Remedy has made some big games - Max Payne, Quantum Break, and Control - but Alan Wake is the cult hit that fans can't forget. In a new interview, the studio's writer Sam Lake has revealed some of the canceled projects that came before the horror adventure.
"The first concept we were exploring was actually a fantasy game with a lot of humor in it – quite a bit different than hard-boiled noir," Lake told Game Informer.
"It was very Terry Pratchett inspired, tonally. We decided we were not going in that direction after exploring it for a while."
Some ideas and mechanics from that project stuck though, including the use of day and night.
"There were other concepts, too. There was a zombie-apocalypse game that was kind of a road trip from East Coast to West Coast. And there was another idea with a small town. Although that concept ended up being different than Alan Wake, the small-town idea was something that remained on the table. So we had day and night, light and dark, a small-town setting, and pieces like that – even if the concept we were working on didn’t feel quite right, some elements of it remained."
Lake also explained how Alan Wake and Control are linked, sharing a universe and keeping the memory of the ten-year-old horror game alive for fans.
"I wanted to build the idea of a connected universe for Remedy in the background. If you play Control and explore, you'll find things that show Alan Wake and Control exist in the same world. What's more, it becomes clear that the Federal Bureau of Control that deals with these unexplainable things has been looking into what happened in Alan Wake."
He also confirmed what we hoped Remedy was teasing with its next piece of Control DLC, even more Alan Wake.
"I can say that you will find out more about the Bureau's research on what happened in Alan Wake and where they are with it today. It's kind of nice with this being Alan Wake's 10-year anniversary that we have an opportunity to have more Alan Wake-related content for the fans."
Jumping back into Control? Try and find all the Control Easter eggs.
