Rusty (Cut Content?)

[Elven6]

I was watching over the old Alan Wake trailers that came with the Limited Edition version of the game. In one scene, Rusty (the park ranger) is seen sitting at a table and saying "I've found many pages" yet this scene is never shown in the game.

Even further, Rusty finding manuscript pages (it's assumed those are the pages he was mentioning) is referenced in manuscript pages you can pick up in Chapter 2 on the way down to the visitors center from the lodge.

Was Rusty supposed to play a bigger role in the game? Looking back it's obvious the game story and design wise went through a lot but the trailer itself was from 2009/2010. From the trailers and the little he was in the game he was a favorite character of mine, sucked his character wasn't developed much.

[Danzaiver]

Yeah I understand what you mean.

Most Alan Wake characters don't have a big role and are quickly removed by Alan killing them.

Only Rose, Alice, and Barry appear many times and have an important role in the story.

But well that's Remedy way of writing stories, just look at Max Payne series, most characters aren't shown many times during the game.

[MikkiRMD]

Rusty did indeed find a manuscript page. It described him being attacked by the Dark Presence in the Elderwood Visitor Center, and you can find that page yourself.

As for his role in the game, we didn't cut anything, but his role did go through some changes during development, as did most of the characters'. We did show him doing some other stuff in our demos, but that's to be expected, since we tend to create custom content for our demos and trailers to make sure that we don't spoil the events in the actual game too much. Rusty was never intended to be a very big character in the game, but since he was one of the few characters seen in some of the early material, I think he took on some extra importance in many fans' minds.

[Tom 44]

Well, i remember in a video Rusty is on the floor like how you find him in the game, but a taken walks in and Rusty starts shooting at it but it won't die...

[MikkiRMD]

Yeah, like I said, we created custom content for demo purposes, so we had things like Rusty shooting at the Taken without any effect, and then Wake shining the light at the Taken with some results. But these scenes were never intended to be in the final game.

[Elven6]

Thanks for the input everyone,

The concept with the trailers is pretty interesting and I'm guessing it worked out for the best in the end. I personally knew very little of the game since I went by the trailers and some demo material as traditionally it was good enough. This only added to my anticipation of the game in the end and heightened my sensitivity to even the slightest of spoilers, I think it worked out great in the end! :)

[Matt S]

Problem I had with Rusty = he's in the game for a very short while. We never really got to know him, and they he's gone....Barry is the only character - besides Wake and Alice - that we really get to know

[Tom 44]

Yeah, like I said, we created custom content for demo purposes, so we had things like Rusty shooting at the Taken without any effect, and then Wake shining the light at the Taken with some results. But these scenes were never intended to be in the final game.
I know, i just wanted to point it out.;)
Problem I had with Rusty = he's in the game for a very short while. We never really got to know him, and they he's gone....Barry is the only character - besides Wake and Alice - that we really get to know

I think that was intended with most characters to show how chaotic the situation was getting. People are dropping like flies and most people wont last long. Do you understand what im trying to say? Because i can't really find the right words.:p

[crankymisfit]

Hey, I'm a noob here, but just wanted to add my opinion to this thread. Rusty by far was my favorite character, with so little time in the game he made a huge impact on me.

I understand that characters are supposed to come and go because of the nature of the story but it was still such a disappointment to see him die so brutally after getting to know him as so gentle and kind a person.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Also, I hope he's at least mentioned again in the dlc or in Alan Wake 2.

[Hukka55]

Mates, Alan saved everyone. So yeah, I gues Rusty is back too. But maybe the roles have changed some. At least the sheriff in the epilogue is an older woman, and certainly not the Sarah Breaker we know..

Also note that it seems like the darkness is not out yet. Rose is the new lamp lady and Nightingale is seen behind rose inside a dark room, with a dark and vacant expression on his face.

Waiting for DLC and Season2.

[Pauloselhombre]

Mates, Alan saved everyone.

Sadly not. If you read the Alan Wake Files, you find out that the people who died during the game have remained dead. There are still funerals going on (with no body found though)in the weeks following Deerfest.

Sooo, sadly, Rusty is most certainly still dead.

P.S -The Sheriff we see in the epilogue is the deputy who we already met earlier in the game.

[MikkiRMD]

Mates, Alan saved everyone. So yeah, I gues Rusty is back too. But maybe the roles have changed some. At least the sheriff in the epilogue is an older woman, and certainly not the Sarah Breaker we know..

That would be Deputy Grant, actually. You met her in Episode 2.

[Hukka55]

That would be Deputy Grant, actually. You met her in Episode 2.

Of course.. the older woman at the police station entry. Ok, so now it makes a little bit more sense again. =)

[crankymisfit]

Well, maybe in the end of the Alan Wake trilogy (quadrilogy? series?) of games Rusty will be brought back by Alan as well as everyone else who died.

I can hope, right? :D

[Hukka55]

Well, maybe in the end of the Alan Wake trilogy (quadrilogy? series?) of games Rusty will be brought back by Alan as well as everyone else who died.

I can hope, right? :D

This is pretty much a sure thing, you know? Alan DID correct everything that happened in the first season, with only himself at the bottom of the lake.

Why this is, and what is the future role of some of the characters from first season, this we don't know yet.

And what about the characters we play in season 2: If Alan is in the bottom of the lake and somehow that is a reason we cannot play with him as the character, then who upside wants him out of there?

C'mon people, I can name a few of the top of my head. ;)

[Morry]

Rusty was never intended to be a very big character in the game, but since he was one of the few characters seen in some of the early material, I think he took on some extra importance in many fans' minds.
Definitely. From watching the trailers, I had him placed in my mind as one of the "good guys" in the story - one of the only locals to be aware of what was going on.
Then to see him taken so early on was a bit of a shock and it left me feeling as if someone we were hoping to befriend had suddenly been ripped away from us.
So from one perspective, it was disappointing to see his character not play a larger role, but then on the other hand, the feeling of losing him so early on in the piece when we expected more from him probably ended up leaving us with a greater feeling of loss than you intended.

[Matt S]

That's what happened with me too...also, wasnt it last years E3 where we saw the level to 'find Rusty,' so I thought he would be the subject of a manhunt level or something...I placed this huge importance on him....and there was no indication one way or other, looking back on it....so, it was a shocking moment in the game for me.

[crankymisfit]

It's just disappointing to me that there is so much potential (at least to me) for Rusty as a character and it just wasn't explored. The art book hints at a large backstory but they just drop it and do nothing with it.

I can only hope they do somehow find a way to bring him back!

[MikkiRMD]

Well, we provide quite a bit of backstory for a lot of our characters, and we drop a lot of hints that there's more going on than you can see. You can see this all over the game. That creates the feeling that the world is rich and deep, and I think it's cool. The downside to this is, of course, that there are things you never learn about, because we can't just take you by the hand and explain everything about every character in the game -- partly because at that point is ceases to be a game and becomes a presentation... and partly because we don't even want to. The point is precisely that we don't present a complete, self-contained and, frankly, kind of sanitized whole. Leaving those rough spots where you get the feeling that there's more to the thing you see is a lot more interesting.

[Elven6]

Definitely. From watching the trailers, I had him placed in my mind as one of the "good guys" in the story - one of the only locals to be aware of what was going on.
Then to see him taken so early on was a bit of a shock and it left me feeling as if someone we were hoping to befriend had suddenly been ripped away from us.
So from one perspective, it was disappointing to see his character not play a larger role, but then on the other hand, the feeling of losing him so early on in the piece when we expected more from him probably ended up leaving us with a greater feeling of loss than you intended.

Technically he must have known something since

when he is injured he tells Alan to turn on the generator since the light was the only way to be safe. He either knew more of it before hand or found out from the manuscripts.

[crankymisfit]

Rusty acted liked he wanted to say something to Alan when Alan and Barry came by to pick up the cabin keys and he was treating Max. He dismissed whatever he was going to say that attacked Max and said it was probably the bear traps laying around.

[MikkiRMD]

Rusty acted liked he wanted to say something to Alan when Alan and Barry came by to pick up the cabin keys and he was treating Max. He dismissed whatever he was going to say that attacked Max and said it was probably the bear traps laying around.

Nope, it was a bear trap. You can even see it right there, next to the table he's got Max laid out on. (However, Rusty's assertion that it was poachers is wrong, unless the Taken also do a little bit of poaching on the side. An understandable mistake, given the circumstances.)

[crankymisfit]

My bad, that was in the book, I keep getting the two confused!

[nmgamer]

I liked Rusty too..also Nightingale, but they had little time and then poof...gone.