Alan Wake's birthday is this Saturday, and rather than make journalists work on the weekend, Remedy was kind enough to host their anniversary presentation today instead. Creative director Sam Lake sat down with Alan Wake voice actor Matthew Poretta and character model Ilkka Villi to share the latest news on Alan Wake 2's development including what else is going on in the world of Alan Wake.
The video started with Alan Wake Remastered being played on the Nintendo Switch. This confirms an ESRB rating from last year. Lake declined to say when the remastered Alan Wake would hit the Switch, but judging by the game's framerate, it's still going to be several months at least.
Lake had more to say about Alan Wake 2. Following the teaser trailer at last year's The Game Awards (where Ilkka was often mistaken for Jake Guillinghall), Lake confirmed that Alan Wake 2 will be a "new genre" for Remedy that pushes "further into the horror aspect of it, but also exploring the depth of the character."
Where Alan Wake of the original game was described as "terrified but cool," Ilkka said that he's no longer cool in the sequel.
Lake also revealed several pieces of concept art that really capture the mood of Alan Wake 2. There's Alan on a rooftop, a rainforest at night, a creepy grandma knitting a scarf made out of entrails, and Alan Wake at a payphone.
Alan Wake 2 is tentatively scheduled to release in 2023, with Remedy previously promising more details this summer. Lake unfortunately had to temper expectations during the stream, stating flatly that we're not going to get a demo.
"Everything is going really well. A great deal of the game is playable. But, we've been talking the past couple of months, and we've come to a decision that we will not be showing anything big this summer," said Lake. "We want to make sure that we are creating the best possible experience, the best first survival horror game for Remedy. We don't want to pivot the team away from that focus to work on a demo right now."
You can check out the full presentation in the video above for some behind-the-scenes footage of Alan Wake 2's development.