MUSIC+SOUND AWARDS 2024 WINNER SPOTLIGHT

BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A VIDEO GAME - GAMEPLAY

BEST sound design in a video game - gameplay

Alan Wake 2

Entrant / Developer: Remedy Entertainment, Finland

Sound Designers: Joshua Bell, Adam Butterworth, Kit Challis, Gulli Gunnarsson, Thomas Holmes, Pauli Ondruska, Tazio Schiesari, Henry Scott, Ville Sorsa, Philipp Berger Tolkun (Dynamedion)

Audio Director: Richard Lapington

Sound Producer: Anika Neubert

Dialogue Editors: Taneli Suoranta, Arthur Tisseront, Manik Möllers (Dynamedion) + Mikael Lindblad Ehnborg (RedPipe)

Publisher: Epic Games

Directors: Sam Lake + Kyle Rowely

This year’s Best Sound Design in a Video Game - Gameplay winner was Remedy Entertainment with their team’s phenomenal sound on survival horror, Alan Wake 2 (oh, and they won with their Cinematics too!).

Here they tell us about the creation of the game's immersive soundscape… how the sound, music, and dialogue were carefully crafted to evoke unease and keep players guessing. A masterclass in creating a truly captivating and unsettling gaming experience…

“The pillars of the game’s sound were focused on atmosphere, character and narrative flow. We designed different aesthetics for the different two stories in the game and they formed the foundation of the sonic identity. 

Each scene, character and narrative beat are crafted to maintain or enhance the uneasiness of each situation. When designing each scene, the distinction between SFX, Music and Dialogue were purposefully obscured, i.e. music sometimes feels like ambiance, and non-story dialogue can be mistaken for some other sounds, the same approach was taken with the SFX where music or dialogue elements were purposefully woven in. The intention is to misdirect and obscure sound identity from the player, keeping their attention and guessing on the origin of sounds.”

Congratulations to the whole team once again!

Visit Remedy’s site HERE