So...Alan Wake?

Somewhere the owner of the IP is going to rerelease the game in an updated edition just to keep the gravy train rolling.

Lest they accidentally allow free downloading of the game.

That's already happened. Alan Wake got cracked years ago. It's been torrented a lot of times by now. It's never been on my radar before Remedy decided that pulling it was a better option than getting better lawyers involved on their side to sort out the licensing scenario for the music.

Bought the game on a whim, after ignoring it for years. What can I say, it's a mechanically mediocre at best game with all the bullshit that plagued third-person action games in the recent generations (especially the downright insulting checkpoint system that makes backtracking all but impossible), but the atmosphere and storytelling really saves it. The fact that, despite being a linear, narrative-driven affair, Alan Wake is actually still set in a technically open world that is always rendered in its entirety (and yet has nary any load times) is pretty damn impressive, albeit the many narrow corridors and invisible walls do hurt the experience badly, particularly during combat encounters. The heavy emphasis on real-time lighting and physics, as well as volumetric fog and smoke effects, is still amazing, too. Just a shame it is such a banal chore to play through; thankfully it basically plays itself for the most part.

Effective today, Remedy Entertainment now has the publishing rights to Alan Wake.

(Might this mean we'll see the game on Switch or PS4? Or even Alan Wake 2?)

I would HOPE we'll see a Steam Re-release. Doubt it'll be some remaster update considering Remedy's size and current project, but I'm sure it'll be republished there. At the moment, all their focus is probably on Control coming in August. Which I would assume will probably contain some Alan Wake references which wouldn't be inappropriate considering the setting.

All they'd really need is one of the FBC Vaults to be a single log cabin room with a typewriter and the fans will go ballistic.

Not sure about an Alan Wake 2 but I could see it if the Steam Release gets enough sales and publicity.

Steam is already selling it again after an extension was bought on the rights to the music months ago, unless it stopped being sold after that.

I thought they couldn't sell it for awhile? I might be confusing my events though.

They couldn't for about 10 months due to songs in the soundtrack having the licensing rights run out, but during that downtime Microsoft or Remedy went and paid to have all of them extended.

So Remedy's new game Control is making the rounds.

They recently revealed their plans for DLC and...

Are we due for a trip to Bright Falls next year?

(A DLC for Summer 2020 is called AWE. Some have interpreted it as "Altered Worlds Experience" or "Alan Wake Experience". And for added interestingness, apparently Quantum Break made the argument that both are equally valid ages ago...)

I would be more interested since I adored Alan Wake, but I won't be able to play it until long after the DLC releases since it doesn't come to PC until September next year. :/

The answer is because there's a dispute between Poets of the Fall and Remedy over monetary compensation.

Hence Alan Wake will never comeback.

... I was referring to Control. I already have Alan Wake on PC.

Why would POTF be stopping any new Alan Wake games from coming out? The music royalties was sorted allowing the original game to be sold on Steam again, and if the band is unhappy then Remedy can just not license them again.

Poets of the Fall are featured in Control, too (once again as Old Gods of Asgard), so I see no reason to worry.

The band clearly isn't unhappy, just that music licensing is a thing that needs to be renewed and paid for, even if you have a solid professional relationship.

And it was renewed allowing the original game to be sold on steam again. The last I heard the hold up was that Microsoft owns part of the rights, I think it was in an interview around the time the TV show was announced.

Alan Wake fans rise up, because A REMASTER IS HAPPENING!

Plus, an open letter about this new development from Remedy Entertainment's Sam Lake.

TL;DR: Alan Wake Remastered is coming to PC via Epic Game Store and all consoles minus Nintendo Switch, will feature 4K visuals, all the DLC, and director commentary by Sam Lake.

Freakin' sweet. I remember playing this way back on the Xbox 360 and enjoying it. Glad that a lot more people will get to enjoy it too.

I guess American Nightmare isn't included in this. Maybe if it does well enough we'll see a remaster for that :)

I think Alan "restoring the Taken" is an interesting element. It's entirely possible, to provide narrative "ooomph", that Alan killed like a hundred or more of the townsfolk in order to bring back his wife. I fully believe that's a legitimate interpretation of the fact he felt his writing powers required him to kill people in order to wield the magic of the Dark Presence as the story wouldn't work if it was too happy.

Epic Store Exclusive.

I'm fuming. I loved Alan Wake from day one as a cult classic darling and I've been dreaming of a remaster for ages. I adored it through high school. I fell in love with Remedy, fell in love with Control and waited a full year addition for it to release on PC.

And now an all time favorite gets a modern remaster and, lol, nope. This sucks. :(

Nobody fucking needs Epic Store exclusives. Does anyone still honest-to-god use Epic over Steam?

I'm guessing anyone who wants to play Fortnite but doesn't have a console or even a smartphone?

Hang on, maybe Alan Wake Remastered will show up on Steam eventually? Like in a year or two from now?

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Sep 7th 2021 at 7:17:23 AM

Most likely. That's how most Epic Games Exclusives work.

Plus Epic shells out a lot of money to get big releases coming onto its service, so I'm not really surprised.

It pisses me off endlessly.

I was so pumped for Control when it came out and absolutely deflated when it was Epic Exclusive. Had to ignore the game for an entire year.

And I'm actually not sure if it'll ever break exclusivity. Looking around, it's being published *by* Epic itself, compared to Control which was 505.

It might actually be *permanently* Epic because of that. Which, wow, feels like a massive middle finger as someone who's supported the game since release and begged others to buy it every time it was available on steam and helped spread that good word of mouth.

I mean. Why not buy it on console? I know people hate Epic Store exclusives but if it's on a console you have access to I can't say I understand what the problem is since you'd still have access to it.