Alan Wake 2 gets 11 minutes of new gameplay, and the real star is a fan-favorite Control character with a beautiful singing voice

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Ahti is back, baby

A new Alan Wake 2 gameplay trailer is here with 11 minutes of footage, and although I'm sure it's crammed with references and callbacks to older Remedy games, what I'm most hyped about is that it confirms Ahti from Control is back and still singing his lovely Finnish music.

Courtesy of IGN, the new Alan Wake 2 trailer wastes no time revealing the return of the fan-favorite Control character, who's on stage serenading a small crowd, which includes me, with a beautiful rendition of The Finnish Tango, a song previously heard in the Control soundtrack. FBI detective Saga Anderson, one of Alan Wake 2's two playable characters, waltzes into the room during the performance and asks to speak with someone in the audience, who bristles, "Ahti's in the middle of his show!"

"I wonder if I'm the first FBI agent to ever get shushed," Saga wonders aloud. Listen, when Ahti is on stage singing his heart out, I don't care how many fancy badges you have on your uniform, you shut up and listen.

Ahti, of course, is the enigmatic janitor of the Oldest House who turns out to be much, much more than a janitor. His often strange and even occasionally unsettling behavior adds to the creepy atmosphere of Control, but his ultimately kindhearted nature made him my favorite character to encounter in the game. More than anything, I loved hearing him sing in his native Finnish tongue and sultry baritone voice, and I'm overjoyed to learn we'll get more of that in Alan Wake 2.

The rest of the video is worth a watch too, showing an early Saga mission with a good mix of puzzles, combat, and detective work. The sequel hits PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 27.

Read our Alan Wake 2 preview to see why we're convinced Saga is a fantastic addition to the game.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.