Remedy Entertainment has revealed sales figures for Alan Wake 2, making it the developer’s fastest-selling game yet.

Alan Wake 2 sales herald little darkness

The developer behind Max Payne, Control, and Quantum Break announced that Alan Wake 2 has sold 1 million units by the end of December 2023, and 1.3 million units as of the beginning of February 2024.

Comparatively, Remedy’s previous best, 2019’s Control, sold over 50% fewer copies and over three times fewer digital copies in four months than Alan Wake 2 did in two months.

Control has had a long tail to its sales, with more than four million copies sold since launch, and Remedy believes the same will be true of Alan Wake 2, especially with two DLC expansions arriving soon.

“We are happy with the start of Alan Wake 2’s sales. The price point has also remained at a high level, and the game has already recouped a significant part of the development and marketing expenses. We will continue to develop the game to serve existing fans and attract new players and expect the game to continue selling well.” Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said of the news.

“The successful launch of Alan Wake 2 has supported our other game projects: Condor, Control 2 and Max Payne 1&2 remake have all increased development pace thanks to the personnel released from Alan Wake 2, and we expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024,” continued Virtala. ”We now have two established franchises: Control and Alan Wake, which are linked through the Remedy Connected Universe. Growing and expanding these franchises will be a key part of our future.”

Alan Wake 2 launched to critical acclaim on October 27, 2023 and was featured in PlayStation Lifestyle’s Best Horror Games of 2023 and was also the site’s Game of the Year after polling highest among staff.

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Remedy Entertainment has rolled out Alan Wake 2 update 1.15, which adds the highly-requested Chapter Select feature. The lack of Chapter Select was a sore point for trophy and achievement hunters, who were stuck having to replay the game if a collectible was missed.

Alan Wake 2 update 1.15 patch notes

The update also adds the ability to tune down horror flashes. Complete patch notes are as follows:

New features

• Added Chapter Select menu.
• Added option to choose between Low and Normal horror flash visual and audio intensity.

Gameplay and missions

• Fixed an issue in The Final Draft (New Game Plus) where if the player already had Saga’s crossbow in their inventory, they could not complete/open all required Cult Stashes and thus couldn’t get the Lighthouse Key from the final Cult Stash.
• Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck if they opened the notification about having finished watching the final Koskela brothers’ advert:
  • During RE09 Deerfest when you go to the Oh Deer Diner, the last Koskela commercial is shown and you are given a prompt that you can see it in the Mind Place, but if you press the touchpad as instructed to view it in the Mind Place, nothing happens, and your controls are frozen. The issue remains until you reload the last save.
• Fixed an issue where the player was not able to collect all the clues around Nightingale’s body.
• The objects required for the Overlap ritual in RE03 Local Girl can now only be picked up after the player finds their respective clues.
• The 10th Echo Scene after meeting Casey in the alley now unlocks properly.
• Players now receive the Coffee World Mug Charm in the The Final Chapter (New Game+) instead of a duplicate Hammer Charm.
• Fixed the camera perspective on opened Cult stashes, so the note on the lid is now legible.
• Additional fix for the Cynthia profiling not being available if the player exits the diorama too quickly in the Nursing Home.
• Resolved an issue in RE05 Old Gods where players could pick up the fuse in the basement from a locked container without solving the attached combination lock puzzle.
• Propane tanks will no longer reappear after reloading the game in Watery. Less explosions, less fun, but a smoother game.
• Gave Saga a chance to gain more resources in the RE10 Come Home mission in the subway station.
• Added missing descriptions for some case files in the Case Cabinet in Saga’s Mind Place.
• Fixed a multitude of issues with Meta Case clues.
• Added descriptions for cases that are in progress to the Case Cabinet files.
• Igniting a flare while hiding in Safe Haven will now be seen as a hostile player action and collapse the Safe Haven if enemies are nearby.
• Fixed an issue with the player camera occasionally “micro jittering” when rotating the camera in Prologue.
• Removing the fun. It’s the beginning of the year. Explosions will no longer deal damage through doors.
• Prevent players from accidentally boosting the flashlight and wasting batteries when picking it up.
• FBI Service pistol and Revolver now deal enough damage to make cultists’ masks fly off with one, carefully aimed shot. F*ck yeah!
• Curtain Call. Not the best album. Fixed curtains being incorrectly closed in the Theater Hall in some instances.
• Fixed an issue where the crossbow with double-barrel upgrade was not being holstered properly.
• Saga’s phone conversations can’t be interrupted by switching the Flashlight on and off anymore.
• The item pickup indicator has been re-tuned, so the indicator should be more easily visible now.
• The player can no longer run off the ledge behind the Monitoring Station in Cauldron Lake.
• Fixed an issue where Fadeouts in the Poet’s Cinema Theater would sit in the air or inside of the theater seats. That was too spooky.
• Fixed a, well, uh, issue with a rogue boot moving along the Cynthia boss fight arena.
• Fixed an issue in IN05 Room 665 where items from a Tim Breaker’s stash could be picked up through the wall in Room 101.
• Fixed an issue where the wolves would get killed instantly by approaching the cliff at the Radio Tower in Watery.
• Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck in Norman’s room in the Bright Falls Nursing Home.
• Fixed an issue where the doors at the Bright Falls Wellness Center kept opening at the wrong time. It’s not spooky season yet.

UI

• [PC] Added preview images for most tweakable settings in the graphics menu.
• Add per-chapter counts for found Manuscripts in the Mind Place.
• Fixed UI layout issues with localized content in the Case Board, computers, and inspectable items.
• Fixed month names so they display correctly on save game UI.
• Fixed the Options menu scroll position not to resetting when quitting the Options menu with the start button on controller.

Audio and haptics

• Re-tuned haptics on the “key events” such as weapon firing and reloading, using the Light Shift mechanic, burning off Source Points and using the flashlight.
• Added audio to the ancient computers in the Bright Falls Sheriff Station.
• Added audio for impacts when the Espresso Express hits the player. Don’t try it please. Coffee World is in enough trouble as it is.
• Cassette eject sound added to Mr. Drippy.
• Added TV static audio to the Nursing Home TV Safe Haven location.
• Fixed an issue where the TV tape selection in the Writer’s Room was not triggering any sound effects.
• Fixed an issue in RE08 Summoning where a Tank enemy weapon played the wrong weapon audio.
• Multiple fixes for the Nursery Rhymes audio.
• Improved the audio quality for crouching footsteps.
• Improved the audio performance during the RE08 Summoning mission across all platforms.

Visuals

• General visual polish.
• Fixed an issue where an enemy became partially invisible when seriously wounded.
• Fixed the vegetation not always reacting to explosions in a cool way.
• The wind has picked up in Coffee World.
• Made the basement of the Valhalla Nursing Home more atmospheric, with a lot of added dust.
• Turned off Safe Haven indicator during the Scratch fight in the parking lot.
• Improved waterproofing of the Elderwood Lodge. It should not rain indoors anymore.
• Fixed the Hunting Knife being scaled up when Alan picked it up.
• Fixed missing lighting on some narrative items.
• Improved the quality of shadows in various off the beaten path locations in the forest.
• Fixed lighting pop-in in some locations.
• Fixed some abrupt color grading changes in Watery.
• Reduced shimmering around windows inside Suomi Hall in Watery.
• Reduced shimmering inside the Elderwood Lodge in Bright Falls.
• Lighting improvements in off the beaten path areas in Watery.
• Fixed Alan’s wild shirt glitching in some cinematic sequences where Alan is sitting down.
• Improved animations for Saga’s scare reactions while running.
• Fixed some animations restarting when toggling the flashlight.
• Fixed the player character so they use arms as expected while running just after picking up items.

General

• The SDR brightness setting now affects UI and 2D videos correctly.
• Fixed maximum display luminance being outdated in Brightness calibration menu.
• [PC] You can now tweak the FOV (Field of view) in the UI.
• [PC] Improved DLSS Frame Generation stability for Alt-Tab.
• [PC] Resolution is clamped correctly to the maximum supported resolution.
• [PC] Made the warning message about there not being enough physical memory and allow the game still to start a lot more serious.
• [PC] Mouse button icons now correctly reflect the Windows primary button setting in the UI [PC].
• [Xbox Series] Fixed a threading issue that could lead to rare crashes.
• Subtitle fixes.

Performance (aka the Northlight flex section)

• [PlayStation 5] Fixed the random stuttering during perfect dodge slow-motion moves.
• [PC] Changing the graphics settings is now… snappier.
• [PC] Optimized shadow map rendering saving up to 0.3ms in the Dark Place.
• [Xbox Series] Optimized point and spotlight culling, shaving off 0.3ms in locations where lights are aplenty.
• [PlayStation 5] Optimized UI rendering when there are a lot of UI elements on screen, such as when the Inventory is visible, resulting in smoother performance.
• Optimized character controller code for improved CPU performance, saving up to 1ms – 2ms in locations with dense geometry.
• Lighting optimizations inside the Overlap in RE02 The Heart saving 1ms – 1.2ms for smoother performance.
• Lighting optimizations around the Valhalla Nursing Home during RE05 Old Gods saving 0.3ms – 0.4ms.
• The good kind of lighting and fog optimizations around Watery that didn’t result in downgrading the visuals.
• Slightly optimized texture memory usage. Slightly.

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Max Payne voice actor James McCaffrey has died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.

Remembering James McCaffrey

TMZ reported McCaffrey’s death, and noted he passed away on Sunday whilst surrounded by family and friends.

In all three installments, McCaffrey provided the gravelly tones for Remedy Entertainment’s Max Payne. He also voiced Thomas Zane and Alex Casey in the Alan Wake series, reprising the role of Casey only this year for Alan Wake 2. mcCaffrey also appears in Remedy’s Control as the voice of Zachariah Trench.

Outside of Remedy games, he also voiced Edward carnby in the 2008 Alone in the Dark.

McCaffrey was just as busy in television and film. He starred in shows such as Rescue Me, Revenge, Jessica Jones, Suits, and Sex in the City. In film, he starred in the likes of American Splendor, Hide & Seek, and the Max Payne movie.

A representative for McCaffrey put out a statement that reads “One of Dick Wolf’s proteges (“”Swift Justice), McCaffrey went on to a successful 35-year career in television and film. Trained at the Actor’s Studio, he never lost his love for creating characters; however, his good looks often pushed him toward leading man roles.”

Remedy is currently remaking the first two Max Payne games.

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Despite being a critical hit, Alan Wake 2 may have suffered in terms of sales, partly owing to the lack of a physical disc. Remedy Entertainment had said that it opted to make the game digital-only because of a shift in consumer preferences as well as its desire to limit the price tag to $60.

Alan Wake 2 sales remain somewhat of a mystery, and here’s why

Alan Wake 2’s sales are hard to account for because publisher Epic Games doesn’t provide digital data, leaving analysts to estimate its performance based on various factors like player engagement. Circana’s Mat Piscatella reports that during the month of November, Alan Wake 2 ranked 113 on the PS5 and 147 on Xbox consoles in terms of player engagement. Meanwhile, Ampere Analysis estimates that Alan Wake 2 sold around 850,000 copies across consoles.

It’s possible that Alan Wake 2 fared better on PC, but it is worth noting that the game is exclusive to the Epic Games Store, much to its own detriment, considering a significant number of players on other popular platforms like Steam have been left out.

When asked if the situation is as dire as it seems, Piscatella opined that Alan Wake 2 may have benefitted from better marketing and better reach, including a disc release.

It probably didn’t help that Alan Wake 2 launched in a busy period packed with blockbusters like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

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Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that the next Alan Wake 2 update will be released on Monday, December 11, across all platforms. This update will bring the highly-requested New Game Plus mode along with a new ending and Nightmare difficulty.

Alan Wake 2 December 11, 2023 update details

Alan Wake 2’s new ending is titled The Final Draft, and according to Remedy, it’ll make “sure to spark speculation and theories among our dedicated fans.” Accompanying the new ending will be new lore via new videos and manuscripts that have been added to New Game Plus. Remedy also teased some “subtle additions” that the studio has left players to discover themselves.

New Game Plus will allow players to keep all weapons, charms, and character upgrades from the first playthrough. Players will certainly need them when opting for the Nightmare difficulty, which Remedy says will offer “intensified enemies, strategic gameplay, and an adrenaline-pumping experience that will push your skills to the limit.”

Players will find all their weapons from the first playthrough in the first available shoebox. They won’t be in the inventory at the start of New Game Plus.

Alan Wake 2’s update next week will also bring numerous bug fixes and improvements, patch notes for which will be available nearer the time.

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Remedy Entertainment has teased an imminent release date for the Alan Wake 2 New Game Plus mode.

Wake Up Again

The Finnish studio put out a post on social media that was far less cryptic than you’d normally expect from the developer of Control.

While a New Game Plus mode is nice enough in any game that offers it, Remedy previously promised it would bring something a bit different on the new playthrough.

The Alan Wake 2 New Game Plus mode will allow players to keep unlocked upgrades and weapons, provide a new Nightmare difficulty mode, and, most intriguingly, a new alternative narrative, including new Manuscript pages and new video content.

Remedy’s Sam Lake also previously revealed there would be more free DLC and two paid expansions for Alan Wake 2. The first, Night Springs, is due to come out in Spring 2024, while the second, The Lake House, has a more tentative 2024 date.

Alan Wake 2 is out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It is currently available in digital form only.

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If Nicki Minaj can be in Call of Duty, then Alan Wake can sing and star in a music video. This is exactly what he has done in the Old Gods of Asgard music video for Herald of Darkness.

Show me the Champion of Light

One of the most memorable moments of Alan Wake 2 is the chapter titled We Sing, in which Alan Wake’s interview on a talk show turns into a multimedia musical number. Wake is played physically by Finnish actor Ilkka Villi and voiced by Matthew Porretta (Control’s Dr. Casper Darling). Both get a runout in the rock epic that spans almost 15 minutes in its original form.

The music video doesn’t just display game footage all over again; it gives us a unique presentation of the talk show interview and shapes it into a more manageable sub-10-minute package (which is still enough time for guitar solos and Alan’s brief Jazz bit). It’s still sublimely daft and catchy.

The song has also been released on music streaming services such as Spotify, with Game, Video, and Radio edits available to listen to.

Old Gods of Asgard is the alter ego of Finnish band, Poets of the Fall. The former was introduced in the original Alan Wake, and they had musical set pieces in that game and Remedy’s Control during he notable Ashtray Maze section. Old Gods of Asgard have a more significant role in Alan Wake 2, albeit not always in their more youthful visage seen in the video.

Poets of the Fall have contributed music as themselves to Remedy games before, including Late Goodbye for Max Payne 2.

Alan Wake 2 is in the running for Game of the Year at December’s The Game Awards, facing stiff competition from Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Alan Wake 2 is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and the Epic Games Store on PC.

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Remedy Entertainment has released an Alan Wake 2 1.00.09 update to address some progression-blocking bugs on PS5.

Alan Wake 2 1.00.09 Update Details

After a hefty 1.000.008 update at the start of the month made over 200 fixes to the survival horror-infused follow-up to 2010’s Alan Wake. But naturally, that patch didn’t catch every issue, so smaller updates that fine-tune Alan Wake 2 and rub out any little issues.

The Alan Wake 2 1.00.09 update focuses on two specific progression bugs that fans have raised with Remedy.

ROOM 665:
-Fixed an issue (again) with the Echo scene not aligning and unlocking correctly (this was fixed in the previous update, but Echo hell still persisted)  

LOCAL GIRL:
-Fixed an issue with a mouse (with a big presence) blocking progress.

The events of Alan Wake 2 take place 13 years after the original game and sees players taking control of both Alan Wake, who is trapped in the Dark Place, and FBI Agent Saga Anderson, who is investigating ritual murders in Bright Falls. These two stories connect as fiction and fact blend into a terrifying new reality.

Alan Wake 2 is out on PS5 now.

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Remedy has acknowledged that some PS5 players are missing their Alan Wake 2 preorder items. However, the team can’t fix the issue on their end. The developer has instead offered a couple of potential solutions for the issue, one of which is to refer players to their local PlayStation Support instead.

How to get the Alan Wake 2 missing preorder bonuses

The Alan Wake 2 pre-order bonuses that some PlayStation 5 players haven’t received are the Ornate Revolver skin for Alan, the Survival Resources Pack for Saga, and the Oh Deer Diner Sweater for Saga. The first thing Remedy suggests players try is to restore their licenses, which can be done by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Restore Licenses
2. Select Restore

If this doesn’t work, players need to contact their local PlayStation support via email or live chat. Those who have reached Tier 4 on the PlayStation Stars loyalty scheme should receive priority customer support when they connect to the live chat queue.

Unfortunately, this solution has left some fearing they won’t ever see their preorder bonuses. Many are unable to connect to live chat or get a reply to their email, and some players don’t even have a local PlayStation support. Using Twitter is no longer an option, and players who have been recruited as online support agents are unlikely to be able to help either. Those who have received a reply to their email are being met with confusion and lengthy delays.

The disappointing news comes hot on the heels of the latest Alan Wake 2 game update that did manage to fix more than 200 issues. Update 1.000.008 included fixes for progress blockers, map issues, and animation problems, as well as adding improvements to lighting and gameplay.

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The latest patch for Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 brings an ocean of fixes, tweaks, and all-around improvements to the horror game.

The slew of changes comes a bit too late for Michael Leri’s PlayStation Lifestyle review of the game, which cited frustration over the buggy nature of it. But it’ll smooth out the ride for those still working through the game.

Alan Wake 2 update 1.000.008 details

-Various localization fixes, such as improved subtitle timings for all languages
–Improved localized audio for live-action cinematics
–Various audio-related improvements and additional polish
–Improved lip sync in some instances
–Fixed various graphical issues in the environments
–Fixed various minor issues in cinematics
–Minor improvements to image aliasing in Performance mode and Xbox Series S
–Improved lighting
-Fixed lighting bugs in multiple locations
–Various UI-related fixes and additional polish
–Various gameplay fixes and improvements
–Minor gameplay finetuning
–Improved auto-aim for specific circumstances
–Fixed rare player character animation issues
–Fixed various issues in the Case Board
–Fixed various map issues
–Several conversations failing to trigger and thus blocking progress later have been fixed
-Fixed Rose’s dialogue choices, sometimes not being selectable, blocking progress
–Fixed a rare issue with Saga’s lines not playing when going to the Sheriff’s Station, blocking progress
–Resolved a potential problem in the player getting stuck in a Case Board Tutorial
–Fixed exploration rewards for Lighthouse 

Mission specific 

INVITATION:
-Fixed a bug where Saga could get stuck in the environment (“Crazy forest”)

CASEY:
-Fixed potential issue with players able to get stuck when falling from ladders
-Fixed potential issues with Dark Presence (it remains a threat)
-Fixed a rare crash

ZANE’S FILM:
-Fixed a bug where Alan could fall through the environment

SCRATCH:
-Fixed a bug where Saga could fall through the world
-Fixed a bug in where a gate could get locked after reloading a save game, causing the player to get blocked from progressing
-Fixed an issue where, in rare circumstances, the player could end up outside of the game world when opening the map
-Fixed an issue where, in rare cases, the Lighthouse key could not be picked up

WE SING:
-Fixed a bug where Alan could get stuck in the environment

ROOM 665:
-Fixed an issue that caused the Oceanview Hotel Lobby Echo not to align correctly (this one was really annoying; we apologize)

MASKS:
-Fixed an issue where if the player performed specific tasks in an unpredictable order, the mission progress could get blocked

DEERFEST:
-Fixed an issue (much to Rose’s chagrin) with physics-related props that could block the player in and halt progress

COME HOME:
-Fixed an issue where the player, in rare instances, could not exit the radio, TV, or manuscript interact modules. 

Alan Wake 2 is out now digitally on PS5.

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