Is Remedy Making an Alan Wake spinoff about Mr. Door?
Decoding the identity of the unannounced fourth game
During Remedy Entertainment’s First Quarter 2025 (January-March) Business Review Presentation, CEO Tero Virtala reiterated an interesting piece of news previously given a low-key reveal in November 2024: the Finnish company known for Alan Wake and Control had a new, unannounced videogame project currently in development.1
This mystery title was also listed on Remedy’s updated ‘game projects’ page alongside the upcoming titles FBC: Firebreak, Control 2 and Max Payne 1&2 Remake. Though little information has been officially released about the Fourth Game, I argue that this project is actually an Alan Wake spinoff called Doors, and that Remedy had first hinted at plans for it back in 2019 when it released Control.
A Short video that summarizes my ideas. Source images courtesy of Remedy Entertainment.
Table of ContentsQuantum Break and IP Ownership
To understand the origin of Doors, we need to talk about Quantum Break (QB).
Though it has its fans, it’s often looked down upon as a lesser Remedy game and many have called it a ‘failed experiment’ due to its attempt to intersperse episodes of a live-action television series with more traditional sections of action-adventure gameplay.
Far less discussed though is how the reception of QB radically changed Remedy’s overall approach to the ownership and exploitation of intellectual property (IP) as well as its relationship with the business side of making games.
Typically, the story goes that Remedy wanted to develop Alan Wake 2 (AW2) shortly after the 2010 release of the original, but the first game’s publisher Microsoft wasn’t interested, inspiring the developer to instead create an original IP that would be fully owned by Microsoft, leading to what would become QB. The new project reportedly appealed to Microsoft as it was intended to incorporate live-action TV episodes, which fit perfectly with the company’s desire for its upcoming XBOX One console to be an ‘all-in-one’ entertainment system that included original TV programming.
However, per other accounts of the project’s origin Microsoft was actually interested in AW2, or at least in the version Remedy pitched that would’ve included the live action television element. Apparently though, they would only agree to fund this iteration of the sequel in exchange for Remedy ceding ownership of the Wake IP.
From this perspective, Remedy developed the new QB IP for Microsoft as they wanted to get another project off the ground but without giving up ownership of Wake.
Whether or not QB was developed specifically so that Remedy could retain rights to and control over Wake though, it was essentially made in lieu of AW2 and in that sense can be seen as a byproduct of Remedy’s inability at the time to further develop and exploit the IP they owned.
None of this is to say that Remedy approached QB half-heartedly. Gambling on the chance that the first QB would prove successful enough for Microsoft to greenlight more installments, Remedy spent 5 years developing technology, iterating concepts and building an immersive world that could sustain multiple stories. The production was complicated and the game’s release was delayed from 2014 to 2016.
So, you can imagine how disappointed the Remedy crewmembers must've been when QB came out to a mixed reception, underperformed commercially and was then basically shelved by Microsoft, which by that point had largely lost interest in television/game integration and pivoted away from its initial vision for the XBOX One.
For the second time in a row, Remedy found itself unable to further build on a video-game title and IP they had spent years establishing. And in this case, as Microsoft owned all of QB, Remedy wouldn’t be able to develop a sequel with another publisher even if it wanted to. Taking stock of their experiences with AW and QB, Remedy realized that things had to change and decided on 5 new key strategies that would drive their approach to making games for the next several years.
Retain and leverage brand/IP
Adopt a multi-project model (producing multiple games at the same time)
Switch to multi-platform releases
Make and release each game faster
Create interlinked (shared universe) franchises using its own brands
To achieve their goals, Remedy needed to expand as a company, gain more financial independence and become less reliant on publishers. Thus, the company made an initial public offering in May 2017, raising approximately 12.3 Million Euro by selling shares on the Finnish stock market, and with that took back control. Literally.
Control and the RCU
Within just three years of QB’s release, Remedy made a surreal action-adventure game set inside a fictional government agency called the FBC, which is beset by an invasive extra-dimensional alien species. Fittingly, the game was called Control.
Published by 505 Games at the end of August 2019, Control was now the second major IP that Remedy wholly owned and the first AAA Remedy title in years to reach the Playstation. Though not a hit off the bat, its long tail sales across multiple platforms gradually made it into the developer’s most popular work since Max Payne.
But though designed as a complete game in and of itself, Control also presented an opportunity to capitalize on the company’s other IP and, in the process lay the foundation for the Remedy Connected Universe (RCU). The titular character of the Alan Wake series made a cameo in the main game before getting a slightly larger focus in the 2020 DLC expansion AWE, which set up the future release of AW2 in 2023.
Now, it’s important to note here that the RCU’s existence was made possible specifically by the company’s ownership of multiple brands/IPs. In hindsight then, had Remedy traded ownership of the Wake franchise to Microsoft in exchange for making AW2, the crossover with Control would not have been legally possible.
Remedy gradually unveiled plans to expand the RCU by both creating more games within its existing franchises and launching new, original IPs. But while the games encompassing the shared universe would be officially announced and revealed over the course of several years, the developer had actually included an encoded roadmap to future RCU projects in Control. The player can find the roadmap by visiting a mysterious, apparently inter-dimensional location called The Oceanview Motel.
The Oceanview Motel Doors and Symbols
“For over 10 years, we’ve had a crazy dream. The idea that the tales told in some of our games would be connected to each other, a connected world of stories and events with shared characters and lore. Each game is a stand-alone experience, but each game is also a doorway into a larger universe with exciting opportunities for crossover events.
Source: Sam Lake, AWE: The First Remedy Connected Universe Crossover Event”
Player character Jesse Faden is first transported there after pulling a light cord three times. She finds herself in a hallway with six different doors covered in mysterious symbols. Initially, the only door out of the six that can be opened is the one with the Inverted Black Pyramid. Doors with this symbol recur throughout the Oldest House - the central location of the FBC and thus the game itself - and when Jesse leaves the Motel, she does so specifically through the Black Pyramid Door.
The others remain closed and their significance is left unexplained in the main game. Over the next 5 years or so, enough evidence emerged to decipher the meaning of the symbols. As I will argue, every single symbol-adorned door corresponds to a specific videogame title in the RCU. In effect then, Remedy laid out an ambitious plan to release at least six interconnected titles, of which Control was but the first.
To summarize my findings and better illustrate what I’m talking about, I’ve created the following chart, which matches each symbol with its corresponding RCU game.
Early on, the biggest clue that the symbols represented specific RCU games was the Spiral Door. In-game, Jesse can locate a manuscript page that is said to have been written by Alan Wake and discovered in the Oceanview Motel corridor, having been pushed into it from “under the door with the symbol of a Spiral.”
Finding the page also leads to a vision of Wake describing his experience over 10 years of trying to write his way out of the Dark Place, where he was trapped at the end of AW1, marking the first explicit crossover of the character into Control.
About a year or so later, a player of the PC version of Control discovered that the sym-bols actually have names within the game files: ‘alanwake,’ ‘control_2,’ ‘vanguard,’ ‘pyramid_black,’ ‘pyramid_white,’ and ‘doors.’
Not counting Control, three of these file names directly corresponded to projects Remedy would develop in 2020-2024. And all of them were wholly-owned by Remedy, meaning that they could have cross-overs and so constitute parts of the RCU. This evinces that every symbol designated a specific RCU videogame, and with the exception of the Black Pyramid, each foreshadowed an unreleased future project.
Unsurprisingly, the Spiral Symbol Filename “alanwake” corresponded to AW2, which began early stages of development in late 2017 and came out in 2023. Accordingly, in AW2, Spiral Doors appear several times, allowing Wake to enter his Writing Room.
The Filename “vanguard” corresponded to Project Vanguard, a multi-player game that had been in development since at least 2018 but was cancelled in May 2024.
While Remedy (to my knowledge) never directly stated that the game was meant to be part of the RCU, this fact can be deduced from what CEO Tero Virtala stated in the Remedy 2021 Annual Report about Codename Vanguard being the beginning of a ‘third major franchise’ owned by the developer. This means it was planned to be a major new IP that could cross over with those of Wake and Control:
“For Vanguard, we signed a global development, license and distribution agreement signed with Tencent. This gives us a major partner and support to create an excellent game and grow a third strong franchise. Overall, we advanced our long-term growth plans significantly during 2021. We now have three Remedy-owned franchises that are expanding into new games with world-class Partners.” (6)
This was given further credence by the Report’s “Strategy” page, which establishes that the company aimed to achieve to own no less than three successful game brands by 2025 and states that each Remedy “brand and game stands on its own, while still connecting to a wider, underlying Remedy universe.” (8)
Finally, the Filename “control2” obviously suggested a full-on sequel to Control, which would enter the early concept stages of development in 2021. The symbol association was explicitly confirmed onscreen in the 2024 Alan Wake 2 DLC Expansion Chapter “The Lake House.” Here, FBC Agent Kira Estevez is transported to the Oceanview Motel and goes through an opened door with the Control 2 Symbol, leading to a teaser cinematic of the events that will take place in the Control 2 game.
The specific titling of the file also indicated that multiple doors and symbols could refer to projects in the same franchise. Given this and that the Black Pyramid corresponded to the first Control, it logically followed that the White Pyramid symbol designated a Control-related title, which fits to a tee Remedy’s wholly-owned multi-player spinoff FBC: Firebreak, which is slated to come out later this month.
As of this time of writing then, we know the meanings of five out of six symbols, each of which designates a specific RCU game. Two of them have been released, two will come out soon and one has been canceled. Therefore, the remaining symbol must also designate another future RCU title. And going by its filename, we can assume that this game is either named or codenamed Doors.*
*For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to it as such from this point forward.
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Deciphering “Doors”
Naturally, one might be inclined to ask: “What evidence is there that Doors is, in fact, the Unannounced Fourth Game recently teased by Remedy?”
First, let’s consider what we know so far about the mysterious new project.
The updated ‘Game Projects’ page lists the 4th Project as a Remedy title, rather than a work associated with another publisher like Max Payne. This means the game represents a brand wholly owned by Remedy, guaranteeing that it’s set in the RCU.
Additional info can be gleaned from the 2024 Annual Report, according to which Remedy at the beginning of 2025 was working on four games at the same time and aimed to release on average one new game annually for the 2025-2030 period.
“As per our strategy 2025-2030, we will launch on average one new game per year and currently focus on four game projects simultaneously.” (5)
The report doesn’t mention the Unannounced Fourth Game directly, but it does list the three upcoming announced titles: FBC, Max Payne 1&2 Remake and Control 2. If the games are to be released annually, with FBC slated for 2025, then the earliest the Fourth Game could be released is 2028.* This is in line with Tero Virtala’s claim at the April Business Review that the new game is only in its ‘early phases.’
* I personally think a more realistic date is 2029, given how long game development for such a title can take. It’s possible DLCs could also count as part of the annual release strategy. If so, even if the 4th Game comes out after 2028, it will have still fallen within Remedy’s plans.
Finally, Remedy’s revised 2025-2030 business strategy provides some additional hints:
“Our own Franchises, Control and Alan Wake both have their own worlds and expansion opportunities but are connected by a Remedy Connected Universe (RCU). This provides fans with an additional layer, and for us an additional creative and commercial opportunity. By 2030 we will grow Control and Alan Wake from great games into world-class franchises with more regular sequels.”
This tells us two things.
First, Remedy currently has no plans to expand into a third IP for the next 5 years, indicating that it has narrowed the RCU’s scope and is now focused on building it out via the creation of new installments in its established franchises.* Second, it must release a new game in the Alan Wake series by 2030 so as to fulfill its new strategic objective of transforming it into a ‘world-class franchise with more regular sequels.’
*This in line with the fact that the Remedy openly announced that the May 2024 cancellation of Codename Vanguard (at that point technically known as ‘Codename Kestrel’) was intended to help the developer focus on its existing franchises.
This aligns quite well with what we know about the 4th Project’s release window, meaning it is pretty much confirmed to be a game from the Alan Wake franchise.
How ‘Alan Wake II’ Set Up a ‘Doors’ Spinoff
“I was in a dark place, and there was a dark man there. His name was Mr. Door, and he told me that there are many worlds - side-by-side, on top of each other, some inside of others. In one world, there was a writer who wrote a story about a cop. In another world, the cop was real. Door said he himself was in all of them at the same time, endlessly shifting between them.”
Dylan Faden describes a dream he had in Control (2019)
So far then, everything we know about the Unannounced Fourth Game fits with what we know about Doors. But the biggest evidence that the two are one and the same can be found in the narrative setups of Remedy’s most recent release: AW2.
Though the belated sequel tells a standalone story that continues and resolves the plotlines of its predecessor, it also introduces new characters, narrative enigmas and setups that are clearly meant to be expanded on or tied up in another title.
Without a doubt, the biggest mysteries following the end of the game surround the character of Warlin Door, aka Mr. Door. Initially, Door is presented as a late-night talk show host who interviews Alan Wake in the Dark Place’s manifestation of New York City, implying that he is similarly trapped there and forced to play a role.
But as the game progresses, it becomes evident that Door is actually a God-like being that can enter and leave the Dark Place of his own free will whenever he chooses and is participating in Alan’s story so as to advance some larger personal agenda. The audience, however, never learns what that agenda is. And at the end, numerous questions remain unanswered about Door’s motives, goals, and powers.
These include:
How and why does Door pluck Sheriff Tim Breaker out of the real world and teleport him to Dark NYC? Did he do this so Tim could deliver a crucial piece of information to Saga Anderson at the end of the game so as to help her escape?
Did Door aid Saga because it furthers his master plan or because he is, in fact, her long-lost father, as the game repeatedly implies?
What does he want with Breaker and the Anderson brothers Tor and Odin, all of whom seem to join him in and disappear from the Dark Place?
And what does he mean when he tells Alan in their final scene that the next time they meet, Alan should ‘play his part’ or stay out of his way?
Their presence is clearly intended to set up another installment of the Wake franchise that will include a larger role for Warlin Door as well as the characters linked to his subplot - Saga Anderson, Tim Breaker, and the Anderson Brothers - in AW2. It can be surmised the new game will revolve around interdimensional travel and parallel universes, for both concepts are directly tied to and so define Warlin Door himself.
“A door that stands between two rooms is in both. A door that can lead anywhere is everywhere. That door is the center. He governs the currents of reality.”
Mr. Door describes himself in a vision to Saga Anderson in Alan Wake II (2023)
Doors to the Multiverse
I mean, the guy’s last name is Door, for crying out loud!
If we’re being honest, it’s ridiculous and implausible. But it fits the literary concept of a speaking surname, underlining the fact that this character somehow has the ability to travel anywhere and essentially constitutes a living door that stands between all worlds in a larger, potentially infinite, multiverse. His power is implied to have an intrinsic link to The Dark Place, which Warlin describes in one of Saga Anderson’s visions as a “mirror reflecting all possible realities.” Furthermore, Door cryptically claims that his power is not limited to him but apparently runs in his family, adding:
“The family of Doors have the power to shift between these realities. Here, and elsewhere.”
Does this mean that all of his blood relatives are naturally capable of interdimensional shifting via the Dark Place? Or does it mean that this power is limited to his own descendants specifically? And what could this signify for extended family members, such as in-laws? None of this is made clear. But if what Door says is true, then Saga Anderson should also possess Door’s ability, as should her daughter Logan.*
* Even if AW2 doesn’t outright confirm it, all the details it presents point to Saga being Warlin’s daughter and thus a member of the family of Doors.
It is very likely then that Saga will return as a main character in Doors and revisit the Dark Place, with players becoming able to shift between various alternate universes. Perhaps the plot will focus on Saga traveling across the multiverse to find her long-lost father Warlin and reunite with her grandfather Tor and grand-uncle Odin, who promised in their last appearance that they’d see her again. Or maybe it will follow Sheriff Tim Breaker, as he pursues Door across many worlds in an effort to find answers and make his way back home. Maybe it will be a bit of both.
Whatever the case is, I’m certain that Saga, Tim, and Mr. Door will be crucial to the events of the spinoff, while Alan Wake will likely take on more of a supporting role. The title, after all, is Doors. Even if it’s only a codename, that signifies the focus of the new game won’t be on Alan Wake, and thus it won’t be a direct sequel to AW2.*
*The title thus could be simultaneously referring to both the concept of opening doors to other universes and to the central role of the family of Doors. This is given credence by the associated Oceanview Motel symbol, which shows rectangles within rectangles, visually suggesting an infinite number of doors within doors and thus universes within universes.
And if the game’s story indeed revolves around exploring the multiverse, then in terms of gameplay, Doors should accordingly use dimensional shifting as a central concept and mechanic, perhaps in a manner analogous to QB’s use of time manipulation.*
* Imagine controlling a character that gains abilities like warping space, jumping through portals to teleport behind enemies, or reflecting enemy attacks via spatial distortion fields.
This direction only seems natural to me, given that with AW2 Remedy has begun actively remaking QB - or at least select elements of it - within the Wake franchise and thus inside the legal contours of the RCU.2 Doors then could very well be a means for Remedy to create an alternate universe version of the QB sequel that was never made, to reuse its concepts, plot points, plans and ideas in a new form, and so symbolically regain ownership of and control over the QB IP in the process.
“Parallel Universes? Multiverse?... We are connected because of something that happened to us somewhere else. Shockwaves echo across worlds?”
Sheriff Tim Breaker’s whiteboard at the end of AW2 (2023).
Conclusion
Let’s sum things up. Remedy hints at a future RCU game called Doors via Control in 2019. Then, four years later, Alan Wake 2 ends with some pretty big unresolved mysteries surrounding Warlin Door and introduces the idea that there is a whole family of Doors, interdimensional shifters that can access the multiverse via the Dark Place. And less than two years later, Remedy announces plans to expand the Wake franchise by 2030 and to release a new fourth game that is part of the RCU.
Altogether, these pieces of evidence point to the conclusion that Doors and the new fourth game must be one and the same. Should it be released, it will represent the last of six RCU titles that had been planned at the time Control was published in 2019. Rather than a direct sequel to AW2 though, Doors is (very likely) going to be a multi-verse spinoff focusing on secondary characters like Warlin Door and Saga Anderson, with dimensional shifting being crucial to the gameplay and narrative.
At the moment the game is in the early stages of development and is planned to come out approximately in 2028-2029. Of course, there’s always a chance that it won’t make that date. After all, videogame production is notoriously fickle. The project could very well fall apart during development, as happened with Vanguard, or become extensively delayed due to production difficulties. Or it could undergo radical changes and become a distinct yet still related RCU project in the course of development.
Whatever happens, I sincerely hope Doors makes it to the finish line as I love Reme-dy’s games and want their long-term vision for a connected universe to succeed. We need more works like Control and Alan Wake 2, more big budget AAA titles that seek to mix different media, experiment with storytelling and challenge our expectations.
But what about you?Do you think the new project will indeed be Doors? Or is Remedy cooking up something else, eg. Alan Wake 3: Master of Many Worlds? Do you like the prospect of exploring the multiverse in a future title? Is the developer indeed attempting to symbolically reclaim Quantum Break? Any other thoughts on Remedy or their games? Please,
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At about 13:20, Virtala states: “Then, we have the unannounced 4th project in its early phases and we haven’t yet commented more on that.”
Without delving too deeply into this, let’s say that inclusion of Door and Breaker strongly suggests that QB is part of a larger Remedy Multiverse, that its narrative events occurred in a parallel reality yet are still on some level canonical to the continuity of the Wake franchise and could maybe still can impact its story or characters in some way.
Thorough analysis man. Has me excited to look for any clues hinting of upcoming releases in Firebreak about Control 2/Doors.