Alan Wake 2 is out later this month, with Remedy Entertainment calling it their biggest project yet. Aside from more open areas and a playtime exceeding 20 hours, it also features two protagonists – troubled author Alan Wake and newcomer Saga Anderson, an FBI profiler who arrives in Bright Falls to investigate a series of murders.
With how long Alan Wake 2 has been in development, when did the idea for dual protagonists first emerge? Since the game is split about 50/50 between Wake and Anderson’s sections, how difficult was it to have them feel unique and yet form a coherent story? We spoke to game director Kyle Rowley to learn more.
“The idea of two playable characters has been around from before we properly started concepting the game. It’s been a very high-level narrative idea from Sam, even back to when we were working on Quantum Break. We hadn’t figured out how it would work, or the structure of the game or anything, but we knew we wanted to do it. We’ve tried (and failed) to have multiple protagonists in our previous games.”
Saga also helps ease in new players unfamiliar with the first game’s events. “Now, 13 years after the first game’s release, we think Saga acts as a very important point of view character for players who have not played the first game. She doesn’t know anything about the events of Alan Wake 1 when the game begins, so as she is learning what happened is uncovering this supernatural mystery, players are going along this journey with her.”
As for the challenges of having each character’s sections feel different, Rowley said, “It was important for us that the two different characters’ gameplay felt familiar when you were switching, so it didn’t feel like you were having to learn to play a new game each time you switched, but at the same time we wanted each one to feel unique.
“Generally, we have the same controls, the same high-level concepts, but their situations and individual roles in the story give each mechanic a different context.”
Alan Wake 2 launches on October 27th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC via the Epic Games Store. Check out our feature for more details. Though two paid expansions are arriving after launch, there will also be free DLC that’s “pretty significant.”