Alan Wake Remastered is set to shine a new light on Remedy Entertainment’s beloved 2010 Xbox 360 game. The Finnish developer announced a remaster was on the way in an open letter that was published on The Sudden Stop, a community-driven website that has been championing Remedy’s games since 2012.
It’s been 11 years since players first set foot in the Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls (unless you picked up the later PC release on Steam), and Alan Wake Remastered promises to rejuvenate the game with all-new rendered 4K visuals.
The remaster also means that Alan Wake will be released on PlayStation consoles for the very first time. The game includes both pieces of DLC, including The Writer and The Signal, but the spin-off Alan Wake’s American Nightmare isn’t part of the package. Here’s everything you need to know about Alan Wake Remastered.
Alan Wake Remastered: Cut to the chase
- What is it? A remaster of the 2010 Xbox 360 title
- When is it out? Fall 2021 (between September and December)
- What platforms is it on? Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC.
Alan Wake Remastered release date and platforms
Alan Wake Remastered will be released during Fall 2021, which is between September and December. In terms of platforms, Alan Wake Remastered is on everything you’d expect: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC via the Epic Games Store. The game was previously only available on Xbox 360 and Steam and was actually pulled from the Microsoft Store for a number of months due to licensing issues. However, it was later relisted.
It’s unclear whether the current-gen consoles will include additional graphical options, such as a performance mode or HDR support. But either way, it’s going to be a significant improvement over the original which doesn’t hold up too well by today’s standards.
Alan Wake Remastered: what to expect
Like most remasters, Alan Wake Remastered will include both pieces of DLC that were released for the game and improved visuals. Remedy has said the game will include “all-new rendered 4K visuals”, but it’s unclear what other technical improvements we’ll see.
If you’ve never played Alan Wake, here’s a quick rundown of what to expect. Alan Wake tells the story of a troubled, best-selling thriller author who is suffering from writer’s block. In a bid to get the cogs whirring again, Alan and his wife Alice decide to try a change of scenery and head to the Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls.
Unfortunately, things quickly turn into a living nightmare for Alan, as Alice is abducted by a sinister force. Alan embarks on a desperate search to save his wife and slowly discovers that he’s living through a horror story that he apparently wrote himself.
Originally conceived as an open-world survival game, Alan Wake follows a more linear structure which Remedy believed helped with the game’s storytelling. The plot is delivered in the style of a thriller TV show and is split into six chapters that are often bookended by plot twists and cliffhangers. Each episode begins with a recap of the previous events, which is particularly handy if you’ve stepped away from the game for some time.
The combat in Alan Wake is still fairly unique to this day and involves shining a flashlight on enemies to make them vulnerable to gunfire. It means that you’re momentarily defenseless when you’re shining your flashlight, which naturally creates a level of suspense.
You also need to keep an eye on your flashlight’s batteries or risk being unable to harm your foes. Your battery will slowly recharge, but it’s more efficient and often necessary to hot-swap new Energizer-branded batteries into your flashlight. Ammunition management, like any horror game worth its salt, is also vital.
Despite not drawing the same sort of plaudits as some of the generation’s most lauded action or horror titles, such as Uncharted and Dead Space, Alan Wake was generally well-received, scoring an 83 on Metacritic. It’s long been regarded as one of the best games of the Xbox 360 generation and was later ported to Steam.
The fact that PlayStation owners will be able to sample it for themselves means the Alan Wake Remastered will have immediate appeal, including with Xbox fans who were hoping Remedy’s game would be spruced up for modern consoles.
Alan Wake Remastered DLC
Alan Wake Remastered includes both The Signal and The Writer DLC, two pieces of post-launch content that were released first on Xbox 360. The more spin-off arcade-like Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is not included in the remaster, which saw players experience a more combat-heavy take on Alan Wake, with a much less structured story.
Will we ever get an Alan Wake 2?
Depending on its success, Alan Wake Remastered could also pave the way for a long-awaited sequel, which has been requested by fans of the original game for quite some time.
Remedy itself hasn't ruled out making a genuine sequel, and the remastering of the first game only makes the possibility of Alan Wake 2 even more likely. Developer Remedy also included Alan Wake-specific content in its latest title, Control, which provided hints at where the game could go next and tied the two games together.
We’re quietly optimistic, then, that Alan Wake 2 could be in the works at Remedy, though there’s no guarantee at this point.
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