Note: This post contains a ton of spoilers for story and lore found in Control's AWE DLC, as well as the Alan Wake games and some of Control's base game. Read on at your own risk!

Alan Wake lives. The fate of the titular famous writer has been unknown since the release of Remedy Entertainment's cult classic 2010 psychological thriller title and its 2012 spin-off, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, but Easter egg tidbits have popped up here and there ever since. In Control, Remedy goes all-in on reviving Alan Wake (perhaps because it finally got the rights to the game back in 2019)--Wake's story is violently colliding with that of Control protagonist Jesse Faden in that game's final DLC expansion, AWE.

AWE isn't only about Alan Wake and its characters, but much of the DLC provides context and clues about what happened to various people in the 10 years since Wake's disappearance at the end of his game. We get updates on what's happening in Bright Falls, what's going on with Wake's wife, Alice, and what happened to Dr. Emil Hartman, one of the people who knew the most about the evil supernatural Dark Presence in Alan Wake. The DLC also does a lot to set up where the Alan Wake story will be going next--it sure sounds like Remedy's next game is some form of Alan Wake 2.