The latest trailer for Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2, debuted at Gamescom 2023, has revealed a new look at the horrors behind the game, and the plight of writer Alan Wake, who begins the story trapped in a nightmare realm known only as the Dark Place.
Snippets in the trailer reveal Alan Wake 2 will feature a mix of live action cinematics and in-engine gameplay, with the real world melding into Wake’s world in strange and uncanny fashion. In the opening of the trailer, Wake is depicted as an unwilling visitor to a form of inter-dimensional talk show, hosted by a mysterious man played by actor David Harewood.
Harewood is currently speculated to be playing the role of Mr. Door, a character first referenced in Control as a traveller who can access the multiverse, or at least exists between worlds. Per text revealed in Control, Mr. Door is semi-omnipotent and may function as the bridge between all of Remedy’s connected worlds:
‘I was in a dark place, and there was a dark man there. His name was Mr. Door, and he told me that there are many worlds – side-by-side, on top of each other, some inside of others,’ Dylan Faden reveals in the game. ‘In one world, there was a writer who wrote a story about a cop. In another world, the cop was real. Door said he himself was in all of them at the same time, endlessly shifting between them.’
Read: Alan Wake 2 delayed to late October 2023
As noted, this text refers to Alan Wake and Max Payne respectively – and both of these worlds will crossover in Alan Wake 2, via the appearance of cop Alex Casey, who is the reflection of Max Payne within the fictional world of Alan Wake. Casey is also the lead character in Wake’s fictional book series, which he’s being interviewed about in the new trailer.
It appears Wake’s books will once again be the primary focus of his adventures, likely due to his Dark Place-infused abilities to write reality to life. It appears his works have become more horrific since he was trapped in the Dark Place at the end of Alan Wake, and that reality is changing as a result.
You can see snippets of this dense lore – and a whole bunch of mayhem – in the new trailer for the upcoming game:
Read: Remedy’s Quantum Break may contain major Alan Wake 2 spoilers
Beyond the appearance of Harewood and the surreal live action cinematics, we can see the impact of Wake’s writing, as he unwittingly transforms the real world into a horror show, complete with towering monsters.
We also see the arrival of Alex Casey, who appears to be well onto Wake’s trail. In a dramatic moment, Wake is captured by Casey, and accused of being the killer behind the strange disappearances in Bright Falls – which feature heavily as plot points in the game.
The appearance of Mr. Door also seemingly links the game to Quantum Break, with speculation around this game suggestion Mr. Door is connected to CEO of Monarch Solutions, Martin Hatch, who was played by the late Lance Reddick in the game. Hatch is speculated to be a traveller like Mr. Door, based on a mysterious in-game note referencing ‘shifters’ and people who ‘stand between’.
It’s also worth mentioning that the closing dialogue – “… your friends will meet him when you’re gone” – references the arrival of Mr. Scratch, Alan Wake’s evil doppelgänger, who featured heavily in the original game’s DLC, and the American Nightmare spin-off game.
We’ll learn more about how these unique concepts connect, and how Wake’s role has evolved since the original game, when Alan Wake 2 launches for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 on 27 October 2023.
