Alan Wake — Three Games

Alan Wake

Alan Wake (voiced by Matthew Porretta) is a bestselling crime fiction author from New York City who suffers from a two-year stretch of writer's block. He and his wife Alice travel to the small mountain town of Bright Falls, Washington, for a short vacation on the advice of their friend and agent Barry Wheeler. Before arriving, Alan has a nightmare about shadowy figures who try to kill him, when an ethereal figure in a diving suit intervenes in the dream and teaches him how to utilize light to fend off the shadows.
Upon arrival in Bright Falls, Alan goes to a diner to retrieve the keys to their cabin from Carl Stucky, the landlord, but instead encounters a mysterious old woman, who tells him that Stucky had fallen ill and she was entrusted to give Alan the keys. The woman directs the couple to a cabin on an island in the middle of Cauldron Lake, a volcanic crater lake, where Alan experiences a vision of the old woman. As they unpack, Alice reveals that the real purpose of their trip is to help break his writer's block by arranging for him to see a famous Bright Falls psychologist named Dr. Emil Hartman. Alan is infuriated and storms out, only to rush back when he hears Alice crying for help. He returns just as Alice is dragged into the lake's waters by a mysterious force. Alan dives in after her, blacking out as he submerges.
After yet another hallucination of the old woman, Alan regains consciousness, apparently having driven his car off the road with no memory of how he got there. He attempts to reach a nearby gas station but progress is hampered by murderous, shadowy figures resembling those in his dream. While fighting the shadows with light, Alan repeatedly encounters an ethereal figure in a diving suit similar to the one from his dream, who leaves behind pages of a manuscript entitled Departure. Ostensibly written by Alan, he has no memory of writing it. He soon discovers that the events of the manuscript are coming true and that the shadowy figures, named "Taken," are townsfolk possessed by a dark force. After killing a possessed Carl Stucky and reaching the gas station, Alan tries to alert Sheriff Sarah Breaker of his wife's disappearance but Sheriff Breaker states that there has been no island or cabin in Cauldron Lake for decades after it sank in a volcanic eruption. Breaker believes Alan is mentally unwell and takes him to the police station. Meanwhile, Barry arrives in Bright Falls in search of Alan.
At the police station, Alan lies to hide the hallucinations he has been experiencing. He receives a call from a man purporting to be Alice's kidnapper, demanding the pages of Departure in exchange for her. Emil Hartman appears at the station to invite Alan to stay at his psychiatric hospital, Cauldron Lake Lodge—Alan punches Hartman as a response. Alan meets the kidnapper Mott at a nearby national park, who demands pages of Departure as ransom. The two fight before Mott runs off into the night.
Alan and Barry attempt to retrieve more pages and attract the attention of FBI agent Robert Nightingale. Alan leaves Barry behind and flees Nightingale, who chases him through the forest unsuccessfully. He meets Mott again to deliver the pages. As he arrives at the location he witnesses Mott being tortured by the mysterious old woman, confessing that he never actually had Alice. Alan and Mott are then attacked by a dark tornado that hurls Alan into Cauldron Lake.
He awakens in the lodge overlooking Cauldron Lake under the care of Hartman who claims Alan is experiencing a psychotic break, triggered by Alice drowning. He claims the supernatural phenomena Alan has been experiencing were all fabrications of his imagination. Alan attempts to escape the lodge as the shadowy force starts to attack it, learning in the process that the fake kidnapper was employed by Hartman to lure Alan to him. Hartman tries to stop Alan from escaping, and gives the impression that he is aware of the supernatural events surrounding the lake. Barry helps Alan escape the lodge before the shadow subsumes it and all those inside.
Alan and Barry gradually begin to learn the truth about Cauldron Lake from other townsfolk. An entity known as the Dark Presence is trapped within the lake, attempting to escape by using the lake's power to turn literature into reality. It had previously tried this with a poet named Thomas Zane—the figure in the diving suit—by taking the form of his spouse who drowned in the lake, Barbara Jagger, the old woman Alan encountered. Zane was able to resist its will and used his writings to cause the volcanic eruption that sank the island, stranding himself within the lake. The Dark Presence has grown strong enough to start to influence the townspeople and create the forces that have pursued Alan. That night as Alan and Barry take shelter, they get drunk on moonshine and Alan recalls memories of being forced to write Departure during the prior week. He realised that the Dark Presence is trying to use his writings to escape, holding Alice in the lake so as to coerce him.
Alan and Barry are arrested by Robert Nightingale but the Taken assault the police station and drag Nightingale away. Sheriff Breaker, now convinced of the Dark Presence's existence, helps Alan and Barry to reach Cynthia Weaver, a hermit who knew Thomas Zane and prepared countermeasures for the Dark Presence's return. Weaver leads them to the "Well-Lit Room" containing a light switch known as the Clicker, which, through the power of Alan's writings, possesses the narrative ability to destroy the Dark Presence. Alan returns to Cauldron Lake alone and dives in, finding himself in a surreal alternate dimension known as the Dark Place, where thoughts and ideas become reality. Alan encounters Jagger and destroys her with the Clicker; realising he must maintain balance in the story, Alan completes Departure by freeing Alice, but strands himself in the Dark Place in the process. Finishing Departure, Alan writes the final line, "It's not a lake, it's an ocean."

Special One: The Signal

Continuing from the end of the main game, Alan finds himself in a surreal version of Bright Falls and realises he is still trapped in the Dark Place. Zane directs Alan to follow a signal through a cell phone in order to "focus" and guide himself through the Dark Place. While navigating the realm's shifting, dreamlike topography, Alan encounters television screens depicting a more maniacal version of himself, who uses the power of the Dark Place to narrate circumstances that plunge Alan into danger, sending hordes of Taken after him. Alan also encounters an ethereal version of Barry, a figment of his subconsciousness, who helps guide Alan safely across the abstract landscape.
Zane eventually reveals that Alan himself is the cause of his current circumstance; the maniacal version of Alan on the television screens is an irrational aspect of Alan consumed by fear, his frenzied thoughts affecting the subjective world of the Dark Place. Alan encounters a monstrous conglomeration of televisions, through which the irrational Alan tries to kill him. Alan defeats the televisions, but wakes up back in the cabin again, and realises he is still trapped.

Special Two: The Writer

Still trapped in the Dark Place, Alan regains consciousness and accepts that he is the cause of the insanity he is experiencing, regaining his memories in the process. Zane tells him that the "irrational Alan" is still inside the cabin, controlling the Dark Place; the "rational Alan" must regain control in order to have any chance of escaping the Dark Place. Zane directs Alan to a lighthouse across the increasingly surreal landscape of the Dark Place, while the irrational Alan attempts to stop him by creating delusions of Alice, manipulating the landscape, and sending armies of Taken after him. Alan eventually outwits his other self and reaches the lighthouse, passing through it to reach the cabin.
As Alan nears the cabin, the imaginary Barry reappears and tells Alan that he will have to reject all the illusions before he can face off against the insane version of Alan, including the apparition of Barry. Alan is forced to confront Taken versions of Barry and the other townsfolk, defeating them all and reentering the cabin. The irrational Alan is in a paranoid state on the cabin floor; when Alan touches him, the two are made whole again. Alan realises that he cannot let himself fall into a delusional state again for fear of never being able to escape, and returns to the typewriter to start a new story.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

=== Setting and characters ===
Alan Wake's American Nightmare revolves around the titular Alan Wake, a former bestselling author of crime fiction. During a vacation to the small town of Bright Falls, Washington, Alan encountered a supernatural entity known as the Dark Presence, which forced him to write the manuscript of a horror novel which would give it power by turning the events of the story into reality. This occurred through the power of the Dark Place, a subjective alternate dimension located beneath the volcanic Cauldron Lake near Bright Falls. Alan was ultimately able to defeat the Dark Presence by altering the ending of the manuscript, freeing Bright Falls and destroying the Dark Presence but trapping Alan within the Dark Place.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare focuses on Mr. Scratch, a doppelgänger of Alan created by the power of Cauldron Lake. During the events of the game, it is revealed that Mr. Scratch was created when false rumors spread of Alan following his disappearance; the power of the Dark Place turned this misinformation into reality in the form of Mr. Scratch, who thus represents a negative, purely evil version of Alan. Mr. Scratch serves an unknown entity from the Dark Place, and seeks to use its power to plunge the Earth into darkness. Alan seeks to defeat Mr. Scratch in order to protect humanity, particularly his wife, Alice Wake. Like the Dark Presence, Mr. Scratch has the power to possess human beings and turn them into "Taken," monstrosities which can only be killed when light is shone on them.
The game takes place in Night Springs, a fictional town brought to life by Alan's writings. Within the town, Alan encounters several denizens who aid him in his mission to stop Mr. Scratch, including auto mechanic Emma Sloan, astronomer Dr. Rachel Meadows, and art curator Serena Valdivia. Other characters who make cameos in the game include Alan's friend and agent Barry Wheeler, and the Anderson brothers, heavy metal musicians from Bright Falls who aided Alan during the events of the first game, whom Barry now manages during their comeback tour.

Plot

The plot of American Nightmare is framed by the narration of an episode of the fictional TV show, Night Springs, which follows the style of The Twilight Zone and appeared on television screens throughout the original Alan Wake. The episode is displayed on a TV screen in the hotel room of Barry Wheeler, Alan's friend and former agent. The narration explains that Alan is attempting to chase down the "herald of darkness", Mr. Scratch, who is Alan's evil doppelganger created by a dark force. Scratch is determined to take away everything Alan loves, including his wife, Alice. Alan, as the "champion of light," has the ability to rewrite reality, and was able to write his escape from Cauldron Lake in Washington. He ends up near the small town of Night Springs, Arizona, and learns that he has been missing from the real world for nearly two years.
A nearby oil derrick erupts with hordes of Taken controlled by Mr. Scratch. Seeking light, Alan runs to a nearby motel, where he encounters Emma Sloan, who at first thinks he is Mr. Scratch, since they look identical. She tells Alan that Scratch was at the motel the night before, and provides Alan with a typewritten page, a way to alter reality to destroy the derrick and stop the Taken. Alan follows its instructions and alters the scene by the oil derrick, which causes a meteor to collide with an artificial satellite, sending it hurtling towards the Earth, where it then collides with the oil derrick. While Alan is away performing this task, the dark forces consume Emma.
Following clues he found at the motel, along with a set of keys, Alan heads to a nearby observatory. There, Dr. Rachel Meadows, who also met Mr. Scratch previously, is tracking a mysterious signal sent just before the satellite was knocked out of orbit. Rachel tells Alan that Mr. Scratch was very interested in this signal, and Alan surmises that it must contain the key to defeating him. Before they can acquire the complete signal, the observatory's telescope is sabotaged by the Taken. After Alan repairs the damage, a portion of the signal comes through that translates into a page of a story: a new reality that Alan can presumably implement.
The page points Alan to a nearby drive-in theater, where he meets Serena Valdivia, who is under the influence of the darkness. After freeing her by restoring power and switching the lights on, Serena tells Alan that Mr. Scratch is trying to prevent the sun from ever rising again. She gives Alan the security code to the projection room where he can change reality. Alan uses the incomplete message to try to set the new reality; however, as the message is only partial, the new reality does not take effect. Mr. Scratch appears, gloating, and sends Alan back in time to a few hours before. Alan realizes that Mr. Scratch intends to keep Alan trapped in the time loop forever, until he is finally killed and Mr. Scratch will be free to take over the world.
Waking up again near the motel, Alan repeats many of the same motions. Emma and Rachel still have some deja vu of the previous loop's events, and have helped perform some of Alan's previous tasks for him. Despite his efforts to change events this time around, Emma is nevertheless consumed again by the darkness. Rachel is able to capture a longer portion of the signal this time, but it is still incomplete. When Alan returns to the drive-in theater, he is still unable to complete the new reality and is sent back in time again by Mr. Scratch.
Alan repeats his actions for a third time, but this time, he is able to save Emma and gain the complete message from Rachel. He sets the correct series of events in the projection room, which triggers the projector to show a film made by Alice. Mr. Scratch appears again, but discovers that Alan has successfully written the new reality, and he is burned out of existence by the film. On the screen, Alan appears to reunite with Alice along a sun-lit shoreline; however, the narrator challenges whether these events actually occurred, or were merely a figment of Alan's imagination.
In a post-credits scene, Barry wakes up suddenly, believing he has heard Alan's voice.

Alan Wake 2

=== Plot ===
FBI agent Saga Anderson, known for her intuitive skills, arrives in Bright Falls with partner Alex Casey to investigate ritualistic murders linked to the Cult of the Tree. Their latest victim is Robert Nightingale, a fellow agent who went missing in a mass incident that occurred in the town in 2010 and was largely covered up by the US government. During the autopsy, Nightingale's corpse reanimates and escapes. Guided by mysterious typewritten pages that seem to predict events, Saga hunts Nightingale through the Cauldron Lake woods and kills him, then finds missing novelist Alan Wake washed ashore, warning of his evil doppelgänger, Mr. Scratch. Back in town, Alan recounts his 13 years trapped in the Dark Place—a dimension tied to the lake and ruled by the Dark Presence, which manifests as Scratch. Alan has tried to escape by writing stories that alter reality, but his attempts always loop back to an apparition of his New York apartment with his wife Alice. Video diaries left by Alice in the apartment suggest she is also haunted by Scratch.
Alan eventually writes a story called Return about Saga's investigation, but realizes it has been twisted by Scratch. He warns Saga that Scratch is seeking the Clicker, a supernatural artifact capable of freeing or destroying the Dark Presence. As Return unfolds, Saga discovers her past has been rewritten so that her daughter Logan drowned. Determined to end the story, she retrieves the Clicker but is intercepted by the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), led by Agent Kiran Estevez, who apprehends Alan and the Cult leaders, Ilmo and Jaakko Koskela.
Saga learns from Odin and Tor Anderson—her grand-uncle and grandfather—that her psychic abilities allow her to perceive changes in reality caused by Return. When she attempts to give Alan the Clicker, he kills Jaakko and attacks Saga, convincing her he is actually Scratch. Using FBC light tech, she drives him off. Ilmo, grieving his brother, reveals the Cult's purpose was to defend Bright Falls from the Taken, humans possessed by the Dark Presence. Saga joins forces with Casey, Estevez, Odin, and Tor to summon the real Alan from the Dark Place using the Clicker.
In the Dark Place, Alan learns from his future self that his endless rewrites have created time loops. He discovers a suicide note from Alice and realizes the haunting was caused by his repeated trips to the apartment. Mistaking his past self for Scratch, an enraged Alan kills him, perpetuating the cycle. His despair allows the Dark Presence to possess him, and he subsequently disappears.
The ritual succeeds in bringing Alan back, but at an earlier point in the story, with the Dark Presence inside of him waiting to take over. The possessed Alan attacks the group. Saga and Estevez banish the Dark Presence from Alan, but it transfers to Casey, steals the Clicker, and throws Saga into the Dark Place. Alan re-enters the Dark Place to write a new ending, while Saga learns to navigate the realm, retrieves the Clicker and a Bullet of Light, and reunites with Alan to complete the story.
Saga uses the Clicker to purge Casey. Alan provokes the Dark Presence into possessing him again, and Saga shoots him with the Bullet of Light, seemingly destroying both Alan and the entity. As he dies, Alan realizes the story is trapped in a loop and will reset. Saga calls Logan to see if reality has been restored, but the screen cuts to black.
In a final video diary, Alice reveals she tricked Alan into believing she had died, explaining that he must break the cycle through “destruction” or “ascension.” Alan revives, declaring, “It's not a loop, it's a spiral.”
In the New Game Plus mode, The Final Draft, repeated playthroughs bring the spiral to its end. Alan finishes Return, severing the Dark Presence, which was born from his own darkness and tied to Alice. The Bullet of Light destroys it permanently. Logan answers Saga's call, and Alan revives, free from the loop, proclaiming himself "the master of many worlds.”

Expansions

==== Night Springs ====
Within the Remedy Connected Universe, Night Springs was a horror anthology show akin to The Twilight Zone, which had a few episodes written by Alan himself. Previously used during American Nightmare in a failed attempt to escape the Dark Place, a new season hosted by Warlin Door, a mysterious figure in the Dark Place who accosts Alan during the start of his chapters, covers three short and mostly disconnected stories featuring familiar faces from both Alan Wake and Control - it's implied that these were earlier drafts of Alan's that he rejected in favor of what would become the final version of Control and Return, given the parallels between each story:Number One Fan: A pastiche of poorly-written self-insert power fantasies, the Number One Fan (Rose Marigold) fights through hordes of rabid critics in order to save her beloved writer (Alan Wake) from his evil twin (Mr. Scratch). Notably, the evil twin attempts to impersonate the writer at one point; this makes it into Return as Scratch hiding in Alan before he tries to take the Clicker from Saga.
North Star: Effectively a cut-down retelling of Control, the Sibling (Jesse Faden) is led to a coffee-themed amusement park, secretly a cover for a paranormal government agency, by her Guiding Star (Polaris), to search for her long-lost brother (physically Alan Wake, voice by Dylan Faden/Sean Durrie), only to find the park taken over by an corruptive and alien force imbued within the park's coffee (the Hiss).

Time Breaker: Actor Shawn Ashmore (who plays Tim Breaker in the main game) seemingly finds his own dead body in his dressing room while starring in a videogame developed by Poison Pill Entertainment (parodying Remedy), subsequently becoming embroiled in a multiversal conflict between the Ripple Effect Corporation, spearheaded by Agent Jesbet (Jesse) and Ashmore's many counterparts, and the Master of Many Worlds (Warlin Door & Alan Wake). Notably, a number of elements both in the base game and Time Breaker imply that Tim Breaker, Jesse Faden, and Warlin Door are alternate versions of characters in Quantum Break.

The Lake House

After Alan washes up to shore from the Clicker ritual, the FBC is alerted to an Altered World Event occurring; Kiran Estevez and her team travel to a research facility dedicated to studying Cauldron Lake, the eponymous Lake House, to gather information and additional manpower in order to coordinate a response, only to find it under a state of emergency and seemingly abandoned. Estevez quickly finds out that the Dark Presence has managed to take over the facility - along with its two married heads, Jules and Diana Marmont, whose Taken forms subsequently slaughter the rest of her team.
As the agent ventures further into the facility, Estevez discovers that the Marmonts began to chafe within their marriage and the continued stresses of running the Lake House, and exploited the Oldest House's continued lockdown to conduct increasingly unethical and deranged experiments with no oversight in an effort to one-up each other; Jules attempted to exploit the Dark Presence's abilities by abusing and drugging Rudolf Lane, artist and former patient of Emil Hartman, while Diana believed that attempting to emulate Alan Wake's writing style via automated typewriters and later "conscripting" a ghostwriter under false pretenses would better harness the reality-shaping effects of Cauldron Lake. Eventually, Rudolf broke and committed ritualistic suicide, using his own blood to paint a final, horrific self-portrait, the Painting, which was infused with his hatred and despair; Jules then used the Painting to open a Threshold directly into the Dark Place; the raw emotions within the Painting resonated with the Dark Presence, resulting in the entire facility being Taken. Estevez also encounters Dylan Faden after briefly being transported to the Oldest House via the Oceanview Motel, where he warns her of an upcoming cataclysm in New York City.
Estevez eventually makes her way into the lower levels where the Painting is held, only to witness Jules having his head caved in by his wife, their sheer hatred for each other briefly overpowering the Dark Presence, before Estevez finishes off Diana herself and seals the Painting's Threshold. She then witnesses a vision of Alan writing about their later confrontation at Saga and Casey's safehouse following the Cult of the Tree's attack, and sets it in motion by calling what she learnt in, as a "good tip, nothing more", to her backup.