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1st January 2022
Year In Review [2021]

01:00  Rachel  

Congratulations! We've made it through another year, and it was a pretty intense one!

While things were off to a quiet start, things got busy fast. Not only did we have the reveal of Alan Wake Remastered AND Alan Wake 2, Remedy published their new webstore (with Bright Falls Blended coffee!), Poets of the Fall released a new single, Max Payne turned twenty, and Quantum Break turned five. If you thought that was hectic, Alan Wake Remastered was also released just over a month after its reveal, making its debut on PlayStation. 

If you've visited us before, you'll know that it's a yearly tradition to wrap up the year with a story-by-story post. We've had quite a few of them over the years; 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We're glad to have spent 2021 with you all.

Here's what happened across those past twelve months...


 2020 - Year In Review
In the midst of a global pandemic, we tried to focus on structure and the lighter news, including Remedy turning twenty-five and Alan Wake turning ten. The Assist Mode came to Control and Epic Games revealed a new partnership.



January
5th January - End of Time (w. Community Celebrations)
We started the year off with some Quantum Break. January 5th 2021 marked when Paul Serene predicted would be "The End of Time". Time didn't break, although, following 2020, it did lose meaning. 




February
2nd February - Control Ultimate Edition Digital Launch
Control Ultimate Edition launched digitally on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Ahead of the launch, Thomas Puha (Communications Director) expanded on the PS5 upgrades from Ray-Tracing to the DualSense controller.
2nd February - Control UE Joins PlayStation Plus
In late January, Sony revealed that Remedy's latest adventure would join the PlayStation Plus when the complete Ultimate Edition was launched on February 2nd.
4th February - The Sudden Stop Turns Nine!
In early February, we turned nine! What is this witchcraft?! A huge thank you to everyone who has followed and supported us. 
12th February - Remedy Publishes 2020 Financial Report
In mid-February, Remedy published its financial report for the entirety of 2020 covering Control's expansion to new platforms as the title sees over two million sales, new DLC packs, and the addition of the highly anticipated Assist Mode.

March
1st-10th March - New Control Ultimate Edition Updates
Remedy released a series of patches for the Control Ultimate Edition in early March. These patches range from adding DirectX 11 support to Steam, to reducing crash frequency on the Series X|S, and improving lighting issues on the PS5.
8th March - International Women's Day 2021
For International Women's Day this year, Remedy released a virtual group photo featuring the amazing women at the studio Xbox also celebrated with "Women in Gaming" livestream featuring Control.
11th March - Control Joins Humble Choice for March
Throughout March, Humble Choice Premium owners were able to donate to charity and grab Control. To celebrate the game being available on the platform Reagan Kathryn checked out the game on the Humble YouTube channel.
15th March - Poets of the Fall Releases Stay Forever
Sixteen years after the initial launch, Poets of the Fall returned to Stay from their debut album, Signs of Life. With a new twist, Stay Forever launched in mid-March with a special music video.

April
After a one year break, April Fool's jokes were back this year! Created by Remedy's Principal Gameplay Designer, Tommi Saalasti, that dastardly mind turned back time with a Control trailer showcasing the game in all its majestic PS1-ness.

5th April - Quantum Break's 5th Anniversary
This year we celebrated Quantum Break's 5th anniversary! Along with a prize bundle, we also looked back over the game's development and release to talk about our favourite moments. (Artwork: discobumbag) 
Back in April, Rockstar released Max Payne 3's DLCs for free to all PC owners. Included in the bundle were Classic Skins for its multiplayer experience. The news came following the removal of support for 32-bit operating systems.

6th April - Control's Assist Mode Spotlighted At GAconf
At the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG, Vida Starčević took to the virtual stage for her talk Putting the Assist Mode in Control. Accompanied by a presentation, Vida explored the choices leading to the Assist Mode, and the outcome.
24th April - Maggs' Fireside Chat (LudoNarraCon)
In late April, Brooke Maggs (Senior Narrative Designer at Remedy) joined Greg Kasavin (Writer & Creative Director at Supergiant Games) for a livestreamed fireside chat at LudoNarraCon about building stories. 




29th April - New Fansite, Remedy Universe Launches
Remedy Universe launched in the final days of April. The new Russian speaking community hub is run partially by a bot that scours the internet for Remedy news, and partially by Skaamit.


In the latest recruitment video, a number of Remedy developers film themselves in their remote setup talking about moving to Finland, the work culture, and the Finlandization program.



May
With the announcement that Remedy were looking for interested playtesters based in Finland, Elise Torfs (User Research Specialist) published an article talking more in-depth about the about process.
To celebrate Alan Wake's 11th anniversary, the community created artwork and quizzes as the developers tweeted tributes to the 2010 title. (Artwork: Mori)

13th May - DevGamm 2021 (w. Stuart MacDonald)
In May, Stuart MacDonald (World Design Director on Control) held a keynote describing the approach to creating the ever-shifting FBC, and how his background in architecture came in particularly useful.
14th May - Paloheimo's DICE Conversations Panel
On May 19th, Johannes Paloheimo (COO at Remedy Entertainment) joined the D.I.C.E Conversations panel, "Running a Successful Games Business During a Pandemic" to explain how the studios managed it.

20th May - DAGERSystem Barrier Breaker Award
Following their work with Control's Accessibility Mode, Remedy was given DAGERSystem's Barrier Breaker Award, an organisation that focuses on games journalism with a spotlight on games accessibility

26th May - Control To Launch On Google Stadia
In late May, Google announced that Control Ultimate Edition would be coming to Google Stadia in late Summer. The reveal was made on the platform's blog. 


June
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In our first Community Spotlight of 2021, we focused on the magical world of Rist's artwork whose luminous digital artwork and sweet line-art have been a highlight on our timelines. (Art: @HiThereRist)

During E3 week, the Epic Games Store ran their Mega Sale and offered both Genshin Impact and Control for free for a week. The sale ended on June 17th.

16th June - New Fansite, RemedyIntel Launches
A brand new Twitter page, RemedyIntel launched in mid-June, sharing community creations, news, and more. 

Remedy announced a continuation of their partnership with a publishing deal with 505Games, for a new multiplayer game set in the Control world. Revealed as "Condor", we got a new press release and a letter from Mikael Kasurinen.


July

Poet of the Fall, the real-life band behind Alan Wake's Old Gods of Asgard, posted an update on their channels announcing new Instagram and Twitter. News of the webstore shortly followed.

In July, Rowan held a Remedy themed charity craft livestream, spanning over twelve hours. During the broadcast, we jumped on board for a mini craft session, and Vida joined for an interview. Rowan raised over $275 for The Trevor Project.

In mid-July, Valve announced the brand new Steam Deck, a handheld PC gaming device designed to enable you to play your Steam library while on the move, including all your Remedy favourites

In the pre-recorded GDC keynote, Ville Ruusutie (Principal Animation Programmer) and Ilkka Kuusela (Lead Animator) took viewers through Remedy's animation system in their talk, Take 'CONTROL' of Animation. (Watch!)
 
 Max Payne turned twenty this year! We returned to fan-favourite scenes. The community shared brand new artwork, tributes, and more. And Remedy reunited Sam Lake and James McCaffrey for a special video.

Initially teased on the Stadia Blog back in late May, Control launched on the platform on July 27th, coinciding with the release of Marvel's Avengers and Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game.


August

Following a successful grant from the Alfred Kordelin Foundation, the Game Music Collective will be recording an orchestral album featuring pieces from Finnish games.

Stuart MacDonald (World Design Director, Remedy) and Ricardo Álvarez (Researcher at MIT Senseable City Lab) sat with Jamin Warrento to talk about architectural design within games and its impact on gameplay.

In a letter posted on the CrossfireX website, Sooro Boo (Executive Producer,  Smilegate) spoke about the recent changes that had been made to the game following its beta test.

Ahead of its launch on August 24th, NVIDIA Developer shared a number of chapters of the upcoming book, Ray Tracing Gems II, including one focusing on Control! 

In their H1 Financial Report, Remedy revealed the confirmation of their deal with 505Games on Condor and reviewed the progress of Control across new platforms.
 

Brooke Maggs joined Phillip Russell and Ben Thorp on the Origin Story podcast to talk about how she got into gaming, what her work as Senior Narrative Designer involves, and what narrative design actually is.

Following a social media discussion earlier this year over door creation difficulty, IGN reached out to game developers with the question, "What is a thing in video games that seems simple but is actually extremely hard for game developers to make?"

Remedy and 505Games celebrated the game's 2nd anniversary with game statistics, new Steam Point Store content, and a community-driven collage.

Coinciding with Control's second anniversary, Remedy recently launched their brand new official shop featuring t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, posters and more!

To celebrate Control's second anniversary, Remedy shared three never-before-seen interviews with the game's cast. The series debuted with Sean Durrie (Dylan Faden) who spoke about preparations, understanding the character, and magic. 


GamesCom was back again this year... albeit as a virtual event. After a long break, CrossFireX was back in the spotlight as the show gave us a new trailer, new screenshots, and new details on upcoming multiplayer maps. 

September

In an open letter published on The Sudden Stop (that's us!), Sam Lake (Creative Director at Remedy revealed Alan Wake Remastered. The game would launch on October 5th.

Following the news of Alan Wake Remastered launching this October, many community members took to social media to share new artwork they created to celebrate the reveal, shared their memories, and showed us their collections.

Following the reveal, a ninety-second trailer for Alan Wake Remastered was featured in the PlayStation Showcase, giving the community the first glimpse at some of the changes and improvements due to feature in the upcoming game.
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To celebrate Alan Wake's debut on the console, Sam Lake wrote a special article for the PlayStation Blog, detailing the unique features that PS owners can look forward to. 

Mirroring the studio's 2010 fansite kit, Remedy published a new folder on Imgur called the Alan Wake Remastered Official Fankit. The pack contains logos, screenshots, and promotional artwork.

As their continuing celebrations of Control's anniversary, Remedy shared a new interview with Control's leading actor, Courtney Hope, about what it was like to step into The Oldest House in her role of Jesse Faden.

In late September, NVIDIA has published a blog post revealing how NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) will make player's experience with Alan Wake Remastered on PC smoother. 

In this final anniversary interview clip, it was Antonia Bernath's turn in the hot seat, as she talks about what it was like to build the character of Emily Pope with the Control team. 


In an exclusive article to Xbox Wire, Remedy and 505Games detail what makes the upcoming release different to the original, and the huge amount of work it took to revisit and remaster the fan-favourite title.


Ahead of Alan Wake Remastered's launch, IGN posted an exclusive seven-minute gameplay clip showcasing the new look to the familiar game. 


With six days left until the launch of Alan Wake Remastered, Remedy has published Petri Alanko's hauntingly beautiful soundtrack for the game on the studio's YouTube channel!

October


The day before its international release, the embargo lifted on reviews for Alan Wake Remastered, with an immediate positive reaction. 


5th October - Alan Wake Remastered Launches
Alan Wake Remastered launches on PC (Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4/Pro, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Following the launch, many artists within the community published their own celebrations. 


Designmuseo's new exhibition. INTIMACY, which explores the outside influence and relationship we have to our clothes. Heli Salomaa's Control outfits are part of the collection.


In mid-October, Remedy launched their new Community hub, dedicated to the work that fans have created for their games. Their monthly "Fan Creation Of The Month" feature debuted with Vvenkman's "Wake Up, Alan". 


A week after the launch of Alan Wake Remastered, Remedy published the first of what would be a three-part series of artwork celebrating the new reimagined title. The first piece focused on the game's cast. 


A week after the launch of the Alan Wake Remastered artwork series, Remedy published their second piece, "It's Not A Lake, It's An Ocean" mirroring the base game's final words.


Throughout October, both d3t (the company behind the remastered edition) and Remedy have talked to numerous media outlets about the release, their hopes for the title, and what it has been like returning to an old friend. 



As October came to an end, the studio published their third and final artwork "Double Exposure". The piece focused on the closing moments of the first episode, dominated by a sideways portrait of Wake at the top.

November


Control joins Dragon Age Inquisition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos, Liberated, and Puzzle Agent 2 on Prime Gaming, allowing Amazon Prime members to explore the FBC for free.


12th November - Remedy's Q3 Financial Report 
In mid-November, Remedy published their Q3 Financial Report which announced their second studio, as well as discussed the publishing deal for Condor, and continuing impact of Control.


Coinciding with the Q3 2021 Financial Report, today Remedy announced that they will be establishing a new studio in neighbouring Stockholm in 2022. 


Xbox celebrated their 20th anniversary with a broadcast during which they revealed that 76 games will be joining the Backwards Compatibility programme with the milestone, including the entire Max Payne series.




December


10th December - Alan Wake 2 Revealed!
After a decade of anticipation, Remedy revealed live on The Game Awards stage that they were now working on Alan Wake 2. The game would be published by Epic Games in 2023. After the reveal, Sam's PlayStation Blog post went live.
10th December - CrossfireX Release Date Revealed
During The Game Awards, Smilegate revealed their brand new trailer for CrossfireX alongside a new release date, February 10th 2022. Coinciding with the trailer, Jaren Wade's article was posted on the Xbox website. 
11th December - First Alan Wake 2 Interviews
While in Los Angeles, Remedy stopped by the IGN offices to talk with them about the latest reveal. Sam also had a phone interview with Yle back home in Finland. The two interviews mark the first ones about the sequel.


12th December - Community Celebrates Alan Wake 2 
Following the surprise announcement, artists in the community took to social media to share their latest brilliant creations featuring Wake's new style. (Artwork: @HiThereRist)

14th December - Dev Diary: Road To The Announcement
Throughout Remedy's recent journey to Los Angeles to announce Alan Wake 2, the developers recorded their travels, experiences, and thoughts on the evening to come. 




25th December - Season's Greetings 
For 2021, we teamed up with Melissa F for a special holiday card. As is traditional, Remedy and Poets of the Fall also released their own holiday treats too! (Commission: Melfpic)
14th December - Embargos Lift on First CrossfireX Demo
Following the launch date reveal, Easy Allies, IGN, and COGconnected got an exclusive look at the upcoming single-player campaign for CrossfireX. 
28th December - Remedy & Tencent Reveals Partnership
The new agreement covers "global development, license and distribution" for Vanguard (codename), a free-to-play, cooperative adventure currently in the proof-of-concept phase.
14th December - Remedy's "Wrapping Up 2021" Letter
To wrap up the year, Remedy's CM, Vida Starčević, has written a letter for fans on the studio's website, covering the year from the End of Time to Remedy's second studio.

Posted in:

-- CONSOLE & PC GAMES --

The Control Series

The Crossfire Series

The Quantum Break Series

The Alan Wake Series

The Max Payne Series

Additional

-- MOBILE GAMES --

-- LIVE ACTION SERIES --

Icons by the incredible, Evil-Owl-Loki.

Beyond the shadow you settle for, there is a miracle illuminated.