If you’re a fan of games such as Alan Wake, Control, and Quantum Break, you’ll know that developer Remedy Entertainment has some pretty far-reaching narrative plans to tie all of its work into the same universe. Quantum Break is the exception, as its status as an Xbox exclusive and semi TV series has made it difficult for Remedy to merge it with the overall narrative, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a few easter eggs of its own.
In fact, we can now trace certain plot points from Alan Wake 2 all the way back to Quantum Break, which has been hiding an easter egg regarding the recently released sequel for the past 7 years. After playing through Quantum Break now that more information about Alan Wake 2 and its story is out and about, Twitter user nyxspirations noticed what is seemingly a reference to the sequel on a large chalkboard filled with nods to the first game.
If you’ve played Alan Wake 2, you’ll know that part of the story focuses on Alan attempting to escape The Dark Place. He does this by writing a manuscript for a novel called Initiation, editing the words of the script to shape the world as he sees fits to try and make progress and eventually break free. As you can see from the image of the chalkboard that nyxspiration shares, the word ‘Initiation’ can be seen right between the words ‘Departure’ and ‘Return’, two other manuscripts that are the focus in the first and second Alan Wake games respectively.
Adding even more credence to the theory that Remedy had been sowing the seeds of Alan Wake 2 as far back as 2016, you can also see on director Sam Lake’s Twitter profile that he’s liked a tweet talking about all the links between games across Remedy’s portfolio, including the nod to Alan Wake 2 on the Quantum Break chalkboard. We’ve yet to find any links to the sequel further back than Quantum Break, but you never know with Remedy.
As for what Remedy is working on next, we heard earlier this year that a sequel to Control, remakes of Max Payne 1 + 2, and an untitled co-op multiplayer game were all in the proof-of-concept stage, though we don’t know right now which one the studio is going to shift its attention towards.
Given how much of a role Alex Casey has in Alan Wake 2, a character who shares the same character model as Max Payne and is widely perceived to be a stand-in for Remedy’s shared universe, my money is on Remedy giving us a couple of remakes to tide us over until the next big outing in the Remedyverse. Whatever that is, let’s hope it’s just as good as Alan Wake 2.