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- 13 years since the originals release,

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Alan Wake two is now set to
launch on October 27th, 2023.

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With that in mind, the time feels right

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to look back at Remedy
Entertainment's influential

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psychological thriller.

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Welcome to Total Recall.

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I'm Claire Jackson,
staff writer at Kotaku,

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and today I'm joined by
managing editor Carolyn Petit,

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to discuss whether the
original Alan Wake holds up.

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Before we go any further, spoiler warning

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for Alan Wake and its plot points.

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So Carolyn, should you play Alan Wake one

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before you buy Alan Wake two?

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- Uh hmm. First, let me pour
myself a cup of coffee (Yes)

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from the Oh Dear Diner to
consider this question.

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You know, gotta have damn
fine coffee when you're

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talking about Alan Wake.

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[Cartoon] - Hey, this is really good.

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- So, should you replay the original?

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I don't think it's strictly
speaking necessary.

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You can theoretically get by just

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by reading the plot summary

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of the original Alan Wake
on Wikipedia if you want to.

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And interestingly, Alan
Wake, the original game,

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is structured very much
like a television show.

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It's broken down into episodes,

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and at the start of each
episode, they do a little

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previously on Alan Wake style
recap of what happened before.

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I would say if you have 10
hours or so to spare between now

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and the release of Alan Wake two

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and you wanna really get
yourself in the mood,

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you should definitely play Alan Wake.

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- I would agree. I, I
was, I was surprised,

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I found that revisiting the
game I think is gonna be

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beneficial for going into the sequel.

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Not just because it's like, oh,

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here's the lore in the
setting and the characters,

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but there is a certain tone,

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that's very rich and immersive.

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It's kind of gotten my brain sort

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of tuned into the frequency
of this world in a way

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that just a synopsis,
I don't think will do.

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- I, I agree completely that
the tone, certainly that kind

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of off kilter, you know,

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vaguely Twin Peaks ish
sense that things are

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- Maybe not vaguely.
- No, not so vaguely.

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I mean, the game is not
shy about making its direct

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explicit nods to Twin Peaks.

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But yeah, I mean, the thing
about Alan Wake, for me, one

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of the things that's
so remarkable about it,

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obviously it's Pacific Northwest
setting is meant to be kind

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of unsettling, right?

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And yet it pulls it off
so well, this feeling

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of being in these foresty areas
where, you know, it's night

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and there's fog, and I'm,
as I'm playing, you know,

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in my apartment at night,

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it's like I can practically
smell those evergreens.

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- I have my own thoughts
on this, but how does the

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original hold up as a shooter?

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- Right,
- Right. As an action game.

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I mean, remedy did Max Payne one and two

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before, which are, you know,
some of my favorite games.

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- Sure. - Very action heavy.

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- Yeah.

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- This one, I mean, going
back to it, I was surprised

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by actually how, how
Action-y was more than I,

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my, my memory of it.

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But what do you think about
that? How does the game

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like function as a shooter?

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- I think it sort of depends
how you as a player think

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of shooters, right?

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If your obsession with
shooters as a genre is,

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is really rooted in things
like the luscious gun field

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of Guns in Destiny,

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or even the, the really
exhilarating power fantasy

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of something like Max Payne

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- Or maybe Control
- Or Control, right.

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- Most recently from Remedy.

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- Yeah. Alan Wake is not
going to deliver that.

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I do think that Remedy really hit upon

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something that feels good

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with its core mechanic

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of the enemies being shrouded in darkness,

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and you needing to burn that
darkness away with a flashlight

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before you can damage them with a gun.

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- Playing this game
again, you know, in 2023,

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I immediately kind of defaulted

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to like aiming down
sights and, and shooting.

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One of the things I
immediately found out was

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that like I was burning

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through all of my flashlight battery.

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I was enjoying enjoying
this as a shooter and,

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and kind of wanted more from it.

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There was a section early on in the game

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where the guns are sort
of taken away from you.

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They're given to another character

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and you're kind of reliant on him.

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Yes. And he doesn't aim that well.

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- Right, right. This is true.

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- I, you know, it's funny

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because Alan, Alan Wake is
like, like asking him frequently

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to give me the gun, and I felt
the exact same thing. (Yeah.)

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From, from like different perspectives.

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The urgency of, of the
narrative of, of the panic,

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and then also like, I wanna go back to,

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to, to shooting these things.

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- Yeah.

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- And, and playing that
game. It was very rewarding.

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Yeah. So I guess narratively, although,

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although this question
could also address sort

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of like gameplay, like what
opportunities does this sequel

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present for the Alan Wake
experience, do you think?

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- Wow. I mean, so many opportunities

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and I am, I, I have not been
this excited in a long time

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about just finding out
what a game is going

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to do narratively, you
know, spoilers at the end

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of Alan Wake, like it doesn't
have a totally, you know,

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happy resolution

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where Alan's problems are
solved by any stretch.

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And in fact, you know,
if you've seen any kind

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of marketing material or
anything for Alan Wake two,

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you probably know that Alan himself

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has been in what's called
the Dark Place for literally

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for 13 years, which is

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how long it's been since
the first Alan Wake.

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So, you know, we talked about
Twin Peaks briefly earlier.

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It's a fascinating parallel
to me with how in Twin Peaks,

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you know, at the, in that
finale for the original series,

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Laura says to Agent Cooper,
I'll see you again in 25 years.

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And then David Lynch the mad
genius, like actually made

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that a reality with the return.

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Right? The return happens literally

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and narratively like 25 years later.

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Here, we as players get to kind of

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see the toll that Alan's
literal 13 years in

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this space have taken on him.

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- So if you want to play
the original Alan Wake,

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obviously you can find one of these things

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if you get an Xbox 360
out of a, a storage unit

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or closet somewhere.

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Otherwise, the original
game is on Windows via

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Steam and Good Old Games.

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And then there's the Remastered version,

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which is available on PS
five, PS four, Xbox Series X

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and S, Xbox One Nintendo
Switch, and the Epic Game Store

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if you want the remastered version on PC.

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Carolyn, I know how I feel,
but would you say that

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yeah, definitely, you
should play Alan Wake one

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before Alan Wake two?
Even if you've played it

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before maybe? As a refresher.

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- Yeah, in short, I personally would,

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would highly recommend it.

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It remains a very
distinctive and you know,

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and wonderful gaming experience

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and will absolutely be the best
way to prepare yourself for

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what awaits an Allen Wake two.