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Alan Wake 2's Dark Place Was Originally Way Too Dark
23.03.2024 - 00:03 / thegamer.com / Saga Anderson
Alan Wake 2 was easily one of the best games last year, and that's saying something when you stand back and look at how amazing 2023 was. A lot of that was down to how Alan Wake 2 experimented with bold and interesting features, and the Dark Place was a hub for Remedy to go wild with unique ideas such as light shifting and reality swapping. However, these features may not have been added had Remedy not first created a confusing and complex Dark Place prototype in the first place.
Speaking at a panel during GDC 2024, principal environment artist Nazareno Urbano explained that the prototype for the Dark Place was pretty rough, and admitted that it had far too much backtracking, a lot of confusing puzzles, and was too complex for the narrative. All of that made traversing the Dark Place pretty unsatisfying, but weirdly enough, Urbano explains that the Dark Place's biggest problem was that it was way too dark.
To combat these problems, Remedy worked on a series of unique features to make traversing the Dark Place more interesting. Alan's ability to shift reality by using light, using the plot board to alter environments, and randomly teleporting Alan to different locations via game dev trickery were all features and methods used to make getting around the Dark Place less frustrating.
Urbano also goes deeper into some of the level design and how the Dark Place was meticulously crafted to ensure the player knows where they're going at all times. For example, it's explained that the Dark Place was deliberately designed so that every major area you can visit is visible from the Center Plaza. Remedy was also struggling with player guidance due to how open the area was and the aforementioned darkness, so they used plenty of neon signs to subtly guide them.
It's interesting to hear what Alan Wake 2 was like back before certain features were tweaked and tinkered with. Another prime example of that was Saga Anderson's Case Board, which associate game director Simon Wasselin and narrative designer Molly Maloney explained in a different panel would have allowed players to make incorrect assessments. However, it was apparent during testing that the feature was too "anxiety-inducing" and the feedback was overwhelmingly negative as a result.
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