“The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest, and it’s what we’ll remember in the end.” So wrote Stephen King, as quoted in the opening of Alan Wake, the “difficult second album” that became the first step in a thrilling new fictional universe for creator Sam Lake and Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment. 

But some mysteries deserve to be illuminated. The original Alan Wake and its multi-award-winning sequel — a game 13 years in the making — are the kind of fascinating game development stories that benefit from being brought into the light. Not to understand all of their mysteries, but to discuss the underlying realities: how and why they were made, and the ideas, references and real-life experiences that shaped them — and helped make both games (not to mention spin-off American Nightmare) so indelible.

With anecdotes and insights from Remedy and its collaborators — taken from extensive interviews with key figures including Sam Lake, Mikael Kasurinen, Ilkka Villi, Matthew Porretta, Melanie Liburd, David Harewood and many more — Alan Wake: Design Works takes the reader through the development history of this extraordinary series in unprecedented detail. 

Visually inspired by the Mind Place, the book also features tactile elements, inviting the reader to delve deeper into the world of Alan Wake. The reader has their own role to play in bringing some secrets to light: pitch-black pages invite hands-on investigation, with thermoreactive ink revealing beautiful and horrifying concept art. Documenting everything from the first seeds of the original game’s creation through to that triumphant Old Gods of Asgard performance at The Game Awards, this is the ultimate celebration of Alan Wake.