Remedy’s action-horror cult hit Alan Wake was first released back in 2010. Later this month, after 13 years, Alan Wake 2 is finally launching. And to help folks remember what happened in the first game over a decade ago, Remedy and Epic have partnered up to create a short, playable recap inside Fortnite.

The original Alan Wake might not have been a sales juggernaut when it first hit shelves in 2010, but it quickly developed a cult following and gained heaps of praise from critics. While we did end up getting a side-story/spin-off thing in 2012—a smaller digital-only game known as Alan Wake’s American Nightmare—a true sequel seemed unlikely. In 2013, Alan Wake creator Sam Lake even apologized to fans for the fact that a sequel wasn’t happening. But things change, and on October 27 fans will get the long-awaited sequel. And in case you need a quick recap on what happened, Alan Wake 2 publisher Epic has a Fortnite map for you.

Alan Wake: Flashback, out now, is a short Fortnite world that condenses the events of the first game into a level that will take most players about 20 to 25 minutes to complete. This isn’t a full remake of the original 2010 classic or a complete retelling of that first game’s events. Instead, it’s an elaborate “Previously On” type of experience.

Here’s the island code to play Alan Wake: Flashback in Fortnite: 3426-5561-3374

A cool idea, but you should still play Alan Wake

I played through Flashback earlier today as Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4, which made the whole experience a bit weird. The map was built by Epic with help from developers Spiral House and Zen Creative. In Flashback you explore moments from the game and use your flashlight to clear dark areas and obstacles.

The Alan Wake: Flashback map ports over assets from the first game into Fortnite to re-tell the most important moments from the 2010 original. Oddly, this new Fortnite experience doesn’t seem to contain the events of Alan Wake’s DLC episodes or the American Nightmare spin-off, though it does reference them slightly.

While I think the idea of a playable recap of a game is neat and I enjoyed this short, creepy trip down memory lane, I’d still recommend folks just play Alan Wake before the sequel. And play American Nightmare, too. It’s cool. But if you can’t do that for whatever reason, this is a solid way to get caught up on Alan Wake lore before Alan Wake 2 launches (digitally only) on October 27 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PC.

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Just over a month after Epic Games cut nearly 900 employees, players have come roaring back to Fortnite to play its new nostalgia trip through the battle royale’s original map. Player count trackers like Fortnite.gg estimate the hit free-to-play game peaked at over 5 million concurrent players in the last 24 hours across all modes, almost double what it averaged for most of the year.

The game’s chapter 4 season 5 update went live on November 2 and has been officially dubbed “Fortnite OG,” bringing fans back to the island battlefield as it originally looked and played in 2018. Classic weapons and items have returned like the beloved shopping cart, as well as fan-favorite locations like the infamous Tilted Towers that were destroyed back in 2019. Players can once again hide out in Salty Springs or get merc’d from 300 yards off in Paradise Palms.

Of course, while the game once again looks like it did all of those world-destroying updates ago, the player-base has certainly evolved. Anyone who’s barely played in years but has had their curiosity piqued will be up against opponents who are more skilled and experienced than ever. “OG fortnite map back but whats the point if half the lobby plays like this,” tweeted user ayeejuju alongside footage of someone building in 4D chess mode.

Other things have stayed the same. Tyler “Ninja” Bevins, who rode Fortnite’s popularity to become one of the biggest video game streamers ever, was back on Twitch recently playing the Fortnite OG update for over 100k viewers. The game is currently surpassing the typically dominant Just Chatting category on the Amazon-owned platform’s leaderboard with over 600k viewers total. To put things in perspective, Fortnite hit over 12 million concurrent players during the 2020 in-game Travis Scott concert event shortly after the pandemic began.

Still, it’s the buzziest Fortnite has been in a long time, and certainly since Epic Games announced mass layoffs and disinvestments in late September. “We’ve been spending way more money than we earn,” CEO Tim Sweeney wrote at the time. “While Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion.”

Fortnite OG has put the mode that nets Epic the highest commission back in the spotlight. It remains to be seen if the company can keep the momentum up with other upcoming updates as the season goes on. Epic raised the price of V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, just last week. The game might be returning to its 2018 roots, but the costs and competition are higher than ever.