The Final Draft completely changes the ending to Alan Wake 2, but we first need to give a bit of background on how, why and some setup from the story of the game. There’s going to be a considerable number of spoilers regarding the endings to Alan Wake, Control and Alan Wake 2. With that said let’s dive deep into this mystery.
You can find all the updates on the official site.
Understanding Alan Wake and Control
The original Alan Wake was a story about an author, named Alan Wake, traveling to Cauldron Lake with his wife, Alice, to work on their relationship and help break Alan Wake’s writer’s block on an island. A psychologist named Hardman is encouraging it because he’s testing Cauldron Lake’s potential. The island submerges underwater with Alice, leaving Alan Wake to go through the entire game to get her back.
In doing so, he submerges himself in the lake freeing Alice. The game ends on the cliffhanger “It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean.” referring to how large “The Dark Place” is.
The story then takes place in Control’s DLC “AWE” where you go and find the psychologist who suggested the entire ordeal within the Oldest House who, “The Shadow” and “The Hiss” meld within him and Jesse takes him out. Alan attempts to reach out to Jesse and at this point, in the Remedy Connected Universe, Alan Wake 2 starts as a FBC outpost alarm goes off.
Understanding Alan Wake 2’s Story
Alan Wake 2’s story is one of thick subversion. There’s not enough time to properly go through how thick and rich the story of Alan Wake 2’s subversion is while also trying to discuss its ending. It’s important though, so we do have to spend some time setting things up.
Part 1: Alan Wake’s Story
In Alan Wake 2, Alan Wake wakes up in the Dark Place, continuing what seems to be about 13 years from the original story. The first element of subversion is Saga Anderson, who plays the main character for the first few chapters and then the game switches to two seperate games: Alan Wake and Saga Anderson with similar but drastically different mechanics.
Alan’s story takes place in The Dark Place. He’s stuck in a loop, where he wakes up at “Mr. Door’s Late Night Talk Show” and works his way through escaping by taking the lantern (from Cynthia Weaver) and changing the world based on light. He then discovers that murder scenes trigger the loop to restart, eventually including Parliament Tower, the home of his apartment, returning.
He undergoes four loops: the subway, the theatre, the Oceanview Hotel and the cinema. Upon going through each loop, he speaks to Saga Anderson and helps guide her to get the clicker and work to “free him.” At the end of each loop, “Scratch” the doppelganger to Alan Wake gets in and starts the loop over.
Part 2: Saga Anderson’s Story
Meanwhile, Saga Anderson finds Alan Wake washed up in the lake at the start of her story. She rapidly becomes “engulfed” into the story, as Alan begins to write her in, which doesn’t make sense as Alan is already free from the Dark Place but the assumption is that it was in the past.
Saga’s journey has her go through Watery and uncover the cult running the town, eventually leaving town after obtaining the clicker and discovering that her life has been rewritten to be completely upside down.
Saga returns to Bright Falls, where she proceeds to the Valhalla Nursing Center. She then moves through the facility to uncover the truth about her origins, that she comes from the Anderson family and has special abilities.
After dealing with the nursing center, she makes her way back to the Sheriff’s Station where she finds that the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) has failed to contain what’s going on. She meets an agent, finds out the Alan Wake she rescued was really Scratch and they need to bring Alan Wake back from the Dark Place to fix the story and have him use the clicker.
Saga brings the clicker, the Old Gods of Asgard and the FBC to the shore of Cauldron Lake where they play a song and use the clicker to summon Alan.
It’s at this point Saga realizes that Alan had already been summoned, in the past.
Part 3: The Dark Presence
Saga sees Scratch, who is actually just Alan Wake possessed by the Dark Prescence. She lures Alan into the containment unit, where they purge the Dark Presence with light. Alan returns to Bright Falls, enters into the Dark Place as it has manifested in reality (as it has the clicker) and battles his way back to the writer’s room.
It’s here that Saga, on her own seperate journey in the Dark Place, makes her way back to Alan’s writer’s room. Before she gets there, Alice calls and tells her to go get the box in front of the tower, previously left by Alan (in the form of photos). Inside is the Clicker and a light bullet.
In the room, Alan finishes the manuscript and Saga uses the clicker, causing the Dark Prescense to enter into Alan Wake. She then uses the light bullet on Alan Wake. Then she tries to call Logan and we’re left with a cliffhanger.
The game then ends with Alan saying it’s not a loop, but it’s a spiral.
The End of Alan Wake 2: The Final Draft Explained
In the update, “The Final Draft,” a New Game+ mode was added with new content. The story in New Game+ actually picks up with the story looping around again, however, considering it’s a spiral, everything from the previous game carries over too including Alan being able to remember portions of the previous playthrough.
A lot of content is changed to make this fit in with the story. Alan is far more meta as he talks throughout the game and the jumpscares are all off, making the game feel like a completely new but same game, but with a world that isn’t exactly the same?
The story is as told above, with one new detail: Alice is in the Dark Prescense and has been driving Alan Wake on his eventual escape as she understands it and understands what he needs to get out. He’s a writer who is too limiting and needs the push to get out.
Alice knows that Alan and Scratch are one in the same and setup the documentary as a way to encourage Alan, including the last part. She also is the one who pushes Saga on.
In the first time around, Alan writes that a piece of the dark prescense flows out of him. In the new revised version, it’s completely obliterated within him and he completes the hero’s journey. This results in Logan picking up the phone and Alan waking up, saying that it’s essentially over.
Alan Wake 2’s Final Draft Ending Summary (Just the New Parts)
The ending changes, the light bullet hits Alan Wake and purges the Dark Prescense from him. Instead of writing out that it continues, Alan Wake writes that it ends. Thus ending the spiral and freeing Alan, Saga and Casey from The Dark Place. Logan answers the phone is alive and the whereabouts regarding Alice Wake are unknown, playing into Sam Lake’s desire to have a game give you enough detail but not answer every question.
In summary, the update provides NG+ players the conclusion that the story has been undone, Alan, Saga and Casey are free from the loop/spiral.
Conclusion
A few points to note in the new ending:
- Logan answering means they’re not in the Dark Place. There’s no cell reception in the Dark Place.
- Sheriff Booker is hanging with the Old Gods of Asgard in The Final Draft, its assumed they will help him out. They also note that they’ve more or less made up with Mr. Doors.
- Alan gains “mastery of worlds” or something to that affect, likely playing into new Remedy games.
- If Alan fails to write a good ending, the entire thing and any of his attempts to edit reality are washed away.
- If Alice is or isn’t in the bullet isn’t well understood.
I hope that sheds some light on the new ending for Alan Wake 2.
