[GameSpot] - Beyond Alan Wake 2: Every Game Remedy Is Working On Right Now

[343iBot]

Alan Wake 2 launches this fall, and for many players, it will mark the arrival of a project that once seemed impossible. The sequel 13 years in waiting is nearly upon us, which is exciting in its own right, but Remedy's first-ever survival-horror game is just one part of a bigger rollout of upcoming games from Remedy. The team used to take a long time between games, having released only six total between 1996 and 2012, but Remedy has picked up the pace since then, with four console games since 2016 and a fifth due out this fall.

Furthermore, the team has a record number of in-development projects that go beyond this year's Alan Wake 2, all part of a conscious effort to make more games faster. We decided to round them all up and see what information we could glean from them so far, especially since presumably many or perhaps all of them are in the Remedy Connected Universe, so the events of Alan Wake 2 may ripple into these future storylines. Here's everything Remedy has announced it's working on so far, including a special section built on some theories related to one project in particular.

Max Payne 1 & 2 remakes

Rockstar and Remedy have seemed to stay close in the decades that followed their collaboration for 2001's Max Payne and 2003's Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Now, in an age of video game remakes built from the ground up, Remedy has been given the keys to the Max Payne kingdom once more. Remedy said these games will release as a single title, so players will have access to both stories from one purchase.

Max Payne, for those who may have missed it, is a series of third-person shooter games set in New York City and heavily inspired by neo-noir, hard-boiled crime fiction. The character of Max Payne would go on to become the inspiration for the legally distinct in-universe protagonist of Alan Wake's novels, Alex Casey. Independently of Remedy, Rockstar later created and released Payne's swansong, Max Payne 3, in 2012.

According to Rockstar, it was actually Remedy that proactively sought out the assignment for the remake. "We were thrilled when our long-time friends at Remedy approached us about remaking the original Max Payne games," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "We are massive fans of the work the Remedy team has created over the years, and we can’t wait to play these new versions."

The remakes will be built on Remedy's proprietary Northlight Engine, the same engine used for Quantum Break, Control, and Alan Wake 2. No release date has been set just yet, but the team did say the remakes are targeting PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Is it in the Remedy Connected Universe?

No, not really. But we like to have fun, don't we?

Control 2

The 2019 Game of the Year winner for many outlets is getting a direct sequel, which will be Remedy's first direct sequel since, well, this year's Alan Wake 2. (Hopefully Control fans aren't waiting 13 years for the next part.) Control 2 will be published by 505 Games, just as the original was, and importantly Remedy is said to stay the owner of the IP--this is vital as the studio continues to build out its connected story world.

Presumably Control 2 will once again star Jesse Faden, acting director of the Federal Bureau of Control and skilled parautilitarian--someone who can wield the world's weirdest properties as weapons, basically. Control took place entirely within the ever-shifting confines of The Oldest House, a mythical, brutalist-inspired building that allowed Remedy to flex its creative muscles like never before in terms of level design. It's not yet known if the sequel will be set entirely in this space, too. On one hand, a fresh setting might be exciting. On the other hand, The Oldest House already allows for so much variety by being so unpredictable.

When announced, Remedy added that Control 2 will benefit from a bigger budget than the first game--which is maybe the sort of allowance a studio gets when it rakes in more than 20 Game of the Year awards. Interestingly enough, Control 2 has only been announced for "PC and consoles," and lacks the specificity these other projects mention. This might signal Control 2 is the furthest away from launch.

Is it in the Remedy Connected Universe?

Yes, absolutely.

Jesse Faden will return, and it might not even take 13 years.

Condor (working title)

Remedy is famous for its single-player story-driven games, but it's trying something new with a project codenamed Condor, which has been officially revealed as a multiplayer spin-off of Control. The four-player PvE experience will be published by 505 Games just as other Control games have been and will be. Like other upcoming projects, it is being built on the Northlight Engine for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

As with any modern multiplayer game, it would seem part of the plan with Condor is to keep players invested and coming back to a project that may well contain live-service elements, as suggested in the below quote from 505 Games' parent company (with our emphasis added). "We are excited to continue and further expand our collaboration with Remedy. With over 2 million copies sold and revenue exceeding EUR 70 million, Control is an extremely successful game," said Rami and Raffi Galante, co-CEOs of Digital Bros Group. "As a multiplayer game, Condor has the potential to engage the gaming community in the long run, contributing to 505 Games’ product revenue stream longer than traditional games."

Though the story was, for many, the highlight of Control, many players and critics praised the inventive combat, as well, which gave players supernatural abilities and a shape-shifting gun that could serve different purposes for different situations. That foundation seems to translate well to at least the kernel of an idea, and personally I'm curious to see Remedy's take on a multiplayer experience, as it will all but surely still contain additional narrative threads to pull on, too.

Is it in the Remedy Connected Universe?

It sure is.

Vanguard (working title)

The most difficult to parse of all announced Remedy games is Vanguard, which seems not to be a game's working title, but actually the codename for the "tightknit and fast-moving team of seasoned developers from across the world," so says a press release, set to work on a new live-service game for Remedy. Unlike Condor, Vanguard seems to be working on a new IP. Curiously, it is the only game on this list not being made using Remedy's in-house engine.

This is, however, maybe the most interesting of the projects, as I believe Remedy has already teased the story for it in the Control "AWE" DLC, which was largely focused on Alan Wake, but also contained several clues that didn't fit the Wake saga but still seemed connected in their own way. Thanks to the folks on the various Remedy-related message boards and especially Sir Galehaut for helping me decode some of this, as it can be dizzying.

Throughout the "AWE" DLC, any documents found not pertaining to Wake were often associated with the words Bless, Blessed, or the Blessed Organization. Right away, the name Bless sounds like Remedy's usual penchant for pun-based or thematically relevant names, like Alan Wake, Paul Serene, Beth Wilder, and so on. But more interesting is what this Blessed Organization seems to be. If you connect the disparate dots left in the DLC, you'll come to find that this group is thought by the FBC to be some sort of parautilitarian terrorist organization. Basically, folks in the Blessed Organization seem able to create Objects of Power (thus "blessing" them), which, in the wrong hands like theirs, can be disastrous for the normal world.

We know from these same documents that a symbol--two overlapping circles--is thought to be their calling card. That symbol is one of six found on the doors of the Oceanview Motel, which I have stressed elsewhere is possibly a transit junction spanning all Remedy-connected worlds. In the Control game files, this symbol of the overlapping circles is associated with the word Vanguard, according to a 2020 post on the Control subreddit--and other doors in this corridor explicitly tie to Alan Wake and Control 2, for what it's worth. If each door represents a different RCU project, and I believe they do, then this Blessed Organization plot may tie into this multiplayer game Remedy is developing. That would then also tie it to the RCU, as the Federal Bureau of Control was investigating this group just like it was investigating Wake's disappearance. This is an awful lot of ties to Control directly for it not to be the Control multiplayer spin-off, but rather a second, different multiplayer game. Alas, the file codenames suggest that's exactly what this is.

It's unclear why this game isn't being made on Northlight when the team's other multiplayer game is, but it seems closely connected to the RCU all the same. Expect the Blessed Organization to factor into a future Remedy game in a major way.

Is it in the Remedy Connected Universe?

It sure seems like it.

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That's every Remedy game currently announced. In total it includes one pair of remakes, a direct sequel, a multiplayer spin-off, and what appears to be a new IP, though still seemingly closely tied to the Remedy Connected Universe. Dig deep into those documents in Alan Wake 2 this fall. No doubt Remedy will have tucked away more than a few secrets connected to these games.

Alan's struggle to escape the Dark Place resumes on October 17. We've covered the game extensively to date, so don't miss our deep dive on the recent trailer, our look at seven mysteries the sequel might address, our coverage of how the horror sequel fits into the Remedy Connected Universe, and our mention of Max Payne being in the game, sort of. For more Remedy interviews, you can also read what creative director Sam Lake said about finally getting to make Alan Wake 2 and his approach to answering mysteries in his writing.

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