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Alan Wake 2 is coming in 2023. Remedy Entertainment has returned to the Alan Wake series after a decade, warping the classic Xbox 360 psychological thriller into a full-blown survival horror. Alan Wake 2 was revealed during the Game Awards 2021, with creative director Sam Lake teasing that Remedy has been playing with ideas for this sequel for almost 10 years.
As it stands, Remedy Entertainment has been careful to keep information surrounding Alan Wake 2 a closely guarded secret. However, as we inch ever closer to 2023, we’re starting to get a few more details around the Alan Wake sequel. From the first teaser trailer and story details to new concept art and development updates, here’s everything we know about Alan Wake 2 so far.
Alan Wake 2 release date
Developer Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that the Alan Wake 2 release date is set for 2023. The developer has yet to confirm a more specific launch window, but has promised regular updates on development in the coming months. Given that the first Alan Wake game released in 2010, Remedy will be in no rush to get this long-awaited sequel out into the world.
Alan Wake 2 platforms
The Alan Wake 2 platforms confirmed so far are PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Remedy has also confirmed that Alan Wake 2 will release on PC via the Epic Games Store, owing to Epic Games publishing the upcoming survival horror game. Alan Wake 2 is not expected to release on PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch – which isn’t all that surprising given the new-gen technology underpinning the 2023 release.
Alan Wake 2 trailer
The Alan Wake 2 trailer is just a little tease of what we can expect from the sequel. There’s a grim-looking crime scene in a forest, a rainy shot of New York City and the (fictional) subway stop of Caldera Street, a flash to what could be Bright Falls, and our titular hero – looking a lot like Bradley Cooper on a bad day – declaring “this is not the story you want it to be. This story will eat you alive. This story is a monster and monsters wear many faces.” The nervous should know there’s a little jump scare where we see Alan’s pale, bloodied face looking like he just got a lump of coal in his stocking and wants to eat Santa as payback.
Alan Wake 2 concept art
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Remedy posted a video update (opens in new tab) to celebrate the anniversary of Alan Wake. Creative director Sam Lake was joined by both halves of Alan Wake – Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta who provide the voice and physicality of the protagonist. During the update, the trio touched on the upcoming sequel and showcased some new concept art.
“This process now in working on the sequel feels familiar in many ways,” Lake said, “but at the same time it feels very fresh and it feels like we are breaking new ground. It’s a new genre and we are pushing further into the horror aspect of it, but also like exploring the depth of the character [Alan Wake].”
“In this game it’s like you’re really seeing who Alan Wake is,” Porretta added. “You’re getting an idea of who he just personally. So you’re getting more emotion from him.”
Alan Wake 2 gameplay
Remedy was expected to showcase the first Alan Wake 2 gameplay during Summer 2022, although the developer ultimately postponed the big reveal for an as to-be-determined date. The reason? The studio wants to continue working on the main game, rather than shift resources towards a polished demo.
“Everything with Alan Wake 2 development is going really well. We are deep in production, have a lot of material, and a great deal of the game is playable. But we’ve been talking for the past couple of months and have come to the decision here at Remedy, along with our wonderful publisher Epic Games, that we will not be showing anything big this summer,” says creative director Sam Lake.
“To create a proper, polished demo or a trailer takes a lot of effort, and it’s several months of work that could take away from development,” he continued. “We feel that we have momentum going, and we want to make sure we are creating the best, and first, survival horror game for Remedy. We don’t want to take the team away from that focus, so we’re going to keep going and making a great game experience, and unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for a demo and trailer.”
Alan Wake 2 story
Here’s the little we know so far about the return of Alan Wake. According to Lake, the game is a “deep, layered mystery” and “Remedy’s first survival horror game.” The studio considers the original more of an action game with horror elements.
Spoilers ahead for the original Alan Wake: At the end of the first game, Alan allowed himself to be trapped in a world known as the “Dark Place” to free his wife. In the subsequent DLC episodes – “The Signal” and “The Writer” – Alan learns more about the logic and motivations of the Dark Place, and ultimately frees himself by confronting a version of himself called Irrational Alan, and then writes a novel called Return. Could that novel be a part of what Alan faces in the sequel? Remedy is staying coy on the exact details, but it sounds as if it plans to tackle some big ideas in the game.
“Leading up to the announcement, our internal codename for the sequel has been Project Big Fish,” says Lake. “David Lynch has said: ‘Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.’ Alan Wake 2 is our big fish. We are diving deeper than ever, into an ocean of darkness.”
Alan Wake 2 development
Remedy Entertainment is developing Alan Wake 2 with its proprietary game engine Northlight, and Lake told IGN (opens in new tab) that the game would be “the best-looking, most beautiful Remedy game ever.” The studio has also used the engine for its previous games, like Control.
“We feel that especially for this kind of experience where atmosphere and stylization are more important than ever before, is that we know Northlight so well we can focus on certain things and push certain things forward.”
In his PlayStation Blog post, Lake also explained that the studio has never really stopped playing with ideas for the sequel between other projects.
“For over a decade, after Alan Wake, in between every project we have made, I have eagerly worked on Alan Wake 2 with a small core team, dreaming up different incarnations of the concept.”
The post also suggested this process included versions of Alan Wake 2 that will never see the light of day.
“It is easy to feel happy and excited now that Alan Wake 2 is finally happening based on our latest iteration of the concept, and not the ones that came before that.”
Ready to be excited about all the new games coming in the next couple of years? Check out our list of new games for 2022 and beyond.
