"Alan Wake's Return" trademark may hint at long-awaited sequel

By Mike Epstein February 25, 2016

alan wake 2 rumors denied — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Quantum Break developer Remedy filed to trademark the name “Alan Wake’s Return” Tuesday, suggesting the developer may have resumed production on a new entry in the franchise.

The patent application comes just over a month before the studio’s upcoming project, the TV-game hybrid Quantum Break, sees wide release. Microsoft, the game’s publisher, announced earlier this month that players who pre-order the game on Xbox One will receive a free download code for the Xbox 360 version of Alan Wake and its post-release DLC, which will be playable on the Xbox One. Pre-ordering the game at certain retailers will also net players a download code for the 2012 follow-up, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

Recommended Videos

Meanwhile, an intrepid NeoGAF user also discovered the studio had discretely purchased the web domain “alanwakesreturn.com” last year. The user also pointed out that the second and final piece of Alan Wake DLC, “The Writer,” ends with Wake typing out the title of a new book called “Return.”

A new Alan Wake sequel seemed less than likely after a report from Polygon revealed that Remedy had created a working prototype for a game they called Alan Wake 2. That sequel was eventually shelved when the studio started working on Quantum Break, and some gameplay elements from the prototype were folded into Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

That said, the studio has always insisted it would return to the franchise, even as it publicly announced it would no longer be developing the sequel in earnest.

“It wouldn’t have been the sequel that Alan Wake deserves to get,” Remedy creative director Sam Lake said in 2014. “But the possibilities are still out there.”

Now, it seems the studio may be ready to try again. Earlier this month, Lake told a masterclass at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris that the studio had been “iterating” on its plan for an Alan Wake sequel in the years since the sequel was shelved.

“I think that it as been, in a way, fortunate,” Lake said during a masterclass at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, “because, you know, we have been iterating the idea of what an Alan Wake sequel could be, and along the way there has been much better ideas that what the concept coming out of Alan Wake was for the sequel.”

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…

Gaming

The best weapon upgrades in Alan Wake 2

Saga fights off a Taken in Alan Wake 2.

The Dark Place and Cultists in Alan Wake 2 may be dark and twisted manifestations of an evil force, but once you shed away the darkness, everything will fall into your arsenal of firearms. Neither Alan nor FBI agent Saga are exactly equipped with the firepower you'd want when wandering through the haunted woods and mind-bending Dark Place, but they can make do with what they have in clever ways. Saga specifically is skilled enough to upgrade all the weapons in her inventory to better protect herself against the supernatural threats that stalk her. Upgrades don't come cheap, and if you find all the weapons in the game, you will need to make some tough calls on how you improve them. Here are the upgrades you need to see the final chapter of Alan Wake 2's story.
How weapon upgrades work

You can upgrade your weapons whenever you like in Alan Wake 2 by visiting Saga's Mind Place. Any weapon you have is available to upgrade there, provided you have the required amount of manuscript fragments that you collect from the hidden Luncboxes around the map. These are distinct from the Cult Stashes, so be on the lookout for them since you will need to find quite a few before you can afford even the first upgrade.
Best weapon upgrades
More Bullets
Your starting pistol may not be the most flashy gun in Alan Wake 2, but it is always reliable and it never stops being effective. The first upgrade you should get has to be More Bullets. This will increase the pistol's default magazine size from 12 to 18. This will obviously make it easier and safer to deal with encounters since you won't be caught reloading as often but also helps keep your inventory clean since less space will be taken up for ammo.
Another Headshot
For another pistol upgrade, Another Headshot is very powerful if you're a sharpshooter. If you can score two headshots in a row, the unlucky Cultist will be stunned for a comically long time. That gives you plenty of time to either deal free damage, heal, or just run away if you're low on resources and not prepared for a fight.
Ready for More
The best shotgun upgrade is easily Ready for More. Healing is not only a limited resource, which again takes up inventory space but also a somewhat long animation. If you're in a tight situation and on the verge of death, there usually isn't much you can do. Ready for More can bail you out since it will turn any kill you get with the shotgun into a bit of healing. It isn't a huge amount, but every bit makes a difference.
Two Shots
The Crossbow may be a late-game addition to your toolset, but is absolutely worth saving some manuscript fragments to upgrade ASAP. Two Shots is borderline essential, making it so you can fire twice rather than just once before needing to reload.
Magnetic Pull
Magnetic Pull could be the best upgrade in the game. With it, after you skewer an enemy with a bolt, switching to another gun will make those bullets track to the bolt for guaranteed hits. If you're comfortable swapping weapons on the fly, this is satisfying and efficient.

Gaming

All nursery rhyme solutions in Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake sitting at a desk with a typewriter.

Alan Wake is a famous writer, but neither he nor the new protagonist Saga are known for being particularly fond of nursery rhymes. Whether or not you fall into that category as well won't matter because Alan Wake 2 hides some very valuable rewards behind puzzles disguised as these small children's poems. Solving them involves a little bit of exploration, deductive reasoning, and then putting all the right pieces in place. This is one of the many optional cases in the game, and these rhymes are hidden across all the major zones in and around Bright Falls. If you're stumped on any of these nursery rhyme puzzles, here are all the solutions in Alan Wake 2.
All nursery rhyme answers
There are 17 total nursery rhyme puzzles to find and solve in Alan Wake 2, broken up into all the different major locations. Whenever a puzzle involves placing dolls, make sure you pick up the dolls after solving it because they are needed for other puzzles in that area as well.
Cauldron Lake nursery rhymes

The first rhyme puzzle you will come across is in the campsite you can access after the flooding has been removed. Cross the bridge and look immediately to the left. The solution is to take the Crow doll off the table and place it on the drawing of the sun.

Gaming

Where to find all inventory upgrades in Alan Wake 2

Saga stands in front of an evidence board in Alan Wake 2.

While the first Alan Wake game certainly had plenty of scares and horror in it, the mechanics were not as strictly of the survival horror variety. Alan Wake 2 has gone fully in this direction, however, with a much darker tone, disturbing imagery, and restrictive combat mechanics that sustain the tension when The Taken attack.

Aside from limited ammo, low health, and tough enemies to bring down, a key aspect of survival horror games is an inventory system. The first game let you hold essentially as much ammo, batteries, and weapons as you wanted in each chapter, but the sequel introduces a grid system that will look familiar to Resident Evil fans. Just like Resident Evil, your inventory starts off quite small, but you can see there is plenty of space for it to grow. There are specific items hidden in and around Bright Falls that can let you expand your carrying capacity, but many are well hidden in dark corners. Here are the locations of every inventory upgrade in Alan Wake 2.
All inventory upgrades