As described by Remedy’s own report, a game being in full production means that it has already wrapped up with a number of parts of the development process, from the original mandate of the game’s development being started, all the way to getting ready for production after finishing a proof-of-concept. As part of full production, Remedy estimates a time frame of between 15 and 26 months, with a team size that can range from over 75 all the way up to 200.

Along with Control 2, the company has also revealed that other titles like the Max Payne 1 & 2 remake, as well as co-op action game FBC: Firebreak also fall in the full production category.

Remedy has also stated that the initial development budget for Control 2 totals up to around €50 million. The studio also wrote about its partnership with Annapurna Pictures, who is financing 50 percent of the development costs for Control 2. In return, Annapurna Pictures gets the rights to adapt Remedy games like Control and Alan Wake into movies and TV shows.

This reveal comes a month after Remedy’s previous earnings report, when the company had said that Control 2 would be entering the full production stage soon.

While Remedy hasn’t given us too many details about Control 2 other than the fact that it will follow up on the events of the original Control, the game was seemingly teased in a DLC for Alan Wake 2. The DLC, titled The Lake House, featured protagonist Kiran Estevez getting transported to various locations from Control, including the Panopticon in the Oldest House, and even the Oceanview Hotel.

The studio has previously described Control 2 as being an action RPG. While the original Control also had a few RPG-adjacent mechanics like crafting mods for your weapons, the fact that the studio is referring to Control 2 as an action RPG would indicate that these elements might be getting expanded to feature more in-depth systems.

Alongside Control 2, the Control universe is also getting expanded thanks to spin-off FBC: Firebreak. Director Mike Kayatta has spoken about the choice for Remedy to make a multiplayer title, referring to the move as a chance for the studio to do something new.

“A lot of this is uncharted territory for us,” said Kayatta back in January. “We know we have a lot to learn to deliver on the potential we see, but there’s a lot of passion and drive behind our push into this space.”

Remedy has stated that more details about FBC: Firebreak will be revealed at the Future Games Show taking place on March 20. The game is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The studio has also previously stated that FBC: Firebreak will be a mid-priced title, and that its system requirement won’t be as extreme as Alan Wake 2.

There’s certainly room for such titles – see Helldivers 2 – but there are also risks, as illustrated by the underwhelming performance of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Remedy’s communications director, Thomas Puha, discussed this on Twitter, noting, “We are well aware of how challenging the coop multiplayer space is.

“I’d like to think we have realistic expectations (outside the company expectations always seem wild), but also be realistic that you never can plan and prepare for everything, just gotta roll with the punches. To be honest, every published game seems a small miracle these days.” He also acknowledges a user who believes it can be a good learning experience, even if it’s not a massive hit.

Condor is a spin-off of Control and focuses on the Federal Bureau of Control recapturing the Oldest House, their headquarters from the Hiss. It’s developed on Remedy’s Northlight engine for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, with plans to enter full production this year. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

They tell me I'm cynical and I am LOL, we are well aware of how challenging the coop multiplayer space is. I'd like to think we have realistic expectations (outside the company expectations always seem to be wild), but also be realistic that you never can plan and prepare for…

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) March 26, 2024

Yes indeed, good way to look at it.

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) March 26, 2024

Condor has been described by Remedy as its “first step towards service-based games”. The title is set to enter full production this year, will be built on Remedy’s own Northlight engine, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Condor will also not be free-to-play, and will instead have a “service-based fixed price” release. This means that the game will feature a lower price point, but will also include game expansions, and potentially even microtransactions.

The studio has revealed a few more details about Condor, including its setting and theme. Based on Remedy’s description, it looks like the game will largely take place in the Oldest House—the primary setting for Control. Players will work on taking back control of the Oldest House from the Hiss.

All things considered, the game will also likely have players taking on the roles of various employees at the Federal Bureau of Control, taking orders from various characters from Control.

First, let’s go over all the weapons in the game and how to find them, and then discuss the upgrades, particularly Alan’s Words of Power and Saga’s Inventory Upgrade Satchels.

All Weapons and How to Find Them

All Words of Power and Their Locations

Saga Anderson relies on Manuscript Fragments to upgrade her weapons, which you can find in Casey Lunch Boxes scattered through the world. Alan Wake, on the other hand, must find Words of Power, and there are multiple types which can upgrade different stats (Words of Gun, for instance, will increase weapon damage).

Here’s where to find all 27 Words of Power. Remember to aim your Flashlight at each Word of Power to add them to your upgrades.

All Inventory Upgrades for Saga Anderson and How to Get Them

While Alan Wake can rely on Words of Stuff to increase inventory space, Saga must locate inventory upgrade satchels. Fortunately, they’re not too out of the way. Here are all of their locations.

Alan Wake 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Check out our review here. You can also read up on ten tips and tricks or learn more about how the PS5 and PC versions compare in terms of graphics with our analysis.

You can find eight Writer’s Journey Videos and they’ll automatically activate when near a TV. You don’t need to watch them all the way through for their collection to count. Some Videos and there’s also a point of no return in Alan’s story, so ensure you’ve gotten them before that.

Without further ado, let’s look at the locations for all the Writer’s Journey Videos.

Alan Wake 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Check out our review, where we awarded it a 9 out of 10, and tips and tricks here. You can also read our graphics analysis here.

How long does it take to finish Alan Wake 2’s story? Let’s go over it.

How Long to Beat Alan Wake 2?

Alan Wake 2 requires about 20 hours or so to finish if you’re only focusing on the story. It’s early days, but HowLongToBeat indicates it’s possible to beat within 11.5 hours, perhaps by rushing through as quickly as possible.

Remember that you must play through both story arcs for Saga and Wake, the former focusing more on gathering evidence and investigation, putting it all together in her Mind Place. The latter is a mind-bending journey about escape, arranging scenes from his typewriter and illuminating the environment to reveal different paths.

How Many Chapters Are in Alan Wake 2?

There are two main arcs – Return, which stars Saga as she ventures through the real world and to locations like Bright Falls, and Initiation, featuring Alan Wake in The Dark Place. Here are all the chapters in the game.

Saga’s Chapters (Return):

• The Cult
• Invitation
• Local Girl
• No Chance
• Old Gods
• Scratch
• Summoning
• Deerfest
• Come Home

Alan’s Chapters (Initiation):

• Late Night
• Casey
• Haunting
• We Sing
• Room 665
• Return
• Masks
• Zane’s Film
• Gone

How Long to %100 Alan Wake 2?

There is a lot to do in the game if you stop and examine your surroundings. On top of completing the story, there are several collectibles to find. As Saga, you can discover Alex Casey Lunchboxes (which contain materials for upgrading weapons), Cult Stashes (require some puzzle solving), Nursery Rhymes (another puzzle type involving dolls) and Manuscript Pages (voiced by Alan and foreshadowing events).

When playing as Wake, there are Echoes which unlock scenes and Words of Power that grant perk points. Together with the main story, it should take about 30 hours or so to 100 percent complete the game. That will depend on your own playstyle and how long it takes to solve certain puzzles.

Is There New Game Plus?

New Game Plus is not available in Alan Wake 2 at launch. Instead, it’s coming in a post-launch update and lets you carry over weapons and upgrades into a new playthrough. However, there will also be a new difficulty and an “alternative” narrative with new Manuscript Pages and videos to discover. A release date is to be decided, but it will be worth revisiting the game once it goes live for more story content.

Alan Wake 2 is available now on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC via the Epic Games Store. Check out our review and various tips and tricks here.

Keep an eye on your reserves

Above everything else, Alan Wake 2 is still a survival horror game, and like other titles in the genre, it can get rather stingy with how many resources you’ll have on hand. It’s worth keeping an eye on not only your ammo, but also other consumable items, like flashlight battery packs, trauma packs, and painkillers. Especially in the early chapters, you’ll often find yourself carrying little more than 12 extra bullets and a single bottle of painkillers, with a couple of strong enemies breathing down your neck. While it never really gets unmanageable, getting a handle on resource management early on will pay dividends as you get further into the game.

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The head isn’t always the enemy’s weak point

While most of the enemies you fight in Alan Wake 2, especially early on, are essentially human-shaped, it’s worth keeping in mind that the head isn’t necessarily the weakest part of the monster. In fact, you’ll have to make use of your flashlight and its precious batteries to try and expose the real location of the weak point. As such, constantly trying to take down enemies with headshots will ultimately amount to little more than wasted bullets.

Heal between fights, and dodge often

Healing items in Alan Wake 2 aren’t quite as efficient as they are in other horror titles; actually using a healing item involves quite a few steps, from going into your inventory to equip them to holding down a button to actually use them, all the while trying to potentially avoid enemy attacks. With how the combat in Alan Wake 2 is designed, it will always make more sense to put off healing for as long as you possibly can. Instead, make heavy use of the dodge button. Take the time to heal up between combat encounters, since the game is generally good about giving you a few seconds to catch your breath between fights.

Explore as much as you can

Since Alan Wake 2 is a survival horror game, sticking to the main path as you make your way through the game’s story will ultimately mean you lose out on quite a bit. Aside from collectible items and fun references to Remedy’s other titles, you’ll also quite likely miss out on quite a bit of extra story that can be found all over the game’s setting. A lot of this extra story—primarily helping out with world building—is also combined with an item you need to find to upgrade protagonist Saga Anderson’s weapons in the form of torn up manuscript scraps. Exploring on the side path can also quite often reward you with extra supplies, like ammo and healing items.

Don’t be afraid of the dark

Light and dark are a major part of the themes in Alan Wake 2, and with enemies being as strong as they, your own scarce resources might compel you to to avoid exploration, or even combat at certain points. Getting used to the darkness all over Alan Wake 2 is an important thing to master, since exploration is often quite rewarding. It also helps that your flashlight is more than capable in helping you fight off just about any enemies you find. Exploring through darker places will also inevitably lead you to brightly-lit safe zones where you can catch your breath, and even charge up some of your flashlight’s batteries.

Weapon upgrades, while small, can add up

The single biggest reward you can get for taking the less-traveled path in order to explore your surroundings properly will be items that let you get some upgrades. It’s worth noting that, especially in the early game, these upgrades won’t really be that notable; you might be able to upgrade your damage, or maybe even get a bigger magazine. Over time, however, these upgrades definitely add up to the extent that ignoring this aspect of the game just isn’t all that feasible. You’ll want to get your hands on as many upgrades as possible, especially since the game will eventually start throwing more and more tougher and stronger enemies at you.

Use and abuse the safe zones in combat

A lot of the core combat for Saga Anderson will revolve around trying to make your way to the next well-lit safe zone, especially early on when you’re severely lacking in resources. Thankfully, Alan Wake 2 also encourages you to make good use of these safe zones, especially if you have enemies chasing you. Standing in light makes you essentially invisible to all enemies, and you can even take the chance to charge up some of your flashlight batteries.

The Case Board explains a lot of the story

The most complicated thing about Alan Wake 2 is most certainly its mind-bending story, and the single best aspect to help you out in that department is the rather exhaustive Case Board in Saga Anderson’s Mind Place. The case board lets you throw up clues on the wall to figure out how they connect with each other. You also get to have multiple active cases going on at any given time, each neatly separated through the use of “folders” in a cabinet. Getting used to the case wall is a big part of properly deciphering the game’s story, and is well worth your time.

Profiling characters will often lead you to your next objective

It’s easy to get stuck, especially in some of the earlier parts of Alan Wake 2, since you’re scrounging around for as many clues as you can possibly find to figure out a way forward. Thankfully, the game also provides Saga Anderson with the ability to profile certain characters. This means that Anderson can essentially try and deduce that character’s next move. Profiling characters also sometimes helps fill in more of the case board, giving you a much clearer picture of exactly what’s happening in the world.

The Mind Place is not always a safe space

As useful as the Mind Place can be when it comes to figuring out the main story of Alan Wake 2—and you’ll definitely be spending quite a bit of time in the Mind Place as you read through Alan Wake’s manuscripts, catch up on some tunes at the radio, or even check out some of the fantastic live action cutscenes at the TV—it’s easy to forget that the game doesn’t really pause when you’re there. This means that, if you pick up a clue in the middle of a fight, you might want to put off visiting the case board until you either finish the fight, or at least find a lit-up safe spot before you head to the Mind Place.

The first is Night Springs, and the FAQ states, “Visions and dreams. Fiction is written and coming true. Fiction collapses and remains just words on a page. These are those stories… in Night Springs. Play as several familiar characters from the world of Alan Wake and experience the unexplainable in multiple self-contained episodes of Night Springs, a fictional TV show set in the world of Alan Wake.”

It seemingly allows players to experience other characters’ perspectives outside the base game’s protagonists. Perhaps it will wrap up any existing storylines, if not revisit characters from previous titles. Time will tell.

As for The Lake House, it may sound like the ill-fated residence that Alan and Alice Wake venture to in the first game. In the expansion, it’s described as “a mysterious facility situated on the shores of Cauldron Lake set up by an independent government organization to conduct secret research… until something goes wrong.” Saga Anderson and Alan Wake will be playable in two separate adventures, though it states their realities will “collide again.”

Whatever the outcome may be in Alan Wake 2, it’s another chapter in the Remedy-verse and will lay some groundwork for the story in future titles like Control 2. The expansions don’t have any release dates, so stay tuned for further details later. Remedy will also have free updates post-launch, including New Game Plus and Nightmare difficulty.

Alan Wake 2 launches today for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Check out our review here.

The video juggles perspectives between developers, sound engineers, artists, and writers as each of them provide insights on how they went about creating the horror in Alan Wake 2. Everything from how the Dark Presence manifests itself in the game world to the live action cutscenes and selective lighting comes together to create a very specific mood that’s paramount for selling the horror in a believable fashion.

We awarded the game a 9/10, and you can read the full review through here. Remedy also announced that Nightmare difficulty and a New Game Plus mode will be coming in a free update post-launch- read more on that through here.

There’s a lot that fans of Remedy Entertainment will find in Control that’s pretty familiar. While the game definitely is quite the departure in a lot of ways for the famed developer, it takes bits and pieces from their previous titles in one bizarre package. Something totally new, however, is the fact that the game has a sole female protagonist.

In an interview with OnlySP, Narrative Designer Brooke Maggs talked about how the studio handled Jesse. One thing she highlighted is that while Jesse is front and center, it was important to also have other women in the world of Control, with one mistake people making in (well-intended) representation is having a female or minority lead, but surrounded by men and non-minorities. It’s an interesting look in how they chose to handle things.

“I love that Jesse is the active female protagonist but she’s also not the only woman in the world,” says Maggs. “I think sometimes we play games and we’re like ‘this is great, there’s a main female character’ and then the world around her is largely male; whereas Jesse has Emily Pope to talk to and Helen Marshall, we even met another character, [Dr.] Underhill in the research sector who is very much doing her own thing quite confidently. It’s cool to see there’s more than one woman in the Bureau. Also, the Oldest House and the Bureau of Control, we’ve made quite clear, have largely been operated by men for a very long time.”

Control is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. To check out our review of the game to see what we thought of it, head on over here.