“We would not really think about Alan Wake 2 for a while, but we always came back to it and say, ‘Let’s try again,’” Lake says. “There were times when I was like, ‘Let’s see if we ever make it happen,’ but it was never on the level of ‘Let’s not even try.’”
Fan wishes and unresolved cliffhangers apart, why was it so essential for Lake to return to Alan Wake?
“I’m really proud of all of the games we have made, but, in some ways, Alan Wake always felt most special, personal, and dear to me,” Lake says. “Partly because of the subject matter and him being a writer, for sure, and partly because we were just coming out of Max Payne [when developing Alan Wake]. That having been our first successful game, we were like, ‘Ok, now we have the experience and now we can come up with a concept we’re really excited about’…It felt personal.”
Still, 13 years continues to be a very long time. Lots can change over that point, together with tasks as passionate as Alan Wake 2. So how a lot does the 2023 model of Alan Wake 2 share with Sam Lake’s preliminary imaginative and prescient for that sequel?
“Very little,” Lake reveals. “On a concept level, there has always been a draft of what the story is. But that has changed quite a bit. It certainly wasn’t the story, even if certain elements from that are still present in this story…Beyond that, what the actual story and set-up is, what the structure is, what, now even, the genre of the game is…a lot changed along the way.”
Alan Wake: The Return
It’s these adjustments that acquired me considering of Twin Peaks. While the Pacific Northwest-set Alan Wake has all the time worn its Twin Peaks influences on its sleeve, Alan Wake 2 feels nearer to 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Both aspire to revive beloved franchises after a protracted time frame in a manner that satisfies those that waited all these years. Yet, each additionally need to mirror the methods their creators (and the world) have grown and altered throughout that very same time frame. It’s a fragile, virtually unattainable stability that Lake could be very aware of.
