Summary
- Alan Wake 2 faced substantial cuts during development, including changes to characters, enemies, and unused items.
- Significant number of Valhalla Nursing Home residents were cut from Alan Wake 2, and additional episodes from Night Springs.
- Unused locations, enemy types, and audio recordings, including dialogue between characters, did not make it into the final version of Alan Wake 2.
Alan Wake 2 has proven to be one of the most memorable survival horror gaming experiences, but it didn't get through development entirely unscathed. Like many games, Alan Wake 2 was unable to make it through development without substantial cuts being made, two of which happen to be due to actors passing.
With the launch of Alan Wake 2's second and final expansion, The Lake House, it's worth looking at everything that was cut from the game during its development. Included in the cuts made to Alan Wake 2 are character changes, scrapped items and collectibles, enemies and a location that were drawn up but never used, and an extensive library of audio recordings that were originally lines of dialogue for characters in the game. Alan Wake 2's Night Springs DLC also received some cuts in the form of two additional episodes.
Everything Cut From Alan Wake 2's Base Game
Several Characters Were Either Cut or Changed During Development
One of the biggest changes to Alan Wake 2's characters may also be the saddest, as it involves a recasting of Warlin Door, the host of the fake show "In Between With Mr. Door," due to the sudden passing of the actor originally cast to play the character. While David Harewood does an excellent job in the role, it was originally meant to be Lance Reddick, who is also the voice of Destiny 2's Commander Zavala. Reddick had also played Martin Hatch in Remedy Entertainment's Quantum Break, and since Hatch and Door can both step between dimensions, Reddick's part in the role would have further established the Remedy Connected Universe.
There are also a significant number of Valhalla Nursing Home residents with name plates and concept art who never appeared in the final cut of Alan Wake 2, including Abigail, Clara, Elwood, Gertrude, Lilibeth, Manuel. H., Mortimer, Oswin & Dolores, and Windfred. That being said, Abigail and Elwood did survive the cutting room floor, in a sense, as they are both in Alan Wake 2, though in different forms than originally intended. For example, Abigail eventually became Gail Barrows, the resident who eventually became a Taken and Saga Anderson was forced to kill. Elwood, on the other hand, ultimately made it into the final game by way of mention in the Manuscript page "Emmett Taken," which confirms his first name as Emmett.
Saga has a number of unused lines of dialogue referring to Abigail Barrows, Emmett was initially mentioned by Abigail during her battle with Saga, and another character named Steven Lin was cut from Alan Wake 2's "Initiation" chapters.
Some Items and Collectibles Never Made It Into Alan Wake 2's Final Cut
While there are eight Alex Casey Lunchboxes in Alan Wake 2's Cauldron Lake area, some unused item names suggest there were originally eleven to be found. Additionally, there was initially a Manuscript page with the name "Title Page of Return," which likely would have served as the title page for Saga Anderson's book "Return." The page itself can be seen in various cutscenes during Alan Wake 2, but it was likely never made a collectible because Saga would not have been able to discover it anyway. There are also several charms that never made it to the final cut of Alan Wake 2, including a Mirror, Crystal, Stealth, Acorn, Amber, Alarm Clock, and Crow Foot.
Certain Alan Wake 2 Enemies Were Scrapped During Development
Among the enemies ultimately cut from Alan Wake 2 were Birdmen, which were originally featured in Alan Wake's American Nightmare and the prototype demonstration for Alan Wake 2. The Birdmen were drawn up as men in shorts surrounded by black birds. Concept art indicates that Taken Floaters were originally an enemy in Alan Wake 2 as well, specifically in the Valhalla Nursing Home area. However, they were cut from the game despite Cynthia Weaver technically being one. A final cut enemy was the Taken Fatman, which concept art seems to show as a conglomerate of Taken.
The Taken Fatman never formally appears in the game, but Deputy Sheriff Thornton displays a similar ability when he duplicates himself.
A Location Was Drawn Up But Never Used in Alan Wake 2
One minor location was cut from Alan Wake 2 that features Alan making his way through an endless stairwell. While traveling through the stairwell, Alan would eventually encounter his own corpse on the floor.
Countless Lines of Dialogue Were Scrapped During Alan Wake 2's Development
There are countless lines of dialogue that were scrapped during Alan Wake 2's development, which might have changed its story in the end. However, the sheer number of audio recordings recovered makes it almost impossible to know just how far in a different direction the story might have gone. Even so, the characters who had lines of dialogue cut were Alan, Zane, Scratch, Casey, Tammy, Old Lady, and various enemies. Furthermore, during the confrontation between Alan and Mr. Door during Initiation 7: Masks, Mr. Door was initially more direct with Alan, clearly noting his intentions and his personal opinion of Alan.
Alan Wake 2's Night Springs DLC Also Experienced Cuts
While the Night Springs expansion for Alan Wake 2 has three episodes, there might have originally been five, as two episodes appear to have been scrapped during development, "Murder Case" and "Altered World Event." These two cut episodes most likely would have focused on Alex Casey and Kieren Estevez, and would have each had openings narrated by Warlin Door.
"Murder Case" might have made it into the final cut for Night Springs, but James McCaffrey, the voice of Alex Casey, unfortunately passed in 2023. The episode would have been a parallel to Casey's investigation of the Cult of the Word in New York, but an audio recording of a line of dialogue performed by McCaffrey was featured at the end of Night Springs instead as a tribute to the late actor. "Altered World Event," on the other hand, potentially would have seen Control's Kieren Esteves appearing at some point, as it originally paralleled the investigation and containment of Altered World Events by the Federal Bureau of Control.
Alan Wake 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 89 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
- Released
- October 27, 2023
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Remedy Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Epic Games
- Engine
- Northlight Engine
- Franchise
- Alan Wake
WHERE TO PLAY
A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.
Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.
Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.
Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- How Long To Beat
- 17 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
