PETRI ALANKO
Computer Music|April 2024
Weaving the dramatic and tension-stoking soundtrack to one of the most critically acclaimed games of the last year, Petri Alanko built a score for Alan Wake 2 that harnessed an arsenal of plugins with DIY instruments and a huge array of hardware and software synths. We spoke to Petri about his idiosyncratic approach and its exhilarating results
PETRI ALANKO

It's rare for any new video game to receive near-unanimous praise, but in the case of Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment's followup to 2010's underrated action/horror thriller, the prevailing giddy response was justified. Centred around the titular Alan, a horror novelist, lost in a Twin Peaks-esque 'Dark Place' which reflects both his fears and the wider mechanics of storytelling in general, Alan Wake 2 perfects the original game's quirky premise. A large factor in the game's emotional depth is the centrality of its soundtrack, scored by the BAFTA-nominated Finnish composer and producer Petri Alanko.

From the delicate and emotive Return to the ominous and oppressive The Dark Place, Petri's score underlines the game's mind-bending narrative.

Alanko, who also scored the original game, was thrilled - but surprised - when Remedy's creative director Sam Lake informed him that a sequel was finally happening. "I had made my first compositions for the Alan Wake sequel back in 2011. I was so thrilled when I heard we were back. I knew exactly what they were going to do and I knew that they were going to have two protagonists this time. I had made so many plans [for a sequel] and luckily none of my plans had been for nothing - every one of my ideas got used, more or less."

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