Starting out as attending various hacker events in late 80s Denmark, Remedy was an amalgamation of rival groups such as ‘The Agression’ and ‘Future Crew’. Growing weary of making PC’s and Atari ST’s display crazy code, the Umbrella of hackers set out to make video games.
The Legend of Remedy Games
Beginning in a parents basement with desks and mattresses, Remedy started taking over the first and second floors as momentum grew within their ranks. Thanks to their connections at 3D Realms and Epic, a contract was signed for their first title ‘Death Rally’. Originally titled ‘High Speed’,
Founder of 3D Realms, Scott Miller took Remedy under his wing and showed them the importance of narrative in games to flesh out the overall experience. Whilst also helping in development, Death Rally was a responsive top-down racer that has seen a recent remake.
Remedy started to turn it’s attention to a working title of ‘Dark Justice’, a film Nior affair mixed in with Hong Kong style action flicks. Going from a futuristic to current time setting, Remedy decided on a final title that would suit the games action chops, ‘Max Payne’.
Remedy Serving Some Dark Justice
Following the story of a successful detective with a young family, Paynes life falls apart as his wife and baby daughter are murdered. The narrative turns into a noir revenge hunt with gritty imagery, making Max Payne a work of art.
Initially, Remedy set out to figure out how to use their new gimmick, bullet time, work with a custom built engine and tools, Originally, Max Payne would feature fixed environments set up for bull time. This would mean players would experience slow motion throughout their time spent in this space. In the end, this mechanic was put in the hands of players as a resource, and It worked.
Max Payne was also the birth of Remedies episodic narrative structure, which would evolve over time. Payne saw unimagined success for it’s time. Remember, Remedy was still a small independant developer at the time.
Max Payne is a Rockstar
To fund future endeavours, the Max Payne IP was sold to Rockstar before the release of ‘Max Payne 2’. The deal was dependent on Remedy making a follow up to Max Payne. This made sense given Remedies proven experience in bringing storytelling and mood to the forefront of development.
Max Payne 2 takes place two years after the original, showcasing how Max’s revenge did nothing to help fight his demons. Payne 2 is build solidly on the foundations of the first, focusing more on solid storytelling and character development.
Looking for a fresh take, development began on the then free roam sandbox version of Alan Wake. Remedy later settled for a linear approach with controlled open environments.
Alan, Alan, Alan? Alan!
Initially, The aim for Alan Wake was to position a hero in an action title that wasn’t a typical action hero. A writer of hard-boiled fiction, Wake quickly realises his writers block is alowing his nightmares come to life. Looking to echo themes of Max Payne, it drops some nice snippets of fan service. Players control day and night cycles as well as using light sources to defeat antagonists. The point here is to display the eternal battle between light and dark.
Initially, Alan Wake received some great reviews, it’s facial animations became the butt of jokes. Something Remedy took very seriously at the time. The sales didn’t compare to that of Max Payne, but ‘Alan Wake: American Nightmare’ put a horror b-movie spin of the original game. Not bad for 18 months in development.
Time to Quantum Break
In the Wake of Alan, Remedy decided to focus on their most interactive game yet in ‘Quantum Break’. Using time manipulation, Quantum Break serves as a twist on the super hero origin story. Two childhood friends are exposed to an energy that allows the manipulation of time. One good guy, one bad guy.
At first Remedy hired a film crew to film a multiple scenario TV series which played out in between levels. The narrative changed dependant on a players gameplay choices, which is groundbreaking. Remedy have gone on record to say it was a challenge working with an outsider team creatively, but the results speak for themselves.
Initially Sam Lake, Creative Director, wanted to find a new purpose for story telling. Then Mikael Kasurinen, Game Director, wanted a world that connects to the protagonist and gives them super powers. Trying to get back to Remedies roots of great action games with deep storylines, ‘Control’ started development.
Controlling the Narrative
Remedy turned their creative process on it’s head by using a players environment to tell a story instead of a protagonist. Jesse does, however, have a dark secret who wants answers for her past whilst serving as a POV character for players.
The result is a non-linear interconnected world that changes. Succesfully finding a way to tell a story through environment and gameplay makes for a fresh action experience. From taking the Bureau back from The Hiss to controlling Jess’ own Supernatural powers, the title really represents the overall theme.
Finally, Remedy want to understand what makes games work, stay curious and evolve as an independent studio. They inovate and take risks other studios won’t take. Ambition is by the bucket load at Remedy, which is why they are the future of action games.
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