In an interview with Game Developer, Remedy’s Sam Lake and Kyle Rowley spoke at length about Saga Anderson, her importance in the story, and how the team went about creating this intriguing character.
26.10.2023 - 13:31 / rockpapershotgun.com / Sam Lake
This isn't a Mega-Scoop for the Ages, but it's a fun little story. Tucked away in one dark corner of Remedy's latest horror extravaganza Alan Wake 2 you'll find an arcade cabinet machine dedicated to the very first game the Finnish developer ever made.
The project in question is Death Rally, a top-down combat racer for MS-DOS in the spirit of Micro Machines, which graced CRTs all the way back in 1996. Published by Apogee, it sees you looping around toytown courses, peppering your rivals with bullets or pranging them with your spiked fender. "It features both death and rallying, so is adroitly named," opined some guy named Kieron Gillen back in 2009.
Remedy themselves were founded the year before Death Rally's release by members of the Finnish demoscene groups Future Crew and The Aggression. The demoscene was/is more about tinkering and experimenting with computer hardware than game-making, so shifting to a "proper" videogame production was a challenge.
"Obviously during the Future Crew times, we had done a few game-like things," co-founder Markus Mäki observed in a 2016 retrospective. "But just doing a full blown game is a completely different ballgame." Death Rally is also the game Remedy's nowadays creative director and Kojima-adjacent auteur celebrity Sam Lake joined the studio to work on. He was studying English literature at the time in Helsinki, and was approached by co-founder Petri Järvilehto to write dialogue.
Death Rally was a big hit for the time, selling over 120,000 copies and allowing Remedy to expand and work on another title for Apogee, an isometric shooter initially titled "Dark Justice" which eventually became the very first Max Payne.
The game isn't actually playable in Alan Wake 2, alas, unless there's some secret activation method we've yet to uncover. This feels like a missed opportunity, given Remedy's crazy talk of all their games sharing a universe. It's just as well, then, that you can download Death Rally for free from Steam - forever. There's a remake knocking around, which Nathan Grayson (RPS in peace) found to be not that good.
As for our full verdict on Remedy's latest paranormal potboiler, watch out for Katharine's Alan Wake 2 review in the coming days - her opening impressions are positive. My understanding from conversations with various people is that it's longer than anticipated, and rather fiddly. Ah, for the simpler days when all you had to do was drive in circles, murdering people.
In an interview with Game Developer, Remedy’s Sam Lake and Kyle Rowley spoke at length about Saga Anderson, her importance in the story, and how the team went about creating this intriguing character.
Remedy Entertainment's revival of Alan Wake sees the developer bring back its winding, complex game about horror storytelling in a bold new way. Along with the return of the troubled, reality-bending writer, a new protagonist named Saga Anderson enters the horrifying and supernatural fray. But Saga's unique place in the main story pushed the developers to come up with a compelling way to structure the game's parallel stories and how best to portray the newest character.
There’s plenty to appreciate in Alan Wake 2 including the clever use of music and lyrics. One catchy song in particular has been popular enough to inspire a fan-made music video for it. Some mild spoilers are ahead.
The Oh Deer Alan Wake thermos has been sought after by franchise fans, but it has proven difficult to secure one. It was briefly restocked by iam8bit, but not many have managed to get one for themselves, as they have sold out in seconds.
One of Alan Wake 2's standout moments sounds like it had some trouble getting off the ground. At least according to the game's director, Sam Lake.
If you've played the game, you know the one.
The Manuscript Pages in Alan Wake 2 allow you to look deeper into the larger story happening in the game. These pages are scattered throughout the narrative, but some are well-hidden and hard to find in Watery.
Alan Wake 2 is a tale about the outrageous horror story Alan is writing, and much of it comes to life in Bright Falls because of the Dark Place. There are Manuscript Pages that you can find that detail significant parts of the story, and several appear in Bright Falls.
The Cult Stashes you find in Alan Wake 2 can be extremely helpful in keeping your supplies high throughout the course of your playthrough. There are several you can find while exploring Bright Falls.
The long-awaited Alan Wake 2 is out now, and based on the consensus, is very much worth the long wait. Developer Remedy Entertainment, however, has plenty more in the pipeline. In addition to two expansions for the survival horror title that are due out next year, the developer has plenty of other projects in the pipeline as well, and one among them that may be the most prominent among them is continuing to make steady progress behind the scenes.
This morning, Remedy Entertainment shared its half-year report with investors. The Finnish studio proudly noted the excellent reception to Alan Wake 2's release, though it also said it's too early to discuss sales.
Remedy has provided an update on its several upcoming titles, including Control 2 and the Max Payne remake.