| “ | The idea that the tales told in some of our games would be connected to each other, a connected world of stories and events with shared characters and lore. Each game is a stand-alone experience, but each game is also a doorway into a larger universe with exciting opportunities for crossover events. | ” |
— Sam Lake | ||
The Remedy Connected Universe is a shared fictional universe created by Remedy Entertainment. Within the Remedy Connected Universe, standalone video games belong to a larger fictional universe and share elements of lore, characters, and story.
While hints of the Remedy Connected Universe have existed for more than a decade, its official existence was not confirmed until August 7, 2020. Control's expansion AWE was the first formal crossover event in the Remedy Extended Universe, connecting the video games Control and Alan Wake.
The Remedy Connected Universe is known to include the Alan Wake franchise and Control. The official status of Remedy Entertainment's other games Death Rally, CrossFire, and Max Payne within this universe is not yet known, although Quantum Break is officially not in it due to IP ownership issues.
History[]
Connections between video games by Remedy Entertainment have existed for more than ten years. The most prominent connections began with 2010's Alan Wake, which featured significant references to the Max Payne games released in the early 2000s. Alan Wake and its larger universe also included some of the very earliest references to Control, including mention of Ordinary, the Federal Bureau of Control, and Altered World Events. Several characters mentioned or appearing in Control were first alluded to in Alan Wake.
Control, released in 2019, contained many references to Alan Wake. In August 2020, the trailer for Control's second DLC, AWE, was released, featuring Alan Wake and the Dark Presence from Alan Wake. Shortly thereafter, Sam Lake, the creative director of Remedy Entertainment, confirmed the existence of the Remedy Connected Universe in an article and also that AWE was the first crossover event in this shared universe.
Lake also confirmed that Alan Wake 2, the sequel to Alan Wake which released in October 2023, also exists in the RCU. Alan Wake 2 followed up on a number of details which were first shown in AWE, such as the existence of the Lake House, while the FBC as a whole plays a major role in the game's story. Two major characters from Control, Jesse Faden and Casper Darling, both make appearances in Alan Wake 2, and it is likely that at least one of the game's upcoming DLC expansions will feature the FBC in some way.
Games[]
Control[]
Control is one of the most significant entries in the Remedy Connected Universe, due to contextualizing the events of Alan Wake within a larger universe with established rules, metaphysics, and larger organizations. Unlike Alan Wake, which was mainly a self-contained story, Control focused on broad global Altered World Events, developing the supernatural aspect of the Remedy Connected Universe as a whole. Alan Wake was established as being merely one instance of these AWEs on a smaller scale, in Bright Falls.
Alan Wake[]
Alan Wake has been established as taking place within the larger universe of Control. While Alan Wake left many of its larger mysteries unanswered, Control provides context and answers for many of these mysteries by establishing the nature of what occurred in Bright Falls. Alan Wake is a character in Control and has a prominent role in AWE.
Max Payne[]
While the status of Max Payne in the Remedy Connected Universe is unclear, the Alex Casey series of novels written by Alan Wake appear to have multiple plot similarities to the Max Payne games.
Release Schedule[]
Remedy's next RCU titles after the DLC expansions for Alan Wake II are likely to be a multiplayer PvE game set in the Oldest House codenamed Condor and Control 2. Other upcoming games that may or may not tie in are the Max Payne 1+2 Remake and a live-service multiplayer PvE game codenamed Vanguard. Remedy has also filed a trademark for a game called FBC: Firebreak, though as of yet little is known about this project and/or whether it is an official name for a previously-mentioned project such as Condor.
Other media[]
This House of Dreams[]
This House of Dreams is a blog which was published throughout 2012, confirmed later that year by Sam Lake and Remedy Entertainment to be connected to Alan Wake. It details strange occurrences in the life of a woman named Samantha after she moves to Ordinary, Maine, with mentions to the poetry of Thomas Zane, other events from Alan Wake, and a mysterious shoebox.
- Control directly mentions these events on a whiteboard in Central Research, which gives the blog author's full name as Samantha Wells and further indicates that the FBC was alerted by her blog's contents and took the shoebox from her house, though they later lost it and it ended up back in Wells' hands.
- Interestingly, in This House of Dreams, Samantha mentions being visited by a federal agent from the "AWE" rather than the FBC as would be indicated in Control.
Notes[]
Quantum Break contains numerous references to Remedy Connected Universe entries, and is also seemingly referenced in Control. However, the Quantum Break IP is owned by Microsoft rather than Remedy, so whether or not these references are indicative of a deeper connection cannot be officially confirmed.
- Graffiti reading "AWE" can be found throughout Quantum Break.
- The television show Night Springs is present in Quantum Break.
- The live-action teaser trailer "Alan Wake's Return" in Quantum Break depicts FBI agents Saga Anderson and Alex Casey, who are central characters in Alan Wake 2.
- The Old Gods of Asgard are referenced in various occasions throughout Quantum Break, such as through a band named Stonecrow supposedly performing in tribute of the Old Gods.
- * During a slow-motion section, an office admin can be heard singing "Children of the Elder God."
- In Quantum Break, a lecture hall blackboard makes various references to the story of Alan Wake (both the character and the franchise) seemingly in the style of a literary analysis, drawing parallels to the hero's journey and even bringing up "This House of Dreams."
- Separately, another character can be seen playing Alan Wake on a PC.
- Two copies of Alan Wake's novel The Sudden Stop can be found in Quantum Break, one of which is signed by Wake.
- During one of his rants in AWE, Frederick Langston mentions the band My Bleeding Clock, which was first mentioned in Quantum Break.