2023 is a big year for the horror video game niche. Even though we have gotten remasters of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, there is still more to look forward to, one of which is Alan Wake 2. The sequel is finally arriving 13 years after Remedy Entertainment released its cult-classic predecessor all the way back in 2010.
Ahead of the game's release later this year, Sam Lake, Remedy Entertainment's creative director, spoke to Eurogamerabout the horror genre and the Alan Wake games.
During the conversation, Lake revealed that Stephen King, widely considered the King of Horror, served as one of the main influences of the game. Lake's comments are in line with a report we published last month about the game's multiple influences, which also includes True Detective, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fargo.
Unlike those other materials, King's influence goes beyond the intangible. During the opening scenes of the first game, the titular character engages in a monologue, where he says the following words, "Stephen King once wrote that 'Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear.'"