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Alan Wake 2 presents a twisting story, one which’s each a nebulous thriller and actively altered by the otherworldly energy of the supernatural Darkish Place and the writings of Alan Wake himself. Particularly within the ultimate moments, issues can get a bit complicated, as Saga Anderson’s and Alan’s tales intersect and the 2 execute a plan to cease the villainous Mr. Scratch.
This is what occurred within the ending, what it implies in regards to the future, and every thing you may need missed within the disjointed plot of Alan Wake 2. And when you want extra context, meet up with our Alan Wake story recap.
Warning: Spoilers for the ending of Alan Wake 2 past this level!
The Clicker and Saga’s Plan
First, we have to perceive what Saga and Alan try to do within the ultimate moments of the sport. The plan all through Alan Wake 2 has concerned Saga serving to Alan management the ending to Return, the story that has been coming to life all through Saga’s marketing campaign. As Return has unfolded, it has altered actuality, and one of many plot factors within the story is that Saga and her daughter Logan lived in Watery, and that Logan drowned years earlier. That is not the fact as Saga remembers it–before the occasions of the sport, Saga lived with Logan and her husband, David. The couple had by no means break up, Saga had by no means lived in Watery, and Logan was nonetheless alive.
So Saga wants an ending to Return that forestalls the change to Logan’s historical past from changing into everlasting; the story must acknowledge how actuality is being modified and to undo these adjustments. For that, she wants Alan to do the writing, and she or he wants the Clicker.
The Clicker is a key merchandise from the unique Alan Wake, and it is essential to grasp its place within the story. It is a gentle swap that was previously a part of a lamp–Alan’s angel lamp, to be exact. When he was a child and afraid of the darkish, Alan’s mother gave him the Clicker and advised him it had magic powers to drive away the monsters of Alan’s creativeness. On the time, the Clicker was only a good story that helped a child recover from his fears. However the Darkish Place’s energy has made the Clicker into one thing extra.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1581/15811374/4214912-alanwaketheclicker.jpg)
Imbued with all that perception and the reality-bending powers of the Darkish Place in Vivid Falls, the Clicker has turn into one thing of an amplifier. When used along with a narrative or different piece of artwork that the Darkish Place brings to life, the Clicker can render everlasting the adjustments to actuality that artwork creates. For instance, the Cult of the Tree has been utilizing the Clicker to make their rituals turn into actual (though they most likely do not truly know precisely the way it works), and that is how they have been eliminating Taken monsters. If Saga makes use of the Clicker alongside Alan’s edited story, it could actually make the story’s adjustments permanent–in principle, saving her daughter, defeating the Darkish Presence, and saving Alan from the Darkish Place.
In fact, all of it goes sideways. Saga makes use of the Clicker and Tor and Odin’s music to attempt to summon Alan from the Darkish Place, and it works–but Alan reveals up days earlier, at an earlier a part of the story. Alan-as-Scratch reveals up after the ritual ends and Saga manages to drive the Darkish Presence out of Alan, nevertheless it possesses Casey as an alternative. Casey-as-Scratch steals the Clicker and throws Saga into Cauldron Lake; she winds up within the Darkish Place.
The Everlasting Deerfest
Scratch, in any other case often called the Darkish Presence, is near profitable all of it at this level. Since earlier than the occasions of the unique Alan Wake, the Darkish Presence has been caught within the Darkish Place, unable to flee. It could possibly affect the world round Cauldron Lake, however that is it. The Darkish Presence has been attempting to make use of artists to set itself free so it could actually unfold its affect throughout the entire world, and by possessing and manipulating Alan all this time, it lastly has created a narrative that may do the job. It simply has to final lengthy sufficient for the ending to play out and turn into actuality.
Alan’s plan to cease Scratch is to edit the ending of Return. To try this, he is caught returning to the Darkish Place. He must be in his Author’s Room, on the peak of his energy, to finish the rewrite. However he additionally must know what’s speculated to occur in Return so he can change it.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214980-alanwakedeerfest.jpg)
When Alan returns to the Darkish Place, we get a glimpse of what Scratch means to create: an everlasting Deerfest. It needs to take full management of actuality, remaking it nonetheless it sees match. The spooky pageant is only a metaphorical illustration of that concept, however think about one thing like that all over the place and you’ve got a reasonably good concept of what is going on on. Fortunately, the goofy surrealness of Return implies that Alan’s capable of finding a bodily copy of the e-book, which he can learn to seek out out the story’s ending and alter it.
Alan makes his method to the Author’s Room, which right here exists in Valhalla Nursing Dwelling. With somewhat assist from Rose and Ahti, he will get to the place he must be. However then he runs into the identical downside he is had for 13 years.
The explanation Alan has been trapped within the Darkish Place all this time is that he can by no means fairly get the story proper to get himself out. He is made a number of makes an attempt, however the manipulations of the Darkish Presence and the mind-altering properties of the Darkish Place imply he is by no means been capable of write a narrative adequate to do the job. That downside persists even now. What’s extra, he has a restricted period of time to write down, as a result of Scratch is looking for him and means to cease him from finishing his edit. If that occurs, Scratch wins, Deerfest turns into everlasting, and Logan dies.
The Collaborator
The X-factor, although, is Saga. She frees herself from the jail of doubt the Darkish Place places her in and begins venturing throughout a model of Alan’s shifting actuality. She nonetheless wants the Clicker, however there is a answer to that downside.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214981-alanwake2_20231101144429.jpg)
Bear in mind when Ahti despatched you to retrieve Alice’s pictures from the basement of the discuss present set, and then you definitely obtained a telephone name telling you to place these pictures in a shoebox? That was setup for this second. Saga finds the pictures within the shoebox, however because of the ability of the Darkish Place engaged on Alice’s artwork, the pictures turn into their topics: the Clicker and the bullet made of sunshine. With the bullet, Saga can kill Scratch, and the Clicker could make Alan’s rewritten ending come true.
Saga contacts Alan by her Thoughts Place, and collectively, the 2 of them rework the ending to Return. The suggestion is that the addition of a brand new voice and perspective on the story is what can lastly assist Alan write it in a method that may defeat the Darkish Presence. He wasn’t in a position to take action alone, however collectively, he and Saga can write a narrative sturdy sufficient to work.
It isn’t with out sacrifices, although. As Alan repeatedly notes, it is a horror story, and the conventions of the style should be revered. If the ending is not sufficiently darkish, it will not be satisfying and true to the artwork, and if the artwork is inauthentic, it will not turn into actuality. They’ll want a darkish ending to ensure that this plan to work.
When Saga makes it to the Author’s Room, we see the ending play out. Casey-as-Scratch arrives, decided to cease them from making their edit, however Saga makes use of the Clicker to show the story into actuality. The story forces the Darkish Presence out of Casey and into Alan. Saga shoots him, ostensibly killing Scratch. The entire thing ends ambiguously as Saga tries to name Logan to verify that the story has been modified and her daughter remains to be alive, however we by no means hear if Logan picks up on the opposite finish.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214988-alanwake2_20231023142331.jpg)
Extra to the story
So did it work? It is unclear. The story ends with Saga and Casey standing within the Author’s Room–apparently nonetheless within the Darkish Place. The bullet of sunshine looks like it ought to have killed Scratch, however that is not likely clear both. Alan has seemingly destroyed manifestations of the Darkish Presence on two earlier occasions–in the unique Alan Wake and in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare–but it retains coming again.
We do know there’s extra to the story, at the least for Alan. Treatment has already introduced two additions to the story, the Evening Springs and Lake Home DLC expansions, though particulars on each are skinny at this level. However there’s additionally that mid-credits scene that recontextualizes quite a bit.
The mid-credits scene offers primarily with Alan’s spouse, Alice. By means of the course of his journey by the Darkish Place, Alan noticed Alice’s work in creating a brand new picture exhibition and a documentary about her work. Alice has been haunted by visions of Alan showing in her residence. Alan thought it was Scratch attacking Alice, however by the tip of his story, he realizes that it was his repeated makes an attempt to succeed in her of their previous residence inflicting her visions of him. The documentary concludes with the revelation that Alice took her personal life to flee the torment.
The mid-credits scene, nonetheless, reveals that that is not truly the case. Alice truly faked her demise as a result of she realized that her experiences in Vivid Falls throughout the authentic Alan Wake have been actual, and that Alan has been trapped within the Darkish Place ever since. That is truly referencing plot factors from one other Treatment recreation, Control, and its AWE expansion.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214984-alanwakealice.jpg)
In AWE, Alice visits the Federal Bureau of Management to inform them in regards to the visions of Alan she’s been seeing, after managing to seize one of many appearances on movie utilizing motion-activated cameras. Alice had interacted with the FBC within the aftermath of the primary Alan Wake story, the truth is, and her go to to the Oldest Home in New York unlocks her recollections of the Darkish Place. In AWE, it is closely implied that these occasions are a part of a narrative Alan is writing from the Darkish Place, with new manuscript pages showing within the Oldest Home throughout the DLC.
The mid-credits scene makes it clear that Alice’s obvious suicide was truly her returning to the Darkish Place, this time with a plan. It was Alice who known as Saga and helped lead her by the Darkish Place, and it appears Alice means to lastly assist save Alan as soon as and for all. How she’s going to try this, precisely, is not clear, however she thinks her intimate information of the Darkish Place will give her an edge.
It is Not a Loop, It is a Spiral
The ultimate second of the mid-credits scene sees Alan waking up from Saga taking pictures him to utter the road, “It isn’t a loop, it is a spiral.” So at the start, we have seen Alan die within the Darkish Place a bunch of occasions, nevertheless it’s by no means permanent–and it appears even the bullet made of sunshine wasn’t sufficient to place Alan down for good whereas he is right here. So he is nonetheless alive and nonetheless trapped within the Darkish Place.
Clearly, there’s extra to the story. We all know that Alan known as himself from “one other level within the story” to instruct himself to depart Alice’s pictures within the shoebox. Not like different components of the loop, we have not seen that decision being positioned but, so no matter level within the story it is from, it is past the present conclusion of the sport.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214987-alanwakenightlessnight.jpg)
The spiral line additionally carries some heavy implications from what we noticed earlier within the recreation. Should you watch Tom Zane’s movie, Nightless Evening, when it performs on the conclusion of the cinema part of the sport, you will hear (or learn) that line spoken once more by the movie’s model of Alex Casey. In that context, Casey is realizing one thing darkish. The movie is about Casey in the end being sacrificed by a cult led by Barbara Jagger, the lady he loves. She, nonetheless, loves Zane, as depicted within the movie. Mainly, the gist is that Barbara manipulates Casey into changing into a ritual sacrifice to launch Zane from the Darkish Place. When Casey says “It isn’t a loop, it is a spiral,” he appears to imply that he is been despatched downward, into the Darkish Place, to interchange Zane.
For Alan, “It isn’t a loop, it is a spiral,” may imply the opposite–that Alan can use the loop to ascend out of the Darkish Place, if he is aware of climb it. However Nightless Evening is not included within the recreation with out motive, and it closely implies that anyone might want to exchange Alan in an effort to get him out.
We may be getting some hints about one other antagonist for the way forward for the story: Tom Zane. Alan confronts and shoots Zane throughout the story, however like Alan, Zane apparently does not keep lifeless. We all know he is been making his personal makes an attempt to flee the Darkish Place and that he went as far as to work with Mr. Scratch to that finish. It is robust to understand how actually to take Nightless Evening, nevertheless it provides a significantly darkish impression of Zane that looks like it will be very related sooner or later.
What About Saga?
As talked about, Saga’s destiny is left ambiguous on the finish of Alan Wake 2. On the very least, she appears to nonetheless be within the Darkish Place with Casey, and it is not particularly clear how she would get out, no matter what occurred with the conclusion of Return affecting actuality.
There is a hanging thread that appears poised to take care of that, too, although. After the summoning ritual and Scratch throwing Saga into the Darkish Place, Tor and Odin wade into Cauldron Lake after her. It looks like they’re headed in to assist get her again out, however the remainder of the sport goes on with the Previous Gods of Asgard by no means reappearing. They’re down there, within the Darkish Place, so far as we all know. It does not appear to be a lot of a stretch to guess that Saga’s story will probably be wrapped up in one of many DLC additions, with Tor and Odin taking part in a job in lastly serving to Saga make her escape with Casey.
Let’s not neglect about Warlin Door and Sheriff Tim Breaker, as effectively, who appear to have roles but to play. The impression of Door all through Alan Wake 2 is that he is conscious of Alan’s story and collaborating in it willingly. Tim, too, looks like he has a component to play that has not but been totally realized.
![No Caption Provided](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1581/15811374/4214979-alanwake2_20231028163036.jpg)
So there are many components for the story to take care of, and we all know there’s at the least a good quantity of story but to be advised in Alan Wake 2. As of proper now, although, the conclusion is that Alan sacrificed himself to stay within the Darkish Place in an effort to save Saga, Casey, Logan, and Vivid Falls. What we nonetheless do not know is whether or not he was successful–but we do know that there are folks nonetheless trying to assist him. It appears probably that the story of Alan Wake has the potential to show right into a trilogy.
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