“You are only engaged as long as you have…”: Alan Wake 2 Director Reveals Vital Secret That May Have Been the Key to Beating Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

All the best video game titles of 2023 were recognized at the recent Game Awards. Baldur’s Gate 3 officially took the award for Game of the Year but fans fans complained that it didn’t deserve it. A game that many fans believe was a deserving candidate was Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2, which was nominated for 8 awards and won in 3 categories. It was surprising for many when the game won the Best Game Direction and Best Narrative awards, beating Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

The creative director of Remedy Entertainment, Sam Lake, recently explained the recipe behind making one of the best survival horror games, Alan Wake 2. The sequel was in production for over 10 years and was surely worth the wait. Lake explained that they managed to make their game engaging by not keeping things “definite” as it allows gamers to explore more.

Also read: Alan Wake 2’s Sam Lake Wants to Move onto a “crazy, huge budget, dark gothic fantasy” Game, Potentially

Alan Wake 2 managed to earn the Best Game Direction award because of this reason

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Sam Lake, the creative director of Remedy Entertainment talked about Alan Wake 2 (2023). The mastermind behind the game explained how they set up the story,

“Questions are more important, I feel, than answers. We should never end up in a situation where everything is wrapped up and there are definite, one true answers. That’s not interesting. That’s not engaging. That’s not exciting… Of course, it’s a balancing act. There needs to be a map that gives you enough so you build around your theories. But I think you are only engaged as long as you have questions remaining.”

Lake explained that they make sure things are not definite so gamers get enough time to think, which makes the game much more engaging. This approach definitely helped the game earn the Best Game Direction award at the 2023 Game Awards, beating games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Also read: The Game Awards 2023: Fans Lose Their Minds As Two of the Greatest Minds in Gaming, Hideo Kojima and Sam Lake, Pictured Together

Alan Wake 2 stole the show at the 2023 Game Awards

One act at the 2023 Game Awards that was exhilarating was when the metal band Old Gods of Asgard from Alan Wake 2 performed the game’s song Herald of Darkness alongside the main cast of the game. The metal band is Poets of the Fall’s alter ego band that exists in the universe of Remedy Entertainment’s video games Alan Wake 1 & 2 and Control.

Also read: “We played real safe with those PC settings…”: After GPU Controversy, Alan Wake 2 Dev Implies They Could Have Gone Further

Out of 8 nominations, Alan Wake 2 won three awards at the show in the categories Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, and Best Art Direction. As for the rest of the notable awards, Baldur’s Gate 3 took the Game of the Year award, Final Fantasy XVI won the Best Score and Music award and Hi-Fi Rush won the Best Audio Design award.