What to know about Alan Wake 2 if you haven’t played the first

It’s been more than 13 years Alan WakeRemedy Entertainment’s psychological action thriller about a writer trapped in a horror story of his own creation was first released for Xbox 360. Despite the game’s critical success and cult following, there are plans for an immediate sequel to Alan Wake were hampered by the disappointing sales of the original. Now, after more than a decade, Alan Wake 2 is almost at the door. This is cause for celebration for fans of the original game, but for anyone wondering what all the fuss is about.

“We don’t expect everyone to have to do homework if they haven’t played the original game,” Remedy creative director Sam Lake said at Thursday’s Summer Game Fest presentation, highlighting that Alan Wake 2 is both a sequel and a satisfying standalone experience. While you may not have done the homework, we here at Polygon certainly have.

If you’re looking for a quick and light-hearted overview of what’s in Alan Wakewhat to expect from Alan Wake 2, and how exactly this game exists as the centerpiece of the so-called “Remedy Extended Universe”, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what you need to know before Alan Wake makes his long-awaited return from the depths of darkness.

What happened in the original Alan Wake?

In the first game, players take on the role of Alan Wake, the best-selling author of a series of crime novels about a hard-boiled detective named Alex Casey (more on him later). Alan suffers a two-year bout of writer’s block and, in an effort to get the old creative juices flowing again and patch things up with his wife Alice, takes a trip to the small town of Bright Falls, Washington for a short holiday.

After becoming acquainted with the townsfolk, Alan and Alice arrive at their abode: an island cabin in the middle of a volcanic crater lake known locally as Cauldron Lake. After settling in, Alan and Alice get into a fight over the latter’s attempt to arrange a meeting with Dr. Emil Hartman, a psychologist who specializes in working with patients with a career as an artist. Alan storms off, only to hear Alice’s screams as the sky darkens and the hut is descended by a violent flock of birds. Alan arrives just in time to see Alice throw herself into Cauldron Lake before diving after her. This is where it gets weird.

Alan wakes up behind the wheel of his crashed car on the edge of Cauldron Lake, with no idea how he got there or how much time has passed since then. As Alan tries to find help, he is pursued by members of the town who appear to be possessed by a strange, shadowy presence. Along the way, Alan discovers manuscript pages scattered around Bright Falls, seemingly written by himself, that seem to predict the future before it happens. While traveling through Bright Falls searching for answers and trying to evade capture by a rogue FBI agent named Robert Nightingale, Alan discovers that after diving into Cauldron Lake to save Alice, he was transported to an extra-dimensional realm that known as The Dark Place (Think Twin PeaksBlack Lodge, but more incorporeal). There, Alan was possessed by a supernatural entity known as the Dark Presence, who forced him to write a manuscript for a horror novel titled Departure in exchange for Alice’s safe return. The Dark Presence feeds on the creative energy of writers and artists to manifest in the physical world. Alan managed to wake himself from his fugue and escaped the lake after being imprisoned there for a week, just before Alan wakes up in his car.

With the help of a group of allies, including his publicist and best friend Barry Wheeler, Bright Falls Sheriff Sarah Breaker, musician brothers Odin and Tor Anderson, and an old lady named Cynthia Weaver (think Twin Peaks‘ The Log Lady), Alan returns to the depths of Cauldron Lake and manages to defeat the Dark Presence and free Alice from its clutches. Unfortunately, Alan himself is stranded in the Dark Place… where he has been ever since. Oh, and the Darkness spawns a murderous Alan double, Mr. called Scratch, who just roams the world wreaking havoc and tormenting Alan’s loved ones.

Alan Wake 2 recognizes the passage of time

Image: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games

Alan Wake 2 takes place 13 years after the in-game events of Alan Wake. Clearly a lot has happened in the world since then, and this new game explicitly acknowledges the passage of time. Set in the present, Alan Wake 2 follows not only the story of Alan Wake as he once again tries to escape the Dark Place, but also of a new character in the form of Saga Anderson, a talented FBI agent who arrives in Bright Falls to investigate a series of murders – one of which includes former FBI agent Robert Nightingale at the hands of a mysterious cult with obvious ties to the Dark Presence.

Alan Wake 2 will be a survival horror game

While the original Alan Wake can be described as an action-adventure shooter with strong horror elements, Alan Wake 2 is a complete horror game. Players switch between the perspectives of Alan Wake and Saga Anderson at various points in the story. The emphasis on horror is evident in the gameplay seen at Summer Game Fest, as Saga Anderson faces off against a hulking, trenchcoat-wearing, deer-masked figure possessed by the Dark Presence from the first game.

We see Saga alternately firing at the attacker with her pistol and using her flashlight to burn away at the shield of darkness surrounding their bodies, similar to the first game, but we also see hints at new mechanics, such as Saga placing a severed heart on the bottom of a freezer and collect it as evidence.

Alan Wake 2 is directly connected to the events of Check

Image: Remedy Entertainment/505 Games

Alan Wake 2 and Remedies Check exist in the same shared universe, but the connection between the two goes much deeper than that. During the second DLC expansion for Checkan add-on known as AWEplayers control protagonist Jesse Faden as she explores The Oldest House’s investigative sector in search of answers pertaining to an “Altered World Event” (aka AWE) associated with Bright Falls, Washington – yes, the setting of Alan Wake. Over the course of the expansion, Jesse not only takes on a monstrous version of Dr. Emil Hartman, but also discovers pages from a manuscript believed to have been written by Alan Wake that suggest that the events of Check were in fact a story written by Alan Wake as a way to escape the Dark Place and organically bring himself back to reality after the events of the first game. In other words: Alan Wake created the world of Check to return to his own reality.

Check‘s AWE expansion ends with a cutscene notifying Jesse that a new Altered World Event has been detected in Bright Falls, this time dated “a few years in the future”. The events of Check take place in and around Halloween 2019, suggesting that the AWE detection at the end of the expansion refers to the events of Alan Wake 2. Whatever happens inside Alan Wake 2Alan himself will likely play an important role in Control’s story in the future, not to mention his possible role in the events of the coming Control 2.