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Since Alan Wake 2 Has Been Announced, Let's Look Back At The Original Demo

Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,443
With AW2 seemingly getting news soon I think it's good to look back at what they originally pitched the Microsoft before it was rejected.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQRUx-w6t4s


A particular game design highlight of this pitch video is the part where they were reemphasizing over and over again that they wanted enemies to interact with the environment dynamically in order to increase the scare factor (presented through scripted instances ofc).
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I feel like this is a super interesting idea gameplay wise that, if done right could lead to some really dynamic scenarios while simultaneously making for a unique gameplay sandbox in the horror genre. Since AW2 is a next gen only title I hope they revisit these ideas.
 
OP
OP
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,443
Nexus2049 said:
Oh that looked really cool tbh
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Like i'd be freaking out if six enemies appeared out of nowhere and they were climbing over and around objects in the environment that react naturalistically I'd be terrified, especially since they were possibly responding to the criticism of the slow motion enemy introduction.
 
LastNac

LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,289
I can't wait, one of the best games Iv'e ever played.
Didn't think we needed another after the standalone though.
 
nachum00

nachum00

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,432
I followed the development of Alan Wake for years. Was bummed when they ditched the open world with dynamic weather concept.
 
OP
OP
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,443
LastNac said:
What?!?!
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Even back then it was always pitched as a standalone adventure because BTS they were just testing ideas for AW2. It even reuses the crow-man idea they developed for this prototype. Elements like Mr. Scratch being a malicious entity who looks identical to Alan Wake are being brought back though.

Randam said:
so has it been announced? or are we expecting it to be announced soon now?
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It was announced a year ago with an in-engine trailer.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l8ZYXrTT0

They also specified that instead of being a thriller game it would be their first full blown horror title.
 
Dad_and_Videogames

Dad_and_Videogames

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,997
The announcement of AW 2 was a miracle. Man, between Dead Space 2, RE2 Remake, and potentially some SH and AW shit coming this year? 2023 is gonna be one of the best years on record.
 
Grips

Grips

Member
Oct 5, 2020
5,018
Mainframe
Glad Microsoft rejected it.
Its maybe a demo but its really close to AW1.

AW2 now looks way more fleshed out, especially with what happened during the Control AWE dlc and ofcourse all the experience Remedy got from all the games in between.

I truly believe its gonna rock my world.
 
Izanagi89

Izanagi89

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,688
Not related to the sequel prototype I loved the original idea of the first game being structured almost like Deadly Premonition with there being a focus on scavenging during the day to prepare for the horror sections at night. Something like that could actually work really well within the survival horror framework. I'm so curious to see what's their take on the genre
 
Randam

Randam

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,892
Germany
chandoog said:
Alan Wake 2 has been officially announced for a while. I think it was 2021 TGA.
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nachum00 said:
It was announced a year ago at the 2021 game awards. Gonna be Remedy's first survival horror game and supposed to get out this year.
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Crossing Eden said:
It was announced a year ago with an in-engine trailer.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_l8ZYXrTT0

They also specified that instead of being a thriller game it would be their first full blown horror title.
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thanks for the responses.

is that Jake Gyllenhaal?

and what did the fanbase think about the change from thriller to horror? wasn't the first kinda Twin Peaks inspired too?
 
OP
OP
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,443
Randam said:
thanks for the responses.

is that Jake Gyllenhaal?
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That's IIkka Villi, the actor Alan is physically based on who also plays as Mr. Scratch in all the live action videos. His dialogue is dubbed over. And yes he does bear a great resemblance to Gyllenhaal, when the traile dropped a lot of people thought that's who he was.

Randam said:
and what did the fanbase think about the change from thriller to horror?
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Excitement.
 
eso76

eso76

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 8, 2017
8,139
Alan Wake was initially said to be a lot more ambitious.
I remember a preview describing the open world and dynamic weather, how black clouds approached rolling in from the sea (lake?) and how the player could take shelter inside the lighthouse and watch from the windows as the storm raged through the town.

Will be interesting to see if any of that makes it in the sequel but I suspect it won't be dramatically different in structure from the first game.
 
Jon God

Jon God

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,296
Grips said:
Glad Microsoft rejected it.
Its maybe a demo but its really close to AW1.

AW2 now looks way more fleshed out, especially with what happened during the Control AWE dlc and ofcourse all the experience Remedy got from all the games in between.

I truly believe its gonna rock my world.
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I mean, this is an internal pitch. Generally they don't look like the finished product. Using assets and the engine from the first game makes sense for a pitch.
 
Jon God

Jon God

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,296
eso76 said:
Alan Wake was initially said to be a lot more ambitious.
I remember a preview describing the open world and dynamic weather, how black clouds approached rolling in from the sea (lake?) and how the player could take shelter inside the lighthouse and watch from the windows as the storm raged through the town.

Will be interesting to see if any of that makes it in the sequel but I suspect it won't be dramatically different in structure from the first game.
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Honestly, I think the game was made better by the cuts. It was like a linear story based game and an open world survival game we're fighting it out. Had the open world survival won out, likely we wouldn't be talking about it now.
 
OneTrueJack

OneTrueJack

Member
Aug 30, 2020
4,678
Ocarina_117 said:
Someone spoil me on what I need to know from the control dlc with regards to Alan wake.
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There's quite a lot so here are the bullet points.

Base game:
  • The Federal Bureau of Control is an organisation that investigates unexplained paranormal events
  • One of these investigations includes the Bright Falls incident (events of Alan Wake)
  • The Night Vale TV show from Alan Wake was a psyop developed by the Bureau
  • Alan Wake himself was one of several individuals being considered for recruitment by the Bureau
  • Alan's typewriter is kept in lockup due to its reality-altering powers
  • Jessie's favourite writer is the poet Thomas Zane, the mysterious author from Alan Wake who disappeared from reality. Jessie seems to be one of the few individuals who remember that he existed.
  • Interestingly, there is another Thomas Zane who isn't a poet but a movie writer

DLC:
  • Dr Hartman (from Alan Wake) was actually working for the Bureau
  • The Remastered version of Alan Wake actually added a letter from the Bureau on Hartman's desk, further establishing this connection
  • After the events of Alan Wake, Hartman was kept locked up inside the Bureau as he had been transformed into a monster by the Taken (supernatural force from Alan Wake)
  • Hartman is eventually killed by Jessie
  • It is implied that the events of Control were set in motion by Alan, who is rewriting reality to try and escape from captivity in the Dark Place. So he wrote a story about a woman who would come to save him (Jessie)
  • Alan seems to have lost his mind and grip on reality due to being trapped in the Dark Place for so many years
  • Thomas Zane appears to Alan in the Dark Place, but not as a novelist. Instead, it's the movie writer version. Zane's reality seems to have been altered, somehow
  • Mr Scratch (Alan's doppelgänger) is still on the loose but Thomas Zane is "dealing with him"
  • At some point Mr Scratch visited Alan's wife
  • By the end of the DLC Alan is still trapped, but the Bureau learns about a new supernatural incident set to happen in Bright Falls in the near future
 

Waikipedia

Member
Oct 26, 2017
126
What made AW1 so special for me was that it was initially built as an open world, but later tweaked to be more linear. This gives the world a lot more interactivity (variety of random buildings you can go to), details (lots of vehicle types) and scale than a straight linear game.

Always excited for more AW but doubt they could replicate 1.
 
CloudWolf

CloudWolf

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,668
Everything about this looks so cool and I love Alan Wake and Control. I just wish this wasn't distributed by Epic Games. Chances of this coming to Steam seem very low :(
 

Gitaroo

Member
Nov 3, 2017
8,037
The original demo is the one with intel demonstrating quad cores cpu with tons of physics and tornado irc.
 
Chaos2Frozen

Chaos2Frozen

Member
Nov 3, 2017
28,080
OneTrueJack said:
There's quite a lot so here are the bullet points.

Base game:
  • The Federal Bureau of Control is an organisation that investigates unexplained paranormal events
  • One of these investigations includes the Bright Falls incident (events of Alan Wake)
  • The Night Vale TV show from Alan Wake was a psyop developed by the Bureau
  • Alan Wake himself was one of several individuals being considered for recruitment by the Bureau
  • Alan's typewriter is kept in lockup due to its reality-altering powers
  • Jessie's favourite writer is the poet Thomas Zane, the mysterious author from Alan Wake who disappeared from reality. Jessie seems to be one of the few individuals who remember that he existed.
  • Interestingly, there is another Thomas Zane who isn't a poet but a movie writer

DLC:
  • Dr Hartman (from Alan Wake) was actually working for the Bureau
  • The Remastered version of Alan Wake actually added a letter from the Bureau on Hartman's desk, further establishing this connection
  • After the events of Alan Wake, Hartman was kept locked up inside the Bureau as he had been transformed into a monster by the Taken (supernatural force from Alan Wake)
  • Hartman is eventually killed by Jessie
  • It is implied that the events of Control were set in motion by Alan, who is rewriting reality to try and escape from captivity in the Dark Place. So he wrote a story about a woman who would come to save him (Jessie)
  • Alan seems to have lost his mind and grip on reality due to being trapped in the Dark Place for so many years
  • Thomas Zane appears to Alan in the Dark Place, but not as a novelist. Instead, it's the movie writer version. Zane's reality seems to have been altered, somehow
  • Mr Scratch (Alan's doppelgänger) is still on the loose but Thomas Zane is "dealing with him"
  • At some point Mr Scratch visited Alan's wife
  • By the end of the DLC Alan is still trapped, but the Bureau learns about a new supernatural incident set to happen in Bright Falls in the near future
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Man, Alan Wake really fits perfectly with the SCP vibes of Control.
 
SixelAlexiS

SixelAlexiS

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,747
Italy
That truck stuck in time is basically a scene from Quantum Break, so we know how they used some of those ideas from this AW2 video.

Still, it was some coll stuff (minus the even more on-the-face branding).
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,243
I never saw that stuff in the OP, I only ever heard it was originally supposed to be more of an open world in the small town that the level-based game it eventually turned into.

I remember loving American Nightmare, and I just started Control and I'm really liking that too, so I have high hopes for AW2.
 
Firmus_Anguis

Firmus_Anguis

AVALANCHE
Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,141
I'd completely forgotten about this. Here's hoping they implement some of this stuff.

Alan Wake 2 is going to be f*cking amazing though...
 
eso76

eso76

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 8, 2017
8,139
Jon God said:
Honestly, I think the game was made better by the cuts. It was like a linear story based game and an open world survival game we're fighting it out. Had the open world survival won out, likely we wouldn't be talking about it now.
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Yeah, as much as I loved that description and the idea of dynamic weather and seamless open world with interiors you could explore etc. I'm really not sure how the story they wanted to tell would fit and how they'd structure the game and make it work.

Still, the concept can work with enough planning and with the budget and ideas to make the whole town interesting to investigate. Those were early-ish days for open world too, unless you were Rockstar or Bethesda, but it will be interesting to see if Alan Wake 2 is Remedy thinking they now have the hardware and resources to fulfill that vision or if they dropped those ideas for good thinking the game wouldn't ultimately benefit from an open structure.
I'm guessing it's the latter, but I still find the original idea intriguing.
 
Son of Sparda

Son of Sparda

"This guy are sick" says The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,655
Hopefully them saying it's more survival horror now (the first game was already SH tho shrug) doesn't translate to less action. I really liked the og Alan Wake and that internal demo for Alan Wake 2 looked like a great expansion of the combat system from the first game, so it'd be a shame if the sequel happens and they dial back on the action stuff instead of improving it.
OneTrueJack said:
There's quite a lot so here are the bullet points.

Base game:
  • The Federal Bureau of Control is an organisation that investigates unexplained paranormal events
  • One of these investigations includes the Bright Falls incident (events of Alan Wake)
  • The Night Vale TV show from Alan Wake was a psyop developed by the Bureau
  • Alan Wake himself was one of several individuals being considered for recruitment by the Bureau
  • Alan's typewriter is kept in lockup due to its reality-altering powers
  • Jessie's favourite writer is the poet Thomas Zane, the mysterious author from Alan Wake who disappeared from reality. Jessie seems to be one of the few individuals who remember that he existed.
  • Interestingly, there is another Thomas Zane who isn't a poet but a movie writer

DLC:
  • Dr Hartman (from Alan Wake) was actually working for the Bureau
  • The Remastered version of Alan Wake actually added a letter from the Bureau on Hartman's desk, further establishing this connection
  • After the events of Alan Wake, Hartman was kept locked up inside the Bureau as he had been transformed into a monster by the Taken (supernatural force from Alan Wake)
  • Hartman is eventually killed by Jessie
  • It is implied that the events of Control were set in motion by Alan, who is rewriting reality to try and escape from captivity in the Dark Place. So he wrote a story about a woman who would come to save him (Jessie)
  • Alan seems to have lost his mind and grip on reality due to being trapped in the Dark Place for so many years
  • Thomas Zane appears to Alan in the Dark Place, but not as a novelist. Instead, it's the movie writer version. Zane's reality seems to have been altered, somehow
  • Mr Scratch (Alan's doppelgänger) is still on the loose but Thomas Zane is "dealing with him"
  • At some point Mr Scratch visited Alan's wife
  • By the end of the DLC Alan is still trapped, but the Bureau learns about a new supernatural incident set to happen in Bright Falls in the near future
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The audio file about Thomas Zhane was so neat. When she mentioned that, I was like "Wait, she said... But that's... Oh... OOOOOH!" and none of my friends are big Alan Wake fans so I was losing my shit without being able to really talk about it with anyone lol
 
Jon God

Jon God

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,296
eso76 said:
Yeah, as much as I loved that description and the idea of dynamic weather and seamless open world with interiors you could explore etc. I'm really not sure how the story they wanted to tell would fit and how they'd structure the game and make it work.

Still, the concept can work with enough planning and with the budget and ideas to make the whole town interesting to investigate. Those were early-ish days for open world too, unless you were Rockstar or Bethesda, but it will be interesting to see if Alan Wake 2 is Remedy thinking they now have the hardware and resources to fulfill that vision or if they dropped those ideas for good thinking the game wouldn't ultimately benefit from an open structure.
I'm guessing it's the latter, but I still find the original idea intriguing.
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I mean there are quite a few survival games where you have to go out during the day to collect supplies, then fight stuff at night, I think that going that route would likely make it feel like it's trying to be "just another survival game" now.
 
Rob's Zombie

Rob's Zombie

Member
Sep 28, 2022
1,598
Manchester, UK
Yeah I'm really hoping for a release this year but Remedy ain't shy about delaying their titles and everything about this just feels like a 2024 release.

Still, I'm hopeful they'll pull it off somehow. A sequel to AW has always been on alot of videogaming wishlists for a very long time so it feels lucky we're getting another one.

Curious to see what the Northlight Engine will bring now that it isn't shackled to potatoe Jaguar CPU's anymore.
 
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