Alan Wake 2 follows the interwoven stories of two protagonists; the titular writer, and FBI Agent Saga Anderson. Saga’s strange investigation seems connected to Alan’s disappearance thirteen years ago, and the story only gets deeper the further she looks. Meanwhile, Alan is desperately trying to escape the nightmare reality of the Dark Place.
When the two meet for the first time, you’ll gain the ability to swap between their stories, following Saga’s and Alan’s battles against the Dark Presence in whichever order you like. What’s the best order to play their individual chapters?
When To Switch Characters
You can swap between Saga and Alan from any Break Room that has a Janitor’s Bucket. These will be marked on the map when you find them, and you can always tell if a Break Room has a Bucket because Ahti’s song, Yötön Yö, will be playing on the radio inside.
It’s always best to switch characters between chapters so that you don’t risk forgetting important information midway through. Alternately, if you’re stuck on a puzzle, it could be worth spending some time in the other character’s storyline and coming back to it with a fresh perspective!
In general, Saga’s chapters are driven by investigation and exploration. There’s plenty of combat, but the focus is on finding clues and using her Case Board and Profiling abilities to solve the mystery and figure out where to go next. Saga has a much larger exploration area consisting of Bright Falls, Cauldron Lake, and the town of Watery.
Alan’s chapters have weaker but much more numerous enemies, and he can’t go very far without risking a fight in most cases. His focus is on altering reality in complex set-piece locations with the Plot Board, rewriting his own story until he finds a way out.
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Alan Wake 2: Room 665 Walkthrough
Room 665 takes you to the Oceanview Hotel in Alan Wake 2. There’s a lot of puzzle-solving and backtracking to be done!
Best Chapter Order
When Saga defeats Nightingale on her first visit to the Overlap, gameplay switches to Alan for the first time. After completing the subway tunnels, you’ll return to Saga in Bright Falls, and be able to switch whenever you like from there on.
We recommend proceeding in the following order to get the most out of the story:
- Stick with Saga and play her next chapter, Local Girl. Switch to Alan in the Break Room at Suomi Hall before returning to Bright Falls.
- Play through Alan’s full storyline until the game makes you stop. Try to get all the collectibles that you want in the Dark Place before visiting the statue in Parliament Plaza. At the end of Initiation 8, you’ll automatically return to Saga’s storyline, wherever she is.
- Continue as Saga through Old Gods. Before moving on to the Sheriff’s Station, which triggers the next chapter, take all the time you need to explore and gather collectibles. It’s easier to do this before going to the Sheriff’s Station because the sun will still be out.
- Complete Return 6: Scratch. After this chapter, you’ll pass a point of no return when you tell Estevez you’re ready to continue, so it’s a good idea to create a spare save file beforehand.
- From this point on, the game will be linear, switching between Alan and Saga automatically until the conclusion.