Sam Lake has explained what was going through his mind when he produced his iconic squinting face for Max Payne.

Alan Wake 2 director Sam Lake has suggested that, in hindsight, he might not have been as open to the idea of lending his own mug to Max Payne had he known how successful the series would become.

Sam Lake revealed the Photoshop experiment that sparked Max Payne's cover art inspiration. Max Payne remains iconic due to its neo-noir theme and Bullet Time gameplay. Fans applauded Lake's origin ...

Sam Lake, gaming’s genre-bending auteur, ... Smiles crack easy for him, softening a face that was once famous as the leathery, tight-as-a-fist mug of the depressed and dour Max Payne.

Sam Lake on Control 2, Remedy’s Connected Universe, and the Studio’s Future. Posted: December 27, 2024 ... Much Of The South Is About To Face The Coldest January Since 2011.

Back in October 2023, Lake, who also provided the face of Max Payne in the classic PS2 games, said that he’d like to make a dark gothic fantasy game following completion of Alan Wake 2.

Sam Lake Biography Sami Antero Järvi (Born 28 March 1970), better known by his pen name Sam Lake ('Järvi' is Finnish for lake), is a Finnish video game writer and director.

The 2001 shooter uses a static 3D model for Max’s face, with swappable facial expressions pulled from photographs of Lake. These are switched around in the game to match whatever's going on.