Recapping Alan Wake Ahead Of The Sequel

Alan Wake 2, the long-awaited sequel, is almost here. Since the sequel to Alan Wake has been talked about for more than a decade now, many people may not remember the story of the original game. Others might have never played it. You’re at the right place if that’s you. Here’s all you need to learn about Alan Wake 1 to prepare you for the sequel.

Bright Falls Arrival

This game is set on a vacation in Bright Falls Washington where Alan Wake, the protagonist, and Alice, his wife are going. Wake’s Alex Casey series is his most popular work, yet he hasn’t produced anything new for three years. Wake, who has been recognized several times in town by fans, including Rose the diner waitress, receives the keys to his cabin rental from a mysterious, old black woman. Then he drives off with his wife to start their holiday.

Upon arriving at the cabin, which is seated on an island in the middle of a body of water called Cauldron Lake, Alan realizes this was no simple vacation – Alice has a typewriter set up for him upstairs, hoping the remote location will break him out of his writer’s block. Alan is not interested in this. She has even found an artist-friendly doctor, Emil Hartman. Alice is yelled at and he storms off. After hearing Alice’s screaming, he quickly returns to the cabin and finds her tumbling over the railing. Alan dives in after her.

Alice, Taken

Alan, who has been experiencing hallucinations of the black woman and the old lady in the car, regains his consciousness behind the wheel of an accident. While he is on his journey back to civilisation, Alan must fight off shadowy mysterious figures known as Taken with his flashlight before shooting them. In addition, he collects the pages from “Departure,” a book that resembles a work authored by him. Alan continues to find these pages throughout the whole game, and they all relate to events happening at the moment or that will happen in the near future.

After he has emerged from the forest, he asks Sheriff Breaker if his wife is still alive. Alan is gone for a week and Alice has probably been presumed to be dead. There is no cabin at Cauldron lake, either, so Alan’s tale is illogical. Alan gets a call at the Sheriff’s Office from someone who claims to have Alice in captivity and is willing to release her if Alan can bring the finished manuscript. Barry, Alan’s friend and agent arrives at this time to offer his help. After Alan finds the kidnapper, they admit that they didn’t have Alice. He and Alan then get sucked into a dark energy tornado. Dark Presence, the same energy responsible for posses Taken, also exists.

Cauldron Lake Lodging

The second time Alan has a fuzzy memory in the game he wakes up in Cauldron Lodge, a psychiatric facility. Emil Hartman runs the facility, which was recommended by Alice at the start. The doctor tells Alan that everything up to this point was a product of his imagination. He also claims Alan has been having a psychotic breakdown ever since Alice drowned. Luckily for Alan, he’s able to see that this is all a trick – Hartman has actually been running this facility as a way to force artists into making work and then crediting himself as a producer to get rich and famous. Alan releases Barry who was being held by Hartman. When the Dark Presence reappears, Wake locks Hartman in a dark room, surrounded by a swirling cloud of malice.

Tor and Odin Andersen, who are both elderly brothers that make up the band Old Gods of Asgard, reside in this psychiatric institution. They may have dementia but they know more than anyone about their situation. Wake is directed to the old farm. He finds the clue to the mystery in a song describing the lady of the light, Cynthia Weaver. Barry and Alan agree to stay the night in the farmhouse and find the Lady of the Light when it is light. Alan sees a flashback of his week gone by while he is sleeping. It turns out that he spent the entire time trapped at Cauldron Lake – also called The Dark Place – and was forced to create a tale about the Dark Presence’s growing power.

Around this time, we begin to get a better idea about what The Dark Place/Dark Presence is. A supernatural entity in Cauldron Lake is capable of turning fiction into fact. What’s the only problem? This is because it can’t generate the stories itself. It needs an artist to create them for it. Thomas Zane was the last person it held hostage. However, he did not escape. In some visions, he appears as a floating man in a vintage diving suit. Barbara Jagger also was taken hostage, but Zane did not succeed in freeing her. Instead, the Dark Presence took Barbara’s body to become the Old Woman In Black.

The Clicker

Alan wakes up to find FBI Agent Nightingale waiting to arrest him and Barry. He’s been hunting Alan the whole game – now, he’s caught him. Sheriff Breaker, believing that Nightingale has gone mad, lets Alan and Barry go from their cells soon after returning to Bright Falls. Nightingale protests by pulling out a page of a manuscript, claiming it as evidence against Wake since the story tells how Nightingale was sucked in to a dark force. Nightingale was sucked into The Dark Presence moments later.

Barry and Breaker, now convinced that Alan is lying, help Alan to get a helicopter. The three then fly over to Cynthia Weaver. She is obsessed with keeping the darkness away, and lives in a plant that constantly changes bulbs. She knows Thomas Zane from before the Dark Presence took him down. She leads Alan to the Well-Lit area, and there she keeps the Clicker along with the manuscript written by Zane. Zane’s page explains the history of Alan’s clicker, a childhood device that was designed to boost his confidence.

A. Wake vs. A Lake

The final game chapter sees Alan returning to Cauldron Lake to face the darkness alone. With the clicker in hand, Alan dives deep into the darkness. After entering, Mr. Scratch appears briefly, and this dark version of Mr. Scratch will serve as an antagonist for the Alan Wake sequel/spin-off Alan Wake’s American Nightmare in 2012. Alan finally makes it to the Dark Place’s cabin and kills Barbara Jagger by inserting the clicker where the woman used to have her heart. Unfortunately, Alan still needs to finish his manuscript. The Dark Presence is not satisfied by a happy end to a thriller. He frees Alice, but he is trapped in the Dark Place. Alan Wake 2 begins with the revelation that he has been in the Dark Place for 13 years. This is the time span between the original game and the sequel.

You’re ready to jump into Alan Wake 2 now that you know the story. Check out the review of Alan Wake 2 and read up on its updates. You can also check out some hands-on footage from this year.