How Alan Wake Was Created | Alan Wake Analysis (Ep.1) | State of the Arc Podcast

[@ketthefox]

I've born and lived in Finland for 35 years and I have never seen hotspring here and we don't have them here. Sauna is our thing and we have 3.2 million saunas with population of 5.5 million, almost every single house and appartment has sauna. Fun fact, Sam Lake real name is Sami Järvi and järvi means lake so his artist name is literal translation of his real name.

[@orcbrand]

@ketthefox Yeah casen was thinking of Iceland here.

[@Metro4466]

I'm native Finnish, I would like to bring some clarifications. Finnish language is difficult and unconventional to many westerners due to different approach to grammar and really complex word conjugation. Nevertheless, Finnish is not nearly as difficult language compared to languages with unique writing systems such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean or Japanese etc. I would say our language is only moderately difficult. Finland is called a land of thousand lakes, not hotsprings. We have almost 180 000 of them if you count even the small ones. Finland is mostly forest and marshlands. We really don’t have hotsprings almost at all, I think Casen might have been thinking Iceland instead? Great video, I might pick up Alan Wake this week to join the analysis train ^^

[@DungeonBricks]

I can't help but love Casen's character arc, from "that crazy" to deep symbology cuts, to even deeper philosophical analysis all the way to being an active part on episode 1. Truly amazing.

[@CasenSperry]

Haha! This might be my favorite comment ever

[@abysskun9518]

I'm glad Poets of the Fall got so much attention for working on the Alan Wake games, they are so good.

[@Silvergun_Raven]

Instantly became a fan in 2003 when I heard “Late Goodbye” in Max Payne 2!

[@SanValentin199]

They've been ny favourite band ever since Max Payne 2 as well

[@henrikpatterson1521]

They became my favorite band from this game. I love Poets. (Brag time. I got a special thanks on their 10 year anniversary DVD.)

[@Beardmo]

Read House of Leaves.

[@orcbrand]

And listen to Haunted by Poe!

[@KalleVilenius]

Yeah House of Leaves is actually really good

[@personatodo]

The first Alan Wake borrowed a lot of elements from Twin Peaks (and Silent Hill) from the story and the settings. The game even have their own version of the Log Lady except with a lamp. I'm shocked David Lynch didn't sue them. 😂 The late night set in Alan Wake 2 basically functions as the Red Room from Twin Peaks.The quest for Wake to escape the Dark Place also mirrors Agent Dale Cooper's attempt to escape from the Black Lodge. Both protagonist trapped in a dreamscape where logic goes out the window and both of them has their own evil doppelganger: Scratch in Alan Wake and Mr. C in Twin Peaks.

[@IGotDiabeetus]

Alan Wake 1 and 2s stories are some of my favorites in media. So I'm really happy to hear you guys discuss it!

[@K_Dog253]

Max payne was such a cool game when it came out. But far more than that, it was an extremely dark and compelling story, and i love it to this day. The dark and gritty noir theme reaches out to people who even dont like comics or old school black and white detective mystery films. Its a must have experience for anyone who appreciates the video game plaform of story telling.

[@monto4944]

Regarding Finnish language, it belongs to entirely different language family. Almost all european languages belong to Indo-European family. Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian languages belong to Ural language family.

[@tessier-ashpool3462]

Oh man, I can’t wait for you guys to get to Alan Wake 2!

[@orcbrand]

I love Sam Lake's postmodernist approach to writing, and that's why I've recommended what I did in your inner sanctum (Pentiment, and Adaptation) -- including House of Leaves. I've often felt much the same way as he does on writing as a revelatory process. Whenever I finish writing a piece, I always need a third party to tell me what I meant by it. lol One comment on unfortunate release dates that's on theme here, like with Max Payne, one of my favorite films is Cronenberg's eXistenZ, and that got really bogged down in reviews and box office numbers due to comparisons to the Matrix. Methinks if it didn't come so close to the Matrix, it would have received much more appreciation in its day (great film, highly recommend -- especially to view from a video game analysis lens).

[@MarkPTP7000]

Pentiment is amazing. I'm going to have to check these recommendations out

[@mekatora_]

So glad you guys are covering this. Alan Wake has been one of my absolute faves for a long time.

[@zidart]

I am glad you're enjoying your dive into Alan Wake. It is a game that opened many doors for me in terms of how I view media. I wanted to say I appreciate your interest in reading House of Leaves. I understand it is a difficult tome to crack specially when Alan Wake has so much work that inspired it. I don't want to pressure you into finishing it within the time it takes to analyze Alan Wake, but I don't believe it will be worth to hear your thoughts later down the road, no matter how long it takes.

[@shpladau]

If any entry is perfect for a "Video Game Story Book Club," it's this one.

[@Bardicles]

Love your content! First time I'll be actually playing along as these are released (listened to your whole back catalog first). One thing on the difficulty: You have to beat the game at least once to unlock Nightmare, so you can't do it on your first run as recommended in your video. I'm playing the Steam version so there are ways around this through the developer console, but this may not be an option on other platforms.

[@RanAkano]

Did you read the House of Leaves? If not, its kind of amazing how a game influenced/inspired by a book, reflects the ideas of that book back to a different audience through the same game. Now that shows quality and true understanding of the source material!

[@mineraljunction]

i’m so freaking happy you guys are covering these games, some of my favourite games of all time. really hope you’ll cover AWII and maybe Control as well… would love to hear more thoughts on Twin Peaks as well haha. not to ask too much 😅

[@Starlightean]

Yes yes yes yes yes! Every creator's ocean worth of relatable themes of struggle in this one. Absolutely love Alan Wake series. As an aspiring writer and a media studier myself, witnessing the story was overwhelmingly kismet. Alan Wake II is epic.

[@aaronveerdhillon3095]

No way you guys uploaded this. I literally search if you guys had made this yesterday. Amazing stuff guys keep up the great content. Loving the other new videos too.

[@Mawnster73]

So you guys are definitely getting to House of Leaves someday… right? ;)

[@BakumanLakuman]

I am excited for this deep dive.

[@KoldoBearUkulele]

Loving this, having just finished Alan Wake for the first time recently. Can’t wait to watch your discussion on Control and Alan Wake 2 in the future!

[@Mega-Dan17]

Awesome first episode! And perfect timing, uploading it today. I needed something to focus on and you guys deep diving into my favorite video game universe is the best!

[@BrockWalshCTD]

Awesome episode so far! Man, am I glad they changed the game to a more linear and focused one. Also, the way the manuscripts almost spoil upcoming events in such a fascinating way reminds me a ton of how Frank Herbert began most of the chapters in Dune. Brilliant.

[@AshenVictor]

Quantum Break isn't 100% connected because Remedy don't own the rights to it, but there are a number of elements in Alan Wake 2 that refer back to legally-distinct versions of it, just as they do back to Max Payne. It's kinda hard to get the whole experience of it these days though due to it having that mixed game/TV thing that Microsoft were so eager for the Xbox One to be at the time.

[@MrThephonypope]

Always had a theory that the lake is connected to the Jungian collective unconscious, and it's affect on people is akin to the shadow self manifesting

[@PSYHICDODO]

Any chance you guys will tackle the rest of the Remedy Connected Universe someday?

[@michaelcoraybrown]

We definitely will.

[@PSYHICDODO]

@ you have no idea how exciting that is to me, this might be my favorite podcast period and my favorite video game franchise/developer, so looking forward to all of it!

[@TheBlahSan]

Casen, I would be interested in your thoughts on any David Lynch works you may have seen. Twin Peaks was a great mix of his visual style and Mark Frost's story telling. The Return (the third season) has some of the best usages of visuals, sounds, and symbolism (edit: not symbology, he's not tied to any specific system like that I'm sure) I've seen in recent years.

[@Arkholt2]

53:37 This was the whole idea behind Twin Peaks, too. David Lynch believes that a mystery is only interesting as long as it remains a mystery, so he devised a murder mystery where you would never find out who the killer actually was. You were only supposed to follow Cooper as he investigated the town, and discovered things about the residents and what was going on there, but the underlying question of who the murderer was would never be revealed. Of course, the network made him reveal the killer anyway. But there are still many mysteries in Twin Peaks besides that which are never resolved. He also tried to do the same thing again with Mulholland Drive, but no one even picked that up as a series and he made it into a movie instead.

[@Silvergun_Raven]

Sam Lake is one of my current favorite writers as he reminds me so much of David Lynch in his style.

[@Beardmo]

Read House of Leaves

[@IWFDI]

One of the funniest things about Sam Lake is that they used his face on Max Payne 1. He makes the same face in the photo in the info box, he did in Max Payne. Something that always bugged me when you finish MP1 when he stands on the tower with this ridiculous smile that didn't fit the tome of the game at all.

[@Keyh]

Remedyverse is amazing for this longform podcast and has crazy themes; Control and Alan Wake 2 next! Quantum Break is technically a part of it too!

[@dariyanvalentine3564]

Remedy has become my favorite game developer. Also I was losing my mind when you guys mentioned them any series cuz I actually got to interview the main character of that miniseries it should still be on the remedy forums I organized it myself it was awesome holy crap I still have the emails

[@PSN_DysZentery]

great episode as always. food for thought: you make the comment "wonder if all games should be made like this, open world then streamlined to be wide-narrowed" [paraphrased]. the devs would be accused of cutting content in a heart beat... just sayin' everything you do, you can only please half the ppl, half the time...

[@Zorkkaelain]

There are, in fact, zero hot springs in Finland and basically no vulcanic / geological activity at all.

[@manganimesYT]

Alan wake always deserves more love, and the love is apreciated

[@Nigel222]

Loved the first game so looking forward to hearing your discussion.

[@DarkZero2588]

When you all were talking about creating the entire open world, or the entire lore prior to carving out the story proper. It reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre where Matsuno mapped those entire worlds out before zeroing in specific timeframes for the games

[@DrFaustisDead]

I've been waiting for you two to cover Alan Wake. Very excited to hear your thoughts one what may be my favorite game.

[@BartolisHideoutGaming]

Great video. Never played ALAN WAKE but looking forward to it

[@anthonyslashtvRANT]

I can’t wait till you guys get into the 2nd game however long that will be.

[@confitao]

Xenogears and now Alan Wake, fuck yeah

[@_sparrowhawk]

So you like games that are 99% story and 1% gameplay? ;)

[@confitao]

@@_sparrowhawk sign me the fuck up, didn't mind in MGS, specially since the plot is incredible

[@TheBeird]

Yeah I loved this game. Played around the same time as Deadly Premonition. Now that was an interesting double bill. Similar concept tackled in two unique ways by different teams headed by two VERY different mad lads.

[@Reginmund]

To add some context to Finnish along with Estonian being this strange linguistic island in a sea of other almost unrelated languages, it should be pointed out that in the past Finnish or Finno-Ugric languages were far more widespread and spoken from the Baltic to the Urals and beyond. Over time most of these people were absorbed into other language groups, primarily Russian, leaving just the linguistic islands of Finland and Estonia (and Hungary, but that's a different story). What is today northwestern Russia would have been mainly Finno-Ugric speaking in the past. The core Slavic area is further south and spread northwards from medieval times, a process that took centuries. Even the area around Moscow was once inhabited by Finno-Ugric speakers - look into the history of the Volga Finns.

[@wq7170]

I was waiting for House of Leaves to be available at the library but since this is the 20th time I've seen it recommended I'll just go ahead and buy it :) If anyone is interested in the never ending story there's a nice narration of it on KZbin by Jeremy Garner, I listened to all of it at work

[@Beardmo]

Good Choice.

[@minervaselysium137]

does anyone know what is the game they are reviewing now behind their patron?

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Oh damn, time to play Alan Wake so I can follow along!

[@punmastamatthew3543]

Yeah Finnish is a very unique language cause it comes from the Uralic group and that includes languages like Hungarian, Sami, and some other minor ones that are in Russia. Its theorized cause its still debated where those people came from, like Northern Asia close to the Ural Mountains or where the Volga river/Western Russia since the Slavs didn't move in there till like the 10th century or 9th century. Edit: YEAH DEADLY PREMONITION MENTIONED!

[@nateg3998]

Ooooh i needed this.

[@HotCupaJo]

Can't wait to see what you guys think both of the games, the story was made for artists.

[@crazydude9991]

Great episode. Although I will say this episode kind of encapsulates all the reasons why I don't gel that well with most of Remedy's (Sam Lake's) writing. It's usually just too on the nose, and their inspirations are on show a little bit too much. So many times during playing Alan Wake, I kept noticing moments where I'd say "hey that's from Twin Peaks, or Stephen King, or Silent Hill." It begins to ruin the immersion of the game. Also, Alan Wake struggling with writers block and a phantom story that he wrote be a large part of the whole narrative is too obviously a self-insert for Sam Lake that again it takes me out of the game. A short way to phrase my problems with Sam Lake's writing is that it feels like the game is constantly stopping and winking at the player as though it's all one big inside joke. I understand why people love their games, but for me I just can't get into them as much. They're dumb fun but I can't take them seriously at all.

[@MarianHevein]

Finnish is closely related to Estonian and long-distance related to Saami languages and even more to Hungarian. They all comprise the Finno-Ugric family :) It is not that bad to learn, really, if you leave behind the preconceptions (and advantages) that come from being a western learning a germanic or romance language. Just treat it as a foreign family, as it is, and adapt your mental process accordingly.

[@TheCreapler]

While I didn't care much for Alan wake it was ok, but I loved Control here's hoping one day you will do a vid on that game.

[@Daryl42]

I think the same thing happened with Max Payne. Their version of New York is based on what they saw in movies only. But, that’s just a rumor.

[@madness1931]

I didn't realise that the Alan Wake Remake, included Dev Commentary... I might buy the game again.

[@brianclarkson5300]

If you guys eventually got around to doing a podcast on Twin Peaks that would be great. I’d be interested to see your reactions and take on it

[@JSCG12]

Still watching so not sure if it's mentioned but how many episodes will Alan Wake cover?

[@michaelcoraybrown]

Probably 4 or 5 total.

[@patrickweller5254]

Would be incredible if you covered Twin Peaks at some point (even if you don't really cover TV/Film much).

[@rdrouynriv]

I've been to North Bend, Washington and to Tweed's diner. Only mildly relevant to the discussion but its something.

[@AshenVictor]

I don't think you can play Nightmare difficulty and get the extra pages until after you've completed the game the first time. They're intended to only be found once you've completed the game once and have an idea what's going on.

[@Scimarad]

Maybe I ought to try the remake, though I recall it was the gameplay that I found massively monotonous not the story. I've got to say I didn't have any issue following Control having not played far into the first AW. I mean I'm sure it will probably come up in the deep dive in the game but is Alan supposed to be a bad writer? The pages you find from his book seem really, really bad; Not Stephen King, not even Dean Koontz but more put me more in mind of a great TV show we had in the UK called Garth Marenghi's Dark Place. Hmmm, Dark Place...interesting.

[@mabonman]

guys you gotta watch twin peaks it is the most tremendous tv show ever, especially the modern season ... you will love it

[@appipoo]

Tolkien was correct. Finnish is the most beautiful language.

[@cawniekat]

listening to this made me wonder and want to ask if y'all would ever considering make a video on disco elysium?

[@mopeybloke]

Hey! It's 70% off on GOG. In my country at least.

[@captawesome42]

House of Leaves is so good!!!

[@henrikpatterson1521]

You're finally playing my favourite game of all time!

[@leif54]

I love you guys.

[@coreyrachar9694]

How do I know if this computer I'm typing this comment on isn't just in a room in the hotel of my mind? ... And you people aren't just the caretakers and patrons of that hotel!?

[@Scimarad]

I cannot get into these games. I absolutely love Control but I just bounce right of both AW games.

[@pancito8292]

It's not a lake...

[@TheGunmanChannel]

The combat in this game is just terrible

[@plastikman7788]

Ahh, Alan Woke...

[@k.l.7788]

Always at least one. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@plastikman7788]

@@k.l.7788 What, a differing opinion?

[@_sparrowhawk]

47:23 "The story is the most important part" For a novel? Yeah. For a game? No. If your team designs games by focusing on the story first, you might as well just make a movie/book.

[@themeangene]

Yeah I don't agree with that take at all. It's highly subjective. There's some games I replay because of the mechanics despite not having a provocative story. Some games aren't even about the story and there's nothing wrong with that. There's a reason a lot of people are turned off by "walking sims." I don't care how incredible a story may be. I'm not replaying a game over and over again unless I find the mechanics fun.

[@Elora445]

As a gamer as well as a reader, I'd say that story is just as important as gameplay is.

[@themeangene]

@@Elora445 it depends on the game. Mario with a terrific story but mediocre mechanics would be a huge disappointment. Mario is the king of platformers. It lives and dies on gameplay. Nintendo would lose a ton of money if they released a mainline Mario game without top tier gameplay. Sonic learned this the hard way. Meanwhile a Silent Hill game is never going to have the best mechanics in the space

[@Elora445]

@@themeangene Silent Hill would be a better game if it had a strong story and good gameplay. But yeah, the gameplay in those games is...interesting, let's say.