30 years of Remedy. The creative path from Max Payne and Alan Wake to Quantum Break and Control

Remedy Entertainment was founded on August 18, 1995. Over the past three decades, it has released eleven games, many of which have become hits. In this article, we will tell you about all the projects of the Finnish company, from those that have been released to those that are currently in development.

The idea of ​​assembling his own team of developers came to the Finnish programmer Samuli Syvähuoko in 1995. Previously, he headed the company Future Crew, which specialized in demo scenes using 3D effects. But the guy wanted to make full-fledged games. He managed to gather like-minded friends and on August 18, they officially registered their studio.

Their first project was a simple top-down racing game called Death Rally. And thanks to Sam Lake, a friend of Samuli, it had a plot and a well-thought-out setting. The combat gameplay with the ability to use weapons was liked by players — the game sold 90 thousand copies, which is not bad for the debut of a new studio. And the press spoke positively. However, by the mid-90s, it seemed like a pleasant old school, not a modern racer. In 2012, Death Rally received a re-release with a prettier picture.

Soon after the release of Death Rally, Remedy employees began developing a benchmark, a special 3D project that allows you to test the capabilities of your computer. It was called Final Reality and gained popularity among owners of powerful PCs. The MaxFx engine was created based on this technology. The team decided that it would be great for action games.

A zombie shooter Guntech was considered, but it never came out — it was cancelled by the publisher Virgin Entertainment. After that, the studio turned to 3D Realms, whose representatives offered to make a third-person action game in the spirit of Tomb Raider. It was decided that in it, a police hero would shoot at bandits. It changed several names, including Dark Justice and Max Heat. The final version is Max Payne. This can be translated as "maximum pain", which is directly related to the plot of the game. And the main character is also called Max Payne. His appearance in the first part is copied from the already mentioned screenwriter Sam Lake.

Initially, it was planned that Max Payne would have a cartoonish picture. But in the end, they abandoned it and decided to focus on realism. To do this, Remedy's level designers went to New York, where they photographed houses and streets in disadvantaged areas. They had to move around them with bodyguards, because there was a risk of running into local punks. But the result was worth it — the scenery in Max Payne looks as authentic as possible.

The game turned out to be a mixture of various genres and trends. The plot here was presented with the help of well-drawn comics, which look much more impressive than 3D videos on the engine. The script raises such serious topics as the loss of a wife and daughter at the hands of criminals, the thirst for revenge, corrupt cops and the sale of illegal substances. I would like to separately highlight Max Payne himself, who cannot be called a positive hero. Rather, we have an obsessed vigilante in front of us. He challenged the criminal world and is ready to go to his goal over the corpses of hundreds of people. And along the way, we see how the guy loses his moral and life guidelines.

The atmosphere of Max Payne is reminiscent of classic film noir, largely due to the melancholic music and voice-over monologues of the main character. But the gameplay combines the usual shooting from different types of weapons with the ability to slow down time, which is called bullet time here. Externally, what happens during the battle scenes is reminiscent of John Woo's action films and the first "Matrix".

There are TVs on the levels, where a series is shown, created specifically for the game. This unusual idea will be developed in future projects of the studio.

Max Payne was a great seller and influenced the entire genre. It remained a role model for five years until the release of Gears of War in 2006. Remedy itself did not sit idly by, but began developing a sequel. It was released two years later and was not very different from the original.

There are changes, but they are specific, for example, the ability to lie on the ground after a long jump and continue firing orinstant reload during slow motion. But the mood here is different — after the revenge committed, Max seemed to have lost the meaning of life. He developed feelings for the criminal Mona Sax, which led to unpredictable consequences and a tragic ending. Note that in some episodes we were allowed to play as this girl.

Alas, for many players Max Payne 2 went unnoticed. Its sales did not impress the new publisher, Take-Two Interactive. Ultimately, it retained the rights to the series. In 2011, it released the third part, but Remedy had nothing to do with it. Now the studio is working on a remake of the original duology.

In 2006, it was announced that Remedy had secured the support of Microsoft, and in 2010, its new third-person action game was released exclusively on Xbox 360, called Alan Wake. That is the name of the main character. As in the case of Max Payne, we have a play on words, because the title is consonant with I am awake. The serial presentation and atmosphere of a small American town lost in the woods reminded of Twin Peaks by David Lynch, and the plot as a whole — the works of Stephen King. Here the writer tries to get out of a creative crisis and together with his wife goes to the town of Bright Falls, where he encounters mystical events. His wife disappears, and the novel he is writing turns out to be prophetic.

Alan Wake's combat system is simple but interesting — before wounding an enemy with a firearm, you need to illuminate him with a flashlight. Only after this will the enemy's "armor" of impenetrable darkness disappear, and he will become vulnerable to bullets. Flashbang grenades, car headlights and even spotlights are used. And although the game was criticized for monotony, it found a response from the audience, so after a while Remedy started working on a sequel. The first part was released on PC in 2012, and in 2021 it received a remaster for all current platforms. The story of Alan Wake continued in a standalone add-on American Nightmare.

Also worth noting is the live-action mini-series Bright Falls, which turned out to be a prequel to the original Alan Wake. The idea of combining cinema and video games was developed in the next Remedy project.

Microsoft and Remedy continued their collaboration after the release of Alan Wake. The studio's next project was Quantum Break. The developers returned to the theme of time control, but this time, in addition to slowing down enemies, you can make sharp dashes, create a shield from bullets, and much more.

The presentation of the plot deserves special attention. Instead of the usual videos on the engine, we have a full-fledged series, and the same people who worked on the sensational "Gravity" were responsible for the special effects. The main character was played by Shawn Ashmore, known for the X-Men trilogy and the thriller Solstice, and the key villain was played by Aidan Gillen, who you may remember as Littlefinger from Game of Thrones. A similar approach was used back in the early 90s, when live video was sometimes used instead of game graphics or cutscenes. But by 2016, the combination of a game and live filming seemed like something original. And periodically, we were offered to make a choice that influenced future events in the series.

The problem is that the plot in Quantum Break is too simple and does not justify such a grandiose presentation. It seems that we are watching a boring science fiction film that is not able to surprise a sophisticated viewer. And the PC version of Quantum Break can be criticized for poor optimization. In 2023, Shawn Ashmore stated his desire to return to the role of Jack Joyce, but things did not go beyond posts on social networks and unconfirmed rumors.

There are two more Remedy works to mention — a single-player campaign for the shooter Crossfire X and the mobile Agents of Storm. But these are purely mediocre projects that do not deserve your attention.

After Quantum Break, Remedy studio ended its cooperation with Microsoft and became a public company with a freestock market. She managed to develop Control in just three years — previously, each game took much longer. This time, the main sources of inspiration for the Finns were The X-Files and the multi-author project SCP Foundation.

The plot revolves around the Federal Bureau of Control, which studies the paranormal. Their headquarters, known as the Oldest House, is attacked by aggressive creatures, and the main character, Jessie, is forced to fight them off. As the action progresses, we uncover secrets that are associated with this place and specific characters.

In terms of gameplay, we have a third-person shooter with the ability to use firearms and various superpowers, from throwing objects to capturing the minds of opponents. The mechanics are simple, but they are able to captivate you until the very end.

The game received two story add-ons — The Foundation and AWE, with Alan Wake himself appearing in the latter. This is not just a cameo — both games take place in the same universe. At the time of writing, Control 2 is being developed.

The second Alan Wake has two protagonists — FBI agent Saga Anderson and the already familiar writer. The girl conducts an investigation in the town of Bright Falls, while Alan is trapped in the worlds of his own works and desperately tries to find a way out.

The core gameplay remains the same, but quest elements have been added to it. The saga collects clues and understands the characters' motivations, and Wake considers new ideas for the plot of his books, which directly affect the world around him. This feels really unusual for modern games. But it is worth noting that Alan Wake 2 has a lot of wandering around locations with the need to carefully examine the environment. If you are imbued with the plot and atmosphere, then you will find it interesting. Otherwise, there is a risk of getting bored quickly.

Alan Wake 2 received two add-ons — Night Springs and The Lake House. The first one can be considered a joke — it is based on an in-game TV show and tells the story of an Alan Wake fan, Jesse from Control and the already mentioned actor Shawn Ashmore. It is definitely not worth taking seriously. But The Lake House can be considered an intermediate link between the second Alan Wake and the future Control 2.

You may have noticed that Remedy is betting on single-player projects. In addition to the games mentioned, we can note the story mode of the multiplayer shooter CrossFire X. But by 2025, the studio decided to develop a game with an emphasis on the multiplayer mode itself. We are talking about FBC: Firebreak, the action of which took place in the Control universe. As agents of the Federal Bureau of Control, you will have to eliminate the consequences of paranormal activity within the walls of the Oldest House.

It sounds interesting in words — different characters with unique skills, various tasks, unusual opponents. But in reality, the game turned out to be mediocre. In addition, there is no plot value in it, so fans of Alan Wake and Control can safely pass by.

Despite the failure with FBC: Firebreak, Remedy remains one of the most interesting development studios, with its own signature style and non-trivial approach. For the author of these lines, the reissue of the first two Max Payne is the most anticipated remake of the coming years. It is also interesting to see what Control 2 will show us.

And what Remedy projects do you remember? Share your opinions in the comments!