Max Payne Remake: Remedy’s action video game benchmark (Control, Alan Wake) rises from the ashes

Game News Max Payne Remake: Remedy’s action video game benchmark (Control, Alan Wake) rises from the ashes

After three chapters and dodging hundreds of bullets in slow motion, Max Payne is – still – not dead. To everyone’s surprise, a few days ago, the Remedy studio, creator of the series, announced the development of remakes of the first two episodesalso published by Rockstar Games (GTA, Red Dead Redemption). “Max Payne has always had a special place in our hearts” confirms by the way Tero Virtala, CEO of Remedy. It must be said that thanks to the action game in the third person, the Finnish company made a name for itself at the beginning of the 2000s. It will then spawn other successes, in particular check and Alan Wake†

In this context, Rockstar Games does not intervene by chance. In 2002, Take-Two Interactive, owner of the star company “R”, redeem the rights of Max Payne, becoming an editor for the second opus The Fall of Max Payne† It is also Rockstar who will be responsible for the production of the third part, released in 2012. Therefore, in order to carry out his project, Remedy first had to reach an agreement with Take-Two. And it’s for the best. As stated on the release, Max Payne’s redesign will take advantage of the financial support from Rockstar and a team in “triple-A” format, equivalent to major Remedy productions. But also the studio’s very solid internal engine – the famous Northlight Engine – which was used to give life to Quantum Break or Control.

A revolution in slow motion

Well after that, no release date for now to put in their mouths. The remakes are currently in “draft” status planned for PC, PS5 and Xbox series. But there’s still plenty to be excited about. In his time, the first Max Payne was a small revolution third person action game. A revolution that can be summed up in two words: “bullet time”, a mechanism that allows Remedy’s hero to slow down time and jump forward to avoid fire and destroy his enemies. A term borrowed from the cinema, which of course recalls the Matrix license (the first chapter of which was released in 1999) but mainly comes from the action films of director John Woo. “The whole team was a fan of Hong Kong action movies” so explain IGN Sam Lake, creative director at Remedy. Max Payne is literally him. The man has indeed lent his features to the hero of the first part, while the studio budget is tight.

More than embodying the headliner first (the character will then be interpreted by other actors), Sam Lake has practically made Max Payne what Max Payne is. However, the man ended up in Finnish society through a stroke of luck. Close friend of Petri Järvilehto, one of the founders of the studio, started writing Death Rally, a racing game of armed cars. A great discovery for this literature student at the University of Helsinki. At the same time, Remedy is working on “Dark Justice”, which later became Max Payne† At the time, the title is a futuristic dystopia, where danger and drugs are omnipresent. “When I was included in the project, I proposed our time as a framework” comments Sam Lake, still at IGN. Max Payne’s own script is inspired by a film noir role-playing game concept he conceived. The creative director then takes over the reins of writing.

Even creepier, you die

On Max Payne, Sam Lake defines the contours of a very dark universe, which fits perfectly into the neo-noir genre. The first part opens on a New York plunged into night, as the hero exclaims from the top of a skyscraper: “They are all dead. The last shot was an exclamation point on everything leading up to this moment.”† A few comic book dialogues later, and that’s where the trouble starts, three years before the intro scene. On the way home, Max finds his wife and daughter murdered† A gruesome scene but very well done. First weird graffiti on the wall, then a strange phone call, bloodstains, yelling and the ugly truth. Max will have only one thing in mind: revenge.

In addition to offering a completely innovative gameplay for the time, with bullet time (all without a “cover” system to protect yourself behind the scenes) Remedy sabotage, stages the psychology of the character, the more participating in giving Max Payne an aura. The first and second episodes will therefore give way to nightmare scenes, in which the hero is directly confronted with his fears. Without forgetting a whole speech about depression – Max literally takes painkillers to get back to health – but also about redemption. Max Payne 3 will leave these gimmicks for a sunnier atmosphere, in the city of Sao Paulo, without giving up the usual darkness of the series. A difficult twist to swallow for some fans. These remakes are an opportunity for Remedy to return to the essence of Max Payne. And that’s a very good thing.