Remedy Connected Universe explained: How Alan Wake & Control are linked

❘ Updated: 2023-10-30T16:58:35

alan wake control remedy shared universe connections

Remedy Entertainment

Alan Wake and Control are set in the same universe.

Remedy Entertainment has ingeniously intertwined the storylines of its flagship games, creating a rich, interconnected universe that binds Alan Wake and Control.

Alan Wake 2 has finally arrived, and there are certain to be various cross-connections and references to Remedy’s other works, so we’ve got a round-up of all the Alan Wake lore you need to know before you revisit Bright Falls, and the Dark Place.

The title that followed Alan Wake, Control was revealed to be linked to the Alan Wake world, and its DLC AWE was made to serve as a soft launch for the eventual sequel but just how are the 2 games intertwined?

Here’s everything you need to know about Remedy’s connected universe. Spoiler warning!

Remedy Connected Universe: Alan Wake ending explained
Control: What is the Oldest House?
Control AWE DLC: Alan Wake connections
Who are the Old Gods of Asgard?
Who is Ahti?
Who is Thomas Zane?
How is Alan Wake 2 connected?
Should you play Alan Wake or Control first?
Is Max Payne canon to Alan Wake?
Is Quantum Break canon to Alan Wake?

Remedy Connected Universe: Alan Wake ending explained

Alan Wake is set in the fictional American town of Bright Falls. It follows the titular character, Alan Wake, a famous crime writer who suffers from writer’s block vacationing in the town with his wife, Alice. When Alice is kidnapped by an evil presence, Alan has to fight monsters that come from a dimension known as The Dark Place to rescue her. Meanwhile, he’s trying to piece together a manuscript he doesn’t remember writing that seemingly foreshadows the game’s events.

The game ends with Alan reaching Cauldron Lake, the source of power for The Dark Place, and jumping into the lake to reach the other dimension. It’s here that he becomes trapped by the evil forces that inhabit the dark place, and continues work on a new manuscript, seemingly allowing Alice to escape in exchange for his entrapment.

The game ends with Alan finishing his work on the manuscript, saying “It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean”. This implies that the Dark Place and the evil entity that’s trapped him stretches much farther across the world than just Bright Falls.

The ending also sets up some other potential plot threads to be explored in sequels, namely having a doppelganger of Alan called Mr. Scratch walking around in the real world, as well as Rose and Agent Nightingale taking on their new roles as the harbingers of light and darkness.

Control: What is the Oldest House?

The Oldest House is the central location featured in Control and is the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC). It is depicted as a blocky, Brutalist structure appearing in the middle of New York City, and is apparently invisible to the public from the outside.

The interior of the Oldest House seems to exist outside of space and time, featuring rooms and sectors that seemingly shift their physical features on a regular basis. The building is also connected to many alternate dimensions, including the Astral Plane.

The Oldest House also houses many different Altered Items and Objects of Power; seemingly everyday items that house supernatural abilities or properties. For example, the Slide Projector is a major item in the main story, appearing as an ordinary projector but is capable of displaying slides that act as doorways to different dimensions.

Control AWE DLC: Alan Wake connections

Control’s second DLC, AWE, delved deeper into the lore that connects the game with Alan Wake, while also setting up some plot threads to be explored in future sequels of both titles.

The DLC involves Jesse heading to the Investigations Sector of the Oldest House, which holds the Bright Falls AWE as a result of the events of Alan Wake. She is summoned here by an apparition of Wake, who guides her through this sector of the building.

Most importantly, the DLC provides some context on what happens to Dr Emil Hartman. In Alan Wake, he was a psychologist who owned a clinic for artists who were struggling to produce new pieces of work. In reality, Hartman used the clinic to try and harness the power of Cauldron Lake by leveraging the artists’ work.

By the time of Control’s AWE DLC, it’s revealed his research was later confiscated by FBC agents and he ended up diving into the lake itself in a final effort to study it. This caused him to be taken over by The Dark Presence and later contained in the Oldest House.

During the events of Control, the Hiss invasion of the FBC causes Hartman to breach containment and become twisted into a new kind of monster. Jesse, still seeing visions of Wake, ultimately defeats Hartman in the Bright Falls AWE area and is able to contain the sector.

What’s most interesting about this DLC is that it ends with the FBC receiving a report of a new AWE coming from Bright Falls, but it’s dated several years into the future. This sets up the events for Alan Wake 2, featuring a return to Bright Falls.

Who are the Old Gods of Asgard?

Old Gods of Asgard is a fictional heavy metal band that exists within the Remedy Connected Universe. Two of its members are the Anderson Brothers, who made notable appearances in Alan Wake, but the band’s music appears in both Alan Wake and Control.

The Anderson Brothers play a sizeable role in Alan Wake, helping Alan escape the Cauldron Lake Lodge and guiding him to their farm as the place to figure out what he needs to do next.

It’s hinted at throughout the games that Old Gods of Asgard’s music has paranormal qualities. The song ‘The Poet and the Muse’ guides Alan to find Cynthia Weaver, who helps him in the final two chapters of the game. The song ‘Take Control’ also helps Jesse navigate the Ashtray Maze in Control.

In real life, Old Gods of Asgard’s songs are written and performed by Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall, who have collaborated with Remedy on nearly all their games.

Who is Ahti?

Ahti is a cleaner working in the Oldest House who sporadically appears during Control, acting as a guide or aide to Jesse. He is voiced by Martti Suosalo in the game.

At this moment in time, Ahti’s origins are unknown to us, and it’s heavily hinted at during Control that he may not even be human. He possesses a number of paranormal abilities, such as telepathy, teleportation, and a natural immunity to the Hiss. Despite these powers, he isn’t a hostile entity to either Jesse or the Hiss.

It’s likely we’ll learn more about Ahti’s purpose and origins in future Control and Alan Wake games.

Who is Thomas Zane?

Thomas Zane was a poet who lived in Bright Falls in the 1970s and is an essential character who sets up the events of Alan Wake.

Similar to Alan, he had the ability to write things that would later become reality. He lived on Bird Leg Cabin on Cauldron Lake with his girlfriend, Barbara Jagger. Jagger later died after drowning in the lake during a swim, but Zane was later able to write her back to life using his poetry.

Despite her apparent resurrection, Zane later realized the Dark Presence had possessed her body and that she was not the same woman he loved. In an effort to stop Jagger’s power from growing, he attempted to use his poetry to write himself, the island, and everything else out of existence.

As a backup plan, he finally used the lake’s power to write a character called Alan Wake who would eventually come to Cauldron Lake and defeat the Dark Presence once and for all. This seems to go against evidence from elsewhere that Zane was a character written by Alan.

The exact origins of both Wake and Zane is a highly debated issue in the Alan Wake community. Whether Alan was created by Zane, Zane created by Alan, or if both existed independently but had events ‘influenced’ by both writers’ work in Cauldron Lake remains unclear. It’s possible these questions will be answered in Alan Wake 2.

How is Alan Wake 2 connected?

Alan Wake 2 is the upcoming sequel to Alan Wake, but it might also have connections to Control. Taking place around 13 years after the first game, the story will feature two protagonists in an interconnected story.

One half of Alan Wake 2 involves Alan’s struggle to escape the Dark Place, and the other involves an FBI agent called Saga Anderson as she solves a mystery occurring in Bright Falls and the neighboring town of Watery.

We don’t know many details about which characters from Alan Wake and Control will be returning in the sequel. Besides Alan, it’s possible we’ll see Bright Falls residents such as Sheriff Breaker, Pat Maine, and Rose Marigold.

Should you play Alan Wake or Control first?

We recommend that you play Alan Wake before Control. While the main plot of Control is a standalone story, there are some references made to characters and events that occur during Alan Wake. It also spoils certain aspects of that game’s story, including the ending.

This was later expanded upon in Control’s AWE DLC, which featured the return of some Alan Wake characters. It further connected the worlds of Alan Wake and Control, setting up future games in the Remedy Connected Universe.

Is Max Payne canon to Alan Wake?

Max Payne is not canon to Alan Wake or the Remedy Connected Universe. This is due to the rights to the Max Payne IP currently being owned by Rockstar Games.

However, Alan Wake is an author who became famous for writing crime novels featuring a detective called Alex Casey. While this character is not Max Payne, there are numerous similarities between both.

For example, Casey uses lots of metaphors in his internal dialogue just like Payne. He is also voiced by James McCaffrey, who previously voiced Max Payne, during a monologue that appears in an Alan Wake manuscript.

Alex Casey will also appear as a character in Alan Wake 2, voiced again by McCaffrey and modeled after Sam Lake. Lake is the creative director at Remedy Entertainment and also was the face model for Max Payne in the first game.

Is Quantum Break canon to Alan Wake?

Quantum Break is not canon to Alan Wake or the Remedy Connected Universe. This is because the Quantum Break IP is owned by Microsoft.

With that being said, there are several references in Quantum Break that hint at a connection between the game and Remedy’s other titles.

For example, Night Springs appears on an in-game TV and you can also find several copies of The Sudden Stop, the crime novel Wake wrote featuring Alex Casey.

Alex Casey and Saga Anderson, two detectives featured in Alan Wake 2, also appear in a live-action segment during Quantum Break. The short segment shows the two characters searching for Alan Wake, who went missing five years previously.

It’s currently unknown if these were simply intended as easter eggs or if Remedy originally had plans to link the games up.

And that’s all we can explain so far on the links between Alan Wake and Control in the Remedy Connected Universe. Meanwhile, you should have a look at similar Alan Wake 2 content from Dexerto: