For the sequel, the budget increase allowed the team to hire professional actors to model for the graphic novel cutscenes and Lake was subsequently replaced by actor Timothy Gibbs. The game's script ended up being about four times as long as some movie scripts.

In the sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, the expanded budget meant Lake could stick to writing. Lake became the face model for the title character and he even got his mother to portray Nicole Horne, the game's main antagonist. As a result, Lake, along with other Remedy programmers, artists and staff played the roles. Because of the game's budget, Remedy could not hire actors.

He wrote the game's story and script and helped design levels. Lake played several roles in the development of Max Payne. Lake accepted the offer, and has since remained with Remedy. Remedy was developing their first game Death Rally and needed text for the game, and Järvilehto asked Lake, one of the few people Remedy knew in writing, to help. He was introduced to video games through a long-time friend Petri Järvilehto, one of the early members of Remedy Entertainment. Lake attended University of Helsinki studying English literature around 1995.

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