Bringing Alan Wake To Life With Game Director Kyle Rowley
With Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 blowing everyone’s collective minds, I jumped at the opportunity to talk to Kyle Rowley, Alan Wake 2‘s Game Director. Mostly, I wanted to know what it was like to return to Alan Wake’s world, the meta nature of the story, and, of course, Herald of Darkness.
DC: So what was it like returning to Alan Wake thoroughly after so many years?
Kyle Rowley: It’s been a long journey! We have tried quite a few times over the years to try and return to Alan’s story, but due to various different circumstances, we never managed to get there. I think overall at Remedy, we are very pleased to have been working with Alan Wake 2 now, with all the learnings we made off of making Quantum Break and Control. We would not have been able to make this version of Alan Wake 2 without all those learnings, so while there was a lot of frustration over the years of not being able to get it started, we are happy with where we ended up.
DC: Seemingly through easter eggs, the seed was planted long ago. Did the team have a general idea of what Alan Wake 2 would look like?
KR: After the original Alan Wake, there has always been a very rough idea of what the story for Alan Wake 2 could look like. That said, it has changed a lot during the years, and it was only after we started working on this specific concept that we started to lock it down, working with the writers and narrative designers to figure out all the details. These games are complex, and we spent a lot of time making sure the narrative works both by itself as a story and also with all the gameplay we wanted to include in the game. Those two elements (the story and gameplay) affect each other in complex ways.
DC: Each Remedy game has had a significant moment attached to Old Gods of Asgard. What thought process went behind this one?
KR: Poets of the Fall (the band behind Old Gods of Asgard) has a long-standing relationship with Remedy. We have been working together since the original Max Payne, and we love collaborating together, so we knew we wanted to continue that relationship in Alan Wake 2. After “Take Control” and the Ashtray Maze in Control, we knew we wanted to do a music-themed set piece, but like, how do you top that?! Sam already had an idea of what we could do for this sequence in Alan Wake 2, so as a team, we tried to figure out a way to execute it. It wasn’t easy, but I think everyone at Remedy is super happy with how it turned out!
DC: Any chance we get an Alan Wake stage musical? That was something so surprising and magical.
KR: Ha, I don’t know. It would definitely be an interesting idea!
DC: There is an incredible amount of wall-breaking meta presented to the player in Alan Wake 2. Was the point always to jump into the deep end with it?
KR: We knew early on there would be some level of meta, especially regarding the character of Casey and Sam [Lake]. But it’s a tough balance to strike because we also know that going too meta with these elements, if you don’t understand the underlying context of why it is meta, can put a lot of people off. That’s why, at the start of the game, we start more grounded in something more familiar. Then, bit by bit, we start adding supernatural elements and more of that meta layer of storytelling. The Dark Place, in particular, allowed us to go quite surreal and abstract, which works very well in this kind of psychological horror game.
DC: Fans have been scouring, finding all the easter eggs and cameos. Has there been any that no one has found you are just waiting to hit?
KR: Honestly, I have no idea! I’ve not been keeping too close an eye on everything the fans have found so far. That said, even now, when I play the game, there are some hidden easter eggs I find that not even I knew existed! So yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if there are still some secrets left to discover.
While Alan Wake 2 has had an incredible impact on the gaming landscape, it’s clear that Remedy is just getting started. I’m excited to see what they put together for us with the upcoming DLCs.
Be sure to read our review of Alan Wake 2 while we all wait for the DLC to drop!
Categorized:Interviews
