Highlights
- Alan Wake 2 is evolving into a true survival horror game, drawing inspiration from Resident Evil and True Detective, to create a more tense and terrifying experience.
- The works of H.P. Lovecraft heavily influence Alan Wake, but the game doesn't directly replicate any specific story. Instead, it incorporates Lovecraft's general style of lore and mythos.
- The premise, setting, characters, and themes of Alan Wake align with Lovecraftian elements, with the protagonist being a timid writer who uses his wits to uncover a supernatural threat. The town of Bright Falls also resembles Lovecraft's dark and secret-filled locales.
Alan Wake 2 is just about ready to pull players back into its warped world of shifting realities, possessed townspeople, and the desperate few who struggle to keep their sanity in the face of it all. Remedy Entertainment's latest release will evolve the original Alan Wake from psychological thriller into the realm of true survival horror. Previously, its influences included Stephen King, Twin Peaks, and The Twilight Zone. For Alan Wake 2, though, the studio has stated it is bringing in qualities from Resident Evil and True Detective in order to approach the sequel from a more tense and terrifying angle.
While some of the above components were already obvious (even being referenced in-game at times), there is one classic master of the horror genre and originator of cosmic mind-bending fiction that has been lurking in the series' shadow since its start. Along with its more modern elements, the works and ideas of H.P. Lovecraft are heavily entwined with many of Alan Wake's aspects, and the author's trademark tendrils reach into Alan Wake in a number of areas.
The Lovecraftian Shape of Alan Wake
Games that adapt the works of H.P. Lovecraft find varying levels of success. This mixed bag usually results from the fact that trying to depict things which, by their very nature, are incomprehensible to humankind presents a concrete challenge in an audio/visual medium. Alan Wake, while incorporating many of Lovecraft's hallmarks, is not overtly replicating any particular one of his stories. This works in its favor, as it is free to draw from the well of Lovecraft's general lore and mythos without the burden of having to strictly follow specifics, or show on-screen inherently inscrutable items.
Alan Wake's premise, setting, characters, and themes all overlap with Lovecraft's as well. Most of Lovecraft's protagonists are timid intellectuals, archeologists, and academics. Alan Wake is a popular writer, and thus fits in with this archetype. He is not a trained fighter, but instead uses his natural wits and talent to deduce the nature of the otherworldly threat lying beneath the surface. That threat is an entity known as the Dark Presence, with all the traits of a signature Lovecraftian monster. It dwells in a dimension beyond space and time, has a nefarious agenda, and when conditions align, it physically manifests in the real world to whisper in the minds of unsuspecting victims.
The town of Bright Falls in Alan Wake resembles any number of Lovecraft locales as well. It is a closely-knit community with a dark secret known only to a few, and those unlucky enough to have encountered the Dark Presence and survived were forever altered, veering on the edge of madness. In classic Lovecraft fashion, Alan Wake stumbles into this world, is touched by the supernatural force, and begins to perceive the reality beyond what is apparent. Lovecraft was also famous for his deep-seated fear of bodies of water, so the portal to the Dark Place, where the Dark Presence resides, being deep under Cauldron Lake is something of a bonus connection. It's possible this detail isn't completely intentional, but it still resonates strongly with Lovecraftian concepts.
Given all these similarities, Alan Wake is like a love letter to Lovecraft. His fingerprints are all over the series, but he's never outright copied. Instead, Remedy adds to the blend of other horror elements without overpowering them, creating a satisfying and heady mix of scares. With Alan Wake 2 poised to push even further down the road of sense-shattering scares, there will no doubt be more traces of Lovecraftian ingredients in its formula.
Alan Wake 2 releases October 27, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
