Remedy's "no holds barred" approach to Alan Wake 2 expansions
One of the biggest announcements to come out of Summer Game Fest today was Night Springs, the first expansion of Alan Wake 2.
Dropping tomorrow, Remedy also announced the release of photo mode in tandem with the DLC, as well as a physical edition of the game set to hit shelves later this year.
While the shadow drop is somewhat of a surprise, the expansion isn't. Night Springs was revealed alongside the second DLC, The Lake House, back when pre-orders were announced for Alan Wake 2. The first expansion will see players control three characters from Remedy's connected universe within narratives framed as episodes from the in-game anthology series Night Springs.
Prior to the Summer Game Fest announcement, GamesIndustry.biz spoke with game director Kyle Rowley, lead writer Clay Murphy, level designer Nathalie Jankie, and communications director Thomas Puha.
Puha says Remedy decided to time the release of Night Springs around Summer Game Fest because the event "is a huge platform for bringing the news to a massive audience." But, he also says it was for the benefit of fans.
"Marketing campaigns tend to be shorter these days, and it's good to try and do things differently," he explains.
"So, together with our publisher Epic, we figured this time around we would announce the expansion right before it's released so fans have a short wait to get their hands on it."
Promotion for Night Springs has been relatively short compared to the main game, but there have been hints on social media for the past week alluding to its release.
"There's always discussion about how much of the marketing budget should be saved for post-launch, but the thinking tends to be that, especially with a single-player game, the launch is the most important thing to get right, so that justifies the spend at launch," Puha notes.
Night Springs hasn't been in development for long, either. It started after the release of Alan Wake 2, but the concept was there before the game was even finished.
"We always wanted the
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