Alan Wake 2‘s story is more than a little meta and whether you’ve played the original or not it can be hard to wrap your head around. So if you’re wondering what happens in the award-winning horror sequel, here’s Alan Wake 2’s story, explained.
What Happened Before Alan Wake 2?
In the world of Alan Wake there’s a dimension known as the Dark Place, a dimension where fiction, art and even thoughts can become reality. Beneath Cauldron Lake in Washington lies an entrance to this dimension. It’s home to an entity known as the Dark Presence, which wants out into the ‘real’ world. It can infect people, usually through their fears, turning them into savage Taken.
In the first game, crime writer Alan Wake and his wife Alice went for a holiday by Cauldron Lake, to help clear his writer’s block. But, tapping into Wake’s power as a writer, The Dark Presence dragged Alice into the lake and started turning townspeople into taken. Alan defeated the Dark Presence, freeing Alice and the town but trapping himself in the Dark Place.
What Happens in Alan Wake 2?
FBI agent Saga Anderson is sent to Bright Falls with fellow agent Alex Casey. They’re investigating a series of murders taking place in the area, people with their hearts removed.
It later turns out that these people are all Taken, killed by the Cult of the Tree. And while they seem like the bad guys, they’re keeping the Dark Presence (still trapped in the Dark Place) at bay.
She finds Alan Wake on the shores of Cauldron Lake who warns her that his evil doppleganger, Mr Scratch, is after the Clicker, a disconnected lamp switch which amplifies the Dark Place’s reality-moulding powers.
Saga also discovers that her family are ‘Seers’ and that the Mind Place technique she uses to solve crimes is actually a supernatural talent.
Scratch has, it seems, written a story which can alter reality. One of the changes is that Saga’s daughter Logan is dead, which gives her a personal stake in fixing things.
Suddenly, Alan reveals himself as Mr. Scratch and Saga fights him until he escapes. With the help of the Federal Bureau of Control (introduced in Control) and Tor and Odin Anderson, her grandfather and great uncle (former rock stars), she resolves to get the ‘real’ Wake back.
Tor and Odin write a song about Wake escaping the Dark Place. As art (with its power amplified by the Clicker) the song should bring Wake back. The pair perform the song but Alan doesn’t appear.
After the song, Scratch appears. Saga and the FBC remove the Dark Presence from Wake, but it takes control of Agent Casey. Scratch/Casey hurls Saga into the lake and she sinks to the Dark Place. Tor and Odin wade in to rescue her.
Meanwhile, in Alan’s story, Alan is fighting his way out of the Dark Place. He’s been trying for 13 years, trapped in multiple time loops. He’s aided by supernatural entities Warlin Door and Ahti, though Door suggests Wake is putting barriers in his own way.
He encounters Thomas Zane who is also resident in the Dark Place. Zane is an artist who, like Wake, beat the Dark Presence back and ended up trapped in the Dark Place.
However, Wake fails to escape and his desperation allows the Dark Presence to take control of him. It’s revealed that Saga’s ritual to rescue Wake did work. But he was sent back a few days to when she found him at Cauldron Lake. The Dark Presence was lying dormant until it could take over.
In the Dark Place, Saga gets a “light bullet” from Alan’s wife Alice. Alice recovered her memories after visiting the FBC, so she faked her death to enter the Dark Place in search of Alan.
Saga escapes the Dark Place on her own, and working with the now unpossessed Wake, frees Casey and defeats the Dark Presence.
She and Alan literally rewrite the horror story that’s taking over, giving everyone a happy ending, but with a cost for the hero. Alan lets the Dark Presence once again possess him and Saga shoots him in the head with the light bullet, banishing or killing the Dark Presence.
The game ends with Saga calling her daughter who should now be alive. But we don’t get to hear her answer. Alan wakes up apparently unharmed, realising that, as hinted at by Alice, the loops he experienced in the Dark Place were all part of a spiral. At least, that’s how things end on your first playthrough.
What Happens in Alan Wake 2’s New Game Plus Ending
Play Alan Wake 2 through in New Game+ mode and you get a second, ‘true’ ending, along with some added scenes. So what are the differences?
The new ending confirms that Logan, Saga’s daughter is completely fine, though she had some strange nightmares. Speaking of Saga, we discover that the reason she could leave the Dark Place so easily was that Ahti had set up her exit. She also meets her uncles, Thor and Odin, in the Dark Place, though they don’t leave with her. We’re also given a glimpse of Control’s Dr. Darling, who is either in, or is able to access, the Dark Place.
As for Alan, it’s revealed that not only has he been trying again and again to escape the Dark Place, time has also been looping in the ‘real’ world. Your New Game+ represents his final loop. This playthrough also suggests that Thomas Zane himself is fictional and never existed in the real world.
Having come to terms with both his abilities and the Dark Place itself, Wake resurrects with Saga and Casey present. He explains that Scratch is now dead and that he’s now ‘the master of many worlds’. That sounds faintly unsettling so there’s definitely a sequel hook there. But, compared to the original ending, it’s still less of a cliffhanger.
And that’s Alan Wake 2’s story explained. We still don’t know for sure who Warlin Door is, though it’s hinted he’s Saga’s father. And Tim Breaker is still stuck in the Dark Place. But there is DLC on the way which, if the leaks are to be believed, could tie up those loose ends.
If you’re looking for more, check out all the patch notes for Alan Wake 2 Update 13, which adds New Game+ to the title.
