Alan Wake II

Remedy’s landmark sequel brings to life a new, nightmarish tale 13 years in the making. Joined by Epic Publishing and a flickering flashlight, we descended into the title’s depths to entice audiences with story, scares, and style.

Delivered Elements:
Creative Strategy
Launch Campaign Trailers
Social Content (TikTok & IG Focused)
Influencer Content

Services:
Campaign Content Strategy
Social Strategy
Influencer Management
Concepting & Script Development
Editorial
Game Capture
Custom Animation & VFX
A/V Post Production

THE PROLOGUE

REMEDY STUDIOS revels in making games that defy their source genre. Mind-breaking, mixed-media storytelling drives hits like Control and Quantum Break. Cult classic Alan Wake unravels its narrative with meta subtext and Twin Peaks-style. All of these titles — joined in a larger Remedy universe — are crafted with auteurship.

Everything is connected, yet nothing is what it seems.

THE CHALLENGE:

ELEVATE ALAN WAKE 2 (AW2) FROM ITS CULT CLASSIC ROOTS, SHOWING REMEDY’S BOLD NEW TAKE ON SURVIVAL HORROR AS WORTHY OF MASS ACCLAIM

Alan Wake 2 broadened the cult classic’s strengths into a fresh survival horror experience. Since the sequel arrived more than a decade after the original, our launch campaign had to first reignite the passion of the original’s fans, while also reaching a mass horror audience that is new to Alan Wake.

On top of that, we needed to capture the subversion that the studio’s games are known for. Most survival horror games rely on jump-scares and gore, but AW2’s scares come from psychological thrills. This meant each of our campaign beats had to be infused with a cerebral, eerie edge to stay true to the sequel’s core.

THE STORY SO FAR

To begin generating buzz for the sequel and simultaneously bring newcomers up to speed on the story and notoriety of the original Alan Wake, we created a trailer that recapped the experience, leaving players on the cliffhanger that leads us into AW2.

In the final act off the original game, Wake is seen diving into a lake, plunging into the unknown. This inspired our trailer’s conceptual wrapper and thematic visual treatment: the deeper we dove into Wake’s story, the darker the piece became.

A SOCIAL TWIST ON FAMILIAR TROPES

AW2 flips both its narrative and video game medium upside down. This philosophy of twisting perceptions and familiar formats became the crux of our social campaign.

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DUET TREE

Duets are a core feature of TikTok where one video splits into two. Using a myriad of evocative AW2 imagery, we teased viewers with the game’s mysteries by iterating on the familiar Duet format: our video starts with two splits. Then goes to four. Then sixteen. Multiplying over and over, until a whole new visual is created from the infinite-feeling splits.

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CHANNEL FLIPPING

Throughout AW2, retro TV set boxes display an unsettling mix of flashbacks and live-action cutaways. On TikTok, scrolling through your FYP is the modern version of flipping through stations. So we mimicked the UI’s scroll transition to tell an AW2 story as if we’re flipping through the old TV’s channels.

THE FINAL ACT

The last word in AW2’s campaign needed to say a lot. The arcs of the previous two blockbuster trailers ended here. The high-bar of cinematic storytelling needed a conclusion. And most importantly, the Launch needed to leave players knowing that AW2 is a bold evolution of the franchise and survival horror genre. We wove together a spot balanced by evocative characters desperately surviving in a two-sided nightmare. We poked at old questions and left new ones unanswered. This spot carved out a broader platform for the Remedy Connected Universe to continue expanding upon itself.

EPILOGUE

When all was said and done, our GTM campaign brought Remedy’s unique take on survival horror to a mass audience. Our immersive creative and strategic messaging repositioned the cult classic sequel as the definitive blockbuster horror experience of 2023.

By engaging fans with immersive content, and repositioning the game as an accessible survival horror experience, Hammer’s GTM campaign successfully helped turn Remedy’s niche cult classic franchise into the surprise blockbuster hit of 2023.