The FULL STORY of Alan Wake 1+2 Explained

This video will explain the story of Alan Wake's 1 and 2, as well as their DLCs, American Nightmare, and Control's AWE DLC.

This video is also sponsored by Epic Games and Remedy Entertainment. Currently, there is a major sale going on for the game.

The digital deluxe edition of Alan Wake 2 is 50% off on all platforms, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Epic Games Store.

The new physical edition of the game even comes with Alan Wake 1 as a bonus.

These sales should be live by the time this video is up, and it'll run to the 2nd or 3rd of December, depending on the platform.

So if you've never heard of Alan Wake or were interested in picking it up, now's the time to do it, especially now that all the DLCs are out.

And once again, huge shoutout to Remedy and Epic for sponsoring the video. With that out of the way, like the video if you enjoy, and subscribe if you're interested in story-related content like this.

If you'd like to support the work I do, then feel free to donate to the Patreon for as little as a dollar a month with the link in the description.

And with that out of the way, let's get started. Alan Wake first begins in 2010 with our protagonist, Alan Wake, arriving in the town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice.

Alan Wake is a world-famous writer, most well-known for his crime series, Alex Casey.

Alex Casey is a six-part series that follows a detective of the same name through various crime scenes and investigations.

His latest entry was The Sudden Stop, that ends with the death of Alex Casey. But this would be the last book Alan has published since.

As for two years, he can't seem to find the energy or motivation to write another.

Being cooped up inside all day, doing nothing but staring at the wall and drinking coffee, Alice, Alan's wife, decided that a vacation was in order.

So she and Alan take a trip to the small town of Bright Falls, Washington. Alan thinks this is just what he needs, a small break from work.

Being in a new town, in a new home, that also doesn't function as an office should ideally get him out of work mode.

Unfortunately, being a best-selling author with books as well known as Alex Casey make it hard to relax when all you're reminded of is your work.

The very first person Alan is stopped by, Pat Main, asks for an interview for the local radio.

And the waitress of the Oh Dear Diner is an Alan Wake superfan. She even has a cardboard cutout of him right by the door.

Hoping to not cause too much of a scene with his presence, he searches the diner to find Carl Stuckey, the man who has the keys to his new vacation home.

He isn't here, however, as he had to call in sick, but a woman named Barbara is stepping in for him and gives Alan the key.

Weirdly, Barbara claims that it's her cabin. Weirder still is that once Alan leaves, Carl comes rushing out of the diner with the keys to the cabin.

This explains the initial confusion the two have, as the brochure says near the lake, not on it.

So, whose house is he staying at? As they approach, Alan works on getting the lights on.

Alice has a fear of the dark, so he wants to make sure the lights work before it gets dark. Once he turns on the generator, he goes upstairs to a surprise gift from Alice.

It's a typewriter. The last thing he needs during his vacation. Alan blows up on her for it.

He came here to relax, not work. He wanted this to be a complete reset, not just a different setting.

Alice then confesses that the one reason she chose Bright Falls was because of Dr. Hartman. He's a psychiatrist who specializes in artists.

Writers, filmmakers, musicians, painters, you name it. He helps them find their creative edge again, and Alice believes he could help.

Alan doesn't believe it. He thinks very little of the guy and questions why his wife would want him committed.

It's clear from this conversation that the two's relationship isn't on good terms.

Alan comments on a stump outside with some initials carved into it, saying that the island was the site of a love story and that hopefully it can be again.

Currently, it doesn't seem like it. Alan then storms out of the cabin to get some fresh air. As he does, the lights go out, which scares Alice.

He rushes back to the cabin to help her, but she ends up being attacked by something and falls into the lake.

After jumping in, he wakes up in his car, fresh off a crash. As he finds his bearings, he stumbles upon the big mystery of the game.

What he finds is a manuscript page for a book titled Departure, the title of the book he was going to write after the vacation.

But not only has it already been written, but he himself is the author. So Alan's managed to write an entire book, and yet does not know of him doing so.

In episode 4, Alan gets a little drunk and passes out, during which he remembers exactly what happened here.

See, during this moment at the cabin, Alan had dove into the lake to save Alice. Alice managed to swim her way out, but Alan didn't.

That's because Cauldron Lake is a portal to another dimension. Remedy's other game, Control, explains that Cauldron Lake is an AWE, or Altered World, event, that was caused by a threshold, which are locations that act as bridges between the real world and these dimensions.

When he eventually came to, he was found by Barbara, who tricked him into entering the house, believing that Alice was still inside. Barbara tells it to him straight.

Alice is dead. She drowned in the lake. But she has a way to get her back. He just needs to write her back into the story.

See Alan is not in the real world. He is in the other dimension called the Dark Place, which has the special power to take creative works and make them a reality.

So if you were to hypothetically write a story while inside the Dark Place then you can manifest that story into existence.

Barbara however is lying. She wants Alan to write, but not to get Alice back, but so that she can escape.