Tricky music license issues for Alan Wake have meant that Remedy’s shadowy third-person shooter has been unavailable for digital purchase for some time, but those dark days are over – just in time for Halloween. Remedy and Microsoft have navigated those licensing waters and gotten the game restored to a variety of digital storefronts, including Steam. Better yet, it’s dirt cheap in celebration.
You can now once again grab Alan Wake on Steam, and until November 1 it’s available for the low, low price of $3.00 / £2.28 / €2.50. That’s an 80% discount off the now-standard $14.99 normal price, and it’s a perfect way to get some cheap Halloween thrills.
If Steam’s not your speed, you can also grab DRM-free copies at GOG and the Humble Store, and all those versions are available at similarly steep discounts. On Twitter, developer Remedy offers up “big thanks to our partner and Alan Wake’s publishers Microsoft who were able to renegotiate the rights to the licensed music in Alan Wake, so that the game can be sold again.”
Alan Wake was delisted from digital stores last year after a handful of music rights expired. Owners of the game still had access to it, but if you wanted to find out what the fuss is about your only option was the semi-sequel, semi-spin-off that was Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. (Incidentally, that’s also on sale right now.)
Remedy’s given the thumbs-up to an Alan Wake TV show, and maybe Alan Wake 2 isn’t so distant a dream with today’s news in mind. The Control release date will mark the next major game from Remedy, but it seems old Alan Wake is neither gone nor forgotten – perhaps we will eventually see those further adventures.