Alan Wake 2: Leaks & Everything We Know
Our biggest question after The Game Awards 2021 was concerning the Alan Wake 2 release date. There were plenty of big reveals, with the long-awaited sequel to Alan Wake being one of them. Remedy Entertainment has learned a lot since the first game though, and it looks like Alan Wake 2 may differ from it vastly. So read on for the rundown of the Alan Wake 2 release date, gameplay, trailers, and more.
Is There An Alan Wake 2 Release Date?
Currently, we only have a vague release window for Alan Wake 2, placing it sometime in 2023. During its reveal at The Game Awards, director Sam Lake said they would be showing off more in 2022, so we could feasibly get a release date then. Back in April 2019, the Remedy Director of Communications did reveal they were working on an unannounced project which we can now assume is Alan Wake 2, putting the development time at least over two years so far.
Remedy CEO Tero Virtala has revealed that the game is in "full production" as part of the company's financial results in February 2023.
“The game will soon have all content in place, and it is playable from start to finish," Virtala explained (thanks, VGC).
“We will then move onto polishing the experience. Alan Wake is a unique brand that holds high value for the company today.”
Alan Wake 2 Trailers
The only trailer we've had for Alan Wake 2 so far, was the CGI reveal trailer. It featured Alan narrating over a camera slowly creeping forward between environments that change from a forest, to a big city, and a small town. It eventually reaches Alan who turns to face the camera and whispers, "this story is a monster" before it jump cuts to a scary blood-soaked face. The trailer gives off heavy horror vibes and looks like it's set to be Remedy's scariest outing yet.
Alan Wake 2 Gameplay and Story
Obviously, as the only trailer shown so far was CGI, we've had no gameplay to go on. Some comments from Sam Lake do illuminate a little about the experience though. While he was being interviewed during The Game Awards, he said Alan Wake 2 would be a survival-horror game as opposed to the first, which was an action game with horror elements. He followed this up, stating it would be very psychological in nature with a deep, layered mystery. This seems to follow, given the vibe of the trailer, which made for a skin crawling watch.
Story-wise, we also don't know much. It's confirmed to be a sequel to the original and the trailer shows us we'll still be following the eponymous character, though Sam Lake did say players won't need to have played the first to understand this next entry.
In an interview with IGN, he also commented on the M rating, saying it was "liberating to not make compromises or censor yourself with the content," so we can expect the game to go in some pretty dark, and potentially twisted directions.
We also know it will be connected to the last Remedy title, Control, in some way, as both IPs are part of the Remedy Connected Universe. How clear the crossover will be remains to be seen, but it could range from a few references to a full-blown merger, where Control's protagonist is part of the Alan Wake 2 story.
Alan Wake 2 Platforms
As a next-generation title, Alan Wake 2 will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on PC it will be an Epic Games Store exclusive.