Given how much time Alan Wake 2 asks you to spend investigating various crimes connected to The Dark Presence, it’s vital that you understand exactly how Agent Saga Anderson’s thought process. Here’s everything you need to know about the Mind Place in Alan Wake 2.
Isn’t That Mind Palace?
The Mind Place is Remedy’s take on the memory technique known as the Mind Palace. Saga even mentioned that her Mind Place is her version of a Mind Palace, presumably because it’s much smaller, taking up only a single room. If you’ve watched Sherlock then you’re likely already familiar with the concept. The technique involves creating a mental location that’s distinct to you and placing various memories in different rooms and places, navigating through the structure to retrieve information that you previously set down.
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You can access the Alan Wake 2 Mind Place with a tap of button, whisking Saga away to an office built within her own mind. She’s not physically moved there, so don’t start playing memory games in the middle of a fight, but she’s able to move around the space and interact with various objects.
Stocking up the Mind Place
Over the course of Alan Wake 2‘s narrative, more and more elements will be added to Saga’s Mind Place. Initially, you’ll begin only with the Case Board and the Map, which are generally mounted directly ahead of you when you enter your cerebral office. The Case Board allows Saga to place various pieces of evidence to show connections between locations, individuals and groups. She even uses red thread to link them all together like a classic noir detective!
The map hangs on the wall to the left of the Case Board. You’ll need to first find it in the real world before its added to the Mind Place, but once it’s there, you won’t forget it.
At the central desk, Saga can engage with Profiling, a unique ability which allows the FBI Agent to get into the heads of the people she’s investigating, both alive and dead. You’ll be given the option to profile when it becomes clear that someone is lying or if a dead person’s motivations for doing anything are unknown. It’s kind of like Hannibal, in a way.
The Mind Palace also stores all your Manuscript Pages and Manuscript Fragments. While they have similar names, they have very different functions. Pages play a key role in the narrative, effectively preparing players for the next major encounter or event, while Fragments are used to upgrade weapons. Not entirely sure about the logic there, but I’ve accepted weirder.
Lastly, Saga’s Mind Place houses any and all Audio and Television programs she encounters while wandering around Bright Falls. Want a repeat of radio host Pat Maine waxing lyrical about Deerfest? Just head on over to the boombox and select which show you want to hear. Same thing with the television if you want to rewatch some of the town’s… quirkier commercials.
Saga’s Mind Place is effectively Alan Wake 2‘s character screen. It might not show your inventory, but it serves as a menu that players can walk around and explore rather than just scroll through. There are even some components that aren’t tied to any mystery; at one point, selecting a toppled salt shaker makes Saga recall pranking Agent Casey. Another instance I found had her recalling her daughter Logan.
While it make seem like the game is throwing a lot at you to start, you’ll eventually settling into using the Mind Place. If you play as Alan Wake, he has a similar “escape” although his is far less mental and more… in the center of The Dark Place. Not quite as cozy as an office in a sleepy Bright Falls inn.
