Remedy Is Open To Having Alan Wake Appear In Fortnite

When Alan Wake 2 arrives this October, it may wind up as one of the year's darkest and scariest experiences. It is, after all, Remedy's first survival-horror game and focuses largely on ritualistic and cultish murders in the Pacific Northwest. The Seven-inspired sequel is sure to be a moody horror story. And yet, with Epic Games publishing, there also seems to be a strong possibility of Alan Wake himself, and new co-lead Saga Anderson, coming to the bubbly and bright Fortnite in the future.

Everything seems to come to Fortnite eventually, so during a longer talk with Remedy creative director Sam Lake, I took a second to get Remedy's temperature on a possible crossover.

"I think that would be an interesting thought and a conversation [would need] to be had with them," said Lake. "Let's see if they would be interested in something like that. Then we could seriously talk about it and think about it."

While Lake chuckled at the idea, I couldn't help but wonder if this was already in the works and he simply couldn't say more. Epic's past gaming crossovers, in which characters from other series show up as skins for sale in Fortnite's item shop, make up a long list. To date, crossovers have included Uncharted, God of War, Halo, Street Fighter, Rocket League, and many other major properties.

Some Fortnite gaming crossovers have been timed to coincide with particular launches, like the Goat Simulator 3 goat skin, which arrived when the game launched as an Epic Games Store (EGS) exclusive on PC, or when a trio of Destiny 2 skins arrived in the item shop just as the game debuted in Epic's digital storefront.

With Alan Wake 2 launching exclusively via EGS for PC players (in addition to Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions) this fall, a Wake crossover feels likely, I'll say as someone who has written tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of words on both games.

Still, I often wonder if some developers or publishers worry that Fortnite can diminish a brand rather than raise its profile. Given the party atmosphere Epic's battle royale maintains, I suggested that maybe The Last of Us characters haven't appeared in Fortnite yet because Naughty Dog or Sony finds it would diminish the brand, what with its somber and serious tone.

"I would maybe like to see Ellie and Joel dancing with a banana," he said.

For now, it's clear that even if a Fortnite crossover is planned, Lake is sworn to secrecy, but I'm holding out hope that the grumpy writer and his new co-protagonist, Saga, will be exchanged for my V-Bucks before Halloween.