very distorted over the sound of the light burning away) -light to banish the shadows.
With the darkness no longer protecting them, he shoots four shots, taking down the Taken.
Alan Wake V.O: The shadows faded out. Until they didn't. They were trying to stop me. With the gun and flashlight, I could fight back.
He burns away the darkness which had created a barrier at the end of the alley.
Alan Wake V.O: I could use the light to open the subway entrance now.
While in Los Angeles, Sam Lake (Creative Director on Alan Wake 2) joined the Kinda Funny Games Daily livestream to discuss the latest gaming news and delve a little deeper into what awaits Alan.
The ninety-minute broadcast was certainly unusual for viewers less familiar with the Games Daily setup; an hour-long broadcast on the latest news from the games industry, followed by a thirty-minute post-show discussion, with the interviewee alongside for both.
Some of the topics discussed during the livestream include the PlayStation Play Extra Games for September, rumours of a Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, Microsoft's new credit card, New Spider-Man 2 screenshots, and layoffs at Embracer Group.
While the full broadcast is a recommended watch, if you're on the lookout for more Alan Wake 2 news, the sections to check out include the introduction, the mid-episode break (0:26:53 - 0:34:59), and the post-show (starting 0:55:26).
You can watch the full broadcast below or on the Kinda Funny YouTube Channel, HERE.
