Alan Wake Remastered - What We Know So Far

After 11 years, it's time to return to Bright Falls in "Alan Wake Remastered." Announced by Remedy Entertainment Creative Director Sam Lake on an "Alan Wake" fansite, "Alan Wake Remastered" is aiming to give the horror-thriller an updated set of graphics while keeping the same gameplay and story elements that fans loved. This is not like the "Resident Evil 2" remake, which rebuilt the original game from the ground up, changing the gameplay and some story elements.

"This story and character were personal in many ways. Alan Wake, being a writer himself, gave me an opportunity to use what I do and love as a writer as an element in the story," Lake wrote. "Alan Wake also contained the mystery of forests and lakes, which are precious to me as a Finn. And, instead of a focused one-note horror fare, it was this strange, even wasteful mix of horror, humor, and supernatural mystery."

The story follows the titular character Alan Wake, as he searches for his wife in the sleepy mountain town of Bright Falls while dealing with supernatural beings. The game was originally released on Xbox 360 in 2010 but later came to PC. In 2019, Remedy Entertainment regained the rights to "Alan Wake," which Microsoft previously controlled. Here's what we know so far about "Alan Wake Remastered."

A few days after Lake's post, "Alan Wake Remastered" was featured at the PlayStation Showcase, alongside other big reimaginings, like a "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" remake. During the showcase, a trailer showed off some of the remastered visuals and, most importantly, announced the release date. "Alan Wake Remastered" releases on October 5 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC on the Epic Games Store.

"Alan Wake Remastered" includes the original base game and its two story expansions, "The Signal" and "The Writer" for $30 USD. As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, the story begins with Alan Wake regaining consciousness after a car crash. He is in the small forest town of Bright Falls, Washington, he can't remember the last week, and his wife is missing. Wake is an author but has had writer's block for a while. He finds pages of a novel he seems to have written, despite not remembering it. The novel stars him, is a horror story, and is seemingly coming true around Wake.

The trailer for "Alan Wake Remastered" premiered during the PlayStation showcase giving a short look at the overhauled visuals and some story teases for people who missed the game when it was originally released. The trailer is primarily a montage, cutting between a few glimpses of the 60 FPS gameplay and some of the remastered cinematic scenes. The trailer also puts emphasis on the PS4/PS5 release for "Alan Wake Remastered," partially because it was shown during the PlayStation Showcase, but also because this is the first time the game will be available on a PlayStation console.

While the trailer does not show any side-by-side comparisons of the original "Alan Wake" and "Alan Wake Remastered," the footage shown certainly looks much better than a 2010 video game. According to the PlayStation Blog, "Alan Wake Remastered" runs at 60 FPS 4K resolution on PS5 (and presumably Xbox Series X,) with the PS4 Pro offering a performance mode of 60 FPS or a quality mode at 30 FPS 4K resolution.

Remedy Entertainment has not released a separate gameplay trailer for "Alan Wake Remastered," so the glimpses of gameplay in the announcement trailer are all that have been shown. That said, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of full "Alan Wake" playthroughs. While "Alan Wake Remastered" will certainly look and feel significantly smoother with a higher framerate, the gameplay is expected to be relatively unchanged.

As for what exactly "Alan Wake Remastered" is, it is a third-person horror/thriller game. It's more action-heavy than some survival horror games, like "Silent Hill," but it isn't a full-blown action game like "Uncharted." Instead, it sits somewhere in-between, straddling genres. The game has a linear level design, having players progress through the game in a very set way, unlike Remedy Entertainment's latest game, the critically acclaimed "Control."

While the future of "Alan Wake" may depend on sales of the remaster, with Remedy Entertainment inserting it into the "Control" universe, a sequel might be a possibility in the future of "Alan Wake."