Fair warning: This feature explores the late endgame section of Alan Wake 2. Spoilers ahead. I pin a photo on Saga’s case board in Alan Wake 2. I’ve done this many times before, building up cases to progress through Remedy’s creative survival horror, but this time it’s very different. Instead of leading to more deductions, the evidence plants accusations that shine a light on Saga’s innermost fears. I’m really not in the Mind Place anymore. I’m in the Dark Place, an amplified manifestation of every doubt and anxiety Saga has. When I hover over clues, capitalized words angrily radiate blame, with criticizing notes appearing on the board to link more evidence to. This room that used to be a refuge from the terrors of Bright Falls has transformed into the worst kind of nightmare, and I keep seeing reflections of myself within it. Because, as I well know all too well, sometimes your own mind can be the scariest thing of all. “I’m my own worst enemy,” Saga says as her doubts drown out her deductions. “The fears in my head are stopping me from trying”. I sit on that line for some time, thinking about how often I’ve let my own fears hold me back. There have been many times I’ve listened to that ugly voice inside my head that keeps me from opening myself up to new opportunities. Over the last few years especially, I’ve shut myself away from a lot of things, and I’m still trying to find my own way out. When you fall into the darkness, it can be hard to find your way back into the light, but every time Saga retaliates and pushes away the words that feed into her trepidation, I feel a second-hand sense of reassurance. As I dispel pockets of the encroaching darkness with my torch in her Mind Place to piece more clues together, the cathartic release hits me like a wave. If Saga can get out of the Dark Place, maybe I can start fighting to make it out of my own. “I’m in the Dark Place, I’m lost” Generally speaking, I don’t play horror games. I have an odd relationship with the genre, preferring to, on rare occasions, watch someone else play out the terrors than experience them directly myself. Alan Wake 2 is something of an exception, and even then, it’s taken me a year to pluck up the courage to see it through to the end. After braving my way through the frightful Coffee World theme park and the overwhelming unease of the Valhalla care home in Saga’s shoes, I needed a break. I never in my wildest dreams expected that when I did eventually return and finally complete the game, that I’d actually find some comfort in it. Don’t get me wrong, I was still afraid and on edge a lot of the time, but there’s so much about the experience of Alan Wake 2 that I could relate to in unexpected ways. Original adventure Alan Wake 2 review: “An imaginative and truly ambitious sequel”I love the way, for example, the sequel shifts from the thriller action of 2010’s Alan Wake to a survival horror because it’s a part of the narrative. As Saga, you’re pulled into a horror story written by Alan Wake against your will, and forced to take on the role of a hero to try to change the outcome to save your daughter. On the flip side, Alan is trying to get out of the Dark Place and put a stop to the Dark presence by rewriting the story he penned. Of course, there are a lot of revelations along the way about the true nature of the story and the Dark Place, but buried beneath the horror and the darkness, a hopeful, encouraging message kept on shining through for me. This is just my interpretation, but the very fact that Saga and Wake – albeit in their own ways – fight to rewrite the story constantly instilled in me the idea that we can always try to change the course we’re on. It’s not easy, of course, and my fears, doubts, and anxieties may sometimes pull me down into the darkness and hold me there, but I can’t let them rule the story of my life. Every time I use the light to cut through the darkness, fighting against terrifying shadows, I’m not only conquering my fears by taking on a horror game, but I’m also thinking about how to overcome my own in reality. I am my worst enemy a lot of the time, and just as Saga does, I too want to push back against that angry, mean voice inside, and find my way back to the light. Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Home
Uncategorized
Alan Wake 2 took me out of my comfort zone and provided catharsis and reassurance in the most unexpected way
Related Posts
The best Xbox Series X games prove just how many stellar experiences are on the current-gen console. With all manner of adventures of all shapes and sizes to jump into, there’s no shortage of options if you’re looking for something new to try out – and many of them are also available on Xbox Game Pass.From some fantastic Xbox exclusives, to the best games on Xbox Game Pass, you’ll also find a variety of third-party games to tuck into. No matter what genre speaks to you, with gone with a selection that offers something for everyone, from some of the best FPS games to the best RPGs, and much more.Happily there plenty more yet to come, with some exciting upcoming Obsidian games on the way andsports betting upcoming Bethesda games currently in the works. But if you’re looking for something play next that you can experience right now, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve brought together the very best Xbox Series games currently out n…
Growing up in a house with a goth sibling means I am legally obligated to enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas and anything that Tim Burton touches with his spooky hands. Every Christmas we sit down as a family to watch it, and every year we debate on if it’s a Christmas movie or Halloween movie. It takes place on Christmas, has Christmas in the title and one of the main characters is ‘Sandy Claws’. It is a Christmas movie, and I will die on that hill.The other thing about having a goth sibling is we owned a lot of The Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise. Clothes, toys, books, you name it we had it. One of the things we owned was the 2004 PlayStation 2 game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge. This game is one I look back on fondly, and I would argue it is one of the weirdest, but best games to play on Christmas Day. Move over Die Hard Trilogy, Oogie’s Revenge is here to kick your butt with some sweet, sweet dance moves.Soul Robber! Soul Robber! Soul Robber! Oogie’s Re…
With so much on offer in Steam Next Fest, I figured it made sense to narrow down my choices with a game that I was at least passingly familiar with. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before I stumbled on The Axis Unseen, a heavy metal horror game from former Skyrim developer Nate Purkeypile. Even more fortunately, it turned out that I was far more familiar with how this sprawling action game would play than I expected.The Axis Unseen is played from the business end of a bow and arrow, which immediately appeals to that most iconic of Skyrim builds, the stealth archer. I lost uncountable hours to the archery skill tree in Bethesda’s RPG, and it’s fun to see Purkeypile resurrecting an immediately recognisable version of The Elder Scrolls 5’s sneakiest combat strategy. Down to details as fine as the sound of a stretching bowstring, it brings me straight back to the plains of Whiterun.But The Axis Unseen isn’t resting on Bethesda’s laurels, and Purkeypile is using his new setting to bring some en…
With Bloober Team’s brilliant Silent Hill 2 Remake finally out, I’ve basically been playing nothing else. As hopelessly bleak as it is, the vibes are simply immaculate in the runup to Halloween, and unlike the original, the gameplay and combat are actually satisfying instead of frustrating. However, there’s a new survival horror game in town giving Silent Hill 2 Remake a serious run for its money: Heartworm, an indie game I’ve had my eyes (and hands) on for more than four years.I first played Heartworm when its first demo launched as part of the retro-styled Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020, and I remember feeling really good about the atmosphere and overall direction, but also apprehensive about whether it could do justice to the late 90s/early 2000s classics it’s so clearly inspired by. I no longer have those concerns after playing the brand new Heartworm demo as part of Steam Next Fest. Not even a little bit.Actually, this latest version is one of the most moody, clever, and yes, genuinel…
The long-awaited Perfect Dark reboot broke cover this summer and it’s well worth paying attention to. Developed in collaboration between The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics, Perfect Dark is aiming to deliver the ultimate secret agent experience, with enough freedom in its design to let you play your own way.Of all the upcoming Xbox Series X games in development right now, it’s one I’m perhaps the most excited about. It’s been almost 15 years since Joanna Dark helped usher in the Xbox 360 era with Perfect Dark Zero, and a successor has been a longtime coming. Team Perfect Dark is going the reboot route for this experience, tapping into what made the prior games so beloved while giving the gameplay experience a fresh shot in the arm for a new generation of players. While we wait for more Perfect Dark news, keep reading on to get caught up with everything we know so far.Perfect Dark release date Microsoft Gaming is yet to confirm an official Perfect Dark release date. With the series set…
Steam Next Fest is kicking off today, threatening our backlogs with demos aplenty for loads of upcoming PC games, and one for the upcoming first-person tactical shooter Delta Force has already made quite a splash. After showing off a gameplay trailer during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live this August and dropping the ‘Hawk Ops’ part from its title, Delta Force is on course to release on PC in early access at some point later this year. Before that, though, tactical shooter fans have been given the chance to give it a go for the next week, between October 14 and 21. All weapons have been unlocked for the demo, so you can try out the complete arsenal free of charge while trialing the destructible environments, boss spawns, extraction, and looting mechanics. It’s clear to see that it’s already got people intrigued, anyway, because in a matter of hours, the Delta Force demo has already hit a concurrent player peak of 20,867 according to SteamDB. That’s already risen once while I wa…
Tackling the best Silent Hill games was never going to be an easy task. Each one is a thing of beauty in its own regard, from meticulously crafted sound design to iconic heroes and enemies alike. It’s an exciting time to be a Silent Hill fan, with plenty of representation to be seen among the list of upcoming horror games to watch for in the near future. With Silent Hill 2 Remake now out in the wild for you to lose yourself in the series’ most famous entry all over again, and Silent Hill f, Silent Hill Ascension, and Silent Hill Townfall on the horizon, it’s looking like a brand new dawn for SH fans.We’re not leaving newbies out of that, though. If you’re looking for the perfect place to start your Silent Hill journey, or trying to decide which ones to revisit, we’ve gathered a list of the absolute top-tier offerings the franchise has to offer. Keep your flashlight on and steel those nerves, because here are the 10 best Silent Hill games ever.Recent updatesThis collection of the b…
Jump To:
How to find the jukebox parts
How to solve the jukebox puzzle
Broken record and glue
Jukebox button
Neely’s Bar jukebox coin
To solve the Silent Hill 2 Remake jukebox puzzle in Neely’s Bar you need to find a broken record, glue, a coin and a button to make it all work again. What makes this confusing is that you can find most of what you need in any order. And, while finding the jukebox is a clear objective, if you do what I did and find all the other stuff first, you might not know what you’re meant to be doing. Once have everything, then there’s still a puzzle to solve before you can get the Jukebox working and move on. After the Silent Hill 2 Remake Auto Parts key and Grand Market keypad code you cleared to get here, this is the first ‘real’ challenge to get stuck into so here’s how to find everything you need for the Neely’s Bar jukebox puzzle in Silent Hill 2. How to find the jukebox parts in Silent Hill 2 In Neely’s Bar in Silent Hi…
Pokemon Legends: Z-A is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2025, although it isn’t a direct successor to 2022’s Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. What this new Pokemon game will offer up instead is a continuation of the Legends spin-off series, a new adventure which’ll give you a different perspective on the the sixth-generation of games.That means this upcoming Switch game will take you back to Lumiose City – the central town of Pokemon X&Y’s Kalos Region. You’ll dive back into this fan-favorite locale from one of the best Pokemon games whilst “an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokemon.” We’re certainly excited to learn more, but while we wait for more information you can keep reading to find everything we know so far about Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Pokemon Legends: Z-A release window While the actual Pokemon Legends: Z-A release date is yet to be confirmed by The Pokemon Company we do know that the new game will l…
Disney may be developing an increasingly close relationship with Fortnite, but that seemingly doesn’t mean we can expect every fan-favorite character to join the battle royale with a gun in tow. Disney-owned characters had already been part of Fortnite for some time, but in February, it was announced that Disney had bought a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games, in a move that would also see the two collaborate on a new “persistent universe.” Since that announcement, we’ve seen a Fortnite-centric D23 stream hosted within the game itself, another Marvel-focused season, and brand new skins including some of The Incredibles. In a new interview with The Verge, Epic Games executive vice president Saxs Persson says Disney wants a place for “all things Disney,” and “they want to be part of an ecosystem we’ve built.” All that would add up with the sorts of things we’ve seen the two collaborate on so far, but Persson implies that the company isn’t totally comfortable with all of its belov…