Sami Antero Järvi may be a name you don’t know, but odds are high you’ll know the work of this Finnish creative director. He is the man, and often the face, behind some of the last 25 years’ classic titles. Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control to name but the biggest. Sami is better known as Sam Lake – the maestro at the heart of Remedy Entertainment. His relationship with Remedy started out writing Death Rally back in 1996. But he is now Director, Creative Director, Lead Writer, Alex Casey’s model and motion capture in Alan Wake 2.
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Indeed, Lake has served in every role except coffee runner at the studio best known for crafting some of the most engrossing and highly grossing titles in gaming.
But Alan Wake 2 has been a long time coming. Thirteen years to be precise. And we were lucky enough to grab a chat with the industry veteran Sam Lake to find out more just as the studio releases their most anticipated title yet.
Why now? Why is it the right time to bring Wake back after being teased for so long?
So many things have changed, many for the better. And here we are with the second game. We have always wanted to make the sequel, we have had ideas for it and then it turned out it wasn’t the right time for it.
It’s a complicated process getting a big game project to be greenlit, and in this time it also leads to other ideas and concepts, but we were always trying.
Now finally things have changed in a significant manner, one thing being Control from the get go and coming up with the idea with Mikael Kasurinen – who is the game director on Control. We know from very early in the development that it was set in the same universe as Alan Wake.
We didn’t know what to say beforehand as we wanted to give Control room and space to be its own thing, but when you play it you’ll find this fact out.
Around the same time we got the publishing rights for the original Alan Wake game back, this lead to the idea that we could do a remastered version on all platforms.
So we took a pitch to Epic Games publishing saying that we wanted to do a remaster as well as a sequel so it was quite a big deal.
And with Control being out, we felt we could really do a bigger crossover with the second DLC that set up the Alan Wake sequel. And it really felt like all of the pieces were coming together and that now is the time.
With the studio re-securing the rights to the Alan Wake series, why wasn’t there a remaster of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare along with the remaster of the first game?
There are a few reasons why we haven’t remastered American Nightmare. The biggest being that the tech the game is built on is different enough from the main game. So, a remaster of American Nightmare would have been a significant project in its own right.
It wouldn’t have been as simple as, ‘let’s just remaster all of the Wake games so far’, so that was a business decision ultimately at that point.
There has been a lot of chat around the Remedy universe, which includes Alan Wake and Control but will it also include Quantum Break also part of the larger universe?
Yeah, Quantum Break isn’t part of our connected universe for a very simple reason. From the very beginning of negations with Microsoft they contractually own the IP. However we were in agreement that we could put Easter egg content from our other titles throughout the game.
And they were perfectly fine with this. We were having a lot of fun doing it, but it’s nothing more than beyond a few nods and winks.
Staying on the topic of the Remedy universe how much in terms of crossover content can fans expect in Alan Wake 2? And do you see Alan Wake and Control as one whole game or two separate titles?
They are running in parallel and are very much their own IPs and that’s how we always see both. When we are looking at the idea of Remedy universe connected games, is that a game in itself is a big world. But it needs to be self-contained enough to be enjoyable on its own. Otherwise we would be ending up in a situation where we would have a smaller and smaller audience for anything that comes after.
That being said it is very exciting and I do LOVE it as a playing field to draw from it. So while Alan Wake 2 is perfectly approachable. Even if you have never player the first game or Control, we’ll take you into the world. New players should quickly understand enough to have a thrilling time with it.
But there is also quite a lot of Control related content in there as well, it is to me a Remedy connected crossover event of its own. The FBC plays a key role in the game and there are other aspects present too.
Could we ever see an Alan Wake x Control game?
In some ways, I would say I am very interested in seeing how people view Alan Wake 2, as there is plenty of Control-related things in there. Whether it goes beyond that, so that we’ll have both logos on the cover of the game. We’ll see where it goes.
I feel with the connected universe now out in the open. And with Alan Wake 2 being the first big game since the reveal, it’s just the first step and there are many steps waiting.
With the game having a very strong use of mixed media especially live action footage, have you ever thought of doing a TV show or movie based on the games?
It’s for sure been something we have thought about, in terms of live action. Like film and TV shows have been discussions and there is a lot of interest around the IPs. Currently there is no real news on that front, but it’s been a thing we have been looking at.
We have a contract just now with AMC for Alan Wake and we have been exploring the idea of a show around this idea. But again at the moment no new news on that but there is interest around it.
Although in terms of mixed media in our games, it feels exciting to me. I am really excited about the possibilities it brings. We have been working on new and different ways of using it. And to me it feels like we have taken a big leap forward with what we are doing now with Alan Wake 2 and how it is integrated into the flow of it.
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And how it’s part of the overall set up and lore with the Dark Place being this strange layered dream world. Where Alan is not fully in control. Where he’s slipping from one layer to another and how live action features within it.
I am excited about it. We have done it with higher production values than ever before. With a full film crew, studio and we built sets 1-to-1 to mirror game locations. There’s a lot of pushing the tech forward.
And I do feel now that it’s what really make Alan Wake 2 feel unique.
With the game seeing the return of Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta to name a few, was it like getting the band back together?
I was never in doubt that we would want anyone else to play Alan. The combo of Ilkka Villi as the physical actor and Matthew Porretta as the voice. They are both friends and we have been in touch over the years since the first game.
There was American Nightmare which we worked on together. Ilkka also did a bit of motion capture for a few smaller roles in Quantum Break and in Control. Matt was Doctor Darling so we have been working together for years.
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And I have been in touch saying we have been working on Alan Wake 2. And are you on board, and both are always like YES! So it was a thrill to be working on the game with them and I believe they feel the same.
When crafting the tale for Alan Wake 2 do you know how Alan’s story will end? And are you working to that point or is his tale still unwritten?
I feel this is a balancing act between the two points. There are certainly ideas going on for what comes next. But at the same time one thing I have learned is that a lot of opportunities will lead into exciting creative ideas that you can’t really have now, because you don’t know what the future brings.
You should have an open mind and react to even how the new game is received, as well as how the technology is evolving and the possibilities that the game gives. Like even in this game a key part of the structure of the experience, is the idea of Saga’s Mind Place and Alan’s writers room. That with one click of a button you are instantly shifting between the game and them.
This wouldn’t have been possible in the previous generation and now that it is leaning into it. And making it part of the core gameplay, there are these types of things that are hard to know. And if we are very strictly locked into certain ideas, that may then exclude a lot of cool potential down the line.
So it’s like having ideas, but also keeping them loose enough before having to be locked down.
How has the development of the second game been compared to the first, which seen you being published by Microsoft Game Studios? Do you feel you have had more “freedom” to create your true vision?
There were a lot of good things that came out of the collaboration with them. But yes I do feel that we were always looking for more ways of being independent. To have more power to dictate the experience we wanted to create, the characters and story.
Now, we have been given that space to do so with both Control and Alan Wake 2. And it was encouraging how Control was really positively received.
As a huge Max Payne fan it would be remiss of me not to ask, but could we see Max joining the Remedy universe?
I don’t know. The fact that we at Remedy are also working on remakes of both Max Payne 1 and 2. So all I’ll say is one step at a time. Right now our full focus is on Alan Wake 2, but work is underway at the studio on those games also.