If you're looking for more Alan Wake 2 goodness, you're in luck! Today, Remedy posted the second instalment of their behind-the-scenes diaries. In the video, the studio delves into how the concept for the game has changed over the years and how they approached the challenge.
We also see glimpses of Coffee World, work-in-process teasers of level design, and some new concept artwork!
In the new video, we also hear from a number of developers working on the title, including Sam Lake (Creative Director and Lead Writer), Clay Murphy (Principal Writer), Petri Alanko (Composer), Nazareno Urbano (Principal Environment Artist), Nathalie Jankie (Level Designer), Marko Miukku (Gameplay Lead), Anssi Määttä (Live Action and Cinematics Director), Molly Maloney (Principal Narrative Designer), Kyle Rowley (Game Director), and Vida Starčević (Senior Community Manager).
If you missed the first Alan Wake 2 - Behind the Scenes diary, you can watch it HERE! In the debut video, the developers talk about writing Saga and her importance in the story.
Transcript & Visual Description:
Visual Description: Sam Lake's Announcement To The Fans video from 2023 plays on an old TV placed between storage boxes in what appears to be a CGI stone-walled basement.
Sam Lake (2013): We knew, that from the beginning, that when Wake ends up in the Dark Place, getting out from there is going to be a long, hellish journey and a hard struggle. And I guess that where we are now, is fiction becoming reality.
Visual Description: The Alan Wake 2 logo emerges from the smoke. As it disappears, it is replaced by the chapter name, "Chapter 2. Remedy's Dream Game."
Clay Murphy: I was playing a lot of fantasy games before I really had ever heard about Alan Wake and a friend recommended it and it had a big impression on me just because of how complex the characters were. Seeing a game that rivalled other mediums with its complexity of character was really inspiring to me.
Visual Description: As the title card disappears, it's replaced by Remedy's lobby. Walls are covered in thin, neatly stacked planks of warm-coloured wood. The new Remedy logo stands out in black against the wooden beams. In the background, there is a lift. We switch to another part of the building, looking down the corridor at the studio. On the right are windowed rooms, framed in wood. The corridor itself is a mix of cream, grey, and blues.
Visual Description: After Clay's interview, we return to the old boxed TV, which shows an early part of Alan Wake with the writer waking up in a crashed car. It quickly jumps to another scene where Alan is following Thomas Zane's light through the woods.
Alan Wake (in-game): Hello?
Petri Alanko: The game that sort of nailed Remedy on their storytelling.
Visual Description: We see a brief clip of Petri Alanko, the Composer, followed by another gameplay clip on the TV. In this scene, Carl Stucky stabs a door with his axe. On the other side, Alan flinches back, mirroring the iconic scene from The Shining.
Nazareno Urbano: I was mostly impressed by the atmosphere and the lighting and especially the use of music.
Nathalie Jankie: It was unlike anything I'd ever played and it felt like I was transported into this playable Stephen King novel with this weird story taking me for a crazy ride.
Visual Description: The focus switches from Nazareno to Teemu Huhtiniemi (Principal Level Designer) and Nathalie Jankie (Level Designer). For this segment, Nathalie is the one who is speaking, but Teemu nods along as they speak. We return quickly to the TV, and a police car speeding down a road in Bright Falls. Another gameplay scene shows Wake running through fog lit up by moonlight. Followed by a third scene of Wake battling a Taken.
Marko Muikku: It was, first of all, proving that we can do bigger games in Finland. There's this Finnish flavour in it that you cannot really put your finger on it and I like it dearly.
Visual Description: For the next bit, the scene switch from indoor interviews set at what seems to be the studio, to an outdoor setting. Anssi is being interviewed outside of a red wooden building, with white window and door frames.
Anssi Määttä: We are kind of like cherishing our culture and what we are known for.
Visual Description: The scene changes to a behind-the-scenes look at one of the live-action recordings. They appear to be in a warehouse with metal beams and rolling garage-style doors. Ilkka Villi is laying in the centre of the room, as Alan Wake, a soft light illuminating his face. The camera is focused on him above. Three people are standing out looking at the scene, with a fourth adjusting the position of the actor. As the scene moves on, we see the developers crowded around the screen, looking at the results. The screen is turned away from us.
Anssi Määttä: Our quirky little things and manners.
Visual Description: We move away from the filming to a shot of a felt Viking-style hat. "Suomi Finland" has been embroidered on the front along with the Finnish Flag. The hat is white, with grey horns on either side.
Visual Description: Back to the gameplay TV! This time there is a scene from Max Payne 2 in which Mona Sax and Max are running down a corridor. We see another clip of Mona firing her sniper. A close-up of Max. A perfect slow-motion dodge by the protagonist on the streets of New York. The focus suddenly snaps back to Alan Wake (Remastered) with Barbara Jagger reaching out towards Wake's shoulder. She disappears as he spins around. In a new scene, Wake approaches the cowardly "Kidnapper" on a viewing platform.
Molly Maloney: Obviously, before Alan Wake, you had Max Payne, which was quirky and strange, but I would say Alan Wake kind of took those qualities and ramped them up to eleven. And it's very rare to see a game that is equal parts horror, humour and strangeness.
Visual Description: After a brief shot of Molly, we return to gameplay footage. Tor slams his squeaky rubber hammer into Alan's chest, laughing heavily as Alan just looks on, confused. We switch to Barry driving, Alan in the passenger seat, and Rose's cardboard standee wobbling in the back seat.
Barry (in-game): Al, please tell me we’re headed for the nearest. “You’re now leaving Bright Falls, come back soon” sign.
Sam Lake: It was very, very important to me to come up with a hero character who is not a professional hero.
Visual Description: A scene of Wake talking with Sarah Breaker switches to a moment with Sam Lake, before switching back to more gameplay footage. We see Alan at his typewriter.
Sam Lake: Him being a writer allowed me to explore the idea of creative process and writing process as part of the plot. Which keeps on being an element, of course, in Alan Wake 2 as well.
Visual Description: We see concept artwork for Alan Wake 2 of a figure standing on the edge of a cliff looking out at what looks to be Cauldron Lake. Trees are all around them, and birds take to the sky. In the corner, we see the note "work in progress". After a few seconds, it moves to another piece of concept artwork. An elderly man in a flannel shirt is hauling something to the back of his truck. In the background is a white wooden building with "Fishtrap" written along the side. In the background, two people are engaged in conversation. It is another "work in progress" piece.
Visual Description: The concept art changes to a clip from the original; Alan burning away the Darkness from a poltergeist. In the next clip, he is lying on the floor at Bird Leg Cabin, surrounded by scattered manuscript pages, his chair has fallen next to him.
Kyle Rowley: I think it's kind of common knowledge that we took a lot of inspiration from Twin Peaks and there was nothing quite like that at the time. We tried to, in that game, integrate the story into the gameplay more so with the manuscript pages the player found kind of trying to find novel ways to kind of tell the story.
Visual Description: Saga, illuminated momentarily by a warm teal light, looks up from her desk and at the screen. After a moment with Sam, we switch back to Saga approaching the Witch's Cabin cautiously, a torch raised.
Sam Lake: These projects are huge endeavours and many, many things, many of them out of, totally out of your control need to click into place for a big game to happen.
Visual Description: Saga looks around the inside of the Witch's cabin with her torch. She sees a minimalistic setting; table chairs, a deer skull, and some photos. After a glimpse at some gameplay, we move back to some "work in progress" concept artwork. Saga is approaching the entrance to a Ferris Wheel, presumably Coffee World, given the mug-shaped compartments.
Sam Lake: There is an element of luck the same very cool concept at a certain point in time might not get any interest or excitement around it, suddenly everybody wants it.
Visual Description: Saga is taking a closer look at a fusebox outside of the Witch's Cabin. The goals on the screen read "Track Nightingale at Cauldron Lake" and "Get the lights working in the hut". Saga has three items available; "Manuscript Fragments", "Saga's Bracelet", and a "Flashlight". In the bottom right, we see she has 29/999 Manuscript Fragments, which are described as "Torn fragments from a manuscript. Can be used in the Mind Palace to upgrade Saga's weapons."
Saga Anderson (in-game): Fuse box is missing a fuse.
Sam Lake: Horror as a genre in pop culture overall has been growing in popularity a lot. And I think that that was the missing puzzle piece in creating a concept of Alan Wake 2 where everything just suddenly clicked into place and was very exciting.
Visual Description: A concept artwork marked as "work in progress", we see a port-side town with red wooden cabins. Possibly the port of Watery. We switch to gameplay of Saga approaching the Overlap inside an ancient tree, bathed in red light. As she reaches it, the focus switches, and we see gameplay footage of her inside Cauldron Lake General Store as a Taken barge through the wall to attack her.
Vida Starčević: In the build-up to the Game Awards announcing Alan Wake 2 was huge for us. It was huge for the team because this is an idea that has lived in Sam's brain for 13 years, and now we finally get to present at least a sliver of it to the world.
Visual Description: We see a number of shots in quick succession. Los Angeles from a descending aeroplane. In the next scene. A selfie shot of an excited Sam Lake. Approaching the doors to the Microsoft Theater. A closeup of The Game Awards logo ahead of the show. A brief shot of Vida talking about the announcement. Then a recording of The Game Awards 2021.
Geoff Keighley (2021): This is so exciting, Alan Wake 2, it’s been a decade, fans have been asking you for it, why is now the right time to bring him back?
Sam Lake (2021): We knew this is gonna be a pretty scary experience-
Geoff Keighley (2021): I was going to say!
Sam Lake (2021): but now we are convinced everybody’s ready. You are ready?
Visual Description: The focus switches to roughly-present day with an interview with Kyle in a bright room before going to some Alan Wake 2 gameplay footage.
Kyle Rowley: We showcased a demo of the game when we were at Summer Game Fest.
Visual Description: We see a drawing of Barbara Jagger, illuminated by a red light, Saga staring at her. She notices the large tree, the possible entrance to the Overlap.
Kyle Rowley: We chose a mission which takes place on Saga’s side and it showcases the Pacific Northwest.
Molly Maloney: She's investigating. There's a lot of supernatural weirdness. For fans of the franchise,
it's a return to Cauldron Lake, an old friend...
Visual Description: We switch back to Molly briefly before seeing Saga walking through the woods towards Cauldron Lake General Store.
Molly Maloney:...and it's got Casey in it.
Visual Description: Gameplay footage shows Saga walking behind Casey, who is leading the way down a rocky path snaking through the woods. It's near sunset.
Vida Starčević: Remedy’s really found its niche. We know our strengths. We know what we are good at.
Visual Description: After a brief glimpse at Vida's interview, we move to what looks to be the studio's art team. Artwork of a car, film projectors, and a motorcycle are pinned to the wall behind three monitors. An individual is sat at their desk working across two monitors; their work is intentionally blocked by the angle.
Visual Description: We move to a different desk, which looks to be from the same department. There's a map drawn on a whiteboard in the background. One of the developers is working at their desk on clothing for one of the characters. Their desk features a controller, and two modelling figures.
Vida Starčević: We know that that is world building, that is atmosphere. And we keep building on these strengths and we keep investing into all other areas and seeing how can we do more, how can we go bigger, how can we go bolder?
Visual Description: A third behind-the-scenes look at what could be a narrative team meeting. They are gathered around a TV screen on a video call, looking at the documentation.
Visual Description: After a few seconds, we move to a developer at their desk, zooming through a possible level area. Or just intentionally messing with us. Not going to lie, I would mess with our heads.
Visual Description: The scene moves on to a different developer, surrounded by monitors containing Slack updates, and a location title hovering over gameplay. In the scene, Saga looks to be approaching a door, with the title "Nursing Home". The first part is obscured, but in keeping with the theme, possibly reads Vahalla?
Visual Description: The focus moves to a selection of polaroids showcasing the narrative team. Tädäs, Sinikka, Josh, Erik, Clay, Jenny, and Molly. We briefly switch back to Vida, before diving into some gameplay of Saga fighting a Taken.
Molly Maloney: It's a story that you're not told, it's the story that you play. And the team has done a lot of really great work in coming up with unique and interesting ways to make that experience playable.
Sam Lake: Between every game project that we have made, we have done a new concept of Alan Wake 2.
Visual Description: A shot of a painted American Eagle hanging from the ceiling, the colours contrasting against the plain white background. After a few seconds, we see a selection of monitors showing motion capture footage and linking it with the movements of the characters. In the next scene, we see a paper sign next to a door reading "Dark Place".
Sam Lake: It's been frustrating through the years not being able to get it started and be excited about it, and then it's not happening.
Visual Description: We see a 3D model of Alan Wake as he appears in the second game, rotating on a monitor.
Sam Lake: I think that the game we are now making is by far the most exciting, the most interesting and ambitious one out of all of those concepts. And I'm really, really happy that it's this Alan Wake 2 that we are making and none of the earlier ones.
Visual Description: In the closing scenes, we see the interview footage with Sam, alongside clips of Saga following Casey, and Saga walking towards her Case Board in her Mind Palace. She looks through the documents and sees visions of Nightingale.
