'Alan Wake' will be 90 percent off this weekend in a sunset sale

By Jon Martindale May 12, 2017

alan wake remedy license alanwake01 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Remedy Entertainment’s psychological horror action-adventure title, Alan Wake, is set to disappear from Steam indefinitely on Monday May 15 due to expiring music licenses. If you want to pick up the game, you’ll need to do so before then — though it may be worth waiting for the 90 percent off Sunset Sale to start on May 13.

Although well remembered for its pacing and narrative, Alan Wake also features a number of songs from famed artists and groups like David Bowie and Depeche Mode. Although Remedy hasn’t made it clear which song or songs it will no longer have the license to use, it’s because of them that the game will not be salable in digital or physical form in the near future.

Although the original Alan Wake game and all of its DLC will be removed from Steam and other digital and physical stores, they will still be playable for those that own them. That’s why Remedy is putting the game up for sale at 90 percent off over the weekend. The sale doesn’t start until 10 a.m. PT on Saturday May 13 though, so don’t rush out and buy it just yet if you want to get the biggest savings.

This may not be the last time that the game is ever sold, as Remedy’s forum post on the matter claims that it is attempting to relicense the music for the game, but has no idea on how long that will take or if it will ever happen. So it’s safe to say that Alan Wake will not be available for some time following the takedown.

Although it will remain available following the sale, pseudo-sequel, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare will also be discounted this coming weekend.

The discount may apply elsewhere, too, though Remedy has said it doesn’t control what sites like GoG apply to their games, so it may be that the deals for the games are different depending on where you shop.

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Among all the marketing material and features shown off leading up to Alan Wake 2's release, nothing got me more excited to return to Bright Falls than The Mind Place. More than the focus on survival horror, the mix of live-action and in-game cinematics, or simply getting to conclude a story I began over a decade ago, the idea of a metaphorical space in which I -- or rather FBI agent Saga Anderson -- could visualize and construct the clues I was collecting to piece together the darkly magical mystery presented captivated my imagination most.

What we ended up getting wasn't quite what I hoped for. Created as a clever space where players could piece together the game's driving occult case, the space doesn't leave as much room for smart deduction as I'd hoped. For as much potential for this space had to elevate Alan Wake 2 on both a narrative and gameplay level, it felt like a missed opportunity during my playthrough that only slowed the sequel's strong momentum.
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Creating a detective game where the player is an active participant in solving a mystery sounds like a nightmare to design. On one hand, the designers need to provide all the clues to reach the correct solution, while simultaneously making it neither too obvious nor obscure to solve. Lean too far in either direction and the player will either feel unsatisfied and potentially pandered to, or frustrated and betrayed. It is a task few games attempt, and even fewer manage to pull off.

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All nursery rhyme solutions in Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake sitting at a desk with a typewriter.

Alan Wake is a famous writer, but neither he nor the new protagonist Saga are known for being particularly fond of nursery rhymes. Whether or not you fall into that category as well won't matter because Alan Wake 2 hides some very valuable rewards behind puzzles disguised as these small children's poems. Solving them involves a little bit of exploration, deductive reasoning, and then putting all the right pieces in place. This is one of the many optional cases in the game, and these rhymes are hidden across all the major zones in and around Bright Falls. If you're stumped on any of these nursery rhyme puzzles, here are all the solutions in Alan Wake 2.
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Cauldron Lake nursery rhymes

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Gaming

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Saga stands in front of an evidence board in Alan Wake 2.

While the first Alan Wake game certainly had plenty of scares and horror in it, the mechanics were not as strictly of the survival horror variety. Alan Wake 2 has gone fully in this direction, however, with a much darker tone, disturbing imagery, and restrictive combat mechanics that sustain the tension when The Taken attack.

Aside from limited ammo, low health, and tough enemies to bring down, a key aspect of survival horror games is an inventory system. The first game let you hold essentially as much ammo, batteries, and weapons as you wanted in each chapter, but the sequel introduces a grid system that will look familiar to Resident Evil fans. Just like Resident Evil, your inventory starts off quite small, but you can see there is plenty of space for it to grow. There are specific items hidden in and around Bright Falls that can let you expand your carrying capacity, but many are well hidden in dark corners. Here are the locations of every inventory upgrade in Alan Wake 2.
All inventory upgrades