It’s been a long time since either Remedy Entertainment or Rockstar Games have interacted with theMax Paynefranchise. In recent memory, Remedy has mostly been busy with expanding the universe of its acclaimed paranormal action-adventure titleControl.Meanwhile, Rockstar Games has been hard at work supporting theGrand Theft AutoandRed Dead Redemptiongames, both of which have flourished in the last several years. Now, however, the time has come for the return ofMax Payne.Remedy just announced that Rockstar plans to fund remakes of bothMax Paynegames, which will be released on next-gen consoles and developed with Remedy’s own Northlight Engine.
The announcement oftheMax Payneremakesis remarkable, and not just because Remedy hasn’t worked on aMax Paynegame in more than a decade. The announcement also comes at a time when Remedy has a lot going on. While it’s working on theMax Payneremakes, Remedy will be juggling a few important projects that belong toAlan WakeandControl’s shared universe, as well as a mysterious shooter simply known asVanguard.It’s great to see Remedy working on so many promising projects, but the studio has to avoid biting off more than it can chew.
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Alan Wake and Control’s Mutual Growth
There’s a lot of growth happening around the supernatural universe thatControlandAlan Wakeboth inhabit. Not only did Remedy just releaseAlan Wake Remastered,but it’s currently working on a second attempt atAlan Wake 2,which is slated for release in 2023. Remedy didn’t provide many detailswhen announcingAlan Wake 2,but apparently it’ll lean into the survival horror genre, and players won’t have to have played the firstAlan Wakein order to understand the sequel. The latter claim could be a tall order, given howAlan Wakelore has changed recently, but Remedy’s storytelling skills are cause for optimism.
WhileAlan Wakeflourishes,Controlis building towards major growth too. Considering how beloved the firstControlwas, it’s no surprise that Remedyplans to make aControlsequel. The first game’s ending leaves plenty of story threads to pick up in a sequel; it’s merely a matter of deciding what cosmic force or human threat to the Bureau motivates Jesse Faden to take action once again. Regardless of the game’s plot, with the help of a direct sequel toControl,Jesse will cement her place as a leading icon of Remedy’s video game catalog.
Notably, a direct sequel isn’t all thatControlfans have to look forward to. Apparently Remedy is also working ona multiplayerControlspinoff, which is codenamedCondorfor now. Remedy hasn’t indicated anything concrete about the game, but since the game shares theAlan WakeandControluniverse, it wouldn’t be surprising if it casts players as operatives for the Federal Bureau of Control, investigating supernatural creatures and Altered World Events. That type of multiplayer co-op has a lot of potential for both interesting storytelling and compelling gameplay within theControluniverse, but since the game’s announcement is fairly fresh, it could be quite some time before fans find out if that’s what Remedy has in mind.
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The Return of Max Payne
On top of all theseAlan WakeandControlgames, Remedy still hasVanguardin development.Vanguardis a multiplayer co-op PvE shooterthat will be free to play and has ties to video game investing giant Tencent. Remedy is apparently interested in makingVanguarda game as a service, but gameplay doesn’t get much more concrete than that. All in all, it sounds likeVanguardis yet another ambitious project, in spite of its supposedly small development team, meaning Remedy has a lot on its hands in total.
Somehow, Remedy intends to develop remakes for both of itsMax Paynegames in the midst of all this other work.Financial support from Rockstarought to go a long way, and that support could mean thatMax Payne’s return is an opportunity for Remedy to expand even more than it already has in the last few years. What’s more, if theMax Payneremakes do well, then it could give Rockstar and Remedy cause to collaborate on a fourthMax Paynegame, or even to create spinoffs that expand the game’s universe. There’s a lot to be gained from these remakes.
Still, Remedy needs to be careful. The studio has accomplished a lot in its lifetime, but it isn’t accustomed to working on so many things at once. It’ll need to ensure that every one of its projects has the right amount of support, or else many of its promising games could falter. It would be a shameif theControlsequel’s quality falteredbecause Remedy needed to pull staff away from it to support theMax Payneremakes, or vice versa. Remedy’s next few years will be a careful balancing act.
Remedy Has a Bright Future
There are definitely risks involved in working on so many important projects at once, but if Remedy can pull it off, then it stands to gain a lot. Not only could it bring ona new generation ofAlan WakeandMax Paynegames, but its younger IPs could flourish into powerful franchises of their own. With its hands on so many well-loved franchises, Remedy could become more of a heavy hitter in the game industry than ever. It’s just a matter of execution.
Beyond the big picture, it’s simply good to seeMax Paynemake a comeback.The originalMax Paynegamesare still striking titles with strong gunplay and storytelling framed through a noir graphic novel lens. Those elements are more than worthy of being celebrated with remakes, especially in a time when so many dormant franchises are making comebacks. Remedy and Rockstar haven’t provided release dates for theMax Payneremakes just yet, and due to Remedy’s other projects, it wouldn’t be surprising if it takes a couple of years for these games to come around. Nevertheless, theMax Payneremakes ought to be solid additions to the PS5 and the Xbox Series X when they finally release.
Max PayneandMax Payne 2remakes are in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
