Alan Wake's Return trademark shows up on European database

Remedy Entertainment has filed a trademark application for Alan Wake's Return, according to an entry on the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market database.

The developer submitted the trademark on Feb. 23; it is currently "under examination," according to the listing. The entry for Alan Wake's Return on the European trademark board includes games software under the relevant categories. No other details are given, including whether or not this is an entirely new game.

A sequel to Alan Wake was planned and prototyped but never saw release. We looked at what remains of the canceled Alan Wake 2 back in 2015, following the 5-year anniversary of the first Alan Wake. The original game launched on Windows PC and Xbox 360 in 2010 and was followed by the spinoff Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Sam Lake, who wrote both games, told Polygon in 2015 that Remedy continued to discuss a possible Alan Wake sequel. "Among other things, we are discussing the possibility of an Alan Wake sequel with multiple partners, but nothing has been decided," he said in an interview.

Remedy announced that both of its psychological horror games would become backward compatible with Xbox One, and that it would include the first Alan Wake free with all copies of Quantum Break, its latest release. Pre-orders of Quantum Break at participating retailers and the Xbox Store will also include Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

This will be the first time that Xbox One owners can play Alan Wake on the console; Alan Wake's American Nightmare, on the other hand, is already available as a backward compatible title.

We've reached out to a representative of Remedy Entertainment about the trademark and will update accordingly.

Check out the prototype for Alan Wake 2 below.