Alan Wake 2 is Remedy's first survival-horror game, but it's also the team's first detective game. Sure, Max Payne was a cop, but the gameplay there was limited mostly to third-person gunfights. In Alan Wake 2, investigations play a huge role in the mind-bending story, and during a recent demo with Remedy behind closed doors at Summer Game Fest, we started to piece together the game ourselves. Here are five new things we learned from conversations and demos with Remedy.

The Overlap is where reality gets blurry

In the demo we were shown, we learned of The Overlap, a location in the real world where the Dark Place bleeds over, causing a sort of spacetime distortion not unlike something you'd see in Netflix's Dark. It may be that in the PlayStation Showcase trailer, when we see Saga and Alan interacting in what looks like Bright Falls, it's actually in The Overlap. Alan is said to be trying to escape the Dark Place in Alan Wake 2, so it's unlikely the trailer would show him having done so. Instead, this is very likely The Overlap, and their interaction may be short-lived.

The Mind Place is a detective's dream

Showing off the game's detective elements for the first time, we were floored by these gameplay mechanics that were not present in the first game--since it's new co-lead FBI agent Saga Anderson who brings them to the sequel's story. The Mind Place is Saga's, well, mind… place. Aptly named, it seems.