Alan Wake 2’s dual narrative: ‘tough’ to implement but more straightforward than you might think

Alan Wake 2’s dual narrative won’t be as confusing to play as it sounds, but was “tough” for the development team to implement, according to Remedy Entertainment’s Senior Community Manager.

The highly anticipated sequel to 2010’s Alan Wake will see players being able to switch between the titular troubled writer and a new character, FBI agent Saga Anderson, on a whim, GTA 5 style, with the two characters connected in some, currently unconfirmed, way.

Given that the game is called Alan Wake 2, the addition of a new character may seem like somewhat of an odd choice—and potentially a nightmare for those trying to keep up with the storyline. However, Remedy Entertainment’s Senior Community Manager Vida Starčević told Dot Esports, during a roundtable at Summer Game Fest Play Days, that keeping the narrative clear was at the forefront of the team’s mind.

“Our writing principle is we want players to experience both Alan and Saga’s story, but that they are able to, after a certain point in the game, switch between them freely and the story shouldn’t be confusing,” Starčević said. The concept was rigorously playtested both internally by the dev team and externally to make sure the vision was achieved.

Starčević admitted that it was “tough” to keep the plot between the two characters seamless, but that Remedy has “a very capable narrative team”. Given Remedy has the critically acclaimed Control under its belt, I’d say this is a major understatement. Control’s bizarre but riveting story gripped players when it was released back in 2021, so I can’t wait to see how Remedy fuses its world with that of Alan Wake.

Saga’s Mind Place (that’s not a typo, it’s Place, not Palace), shown in the Summer Game Fest gameplay trailer, will act as a sort of anchor for the stories of Saga and Alan stories. Players will be able to play a few missions as Alan before switching to Saga for a few missions, and then head back to the Mind Place to look at the case board and remind themselves exactly where they are in both narratives. In fact, one character’s story may even help players work out what to do next with the other character, Dot was told.

Fortunately, for bumbling detectives like myself, Starčević also confirmed that players won’t be able to misplace clues on their case board so piecing together the shards of the story won’t be more difficult than it needs to be. This may disappoint people looking for a less forgiving experience, though.

With all this talk of Mind Places and clue boards, it’s probably obvious Alan Wake 2 is inspired by the likes of Se7en, Midsommar, and True Detective. These influences mean this long-awaited sequel is going to be far darker than any episode of Sherlock, and, if the previous game is anything to go by, full of plenty of twists and turns.