Bringing Fantasies to Life and Building Player Investment: The Narrative Design of Alan Wake 2

Following its release, Alan Wake 2 garnered widespread critical acclaim, winning prestigious awards such as the Game Award for Best Narrative at the 2023 Game Awards and the BAFTA Game Award for Artistic Achievement in 2024. At the 2024 Game Developers Conference, principal narrative designer Molly Maloney and associate game director Simon Wasselin delved into key narrative design elements that contribute to the game's cohesive experience, focusing on gameplay actions that players can undertake while controlling Alan and Saga. Wasselin and Maloney emphasized that narrative design revolves around identifying and designing features that support a unified story, and when properly empowered, narrative designers can create deep player investment through opportunities for expression. The primary question they asked themselves when initiating work on Alan Wake 2 was how to foster player investment, given the game's strictly linear storyline, which didn't offer players the chance to influence it through tools like branching dialogue. According to Maloney, linear, single-player story games typically have less agency than branching or sandbox games, making it more crucial to capitalize on or create new player expression opportunities in linear games. Alan Wake 2 is built around three core pillars: combat, interactions with light and darkness, and the 'make it scary' pillar. Beyond these pillars, every piece of content is designed to support storytelling, with even combat serving as an active narrative device. Wasselin advised against relying on narrative bookending and instead suggested tying narrative to interaction whenever possible, stating that even small interactions are preferable to none, and when interactions are not feasible, finding ways to make the player work for the narrative is essential. This narrative design philosophy underpins Alan Wake 2 and is an approach Wasselin adopted from his work at Quantic Dream, where games often feature strong branching narratives. However, the core principle of having players perform actions themselves whenever possible is applicable to most games, as Wasselin explained. To integrate player fantasy directly into the game mechanics, Remedy evaluated gameplay verbs to ensure they had enough narrative depth. This led to the creation of gameplay that, while not entirely realistic, fulfills the player's fantasy of being a detective or writer, as seen in Saga's mind place and Alan's writer's room. These spaces contain modules like the case board for Saga and the plot board for Alan, which include elements traditionally found in menus, such as maps and collectibles. The term 'commonality' refers to the similarities in design that allow players to learn a mechanic once and apply it in different contexts, reducing the need for repetitive learning. Remedy also employed the principle of skeuomorphism from UX design to reduce mental load by making certain elements function and feel like their real-world counterparts. For instance, the vinyl player plays in-game music, and players can find maps they've collected stuck to surfaces in the mind place. Maloney highlighted the importance of player interaction and influence on the game space, stating that it's crucial for player investment to allow players to interact with and see the impact of their actions reflected back at them. In designing Saga's gameplay, Remedy aimed to give players the fantasy of being an FBI agent, focusing on exploration and puzzle-solving. They broke down this fantasy into actionable elements like gameplay conversations, exploration, and profiling. The case board, inspired by the HBO series True Detective, initially featured free clue placement and gated progress but was revamped to include more questions with easier answers, leading to more dopamine hits for players, and eventually transformed into a reactive journal that helps players understand the story better. Maloney stressed the significance of turning passive elements into active ones, allowing players to engage with clues directly rather than just collecting them in a menu. This approach makes a crucial difference in player engagement and retention. Meanwhile, giving players the opportunity to miss non-crucial clues motivates them to find everything and demonstrates the impact of their actions on the game world. The profiling mechanic is an advanced form of regular gameplay conversations, designed to let players interact with NPCs without needing to backtrack for information. Remedy wanted to avoid repetitive gameplay conversations and instead found more varied ways to relay exposition, making it entertaining for players to grill and interrogate people. In the final version, Saga's profiling table allows her to receive unsettling visions where NPCs answer important questions, investing players through the flair and atmosphere of these conversations. Alan's gameplay involves being both the writer and the star of his story, with Remedy breaking down the fantasy of being a writer into elements like finding inspiration, mapping out the story, and exploring the results. Finding inspiration was challenging to turn into a gameplay mechanic, but the team settled on 'echo scenes' – cutscenes triggered in the environment that represent Alan finding inspiration. Players don't have much agency over these scenes but are encouraged to participate by solving a simple puzzle, which creates a sense of friction and reward. The gameplay mechanic for mapping out the story started similarly to Saga's case board but was rejected by testers. The final version allows Alan to combine plot snippets with pictures to change scenes, transporting him to different environments. While this mechanic was expensive to produce, limiting its scope made it feasible without overblowing the budget. Wasselin and Maloney's main advice is to let players take actions whenever possible and not be afraid to make them work for the solution, as good presentation can elevate simple mechanics, and allowing players to find information through their actions can enhance retention and create a sense of ownership.