Summary
Over thirteen years after the first installment was released,Alan Wake 2will finally see the light of day. Fans of the franchise have been eager to see what became of the famous writer, given how the first game ended. With the large gap between the previous installment andAlan Wake 2, fans may need a refresher on some of the game’s important elements.
The main plot ofAlan Wakefocused on a writer whose wife went missing. As the story progresses it turns out that both of them had been ensnared by an entity known as The Dark Presence which was slowly consuming the town of Bright Falls.Alan Wakewould use darknessitself as a gameplay mechanic as players used flashlights, floodlights, and flares to stun enemies controlled by The Dark Presence. The actual nature of the game’s main antagonist is somewhat involved.
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What Is The Dark Presence in Alan Wake?
The Dark Presence is an entity that existed in a realm known as The Dark Place. The creature’s origins are somewhat unclear, but The Dark Place itself seems to exist adjacent to Cauldron Lake. The creature targets artists and tries to use their work to empower itself, so it can break free of The Dark Place and do whatever it is it wants to the rest of the world.
In the game, the creature primarily takes the form of an old woman but can possess or infect just about anything in the game. The primaryenemies ofAlan Wakewere very chatty peopleand various inanimate objects that have been infected by The Dark Presence. The only way to defeat them is to shine a light on them to take away their shields before finishing them off with bullets.
The power that comes from The Dark Place gives artists the ability to alter reality, which empowers The Dark Presence as well. For the famous writer, this took the form of themanuscript pages found throughoutAlan Wakethat often tell the story of the game before it happens. One of the game’s big twists was that the protagonist had to write a full story that ended with him defeating the entity, which was made into a reality thanks to the nature of the alternate realm. The game also revealed that the heavy metal band The Old Gods of Asgard and poet Thomas Zane were also subjected to The Dark Presence’s manipulation but were all able to defeat it at a cost.
How The Dark Presence Leaked Into Other Games
The game would not be the last time the Dark Presence affected the game’s world. The game’s ending implied that The Dark Presence was still around, though perhaps weakened for the time being.Alan Wake 2’s gameplay trailerdidn’t show anything related to the entity but it’s very likely that the creature will still try to break free.
The infection that The Dark Entity causes was also seen inControl’sAlan WakeDLC. In the expansion, it was revealed that one ofAlan Wake’s antagonists, Doctor Hartman, went mad and threw himself to either the Dark Place or the Dark Presence. He was consumed by it and turned into the creature that players had to fight inControl, which involved the use of lights to stun the creature and make it vulnerable to attack.
The marketingAlan Wake 2has otherwise been vague. Because of this, it’s not entirely clear how The Dark Place or The Dark Presence will affect the story and gameplay. However, it is probably safe to assume that players did not see the last of the entity in the first game, and it will likely cause trouble for the world for some time.
Alan Wake2releases July 25, 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
