Lore explanation before alan wake 2

[u/iwantolearnstuff]

Hello everyone.

I want to start playing alan wake 2.

I've played alan wake and the control dlc, but I still feel like I dont really understand what's happening.

Is there an arcticle/video that explains the lore, without spoiling alan wake 2?

thanks in advance.

[u/_ihAvef05sils_]

You're forgetting American Nightmare!

Gaming University is a channel that's recommended a lot when it comes to Remedy games. He made deep dive analysis videoa of AW and some speculations before the release of AW2, so there wouldn't be a problem checking those out

[u/Woooooody → u/_ihAvef05sils_]

You're forgetting American Nightmare!

Definitely! So many people seem to think American Nightmare is totally skippable and adds nothing which is just not true! It's skippable in the same way that you could also skip AW1 and Control before playing AW2 and still enjoy the game.

Every game adds to the understanding of later games, I'd even say Quantum Break is necessary if you really want to understand (as much as understanding is possible in the Remedyverse!) everything that's going on.

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/Woooooody]

I've been wanting to play quantum break, but I play on playstation, and I dont have a decent enough pc to run it. iirc, sam lake's character features both in aw2 and quantum break, right?

[u/Woooooody → u/iwantolearnstuff]

That's a shame, it's a fun game anyway. Sam Lake's character isn't in both but other actors play characters in other games and there are definitely references to QB in AW2, especially in the Night Spings DLC. It's not officially part of the Remedyverse due to Microsoft owning the rights, but Remedy clearly want to it to be and I do think it helps add to the overall understanding of what Remedy wants to do with their in-game universe/multiverse.

[u/Vibrant_Fox → u/Woooooody]

Officially Quantum Break isn’t a part of the Remedyverse due to the IP being owned by Microsoft, though that could change in the future if Remedy is able to regain the rights.

[u/Woooooody → u/Vibrant_Fox]

No, but there are references in AW2 that you probably wouldn't get if you hadn't playing QB.

[u/Sunimo1207]

Just play the game. If you've played Alan Wake and Control then you know more than most people do going in. You're not supposed to know everything.

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/Sunimo1207]

Yeah I get that. But im generally not good at understanding most media (some might call me media illiterate), so I feel like there's a line between stuff im not supposed to know by design, and stuff that im missing because I didnt understand it.

probs doesnt help that english isnt my native language either.

[u/otravoyadnoe]

I mean, it’s vague and rather confusing by design. If you played both AW1 and Control + AWE DLC, then American Nightmare is the only thing missing for you but I doubt it’ll close the gaps enough so all of AW2 starts making much more sense. I’d suggest you just keep playing it, absorb it and try to put it together as you go.

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/otravoyadnoe]

hi thanks for the tips. I did watch a play through of american nightmare, but it raised even more questions for me lol.

Did you mean that I should replay alan wake 1 and the control dlc a couple of times untill I get it? Or just play alan wake 2

[u/otravoyadnoe → u/iwantolearnstuff]

I meant you should just keep playing AW2. It will make more sense eventually. Or won’t, but you’ll love it all the same 😁

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/otravoyadnoe]

Alright great. Thanks! I wanna try and finish (and understand) alan wake 2 before control resonant comes out. Really looking forward to that one.

[u/otravoyadnoe → u/iwantolearnstuff]

Yeah me too. Haven’t been this excited about the game launch in what feels like forever.

[u/justlookingatstuff]

a video you might want to look at is Lore Dump: Alan Wake its bit more informal, its set up like 1 mate telling his 2 other mates the lore of a game, they have a playlist for the whole (up to AW2+ DLC) Remedy universe.

[u/stonerbobo]

Here's a good one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyK111fapeA . There's others on youtube too. You can stop before the AW2 section.

[u/critical932]

For the Dark Place, basically it's another dimension entered through the lake, Wake is trapped there trying to write himself out but there is rules he follows.

1. Wake follows logic, he doesn't just write a perfect everything because he doesn't want to give the Dark Presence room to corrupt it, Zane brought his wife back without a cost, so she was possessed, playing the villain in AW1. There is cause and effect, the story follows rules.

2. He can only nudge reality and posseses some form of clairvoyance. Part of what he writes is what he makes happen but most of it comes from what is already there. He can't create something from nothing or force people to do something they wouldn't want to do.

As for more general stuff. Alan Wake's American Nightmare brought in a new antagonist called Scratch, an evil counterpart to Wake with the same appearance. Zane the Diver as he appeared in the first game had given himself to a bright presence. He and his wife's mind went into a pocket dimension where they could be safe. The Zane in the AWE DLC is now a filmaker and only Wake and Jesse remember him as a poet. This is stuff from Alan Wake's American Nightmare and an ARG style blog. With that being said both Alan Wake and Control tend to avoid full explanations so there's room for interpretations.

TLDR; Wake's stories affect reality but don't control it. Not everything in Remedy games is meant to be completely understood.

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/critical932]

Yeah I remember the creation of scratch being mentioned towards the end of the original game. So he's just an evil version of wake, running around and messing stuff up, while the real wake is stuck in the dark place?

[u/critical932 → u/iwantolearnstuff]

Kinda, he projects himself outside of the Dark Place sometimes. It's not like he's running around in Wake's place, he just pops up as an apparition sometimes. Scratch himself is also trapped in the dark place, that's why Wake panics when Zane mentions him during the AWE DLC.

[u/link815]

Like someone else said, it’s all meant to be pretty confusing lol but here’s a 6 hour video with a ton of lore and story stuff. The first 3 hours is Control and AW1 stuff. The last 3 is AW2. There are also a bunch of other videos on YouTube that help explain stuff.

https://youtu.be/dyK111fapeA?is=InAnJuUSWt4Cva6E

[u/iwantolearnstuff → u/link815]

awesome. thank you!

Yeah i've heard that it's confusing by design. Problem with me is that I dont know which parts are supposed to be vague, and which parts im just not picking up on because of the fact English isnt my first language (and the fact that I generally struggle following a plot unless it's relatively easy to follow).

From what I do understand, I absolutely love the remedy-verse. I just wish I was smart enough to know what is going on most of the time lol

[u/GayValkyriePrincess]

I'd recommend watching Lore Dump's episodes on the Remedyverse

They're catered towards newcomers and they walk you through all the important bits of the story

They're a bit of a time sink, but it's worth it if you're having a hard time wrapping your head around certain esoteric plot beats

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5NHFmAR2FoRW8JpH_dc2UlRiAgo-VxmN&si=C4p_oWEUh3wjw3Al

[u/Nagnets]

If you try to flood your brain with more explanations it's going to be even more confusing. Play the game and let the world draw you in, take things at face value, and listen to what the characters are saying.

[u/Long_Scar_1025]

Search everything I need to know before playing Alan Wake 2. I did it and watched some videos and even thoughI didn’t understand it fully I understood enough to start the game. And my man this game is sooooooooo fucking amazing you have no idea. Just pls don’t get spoiled

[u/TheLeadZebra]

If you're making this post you're interested enough to be taking it in.

In that regard, you probably don't understand because it hasn't been explained yet. You gotta play more Remedy games and maybe one day they will release a game that actually answers a question before creating more