In the past few years, I’ve been aware of the name Laura Palmer, one of the characters from the cult classic series Twin Peaks. Her face, too, is one I’ve often encountered due to the iconic photograph of her seen throughout the series being repeatedly shared online. I’ve consumed many works inspired by Twin Peaks, but I have never watched it. With Alan Wake 2 coming out, I thought it would be a good time to watch it, and guess what? The original Alan Wake by Remedy Entertainment makes more sense to me now than ever before.
This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced something that was the subject of influence rather than the influential piece itself. As an example, Earthbound and Undertale are great examples, the latter being a favourite of mine, while the former was not played until a number of years after I played Toby Fox’s indie RPG for the first time. The experience was interesting because it clarified why Undertale is the way it is, but also showed how unique it is compared to the game it was inspired by.
