Alan Wake 2 director Sam Lake has revealed that the upcoming survival horror game will be longer than the studio’s previous release, Control. Speaking with Kinda Funny Games, Lake stated that Alan Wake 2 would be twice as long as Remedy’s other titles at over 20 hours in length.
“I think that with Remedy games, if we go back through the whole history, being very story-focused games, have traditionally been quite short, like 10 hours or so,” said Lake to Kinda Funny Games (transcription via PCGamesN).
“And we have always internally felt that we need to find ways to do longer games, because it’s just like, people are looking at it from a value of money perspective as well too. So Control certainly was our longest game to date, and Alan Wake 2 is going to be longer than that, 20 hours plus.”
Lake then goes on to talk about other aspects of Alan Wake 2, such as the game shifting genres from the original Alan Wake‘s emphasis on action-adventure with horror elements here and there to more directly focusing on survival horror gameplay with the sequel. Lake also believes that horror is having a “golden time”; while the genre was considered niche for a while, a wider audience has become more excited about the genre.
“Alan Wake 1 was very much an action-adventure with some horror elements in it, while now we’re diving deep into survival horror,” said Lake. “I think horror overall is having this golden time. It used to be niche, in some ways, and now there is a much wider audience that is excited about horror.”
Alan Wake 2 recently got showcase thanks to IGN, giving us a look at plenty of gameplay and story details. Taking inspiration from sources like Se7en, Twin Peaks, and Stephen King’s writings, Alan Wake 2 looks to be combining the classic Remedy approach to games with the atmosphere of Silent Hill and the gameplay of Resident Evil.
Alan Wake 2 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 27.