The world of Control through the lens of Alan Wake: Remedy is ready to merge their two best games together again

"The world of Control through the lens of Alan Wake". That's director Kyle Rowley's apt description of the second, and final, expansion for many's (and my personal) Game of the Year 2023. Where the first expansion Night Springs took a sharp left turn and served up three short episodes that tonally alternated between the deeply silly and the... slightly less silly, The Lake House promises a return to the more sinister and frightening side of the main game. Think more Valhalla Nursing Home and less We Sing.

Ahead of the launch of The Lake House, we, along with three other media outlets, had the opportunity to ask Rowley our most pressing questions after watching about 10 minutes of rather terrifying gameplay where FBC agent Kiran Estevez quickly realises that something is very wrong in the otherwise cosily titled lake house, which so far (sadly?) seems to have no connection to Sam Lake.

GamesRadar: In Control, you had an Alan Wake crossover in the form of AWE. What did you learn from that that you could bring to this crossover?

Rowley:When the Control team was developing AWE, there were many conversations between the two teams about how we could utilise the core themes of the two series in each other's games. In AWE it was light versus dark and using a character from Alan Wake. In The Lake House it was much the same way. We worked closely with the Control team. We asked them questions and learnt about their particular audiovisual style and they even gave us assets. So it was very much a collaboration between the two teams. Because we're really two separate teams, but we're in the same building, so it was easy to organise meetings.

The biggest challenge was the division of labour, because they have their own projects, so it wasn't always easy to find time for our requests. This is something we have become better at handling.

Gamespot: This feels like the most crossover-like crossover. How do you balance the geekiness that I, and I'm sure everyone else in here loves, and making it easily accessible to people who may not have played Control?

Rowley: First of all, the story has to stand on its own. It was the same situation when we were developing Alan Wake 2. We were aware that not everyone had played Control or even Alan Wake 1. So we focus on it being a good experience for everyone, but especially in The Lake House we have a lot of things like case files, emails etc. that those who are inside the lore can get something out of.

Gamereactor: Is this the same team that developed Night Springs? And how big is the team compared to the main game?

Rowley: Yeah, it's exactly the same team. We're probably about 40 people at The Lake House without external contributors. On Alan Wake 2, we were 150 people when it was at its peak.

Gamekult: How does going from working on a horror game, to working on something more light-hearted, and then back to working on pure horror affect the mood of the team?

Rowley: If you work on horror for too long at a time, you can get a bit desensitised, so I think Night Springs was a good palette cleanser for both the team and the players. And from here it was good to get back to pure horror with the experience we gained from Alan Wake 2 under our belts. So it's been a good sequence for us.

Gamereactor: When you introduced the gameplay, it was with the phrase the world of Control through the lens of Alan Wake. Can you elaborate on how you merge the two worlds?

Rowley: The architecture of FBC buildings is very unique. Very brutalist in nature. So when we built The Lake House building, we looked a lot towards The Oldest House. Controls world design director Ashley worked with us on the expansion to get it all right. Conversely, Control's gameplay is very fast. Jesse can fly through the air, so the areas are spacious and open. That's why we looked at the architecture, but adjusted it for Alan Wake's camera. How do these spaces feel when they're a little more intimate and envelop you more than in Control? So it's about how we can bring certain recognisable Control aesthetics into our games so they feel natural and fit in.

Gamespot: What does Estevez bring to the story and gameplay as a character?

Rowley: As part of the FBC, she brings a new perspective on the supernatural. She reacts differently than a normal person would. When a Painted comes out of a wall, most people would panic, but she's been there before and can get a little annoyed rather than scared, because now she has to write another report on a supernatural phenomenon.

It was interesting for us to explore another part of FBC. Control works within the context of The Oldest House, but here we have a slightly different perspective. Here we get to explore what FBC is like outside of their headquarters. How do they operate as an agency around the US?

Gamereactor: Alan Wake 2 and its expansions now have seven different playable characters. That's a first for Remedy. How is it that you felt like introducing so many?

Rowley: There were originally far more playable characters in game for Alan Wake 2 than we ended up with, so it made sense to use more of them in the expansions. And because Alan Wake 2 is a horror game, changing characters allows us to break up the game better and change the tone, which I think makes for better pacing.

GamesRadar: I noticed that the jumpscares where a face takes over the whole screen are back here. How do you balance them so they don't feel cheap?

Rowley: It's tricky and I think we used them a little bit too much (in the main game, etc.). We use them for a couple of things. Narratively, they have to affect the character that perceives them. Mental attacks if you will. And then we use them to create a flow in missions. So in the main game we had different ways of using them, but to the player they really just seemed like a jumpscare. So here we use them more sparingly, but they're still a way of communicating the mental state of the characters and presenting the supernatural, so we've kept them in our repertoire.

Gamereactor: With The Lake House you say goodbye to Alan Wake 2. How does it feel to say goodbye to something you've worked on for so long?

Rowley: Yes, it's been a long time. Six years until January. It's going to be... yeah, I don't really know. When we finished Alan Wake 2, I was almost numb because it had been a really challenging project, but because we had to start thinking about DLC very quickly, I couldn't stay in that feeling for very long. I think I'll take a holiday and then I'll come back and start thinking about other things. It's going to be bittersweet because I've enjoyed working on the game, with the team, with Sam. The reception has been fantastic and it's been fun to participate in the awards shows. But it will also be good to put an end to it.

The Lake House is out now as part of the Deluxe Edition upgrade. We'll be back with a review before the week is out.