With the imminent launch of Alan Wake 2we couldn't help but talk about the importance of the original game on the scene, recalling the passage of the Remedy as a developer, highlighting the major influences on the company's games and how desirable this game was until then.
That's why we've prepared this special on Remedy's expanded universe, which will be divided into parts.
A production company in the spotlight
The youtube channel Remedy, producer of Alan Wakehad modest beginnings: In 1996, it released a game called Death Rallyin 1996 for MS-DOS. This start in a more arcade wouldn't have prepared us for what was to follow five years later.
Modesty aside, the Finnish production company has developed Max Payne (launched in 2001 for Playstation 2, Xbox e PC), a game so influential that it even got a movie with the same name starring Mark Wahlberg, released in 2008, after we had already released two games in the series.
Clearly influenced by the bullet time from the movie Matrix (1999), Max Payne, the main character, uses and abuses slow motion for acrobatic gameplay, far above the average for shooters of the time.
It's not hard to tell that the small producer had big dreams which, at the time, were supported by the Rockstar (yes, the one from Grand Theft Auto), the holder of the rights to the series to this day (it even released a third one without the Finnish producer, which is a great game, but lacks the flavor of the two original games, which were enveloped in a mood of noire of a New York always at night).
Alan Wake, writer
After releasing two games in the Max Payne with the Rockstar, a Remedy spent the next seven years developing, now in partnership with Microsoftan exclusive game for Xbox 360 (later launched on PC too). A game that would change everything that was common. Some, at the time, even said it would spell the end of a console war involving Microsoft e Sony (for second place in the generation, after all, the Nintendo was already leading by a wide margin, with his Wii).
That game was Alan Wake, an action, mystery and horror thriller full of influences from television and books. After all, it's not every day that you see direct references to Stephen King in a video game, or the parody of Twilight Zone in the program Night Springs in the game.
As (and in the shadow of) a writer with a creative crisis, the player is taken to the fictional country town of Bright Falls, where strange phenomena occur and Alan Wake finds himself in a battle between light and darkness.
An enlightened remaster
Anyone who had the chance to play Alan Wake in 2010, the year it was released, will remember the problems. The game ran sub-HD, i.e. below 720p, which was the standard at the time. To make matters worse, the game was released close to Red Dead Redemptionone of the masterpieces of the last generation. The difference in technical quality was brutal. However Alan Wake has been forgotten.
Eleven years later, in 2021, Remedy launched its remaster for the latest consoles - and brought the game to the Playstation for the first time. After Control (which we'll cover in another article in this special), everyone wanted to play Alan Wake again, or play it for the first time. After all, the game revealed the developer's expanded universe.
O remaster fixes a lot of things from the original game, everything is prettier, more alive, Alan Wake's mouth stops moving like a puppet's, and the lighting is still great (which was the greatest technical asset of the previous game, the play of light and shadows was impressive). Finally, Alan Wake, even more than a decade later, finds his best form.
Alan, wake up
In Alan Wakewe face enemies possessed by a Dark Presence (Dark Presence). These bloodthirsty enemies won't stop until they see Alan on the ground. Because they are ordinary citizens of the rural town of Bright Falls, their weapons are working objects such as machetes, loppers and the like. Fortunately, the protagonist is equipped with firearms and any object that can make light. In particular, flashlights.
The core gameplay of Alan Wake involves alternating the beam of light with a hail of bullets aimed at enemies. This mechanic is very satisfying, especially because of the sensation of firing the shots, since the impact on the enemies, once the light leaves them vulnerable, is high. Even better is a shot from a flare gun, which explodes in a burst of light.
Unfortunately, Alan Wake doesn't have the best level design and the positioning of the enemies often leaves something to be desired, making everything more complicated than it should be. And at no point does the game do this in an attempt to make the player despair. The level design is poor throughout most of the game.
The Poet and the Muse
It must be understood, however, that Alan Wake, despite not having the best gameplay, has other attractions. As mentioned above, the game draws inspiration from movies, books and TV. A writer is being portrayed as the protagonist, which is already quite unusual.
Crows reminiscent of Hitchcock. A setting reminiscent of Twin Peaks. A TV series with complete episodes to watch, parodying Twilight Zone. References to Stephen King. An episodic format that resembles a TV series. All this contributes to a complete immersion in Bright Falls and the drama of Alan Wake against the Dark Presence, and it is at this point that the Remedy differs from many developers: it knows how to hold its players, no matter how problematic Alan Wake was in 2010 (and is now much better since 2021).
Another interesting point is the band Old Gods of Asgard, a alter ego from the Finnish band Poets of the Fall, present in the game. Key to the story's conclusion, the band's crazy musicians contribute two very good songs, one of them in one of the best moments of the game, with a heavy metal which encourages the player. The other song, a ballad, is called The Poet and the Museis necessary for the story to continue. The discography of Old Gods of Asgard, present in the Spotify. And we also recommend Poets of the Fallwho became famous with Carnival of Rust.
The Writer and the Dark
Alan Wake deals with mundane themes, such as a crisis in a marriage or a writer's creative block, but also with the supernatural, especially the fear of the dark, which here takes shape and attacks the player. Light is essential in the game.
This supernatural will later have another name: paranatural. But we only discovered this word in 2019, when Control was released eight years later. There were already clues, but without the game released, they meant nothing.
O paranaturalBut that's for the next article.
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