Attention! The text contains minor spoilers!
9 years have passed since the release of Alan Wake, and while players are waiting for the continuation of the adventures of the gloomy writer, the company Remedy first releases a cross between the game and the series “Quantum Break”, and then “Control” – a sci-fi shooter about supernatural forces and parallel realities. However, in the Control universe, not everything is so simple and the “legacy” of Alan Wake makes itself felt.
According to the plot of the game, the main character Jessie Faden penetrates the building of the Bureau of Control, a top-secret organization engaged in studying/eliminating the consequences of paranormal phenomena (“Alternate World Events” or “AMC”). As she moves deeper into the building, she finds files with information about the Bureau’s investigations, among which special attention is drawn to several documents relating to events in the town of Bright Falls, Washington (the setting of the game Alan Wake).
Bright Falls
According to reports, the investigative team arrived on the scene two days after receiving word from their former employee, Frank Breaker, who in turn received a call from Barry Weaver (Alan Weick’s literary agent).
Sheriff Bright Falls – Sarah Breaker
This is where the first interesting point becomes clear – the father of Sheriff Sarah Breaker, casually mentioned in Alan Wake, was actually an employee of the Bureau, and not a simple New York policeman, as she herself thought.
Further, during the investigation, it was established that a certain force at the bottom of Lake Cauldron influenced the writer Alan Wake and served as the basis for him to write a story, which led to a local and short-term change in reality, as well as numerous casualties among the population.
Lake Cauldron
Interviews were conducted with everyone involved in the incident. Their testimony often mentioned a certain light switch (possibly an object of power), which disappeared with the writer. This item refers to the “Nutcracker”, which plays an important role in Alan Wake – with its help the writer drove out the darkness.
Nutcracker
A little later, agents found the writer’s https://gambleonscasino.co.uk/bonus/ wife, Alice Weick. During the interview and examination, it was established that as a result of falling into the contact zone with the AWS, she exhibited signs of severe mental trauma in the form of memory loss. The woman was sent for treatment.
The writer himself could not be found, but it was established that he jumped into the lake and went missing. In addition, the Bureau noted Alan Wake as a potential "Para-Utility – a person capable of acquiring unusual abilities as a result of contact with supernatural objects of power.
The documents further mention that in 2011, Clay Stewart’s book “The Alan Wake Files” was published. Agents contacted the author to conduct a survey and also revealed that he had minor sensitivity to supernatural phenomena. Clay Stewart was placed under indefinite surveillance.
A physical version of the Alan Wake Files book was included in the Collector’s Edition of the game
As a result, a monitoring station was established at Cauldron Lake to alert the Bureau to any future activity in the area.
Continuing his journey through the Bureau of Control, Jesse finds a typewritten page of text, supposedly typed by Alan Wake.
“For ten years I tried to describe my escape, falling only deeper. I used to know where the end of fiction and the beginning of reality. There is no difference between them here. This is a terrible trap where all my thoughts have become reality. Fear. Passion. How do I know I’ve escaped and not just lost myself in my own fantasy?? This thought alone can drive you crazy.»
From all of the above, we can conclude that the writer is alive, but is still locked somewhere in a parallel reality.
Later, there is a recording of a therapy session with little Jessie Faden, during which the girl reports that she loves poetry authored by a certain Thomas Zane (Key character of Alan Wake), but the doctor points out to her that there is no information about such a poet on the Internet and suggests that the girl made him up.
"Behind the shadow you stopped, here you are wonderfully illuminated" – Thomas Zane.
Many who played Alan Wake may remember the television show "Night Springs", periodically broadcast on TV in Bright Falls. It was a kind of analogue of “Psi Factor” or “The X-Files”, where in each new episode people encountered inexplicable phenomena and phenomena.
From several documents found by Jesse, it follows that the Bureau was very interested in purchasing a license for this show in order to use it to facilitate the control of public opinion, as well as to prepare the population for the possible disclosure of classified information (following the example of the show already created by the organization – “Night America”, where anyone could call and report supernatural events, thereby making the work of agents easier).
Finally, it’s time to talk about Control’s most eccentric character – Ahti.
Cleaner Ahti
The mysterious janitor gives the heroine an audio cassette as a “gift from his friends.”. It contains a song by the fictional band “Old Gods of Asgard”, whose members, brothers Thor and Odin Anderson, were directly involved in the events taking place in Alan Wake.
Anderson Brothers
It turns out that Ahti knows the brothers and, moreover, is on friendly terms with them. By the way, “Ahti” (sometimes “Ahto”) is the name of the god of the sea and fishing in Finnish mythology. He has a neutral attitude towards people, but likes to make fun of them.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that the authors from Remedy competently and, most importantly, interestingly managed to connect the two universes “Alan Wake” and “Control” and in light of recent events (the announcement of several DLCs) it becomes clear that all this is not just some kind of complex Easter egg, but a bold hint for all fans of the adventures of the famous writer with a flashlight. Well, we can only wait and hope.