Alan Wake dev's new game is...
Not as exciting.
How does Remedy follow a game like Alan Wake - an Xbox 360 exclusive with a big budget, big idea and big following?
With Death Rally on iPhone and iPad, a full remake of Remedy's first ever game (published 1996). Think top-down car combat where upgrading bolted-on weaponry is as important as tuning up what's under the bonnet.
Death Rally arrives on the App Store in March.
"Remedy's very first game is now bigger, stronger and more vicious than ever," wrote Remedy in its forum. "Make a run for the finish line with a trail of burnt rubber and spent brass behind you - along with the flaming wreckage of any fool dumb enough to get in your way."
This should prove no more than a stop-gap for the Finnish Studio, which has been spotted advertising for programmers to evolve the Alan Wake engine and introduce Kinect and motion sensor support. Another job post revealed that Remedy is gearing up for an "AAA console project", although the only platform mentioned is Xbox 360.
Let's hope whatever follows Alan Wake takes less than five years to realise.
Alan Wake was eventually launched in May last year. What did Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson think? "Alan Wake is an accessible, undemanding game with a neat combat mechanic and decent visuals. It's just not a very original game, it's certainly not an exceptional one, and it's a shame it wasn't ready a few years ago."
Even Remedy went on to reflect that Alan Wake, the character, was intentionally "a bit of a dick". Remedy's full post-mortem of Alan Wake can be read elsewhere on Eurogamer.