☢️ Remedy Connected Universe - RCU ☣️
We've all heard of MCU and DCEU, but RCU might be new to some. RCU, or Remedy Connected Universe, is a game universe created by Remedy Entertainment, where several games are interconnected with each other.
Let's first look at the games included in this universe. The list is in the recommended playing order for better understanding of the universe's storyline.
☣️ RCU Game list:
1️⃣ Max Payne (2001)
2️⃣ Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)
3️⃣ Max Payne 3 (2012)
4️⃣ Alan Wake (2012)
5️⃣ Quantum Break (2016)
6️⃣ Control (2019)
7️⃣ Alan Wake 2 (2023)
Although all these games are developed by Remedy, they don't have the rights to Max Payne and Quantum Break. As a result, they couldn't explicitly connect all the games. However, there are many hints, character similarities, and easter eggs that suggest these games are part of the same universe. Among these, some games have been officially confirmed to be connected, and we've seen crossovers in those games.
☢️ Officially connected game list:
1️⃣ Alan Wake (2012)
2️⃣ Control (2019)
3️⃣ Alan Wake 2 (2023)
I would still recommend playing all the games for a wholesome experience. The first Alan Wake game has a remastered version released in 2021, which you can play. Additionally, a remake of Max Payne is coming soon.
⚠️ Below are some trivia about how these games are connected. Those who haven't played the games yet may want to skip this part.
🔰 Max Payne:
🔴 The plot of the Alex Casey book series written by Alan Wake matches that of Max Payne. This suggests that the character Alex Casey in Alan Wake is actually an homage to Max Payne.
🔴 Interestingly, Sam Lake, Remedy's Creative Director, played both Alex Casey in Alan Wake and Max Payne in the first Max Payne game. He has been a director and writer for most of the games.
🔴 Through Alex Casey, Max Payne is connected to the RCU.
🔰 Quantum Break:
🔵 The main protagonists in Quantum Break were Jack Joyce and Beth Wilder, played by Shawn Ashmore and Courtney Hope, respectively. Courtney Hope also plays the main hero Jesse Faden in Control, while Shawn Ashmore appears in Alan Wake 2 as Sheriff Tim Breaker.
🔵 Lance Reddick, who played the antagonist Martin Hatch in Quantum Break, was supposed to appear as Warlin Door in Alan Wake 2. However, due to his death, another actor took the role. The characters share similarities, even in their names.
Martin Hatch > Marlin Hatch > Warlin Hatch > Warlin Door (Door is a synonym for Hatch)
🔵 Quantum Break's main story involves time travel. In Alan Wake 2, Shawn Ashmore's character is named Tim Breaker. The final DLC of Alan Wake 2 is called "Time Breaker," with Tim Breaker as the main lead.
Tim Breaker > Time Breaker
🔵 This way, characters from Quantum Break are given different forms in another universe, but still connected. This indirectly brings Quantum Break into the RCU.|
〽️ Story so far!
From the story of RCU so far, it seems that Quantum Break exists in a multiverse. Meanwhile, Max Payne, Alan Wake, and Control are in the same universe. The characters from Quantum Break are seen in different multiversal forms in Alan Wake and Control, linking Quantum Break to the RCU indirectly.
