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By: Jarno Kokko Oct 20, 2008

Alan Wake New Trailer Sighting

The Finnish pre-screening of the new Max Payne movie was held in Helsinki last week. As we reported earlier, a rumor indicated that it was supposed to have a new trailer of Remedy's upcoming Alan Wake attached to it - and the rumors turned out to be true!

Unsurprisingly the trailer was quite impressive. There were some bits that betrayed the fact that this is all in-engine and not pre-rendered, but it was very much a cinematic trailer about the storyline and in that regard the new trailer is as mysterious as ever, teasing but not really revealing... Visually the trailer included some technological improvements over the screenshots that have been available on the official site for a while. The trailer flashed by quickly - maybe a bit over a minute - but I noticed

Film grain effects
Bloom effects
Realistic fog
Best flashlight effect I've ever seen
Some character bits, including what I assume was Alan's wife
Ton of fast cuts between various action sequences
Rapid camera zooms through the hills and forests
...and in the end, some shadowy figures with blunt weapons
"Alan. Wake up."

Photorealistic textures and constant play with light and shadows are still a big part as well. The town of Bright Falls seems to have also gained a ton of extra detail since the previous videos were published - it looks like a real town instead of a video game level! The trailer definitely looked like it was specifically made for movie theaters - 2.35:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio and everything - from in-game cut scenes and/or specific sequences created in-engine, so no actual gameplay was shown. If the whole game is even half as pretty as the trailer, it looks like Alan Wake will be worth the wait.

No word yet if or when the trailer will be posted elsewhere, but I got the understanding that it would be published online sooner or later. Perhaps it's time to start keeping eye on the official Alan Wake site...

Update: The new cinematic trailer is now available online!