Alan Wake Remastered won’t have product placement like the original game

Remedy Games notified ScreenRant through a PR representative that the old product placements in Alan Wake will be removed in the remastered version. A largely distracting feature of the original game, they weren’t just billboards on the side of a road (although those did exist in-game) — the ads were also part of the core gameplay.

Alan Wake would regularly have to pick up Energizer batteries to fuel his flashlight, which was required to clear enemies and obstacles. The player would often walk past or even drive Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Naturally, because the game used to be a Microsoft exclusive, the player would not only find Xbox 360s laying around, but also could collect Xbox 360 game cases, as well as see Microsoft start-up screens on some computers.

All of that is going away in the Remastered version due to expired brand contracts. All of the previous Verizon billboards and Energizer batteries will be replaced with generic in-game company names. Never fear, however — fan favorites such as Night Springs, a Twilight Zone-like fictional TV show, and Old Gods of Asgard, which is a band name used by the actual band Poets of the Fall for Alan Wake games, will remain as they were, so you can jam out to Children of the Elder God on an outdoor stage while your PR manager lights off fireworks to ward off a swarm of shadow monsters. Yes, that’s a thing that happens, and it’s incredible.

You can experience that sequence and more when Alan Wake Remastered releases October 5 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.