In an exclusive behind-the-scenes preview, Josh West (UK Managing Editor at GamesRadar+) has detailed his visit to the Remedy sets, providing a unique glimpse at what it was like behind the camera for some of Alan Wake 2's ambitious live-action shots.
For the piece, he watched the recording of a segment due to play during the Oceanview Hotel level, and recently shown to players at the Los Angeles press event.
Alongside the rare perspective, we also heard from a number of the cast and crew working on the scene, including Ilkka Villi (Actor, Alan Wake), Sam Lake (Creative Director) and Anssi Määttä (Live-Action Director), who delved into the impact of Covid-19, new acting challenges, and working with the Northlight team.
Spoiler Warning: If you're cautious about spoilers, you may want to bookmark the link to return to later. While it details footage already shown in the trailer, it expands on the scene, revealing spoilers that may be best avoided until your playthrough.
Photography by Anssi Maatta, Remedy Entertainment. Used in the GamesRadar+ article.Interestingly, the article also explores the difficulty of creating an experience that melds both gameplay and live-action footage with different preparation and schedules, revealing that "To achieve this cohesion has been a labor of love. Alan Wake 2 has been in production for almost four years, with a staff of over 130 working towards its completion. It isn't uncommon for video games to drastically change shape throughout development, and the demands of integrating ambitious shot lists only complicates matters further – once something has been committed to camera, there's little opportunity to change it later. This is something Remedy has brushed against in the past. 'Traditionally, video game production is iterative, and live action production is linear,' says Lake. 'They move forward in different cycles. Fitting them together can be difficult. We learned this the hard way with Quantum Break because we were not in control of the live action production and schedule.'"
You can read Josh's incredible preview at GamesRadar+, HERE!
