Just how far will Remedy go? I'll leave Wake to consider that one: 'This is not the story you want it to be. A desire to be subsumed by the darkness once again. Still, even with so much of Alan Wake 2 shrouded in mystery, there's an undeniable aura around it. The sort of experimental survival horror game that will drive conversation, and redefine what Remedy is capable of – which, given that the studio is also working on Control 2, a multiplayer Control spinoff, and a Max Payne remake, will be exciting to see. Little is known about Alan Wake 2 right now, but it's clearly going to be Big in 2023. Of course, if you have played games in the Alan Wake franchise, Control, and the Control: AWE DLC – there will be many connections, pieces of lore, and familiar characters for you to discover.'

'When we were creating the concept for Alan Wake 2, it was very much on our mind that we wanted to create an experience that was welcoming to all – both new players who may not be familiar with Alan Wake or the Remedy Connected Universe and our fans, who have been on the journey with us and enjoyed earlier Remedy games. 'If anything, through these years, the dream of Alan Wake 2 has grown more ambitious and more unique' Sam Lake, creative director Remedy shared this new Alan Wake 2 concept art with GamesRadar+, displaying some creepy looking woods (Image credit: Remedy Entertainment) (opens in new tab) Rowley tells me that while Alan Wake 2 can be enjoyed, understood, and appreciated by players who never played the original adventure, the experience will be enhanced should you take the next few months to play through Alan Wake Remastered, the Control AWE expansion, and (for those of you with an Xbox console within reach) the absolutely wonderful standalone spin-off Alan Wake's American Nightmare. The company helped release Alan Wake Remastered last year, which brought the game – along with its two excellent DLC packs, The Signal and The Writer – outside of the Xbox ecosystem and onto PlayStation systems for the very first time. Speaking of partners, Remedy is working with Epic Games Publishing to bring Alan Wake 2 to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X in 2023. Not only the concept itself, but the timing and the right partners as well.' A game project like this is a very complex undertaking – it's our biggest project yet – and a lot of different things need to come together. 'If anything, through these years, the dream of Alan Wake 2 has grown more ambitious and more unique. 'You keep the dream alive when you keep actively dreaming it, and make a constant effort to keep it fresh and exciting,' says Lake. What this means for Alan Wake – its off-kilter atmosphere and snappy combat, leveraging the forces of light against darkness with a backpack full of lithium batteries – remains to be seen, although game director Kyle Rowley is only too happy to tease the tonal shift.

'Tortured' being the operative word here, with Remedy signaling that Alan Wake 2 will be a true survival horror experience – rather than an action game with Twin Peaks and Stephen King-inspired horror elements, as was the original. Remedy will unleash the tortured author back into Bright Falls in 2023. Jesse Faden, meet Alan Wake – the once-famous writer who is now desperate to be freed of a nightmare of his own design, no matter the cost. In the expansion, the fallout from the 2010 Bright Falls incident collided with the Federal Bureau of Control, with Wake's penchant for rewriting reality seeping out of the Oceanview Motel and into the contorting hallways of The Oldest House. Control arrived in 2019 and introduced a wider populace of the game-playing public to Remedy's penchant for engineering high-strangeness after almost two decades of Xbox exclusivity, and firmly established the concept of the 'Remedy Connected Universe' through the release of Control: AWE.

Alan wake 2 release date 2011