Alan Wake 2 Ending Explained (In Detail)

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This article contains mentions of suicide, grief, and trauma.

's ending raises as many questions as it answers. A direct sequel, it continues the titular world-famous writer's story, which previously culminated in his disappearance from Bright Falls into the mysterious Dark Place at the end of the original. Just as its release date comes 13 years after the first game's, so does its setting. Now, there are a new string of occult-tinged murders taking place in the sleepy, tree-lined village, and it's up to FBI agent Saga Anderson to find out what's going on.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the ending of Alan Wake 2.]

There's only one possible ending in , despite the game's attempts to make players believe otherwise. There's ample warning, in the form of an on-screen popup to explain that the end is nigh, as players set out on the final mission. In it, Saga has come up with a plan. She knows that a shadowy entity named Mr. Scratch is responsible for the mysterious happenings in Bright Falls. In order to get her hands on him, she needs to use an explosive, attention-grabbing work of art to summon him, then flip the switch on Alan's Clicker to make him corporeal. What could be better than a heavy metal show?

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But while Saga is setting this all up, Alan is busy, too. He's finally made it to Scratch's apartment in New York, where he's been working on the story that Alan and Saga are trapped in. However, he immediately recognizes the place. It's implied thatthis is Alan's apartment, but after all his years in the Dark Place, he doesn't recognize it. As he walks through it, though, he sees a projection on one of the living room walls. "." He walks up to it, and a