Quick Links
Before 2023’sAlan Wake 2, the official sequel to Remedy’s cult hit horror game Alan Wake, there was a game called Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. For a long time, it was its own separate thing, not really DLC tied to the original game, nor did it tie into any of the characters from Bright Falls.
While Remedy intended Alan Wake 2 to also be its own thing, not needing to retain any information from previous titles in the series, it’s Remedy. Everything is interconnected in one way or another, and nothing is a loose thread, evenQuantum Break. If you’re wondering about American Nightmare and its role in the connected universe, hopefully, this answers your questions.
Is Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Part Of The Remedy Connected Universe?
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is a 2012 game that continues the conflict between Alan Wake and Mr. Scratch established in the original 2010 title,but it’s not a direct sequelin the way Alan Wake 2 is.
American Nightmare, in turn, isa canon entry of Alan trying to escape through the Dark Placesomewhere in between writing ‘Initiation’ and ‘Return,’ the manuscripts Alan Wake 2’s plot is centered around.
You can think of American Nightmare’s entire gameplay as anotherunsuccessful attempt at rewriting realityto get out of the Dark Place and defeat Scratch.
The first game’s Writer DLC ended with Alan finally receiving clarity to work ona manuscript called ‘Return’in the Writer’s Room, which would ultimately be the one to get him out of the Dark Place in Alan Wake 2 (the New Game Plus Final Draft version of it, at least).
In American Nightmare, while you do find manuscripts, the basis of the story is thatAlan has written himself into a fictional episode of Night Springsas another story that he thinks would help him escape.
It’s a more action-oriented experience with added weapons like the Uzi, crossbow, and nail gun for eliminating Taken, butthe story is connected with the larger Remedy Connected Universe.
Night Springs is an important upcoming Alan Wake 2 DLCthat will play out in the same way in episodes (and will be hosted by Mr. Warlin Door). The show is also canon toControl, with many of the show’s scripts there for Jesse to find.
In one of American Nightmare’s manuscripts, Alan mentions thathe started as a writer on episodes for Night Springs, hence why he’s using the paranatural powers of the Dark Place to write what he knows.
This game givesthe first live-action glimpse of the Dark Place(before its redesign in Alan Wake 2 to resemble New York), with Alan and Scratch in the middle of a hazy blue area with darkness floating all around them.
You can even make the parallel of Alan putting himself inside an episode of Night Springs as he is onthe talk show episodes of In Between With Mr. Doorin Alan Wake 2.
What Are The Key Takeaways From American Nightmare?
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare begins with a look at where Barry is, soundly asleep inside a motel room “somewhere in Arizona” with the Old Gods of Asgard’s tour bus parked outside. A camera also pans to his All Access VIP pass.
Barry has become the manager for the Old Gods of Asgard, and this is canon in Alan Wake 2, where the founder’s plaque at Valhalla Nursing Home states Barry “was honored to manage their band as they made a comeback, touring the country.” Arizona was one of their stops.
The television inside Barry’s room starts playing an episode of Night Springs, and the narrator transports you inside it, Alan roaming the Dark Place with the credit"Written by Alan Wake"displayed right at the start.
Immediately, Alan must run from Taken towardthe Desert Shore Motel, which isseemingly another connection to Control’s Oceanview Moteland Alan Wake 2’s Oceanview Hotel, which have been determined to be places of thresholds to other dimensions.
One of the manuscripts you can collect in American Nightmare also confirms thatthese events are happening two years later,Alan writing, “I know it’s been two years.”
The game plays like an Overlap loopof Alan needing to complete a set of tasks, like collecting items to rewrite reality, bringing down a satellite, and fixing a telescope in an observatory, but with all-new characters that you haven’t met before and aren’t referenced in Alan Wake 2.
This makes sense because this is another work of reality-altering fiction from Alan, like his novel manuscripts, so characters likeEmma, Serena, and Dr. Rachel Meadows only exist to serve this particular story, just as Alex Casey and Saga Anderson are written in ‘Return.’
Throughout the game, Scratch foils Alan’s plans of rewriting reality to escape and resets the entire chain of events multiple times, which we now knownot to be a loop, but a spiral, and one that Alan finally ascends in the Final Draft version.
The ending sees Alan reunite with Alicein a projector movie reel scene (another element canon in Alan Wake 2), but the narrator is right to allude that these aren’t actual events but dreams or “a glimpse of what is to come.”
In Alan Wake 2,Alan is still trapped in the Dark Place and is not reunited with Alice. Instead, Alice is aiding Alan in escaping the Dark Place through her ‘art exhibit,’ which entails video diaries she’s left for Alan.
At the end of the credits, it lists “Night Springs episode ‘Return’ Written by Alan Wake” and “Alan Wake’s journey through the night will continue.” Therefore,you can assume American Nightmare was one of the earliest drafts of ‘Return.’
There’s also a quick post-credit scene in whichBarry wakes up believing he heard Alan’s voice, which is similar to what Alice told the Federal Bureau of Control she was experiencing with Alan’s haunting.
The Night Springs episode wasAlan’s way of reaching out to Barry and telling him that he was still alivesince everyone believed him to be dead.
What Are More American Nightmare Connections In Alan Wake 2?
The most surprising connection American Nightmare has is the ‘We Sing’ number in Alan Wake 2. The Night Springs narrator constantly refers toAlan as the “Champion of Light” and Scratch as the “Herald of Darkness.”
If you haven’t played American Nightmare, then you definitely wouldn’t have known where these terms originated from inthe new Old Gods of Asgard song ‘Herald of Darkness.’
This is, of course,the latest musical level from Remedy in Alan Wake 2, an extraordinary set piece of Alan repeating loops of the Old Gods live version of ‘Herald of Darkness’ in the transformed maze-like studio, with Alan, Sam Lake, and Mr. Door all joining the song and dance in live-action.
The chorus goes “Lost in a never-ending night,” and American Nightmare’s creditsdidsay “Alan’s journey through the night will continue.” Little did we know it would also be told in a musical.
There was also the Old Gods of Asgard song ‘Balance Slays the Demon’ playing during the final observatory Taken fight, andthis song is canon to Alan Wake and Control, as Tor and Odin exist in both universes.
Another idea you may see manifesting in American Nightmare that would come to fruition in Alan Wake 2 isthe Words of Power upgrades for Alanhidden around the Dark Place.
The narrator makes a reference to Alan’s writing as"forging weapons of war out of ideas.“Alan Wake 2’s new system allows upgrades, such as Words of War, which provide perks for increasing the damage to the revolver and double-barreled shotgun, as well as receiving health from effectively using the flare gun.
The final connectionsare actually meta Easter eggs in Alan Wake 2. The Death Rally arcade cabinet in American Nightmare reappears in the Elderwood Palace Lodge, andAlan’s gray-black plaid checkered shirtfrom American Nightmare is back on him after Return 2.
While these are Remedy’s assets put into the game to tie into American Nightmare and serve as Easter eggs, Alanhaswritten the previous American Nightmare draft of ‘Return,’ and technically, he decides what his character wears and whether Remedy’s Death Rally exists there too. Very meta!
