Alan Wake 2 has been a wildly successful new instalment from the Finnish-based Remedy Games. With a 13 year old wait between the latest in the Alan Wake saga, broken up only by the short 2012 continuation, “Alan Wake’s American Nightmare”, Remedy have had a lot of time to craft a uniquely wonderful game world. Rewarding loyal fans, they’ve taken this time to ensure the game has been jam-packed full of interesting links to other Remedy fan favourites, such as Control and of course, Max Payne. In this article, we’ll explore some of the interesting connections to these games that can be found in Alan Wake 2.
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Sam Lake as Alex Casey
One of the first and most obvious links comes in the form of the casting of Sam Lake as Detective Alex Casey in Alan Wake 2. While Sam Lake did feature in a minor role as Alex Casey in a TV sequence in the first Alan Wake, most fans will undoubtedly recognize him best as the face of Max Payne in the 2001 masterpiece that truly put Remedy Games on the map.
As a writer of both the Max Payne series, Control and Alan Wake, Sam Lake is a crucial part of the Remedy team, becoming iconic to fans of the game developer. While the character of Alex Casey as portrayed by Lake doesn’t feature in Control, he is mentioned in passing in the game as a detective that has taken an interest in the Alan Wake case. This is just one of many links that tie the games together to show both canonically take place in the same universe that Remedy has expertly crafted.
Poets of The Fall
Long-time Remedy Games collaborators, the rock band from Helsinki, Poets of The Fall have returned once again in the latest installment of Alan Wake. Loyal fans of Remedy Games remember the finale of Max Payne 2, their first work with the games studio, in which the sequel bowed-out it’s bittersweet tragedy ending to PoTF song, “Late Goodbye”.
More recently, PoTF were featured as the fictional rock band “Old Gods of Asgard” in Alan Wake, culminating in an exciting and adrenaline-filled concert mission in which Alan must fight a horde of the taken to a blaring rendition of the rock ballad, “Children of The Elder God”.
PoTF’s partnership with Remedy has been a regular occurence in the years since, with their music featuring also in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Quantum Break, Control and the Alan Wake Remaster. As such, their inclusion was very predictable, however it remains a very welcome addition for fans of the group and the original rock music they’ve expertly crafted to help set the atmosphere in Remedy’s games.
Links to Control
Alan Wake 2 features several links to Remedy’s critically acclaimed 2019 action-adventure game Control, especially relating to the game’s second expansion pack, titled “AWE”.
Control’s AWE expansion has been touted as a crossover between Control and Alan Wake. In the first Alan Wake, we’re introduced to Dr. Emil Hartman, a psychologist that Alan’s wife, Alice Wake, contacted in an attempt to help the fictional writer. Hartman canonically attempts to study the effects of Cauldron Lake through the artists he keeps at his clinic in Bright Falls. However, after failing to successfully conduct his research on Alan, the fictional Federal Bureau of Control confronts Hartman in Control, taking possession of all his research files on Cauldron Lake.
In the AWE expansion, lead character Jesse Faden finds that Hartman attempted to continue his research by diving into Cauldron Lake, only to be immediately taken by the dark presence. Sent to investigate the situation and eliminate Dr. Hartman to regain control of the sector, Jesse finds herself in the town of Bright Falls in which both Alan Wake games largely occur.
While staying at the Oceanview Motel, Jesse Faden has regular visions of Alan Wake, as he attempts to break through into the real world from “The Dark Place”, through a doorway inside the motel marked with a spiral.
At the finale of the AWE expansion, Jesse receives a report from higher-ups at the Federal Bureau of Control, in which they find a report of an “Altered World Event” in Bright Falls, only to find it is dated several years into the future, a clear link between Control and the newly-released Alan Wake 2.
Summary
In conclusion Alan Wake 2 is absolutely full to the brim with connections to other Remedy games as it establishes firm links as a central component of the Remedy Connected Universe. With incredible graphics, open world survival-horror gameplay and a truly riveting story from the twisted mind of Sam Lake, Alan Wake 2 already has more than enough to keep fans of the developer enthralled. The additions of the in-universe links between the games manage to make for a more rewarding experience for loyal fans to enjoy references to other Remedy titles without feeling forced or compromising the story of Alan Wake 2.
