Alan Wake 2’s developers, Remedy Entertainment, recently welcomed the challenge of coming out in the same month as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, among others. But, it appears that Remedy isn’t brave enough to mess with John Marston.
To understand this anxiety, we must turn the clock back to May 2010 when the first Alan Wake, a critically acclaimed horror game from Remedy Entertainment, was released. Despite its apparent quality, Alan Wake had the misfortune of launching alongside Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, one of the most celebrated open-world games ever made. The eclipse of Alan Wake was no slight against its quality but a testament to the behemoth it was up against. This overshadowing had stalled any immediate plans for a sequel, only to be resurrected a decade later with the help of Epic Games after Microsoft’s repeated refusal to back the project.
Fast-forward to the present and Alan Wake 2 finds itself again in the crosshairs of potentially devastating competition.
I swear to god, if the rumoured Red Dead remastered comes out on October 17th. Don't you do it @RockstarGames. PLEASE! 🙏
— Kyle Rowley (@TimePirateNinja) July 19, 2023
Scheduled for an October 17 release, Alan Wake 2 is squaring off against an intimidating roster of releases including, as we already mentioned, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, as well as Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Super Mario Wonder. But, the biggest threat could come from an old foe: a rumored remaster of Red Dead Redemption.
Although the remaster’s release is still speculative and its existence unconfirmed by Rockstar Games, the mere hint of it has put Kyle Rowley on high alert. In a tongue-in-cheek tweet, Rowley begged Rockstar Games not to launch the remaster on the same day as Alan Wake 2.
The plea is a half-joking nod to the grim sales history of Alan Wake that launched four days before Red Dead Redemption, which is partly to blame for its status as a cult classic instead of a celebrated title.
Despite Rowley’s public plea, the decision lies in the hands of the publishers, Epic Games, and not the game’s director nor its developers. Regardless of the high-profile competition, moving the release date may not be an option for the Alan Wake 2 team. Ironically, while October is brimming with major releases, the following month, November, seems significantly less crowded.
One could imagine Remedy deliberately avoiding a re-do of 2010 by releasing Alan Wake 2 just a few weeks later, but that would defeat the whole point of why it’s going the digital-only route – a controversial decision that has since been copied by Starfield, among others.
For Alan Wake 2, its impending release is an uncanny echo of the past. The stakes are higher than ever, as its performance could determine the future of the franchise. Amid the tension, one thing is clear: it’s not just the quality of a game that determines its success, but timing and competition too.
So, will Alan Wake 2 manage to stand out in a jam-packed October line-up? Or will the sequel, once again, be overshadowed, this time by a legion of popular releases including its decade-old competitor? With a fanbase awaiting its arrival and a director pleading for some release-date reprieve, Alan Wake 2 is gearing up for a tumultuous entry into the gaming world.
In a realm where release dates can make or break a game’s success, Alan Wake 2 stands on the precipice of deja vu. Fans and creators alike can only hope the sequel will avoid the fate of its predecessor and shine on its own merit amid the storm of competition. Only time will tell if this underdog can hold its own or if the ghost of Red Dead Redemption will haunt it once more.
