Alan Wake is one of Remedy Entertainment's most iconic and unique games, and it's finally coming to PlayStation consoles. Remedy has proved itself to be a developer whose games are always important to pay attention to. The studio revolutionized action shooters with Max Payne and its sequel Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. More recently, Control, the studio's supernatural third-person shooter, won numerous game of the year awards thanks to its tightly-controlling action, trippy environments, and mysterious narrative.
Which is precisely why the recent announcement of Alan Wake Remastered is exciting news. As announced by Remedy creative director Sam Lake, Alan Wake Remastered will keep all of what made fans fall in love with the game to begin with, while updating the game's visuals across the board. That will include an improved character model for Alan Wake himself, as well as updated cinematics. It sounds like a significant upgrade for the title, which at the time of its first release was already technically accomplished.
Improved visuals for a classic game is a big deal, but it's an even bigger deal that finally, after more than a decade, Alan Wake Remastered will be arriving on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, alongside a release for Xbox consoles and as an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC, this fall. It may not sound like such a major step forward, but finally having Alan Wake playable on a Sony console will help set the stage for what's next for the developer.
Originally released in 2010 as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Alan Wake proved to be unlike anything else players had experienced before. That was thanks to its unique gameplay mechanics, which had players utilize light to fend off shadowy-threats, along with its Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks inspired narrative that had players always questioning what was happening on screen. While it and its spin-off Alan Wake's American Nightmare would eventually release on PC years later, PlayStation fans were left behind.
Considering Remedy made its name creating Max Payne and its sequel on the PlayStation 2, not having Alan Wake release on PlayStation 3 proved to be a big blow to PlayStation gamers who were fans the studio's previous work. The same scenario played out with Quantum Break, an Xbox One exclusive that also didn't release on Sony consoles. Things got even weirder when Control, which did release on PlayStation consoles, received Alan Wake-themed DLC, tying the two games together. While having played Alan Wake wasn't a requirement to understanding the DLC, PlayStation players unfamiliar with Remedy's previous work would have some of the DLCs significance lost on them, and it called attention to this imbalance.
But that is finally changing now, and the timing couldn't be better. Remedy, in a move that seems to have occasionally been foreshadowed even as it never quite seemed to be clearly intended, announced it would be creating a Remedy Connected Universe after the success of Control, one in which many of its previous and upcoming games would all be connected. That includes Alan Wake. With the game at long last coming to PlayStation, a major piece of Remedy's history, and a key part of its franchise's future, will be available to a bigger audience than ever before. Even if Quantum Break has yet to receive the same treatment (and is unlikely to be rereleased anytime soon), Remedy releasing Alan Wake Remastered on PlayStation is a big move, and one that will help the studio set the table for even bigger things to come in the future.
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September 07, 2021 at 11:32PM
