Today’s reveal of the Control AWE expansion officially bridged the worlds of Control and Alan Wake as something more than just a few Easter eggs indicating they take place in the same universe. After all, the trailer for the AWE expansion was narrated by Alan Wake, and the titular character appeared near the end of the trailer, making it quite clear that Jesse and Alan may meet. But in addition to Control being a pseudo-sequel to Alan Wake’s story, Remedy may have even more plans in place across their entire game catalog, specifically teasing a “Remedy Connected Universe” that’s been planned for over a decade, connecting the last ten years of games via a payoff that is coming “down the line.”
The AWE expansion was revealed via the PlayStation State of Play live stream today, and a follow-up post on the PlayStation Blog offered additional information about what was shown. One Altered Item will offer some long requested gameplay features like the ability to replay the Ashtray Maze and other surprises. Remedy teases a “moodier, more suspenseful approach” to this expansion, and given Control’s proclivities for horror adjacent theming before, AWE is bound to get spooky. And of course there were details about Jesse invetigating the Bright Falls Altered World Event, something that was mere Easter egg in the main game and will now connect Remedy’s beloved Xbox exclusive Alan Wake with Control. But it seems like there may be even more to it than that?
“Finally, you might have heard a certain Alan Wake narrating the trailer and showing up at the very end. Over the years, we have included Easter eggs in our games that related some of Remedy’s games to each other, as you have seen if you played Control… but what if they were not all just Easter eggs?” Remedy Entertainment Communications Director Thomas Puha said on the PlayStation Blog. “What if there’s actually been a plan in place for over a decade on how some of our games are connected – a Remedy Connected Universe, if you will – and payoff for certain things is… down the line?”
The post goes on to say that AWE will “start uncovering those secrets” on August 27th, hinting at perhaps more than just an Alan Wake connection in Control. The Investigations Sector of the Federal Bureau of Control may be the terminus of the entire Remedy Connected Universe.
The other major game that will most likely play a part in this “Remedy Connected Universe” is Quantum Break, the unique video game/TV show Xbox exclusive that never made its way to PlayStation. It was published by Microsoft Studios, but then so was Alan Wake, and here are PlayStation players seeing the character coming to the multiplatform AWE expansion for Control, so anything is possible. Remedy also developed the first two Max Payne games (and consulted on the third), but unless the studio has secretly wrested control (no pun intended) of the franchise back from Rockstar, it’s unlikely he’s part of this decade-long plan.
Perhaps we’ll start to see the picture become clearer when AWE releases on August 27th. Are we in for an “Avengers”-like team up with Jesse Faden, Alan Wake, and Jack Joyce? Is there a bigger threat coming than any of these three have faced individually? The prospects are potentially enormous, and after what appears to be more than 10 years of planning, it seems Remedy is ready for players to start putting the pieces of this puzzle together.
