Alan Wake 2 finally arrives next month, and this time around, the tortured author won’t be alone. Alan Wake 2 actually features two playable characters – Alan himself and FBI agent Saga Anderson. This has led to some concern that Alan was perhaps being edged out of his own game, but it seems those fears are largely unfounded.

　　In a new interview, Remedy creative director Sam Lake delves deeper into the decision to introduce a second character to the mix. The idea is not to get away from Alan or the series' history – quite the contrary. Remedy is now pushing a full-on connected universe, and aims to tap into tons of lore and story threads from past games like the original Alan Wake and Control. That info dump could be intimidating though, so the Saga part of the game is designed to be less lore-heavy, less trippy, in order to draw new players in. In other words, the plan is to grab ‘em with a more typical serial killer tale, then hit ‘em with the real mindscrew stuff.

　　“While [Alan Wake 2] is a sequel to Alan Wake, it's also a Remedy Connected Universe experience. So, it's connected not only to Alan Wake, but also to Control. With all of this in the background, it's critical to us that it's very easily approachable for new players that have never played any Remedy games before.

　　The game begins with FBI agents coming to this small-town setting in Washington State to investigate a string of ritualistic killings -- a serial killer, essentially. This is something that's familiar to everybody, and for us, it felt like a perfect starting point to get the new players, and our fans, into this experience. That being said, our fans of our previous games are really, really important to us and we want to keep on telling stories from the rich foundation the Remedy Connected Universe provides. So... we get everybody in, and the story is self-contained enough that everybody can be excited about it and understand it. For the returning fans, there is a ton of lore, ton of exploration, ton of threads that have started in Alan Wake and Control that we'll pick up and take further.”

　　Lake also delved into some of the inspirations for Alan Wake 2. Obviously, Stephen King and David Lynch remain foundational to the series, but each of the game’s two halves are inspired by different things. The Saga part of the game is influenced by serial killer flicks like Silence of the Lambs, but also “folk horror” like Hereditary, Midsommar, and The Witch. Meanwhile, Alan’s half of the story is inspired by urban thrillers like Seven, and even non-horror movies like Taxi Driver and Inception.

　　In other Alan Wake 2 news, IGN has dropped over 10-minutes of new footage from Saga’s half of the game. The footage shows off some of Saga’s investigation, interactions with the locals, exploration in-and-around an abandoned carnival, and some bloody action. Check it out, below.

　　Alan Wake 2 arrives on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on October 27.