Our step-by-step Walkthrough for Remedy’s Alan Wake. Follow your flashlight beam with confidence as you dodge possessed construction equipment, ghostly lumberjacks, and Stephen King references that go bump in the night. We’ll make sure you don’t miss a single weapons cache or collectible along the way. Check out the full Walkthrough, after the jump.
Episode 1
The Dream
Leave the car when you’re able and head down the street. Walk forward with the Left Thumbstick and sprint by holding down the Left Bumper. Just down the street, you’ll see a wooden set of stairs that leads to the lighthouse. Before heading that way, continue on the street to the bridge.
THERMOS! The first of 100 coffee thermoses is found here. Collect 25 to unlock the “Damn Good Cup of Coffee” Achievement and all 100 to unlock the “Hypercaffeinated” Achievement.
Start down the wooden stairs. When the camera shifts, continue moving backward, away from the attacker, until the boards give out and Alan falls. Continue down the wooden stairs. After you pass a billboard, a wooden beam blocks the path. Jump over it by pressing A.
You’ll encounter the Hitchhiker again a little further down the path. Dodge his attacks by pressing the Left Thumbstick in any direction at the same time as pressing LB.
The Hitchhiker disappears and you can travel on further, but before long, you’ll have to run from a swirling black tornado. Sprint down the path and cross the rope bridge it leads to, then duck into the house there.
After the house starts shaking, head toward the bright light. Outside, run left toward the streetlamp and stand under it and the light will heal you. Follow the light down the stairs, where you’ll receive a flashlight and a revolver. Take ammunition for the revolver from the chest as you enter the area.
You can fight the dark Hitchhiker by hitting him with the flashlight to burn away the darkness, then shooting him. Amp up your flashlight by holding Left Trigger to kill the dark, but remember that your batteries will burn up faster. With the darkness dissipated, shoot the Hitchhiker with Right Trigger. Use the beam of the flashlight to aim.
CANS! After the Hitchhiker is dead and the light releases you to keep going, look to the right side of the area where you killed the enemy, over the fence and beside a big rock. You’ll see a stack of red cans there. Shoot it to knock it down and put a notch toward finding the 12 pyramids that are located in the game. Shooting all the cans earns you the “Carny” Achievement.
Continue on and downward. You’ll now be facing dark Hitchhikers in higher numbers. Kill them the same way you killed the first one, and remember that if they get close, you can dodge with LB.
ACHIEVEMENT! Dodging a Hitchhiker’s attack will often get you a cinematic cut scene and your first will unlock the “Float Like a Butterfly” Achievement. Dodge 19 more to unlock the “Missed by a Mile” Achievement.
A little further on you’ll see another light post. Stop there and use B to open the red case on the pole there. Inside is a Flare Gun and extra flares. Take them all.
THERMOS! Just ahead of the flare box is a concrete staircase that descends into a squat cement hut, just to the right of the path. Go down the stairs to find the thermos. If you drop down on the path just ahead, you won’t be able to reach it.
Now drop down into the trench-like depression. You’ll face three more Hitchhikers. You can hit them with the flashlight, or try out your new flare gun. Hit one of the Hitchhikers with a flare and all three will die in one big blast. Switch weapons with the Directional Pad.
Keep going. You’ll face another Hitchhiker just in front of you on the big rock. Kill him and proceed down the path. More Hitchhikers can be heard climbing up the rock. You can stand and fight, but it’s easier just to advance toward the street lamp. The cyclone will appear again, so just make a run for the light house to your right.
The cyclone throws cars and debris at the bridge, tearing huge holes in the wood planks. Dodge around them until you get across, going as fast as you can manage.
THERMOS! As you’re running for the lighthouse, stop and make your way to the right side in the little fenced courtyard beside the sign, in front of the door. The thermos is on a bench. Snag it before heading inside.
Making it to the lighted door ends the nightmare.
Bright Falls
Follow Alice’s instructions while you’re on the ferry to get into Bright Falls. Once in the town, you’ll start by looking for Carl Stucky at the diner. Examine the Alan Wake cardboard standee with B, and oblige the locals by turning on the jukebox the same way.
THERMOS! Before you do much else, walk around the bar to the left, toward the back hallway. On the right side of the hall is the thermos, standing on a booth table.
NOTE: Listen to the two old me and oblige them by turning on the juke box. It goes toward the “Drink ,Em Both Up” Achievement you can unlock in Episode 5.
Follow the hallway back to the men’s room on the left. Knock on the door by pressing B. After the cutscene, listen to the locals and head out of the diner. Next you’ll drive to the cabin.
THERMOS! As soon as you reach the cabin, you’ll be standing in front of the bridge leading out to the small island. Instead of heading that way, turn around and follow the path up the hill. At the top, before you reach the car, is the thermos, standing near the fence and the view of the cabin below.
Head across the bridge and open the door to the cabin. There’s nothing else on the island out here, so head inside.
THERMOS! Check the kitchen and straight ahead from the door you enter and to the left and to find a thermos on the counter.
RADIO! Out the door in the kitchen is a deck with a staircase that leads down to a dock. Next to the stairs, to the right of the door, is a radio. Switch it on to hear your first radio show and listening to all 11 nets you the “KBF-FM” Achievement.
Backtrack out of the cabin and go down the stairs to the right to the shed in back. On the left side is the door. Go inside and switch on the generator.
ACHIEVEMENT! Firing up the generator earns you the “Let There Be Light” Achievement.
Give the island a quick once-over while you’ve got a second. There are a few things you can examine and focus on to get more information about the island. When you’re ready, head inside and see Alice.
After the cutscene, head back toward the cabin. When the dark birds attack from above, hit them with your boosted flashlight with LT to defend yourself.
ACHIEVEMENT! During the course of the game, if you burn 1,000 birds with the flashlight, you’ll unlock the “If It Flies, It Burns” Achievement. Get to the cabin to trigger another cutscene.
The Lumber Yard
You’ll find yourself in a forest. Start by following the path. Before long, you’ll come to a bright light and collect your first Manuscript Pages. Collect 25 for the “Paging Mr. Wake” Achievement and get all the pages available on the Normal or Hard difficulty settings for the “Picking Up After Yourself” Achievement.
Some pages can only be found when playing Nightmare difficulty and finding all of those, plus all the others, awards you the “Collector’s Edition” Achievement. There are 106 pages in all, and a list of the pages found in each episode of the game is available on the Manuscript menu when you hit Start.
Hike the path until you come to a lumber yard. You can enter by climbing up the fallen tree over the fence.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Your first Nightmare mode page, “The Dark Presence Wakes,” is found on the fallen tree that you can use to climb the fence.
Once inside, head left from the crane for another cutscene.
THERMOS! After Stucky departs, go left past the front of the bulldozer to find a thermos beside the pickup truck there.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! As you progress deeper into the lumber yard, this page will be waiting on the path before you, just before a pile of logs comes tumbling toward Alan from the left.
After the logs fall and you’ve grabbed the page, continue on forward where the logs are piled up alongside the path. As you go, you’ll see a lit cabin and and Stucky with his axe. Dodge him and get into the light for safety.
Inside the lumber yard office are a revolver and flashlight. Before setting out to explore, check the table again for spare batteries. Just through the cage door on the left is more ammo for the gun. Grab it and head to the desk to use the phone.
The bulldozer outside comes careening into the building. Run to the far end and jump through the door. Once outside, you’ll be accosted by a pair of Taken, the darkness-filled bodies that have been attacking you. Kill them both and you can get a hand by switching on the light to your right by hitting the green button.
CHEST! Your flashlight might pick up some reflective arrows paint on the rocks in the area. Follow them past the big truck on the left to the back of the hut. There you’ll find one of 30 chests and a flare gun inside. Open five of the chests for the “Finders Keepers” Achievement, all of them to get the “Every Nook and Cranny” Achievement.
Back by the light, the way is blocked by another downed power line. Go under the roof to the left and press B when prompted to kick the generator. That’ll short out the power line and let you continue over top of it.
Ahead you’ll be attacked again. Kill the Taken and open the red box on the pole to the right to get more revolver ammo.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The path takes you down the hill, but turn left and go up, toward a small shed with a carriage in it. Nailed to the inside wall on the right is another page and “Rose Daydreams About Wake.” Go down the hill. Follow the path to the river and use the big downed tree to cross onto the first island.
THERMOS! Turn left and go up to where the island gets narrower to find a thermos sitting on a rock on the right side.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Follow the path toward the gas station until you see a set of downed logs making a bridge that away on the right, toward a light in the distance. Cross to the smaller island, where the “Barry’s Arrival” page is waiting.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! You’ll see the “Toby the Dog” page as you move down the path just past the river.
Continuing toward the gas station on the compass, you’ll hear and see Stucky, but he won’t attack. Keep going, pausing to grab batteries and bullets near some logs on the left side of the path. You’ll cross the river again over some big rocks, where two more Taken are waiting. After they’re dead, keep moving until you come to some rocks you can climb.
CHEST! Immediately after climbing the rocks, look left. There should be an opening near a crane, where logs are hanging above the path and and reflective paint. Follow the paint back there and up a ladder on the left, to a path that leads to a ramshackle house. Inside is another chest filled with batteries.
Back down by the crane, take the path to the right, through the piles of logs. You’ll find a broken staircase before long, and a red supply box posted across from it. Grab batteries and ammo from it.
THERMOS! From the red supply box, walk forward. Above you should see another crane with logs suspended in the air. As you draw close to it and pass a pile of logs on your right, you’ll see a rock with a thermos sitting on it, also on the right.
Turn left and go past the forestry equipment. You’ll fight three Taken as you approach a generator and office. Fire up the generator, then turn your attention to the building. Inside is a shotgun on a shelf to the left.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake Attacked by Birds” page sits on the table just in front of the door inside the office.
Go back to the red supply box and the button you just activated. Use the crane to direct the logs down to make a path between the two big piles. Then go to the left and climb the ladder on the pile there. Cross the bridge you just made toward the street lamp just ahead.
CANS! At the end of your log bridge, turn left and you’ll see a picnic area bordering the small cliff you just traversed, near the broken staircase. A pile of cans sits on the table. Take a shot at it to knock it off your list.
RADIO! Go from the picnic table to the street lamp, where you’ll find a shack. Inside is a radio, and on the windowsill outside is some shotgun ammo.
CHEST! Leave the shack and, instead of following the path up the hill, turn left and look for reflective paint. It leads to an ancient-looking garage with a chest and flare gun inside.
Now proceed back to the street lamp and up the hill toward the gas station.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! It’s waiting for you on the path along the way, so grab the “Wake Finds Pages” page as you pass by.
THERMOS! Past the manuscript page, you’ll see a small light in the distance. Just keep moving forward, toward it, to find a coffee thermos sitting on a rock at the cliff’s edge. If you turn left and follow the path, you’ll miss it and you won’t be able to return.
Follow the path, dropping down into the deeper woods. Try to stick to the path as it goes right and then curves left, where you’ll find a generator. Turn it on to create a Safe Haven and a lit area where you can heal and be protected against Taken. You’ll also find batteries and ammo.
When you venture out, you’ll be attacked by a pair of scythe-throwing taken somewhere up the hill. Kill them and double back to heal if you need to.
THERMOS! From the Safe Haven, hug the right side cliff wall until you see a large rock jutting up and two barrels lying on the ground. The thermos is just past them.
A little higher, two taken will appear behind you for you to kill as well.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! As you continue to climb, you’ll find the “TV in the Gas Station” page on the ground.
At the top of the hill, you’ll hit another Safe Haven with a box of supplies and revolver ammo and batteries. When you’re set, continue past the big propane tank to another spot to drop down.
CHEST! You might catch a glimpse of reflective paint here. Go up to the left, climbing upward past the log mover to find the chest amongst the debris just beyond it.
Proceed down the hill. You’ll hear Stucky freaking out and more Taken will appear behind you. Finish them off and keep going toward the small office. Duck inside for shotgun ammo and more batteries.
TV! Flip on the TV set on the back wall of the office to watch your first of 14 available TV shows. You’ll unlock the “Couch Potato” Achievement by watching them all. Hit the button while you’re in here to power the other button outside, then step back out.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Passing through the fence here takes you straight past the “Wake Lies to the Sheriff” page, which is on the ground.
Turn off the machine to the left, then go forward into the lumber yard. You’ll find a box of ammo and batteries just ahead, as well as hear Stucky’s mad ramblings. You’re being prepared for a fight, so get ready.
Carl Stucky
Stucky’s stronger than other taken and he’s got help. You should have lots of weapons at your disposal, however, so a cool head will get you through. A good way to start is to thrash the first few Taken coming at you with a flare.
ACHIEVEMENT! You have some good opportunities here to get the “Come One, Come All” Achievement, in which you kill four Taken with a single flaregun shot, and the “Two for the Price of One” Achievement, in which you kill two Taken with one blast from the shotgun. Get this second achievement by first hitting two Taken with the flashlight, then firing on them when they get close together and close to you.
You’ll fight at least two waves of Taken. Between the two waves, hit Stucky with the flashlight and he’ll start to get hurt. This will also prompt him to take to the ground. The best thing to do is kill the other Taken before you engage Stucky and then drive him down to the ground. As soon as you do, try to keep track of him. He’ll go where you’re not facing, ducking around the log piles to get to your flank. Find him, hit him with the flashlight, and unload on him with the shotgun or your weapon of choice to take him down.
ACHIEVEMENT! Killing Stucky nets you the “Nordic Walking” Achievement.
THERMOS! Once you’ve cleared Stucky and his minions, check the right side tread on the crane for your thermos. At the far end of this yard, you’ll find a gate that’s opened by a nearby button. Beyond it is the gas station. Follow the path inside to a Safe Haven.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Stucky Taken” page is behind the bed of the truck with the parade float on it, in front of you as you enter the gas station.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! You’ll find the “Rose is a Fan” page around back of the gas station. Move right from the entrance through the fence to find it on the wall near the bathrooms.
THERMOS! Up ahead from the truck is a gas marquee that lists the prices for the station. Just under it is your thermos.
THERMOS! Walk out to the road and hang a left. Go all the way down to the tunnel, where a truck is blocking the way. You’ll find the thermos near the right side of the tunnel at the truck, but you’ll pay for it with being forced to endure a two-Taken ambush.
Return to the gas station and head inside, first through the garage, then into the store itself.
SIGN! At the close end of the middle aisle is a sign for Deer Fest, the first of 25. Read it to put a notch toward your “Bright Falls Aficionado” Achievement, which requires you to find all TV shows, radio shows and signs.
Head behind the counter to locate a phone and activate a cutscene to end Episode One.
Episode 2
New York, Three Years Ago
It’s three years ago, and you’re in Alan and Alice’s apartment. Alice will recommend you go put coffee on, and the kitchen is to the left.
THERMOS! If you go straight down the hall into the apartment into the room Alice is in, you’ll find a thermos on the table next to her. Switch on the coffee pot and take this opportunity to check out the apartment before returning to Alice.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! If you pass Alice’s work room and continue down the hall, you’ll find Alan’s office. “The Sudden Stop” pages are there.
RADIO! Beyond Alan’s office is a door that leads to the bedroom and bathroom. You’ll find the radio in the bedroom on the window sill.
Alice will send you to Alan’s office to check out cover mock-ups for his book, “The Sudden Stop.” As he’s checking them out, a power outage will knock the lights out. Return to the front door to grab a flashlight from the fuse box and trigger a cutscene.
Sheriff’s Office
You’ll wind up in Bright Falls after watching the short clip. Leave the doctor and exit through the door in the room into the rest of the police station. The sheriff will be to your left, but skip heading straight to her to grab some collectibles past where Mrs. Weaver is playing with the lights.
THERMOS! Walk through the police station past the front doors to the dispatch room, where the thermos is on a table to the right.
RADIO! In this same room, press the green button on the big dispatch panel to play the radio.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Turn around from the radio and face the door. On the left side of the room is a small couch behind a table with coffee mugs. On the floor between the couch and the table is the “Alice Sees a Shadow” page.
Double-back toward the conference room where you met the doctor and head right down the hall.
SIGN! There are some Missing posters on the left wall of this hallway. Read them to add a Sign notch to your stats.
Meet with the sheriff in her office and grab Alan’s cell phone off the table, which will trigger another cutscene. When that’s over, go through the police station to the cell block, which is the hallway on the left, through the blue door.
Listen to the drunk in the cell, and switch the lights on for him. You can listen to him talk about some eerie, weird occurrences. You can then continue to the parking lot.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! In the open cell at the end of the hall, the page titled “The Dark Presence in the Diner” is located on the cot on the right side.
THERMOS! As soon as you step out the door, run across the parking lot to the loading dock ramp on the far end for the thermos.
RADIO! The radio is right next to the thermos, so hit the button.
You’ll find the hole in the fence covered with some wooden planks on the left side of the area when you’re standing at the police station door, facing the parking lot. Kick it down to get through.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake at Lovers’ Peak” page is on a pile of dirt to the right of the rusted-out truck.
Head to the truck to find Alice’s driver’s license on the front seat. Go back through the fence and into the sheriff’s station. Continue on to the sheriff in the lobby. You’ll watch a cutscene before heading out to Elderwood National Park with Barry.
Elderwood
When you arrive, you’ll be looking to find an employee so you can rent a cabin.
SIGN! To the left of the door is a skeleton of a mammoth. The sign is underneath it. Further in, you’ll see Rusty on the deck. Listen to Alan talk to Barry before proceeding.
THERMOS! The kitchen is to the right, around the corner from Barry. Grab the thermos off the counter there.
Proceed through the door out to the deck to speak with Rusty. He sends you inside to find a registration form. Talk to Barry again, then grab the form from the reception desk and return it to Rusty. You’ll get keys from him.
Return to Barry and leave the lodge. You’ll depart for the cabin, where you’ll get a flashlight. Head down the stairs and to the left, where you’ll find the kitchen and batteries.
THERMOS! Near the batteries, beside the fridge, the thermos is on the counter. You can leave the cabin by the door near the kitchen. Once outside, check around the outside of the cabin for collectibles.
THERMOS! Go around the cabin to the right to find a porch with a jacuzzi and a thermos on it. Return to the area by the door and head down the stairs. You’ll find the car and a shed there.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just in front of the door to the shed, on the ground, is the “Barry Doubts Wake’s Sanity” page.
Follow the path further down. You’ll come across a cabin that you can investigate. Inside, check the wardrobe to the right for revolver bullets.
RADIO! Right in front of the door is a radio you can switch on while you’re here. Continue along the path to another cabin. You’ll have to kick the door down to get inside, but there’s not much inside but a TV collectible.
TV! The cabin does hold a TV, where you can watch an episode of “Night Springs” and add it to your statistics. Leave and continue down the road. You’ll see an abandoned car just ahead. Stop there for a Manuscript Page.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! There’s one in the back of the car, the “Rusty Dying” page. Turn right from there and look for a little booth marked “Phone.” Next to it is a path that leads up to a gazebo, where another — “Rose and Rusty” — lies on the floor.
Keep going down the road and you’ll hear Rusty being attacked just ahead at the visitor’s center, your next destination.
THERMOS! You’ll see the back of a large building on your right as you near the visitor’s center and that’s the ranger station. Hug the back wall and look for the thermos at the base of a tree a few steps off the road.
THERMOS! Just as you reach the parking lot to the visitor’s center, turn left to find an small outbuilding with the thermos inside.
Across the parking lot is the visitor’s center, with a huge gaping hole. Inside is Rusty, who is lying against the back wall. Approach him and you’ll get his gun and the key to the rangers’ office on the far side of the parking lot. Go there next.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! As you approach the stairs to the rangers’ office, look to the right for a low stone wall that’s part of the landscaping. On it is the “Rusty Attacked by the Dark Presence” page.
Unlock the door and head inside. Down the hall is the office and another Manuscript Page.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Right at the end of the hall on the floor, impossible to miss, is the “Wake Reaches a Safe Haven of Light” page.
Through the office you’ll find a gun cabinet on the left, with batteries and ammo. In the kitchen is the circuit breaker, which has been destroyed. Head back outside and you’ll hear Rusty being killed, and a pair of Taken will attack you from the visitor’s center.
Go through to where Rusty was. You’ll see a huge hole in the wall and hear possessed Rusty freaking out just outside. Prepare for a fight when you’re out there.
Rusty
NOTE: The shed on the left side of this courtyard as you’re exiting the building contains a box of unlimited revolver rounds for your Taken-killing convenience.
Rusty rushes you with a spiffed-up Taken power, where he seems to become invisible. He’s hard to hit in this state, so don’t bother to waste your flashlight batteries — just try to keep an eye on him. When he comes straight at you and gets close, hit him with light. This should send him running away again.
Before long, you’ll get Rusty in your sights and hit him with enough light that you can make him vulnerable. When that happens, he won’t be as quick, but he will be ready to kill you directly. Hit him with the revolver and remember that you’ve got the whole courtyard in which to dance away from his attacks, if you need space.
ACHIEVEMENT! Defeating Rusty earns you the “Under a Thin Layer of Skin” Achievement. When Rusty falls, two more Taken appear from the side of the visitor’s center that leads to the parking lot. Take advantage of killing them at a distance, but beware of their thrown scythes.
Run down the path where from which those two Taken appeared. This will lead you down onto a set of wooden stairs, where a Safe Haven awaits if you need to heal. From there, follow the stairs down until you get a call from Barry. Stick to the path and you’ll find another Safe Haven.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Beside this Safe Haven is a picnic table with a page titled “Rusty’s Final Thoughts.”
Stick to the path. You’ll come to a staircase with a red supply box next to it. Take batteries and bullets from inside before descending.
CHEST! At the bottom of the stairs, across the small bridge is a sign pointing right toward Lovers’ Peak, but you’ll see reflective paint on the rock next to it pointing you left to Moonshine Cave. Enter the cave and follow the path to the back right, where you’ll get a shotgun and a chest full of lithium batteries. You should also unlock the “Finders Keepers” Achievement here for your fifth chest.
SIGN! Inside the cave you’ll see a rock pillar where the ceiling is open and a big sign that says “Moonshine Cave.” Read it for a little backstory about the cave’s history.
The Trail to Lovers’ Peak
Following the path toward Lovers’ Peak, you’ll approach another Safe Haven, but the light will be broken as you get near. A phone buzzes nearby, and in the booth is a set of batteries, but entering the area triggers a Taken ambush.
The game shows you two Taken approaching from the woods across from the phone, but doesn’t clue you in on the third Taken that’s approaching from behind you. Listen for him to get close and head back toward the path to get them all on the same side of you, which will make them easier to kill. Be prepared to execute a quick dodge if you hear the Taken closing in.
When you’re clear, grab whatever items are left. Advance across the bridge to the sign that’s marked “Lovers’ Peak,” which stands at a fork in the path.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The sign directs you to take the left side of the fork, so follow the path up to the right. The “Barry Meets Rose” page is on the ground in a small picnic area just ahead of the sign.
Go back to the fork and take the left side. You’ll approach another fork, this time directing you right, and to the left you’ll see a gazebo with a light Safe Haven. Go up there to heal, activate a checkpoint, and find a shotgun with ammo on one of the benches.
Following the path, you’ll reach where the two forks you could take converge and be attacked by a Taken. This one is a little hardier than the others you’ve dealt with — he’ll continue to advance despite your flashlight, and may hazard to charge you. Get ready with your dodge button and try to keep away from him until he’s dead. If you take damage, remember the Safe Haven you just left, where you can heal.
More taken will appear behind you. Keep them back as you deal with them, then advance down the path toward a huge, broken tree.
SIGN! The sign in front of the big tree goes toward your statistics.
Watch out for three more Taken to ambush you from behind as you progress past the tree. Remember that you can take out multiple Taken with the shotgun if they’re close together. Keep moving when they’re gone.
You’ll cross a bridge next, and two Taken will appear behind you. You can sprint for the Safe Haven ahead, but it’ll go out when you reach it. The generator beneath it can be restarted if you move quickly, but leaves you vulnerable. Beyond the Safe Haven is a red supply box with revolver ammo and batteries.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Past the Safe Haven, near the Lovers’ Peak sign, is the “Wake Sees the Torch Symbol” page lying on the path.
THERMOS! Off the path to the right is a shorting-out phone; it has an ax buried in it. Behind that, the log fence has fallen in one place. Jump it to find the thermos on a rock there. You’ll also be able to see one on a table at a picnic site further down the mountain.
Following the path, you’ll hit another fork, and a Taken ambush of four enemies. The best way to deal with them is to back up, keeping them all in front of you on the path and shooting them down from a distance. Be sure to keep clear of flying hatchets, however.
Keep up with the path through the tree. You’ll find a Safe Haven with a sign directing you to a blocked gate to get to Lovers’ Peak. You can get through by jumping the fence to the right, but hold off for a second — there are collectibles down the path to the right, away from the gate.
THERMOS! Following the right fork takes you to a thermos on a picnic table, next to the tree ring display.
SIGN! The tree ring sample has a sign next to it that you can read for some information about the exhibit.
Back to the Safe Haven, where you’ll jump the fence and won’t be able to backtrack.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Nightingale’s Arrival” page is just over the fence on a big boulder.
Another Safe Haven is just ahead. Beyond it is a gondola to cross a chasm. Hit the button to summon the gondola, and ride it down to the other side.
Uneasy Alliance
You’ll come out of the cutscene equipped with flares you can use in your hand with RB if things get hairy. Grab another flare from the red supply box, then follow the path up. Keep your eyes open for Taken, which you’ll be tasked with weakening with the flashlight — one appears off the path to the left as you head up.
When you hit the sign for Lovers’ Peak sending you right, more Taken will appear accompanied with some music — but one will ambush you from the left side of the path with no warning, just ahead. When they’re dead, you’ll approach a wooden gate.
Your job here is to hold back the Taken advancing on you until the gate is open. Grab flares from the red supply box to the right of the path — you can crack them open with RB and drop them by releasing it, or hold onto them and become a walking light source by keeping the button held.
ACHIEVEMENT! This is a good opportunity to snag the “Back! Back, I Say!” Achievement. When you’re close to death from taking damage from enemies — the screen will go grayish and you’ll hear Alan’s heart pounding — use a flare right as a Taken winds up to attack and would otherwise kill you.
You’ll go through two or three flares before the door is opened. When it is, you can start backing up the stairs, using your flashlight to keep the Taken at bay and kill them. Just behind you is a Safe Haven before you continue up further.
Reaching Lovers’ Point just ahead is where the path ends. Stop at the signs just before you reach the point where the Safe Haven is.
THERMOS! On the right side of the lookout point is a big sign. Step around the side of it and get behind to find the thermos. Do this now, before you trigger the events at the Safe Haven.
You’ll find a supply box with flares and batteries under the light, but right after you grab these supplies, the light goes out and you’ll have to make a stand against an onslaught of Taken. Use the flashlight at first if you can, as the Taken only come at you from the end of the wooden lookout.
NOTE: If you can avoid using an entire flashlight battery, you can hold off using the flashlight and it’ll recharge. This saves you from spending several batteries, or worse, wasting flares.
Before too long, Taken will appear behind you on the ridge, and come climbing over the fence at the back of the lookout point. Use the flare to keep them off you.
You’ll keep fighting off Taken for a few more minutes, until one of the harder-to-kill, hulking woodsman Taken appears. He’ll march through your light despite the damage it does, so hit him hard with it to get rid of his darkness as fast as you can. As he approaches Alan to kill him, you can use short bursts of the flashlight to hurt and distract him, giving the gun time to take him down.
That’s the last of the stand. A cutscene will ensue, and you’ll wind up at the bottom of the point.
Back to Barry
Grab the ammo off the ground quickly, but don’t go anywhere just yet.
CHEST! Spin around near the logs that stretch up to support the point above, and you’ll see a steep path descending behind you. Run down and you’ll start to pick up reflective paint arrows just ahead. Follow the path to the chest and more flares and batteries.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Back on the path, the “Alice’s Fear of the Dark” page is right before a downed log, which you can use to cross the river.
Keep on the path and you’ll cross the river over two different downed logs. When you reach the bottom, you’ll see a stump with bear traps hanging from it. The sparkling spot in the center of the path is another trap — step on it, and you’ll be hurt and then ambushed by a Taken.
Stick to the path. The flashlight’s glare will illuminate bear traps until you’re right on them, but you can avoid them easily enough. After a few bends, you’ll find a barrel with ammo and batteries.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just past the barrel is a cliff overlooking the river, where you’ll find the “Sarah Thinks About Wake” page just beyond a downed log.
CANS! Standing at the river, turn around and face the barrel where you found the ammo. To the left is another barrel with a can pyramid you can shoot.
Another downed tree crosses the river ahead. Take it and you’ll get a checkpoint just on the other side. Get ready, because Taken ambushes await you just ahead — follow the compass to keep to the path.
Try to keep moving and watch just to your right as the music picks up for a chance at a dodge. Kill the first three attackers and keep moving. After something like a darkness shockwave, a couple more Taken will attack you from behind.
Before long you’ll hit some more barrels, and a downed tree will act as a ramp up to a shack. Taken will attack you at the base of the tree, so take them out, then climb the ramp and start the generator at the top. Do it quickly and the Safe Haven you create will protect you from ambushing Taken.
THERMOS! Go inside the shack next to the generator to find the thermos on a table.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just beyond the Safe Haven, on the ground near another building, is the “Wake Hears a Chainsaw” page.
Up ahead on the path you’ll find a flare and Alan will focus on and narrate about a crashed plane to the right.
CHEST! Go to the plane. Walk around the back and enter the fuselage, walking to the far end. Alan’s weight will tip the plane forward. Double back and walk up the ramp made of rocks to the wing and follow it to the cliff face — the chest is there, with more flares.
Take the path back to the left, climbing down the rocks. Ahead you’ll see a small light. Make for that — it marks a generator you can turn into a Safe Haven and help you with the Taken that are waiting for you ahead. Kill them as you go and use the light to heal, and grab the hunting rifle ammo when you’re there.
THERMOS! Standing in the Safe Haven and facing the back of the burned-out house you’re standing in, you should be able to see a light through the trees. Walk in this direction to come to the cliff overlooking the river. Follow this to the right where the rocks jut out to an overlook above the water. The thermos is at the furthest point.
Follow the compass through the woods to get back to the path. You’re heading toward the big light ahead, but as you reach a clearing with stumps near it, a bunch of Taken will jump you. Best to crack a flare here — the real threats are behind you and you’ll face four or more Taken, all told.
Cross the planks over the water to the building, heal at the Safe Haven, and climb the ladder to the right. Drop down and enter the mill, clearing out the puddles of darkness as you go. Head up the stairs to the first landing with a side room.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The outside balcony you reach as you climb the stairs has the “Deputies at the Logging Site” page.
Keep going up until you come to a dead end — the path across is broken. Beside you is a counterweight you can kick off the side, raising the elevator and allowing Alan to jump across.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Barry in Elderwood” page is on a pile of flour sacks on the other side of the elevator, impossible to miss.
Round the corner into the next big room and kill the darkness puddle. There are flares in on the round piece of wood in the center.
THERMOS! Turn right from the flares and head to the back corner to find the thermos.
In the corner opposite from the thermos is a ladder leading you up further. This leads to the top of the mill and up toward a wooden shack. A big woodsman Taken will attack you, and with nowhere to go you’ll have little recourse but to blast it with as much light as you can muster, or pop a flare. Be careful not to back off the cliff.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Enter the shack and grab the hunting rifle, then jump on the lower, stacked crates to climb onto the bigger ones. Drop down behind them for the “Wake Feels the Dark Presence” page. You can escape this area by climbing blocks behind you.
Past the shack is a fence with a closed gate. You can clear it by climbing a wooden ramp to the left of it, which drops you onto a bridge beyond. Cross it and grab supplies from the red crate where the path forks.
The left path is the one you want. Head up the hill, past piles of logs. You’ll face two of the stronger woodsmen, who descend from the top — back up, taking your time to kill their darkness and place good shots. At the top of the hill is another supply box and a wooden gate you can pass through.
Moving through here sets an attack on you by the chainsaw Taken, a huge lumberjack that’s much harder to kill than the others.
Make strategic use of flares here, using your flashlight to weaken and then kill the two smaller Taken that accompany the chainsaw enemy. When they’re dead, hit the chainsaw taken with the flashlight. If he gets close, pop a flare and drive him back, dropping it up the path some distance from you to create a barrier.
When your flashlight’s recharged, repeat the process until his darkness shield is down and he’s vulnerable. After that, a few well-placed hunting rifle shots, or a whole bunch of revolver shots, will kill him without him ever even getting close enough to attack.
Up ahead is a Safe Haven you can run to, but there aren’t any threats between here and there. Continue on into the campgrounds.
Camp Grounds and Cars
THERMOS! It’s located on a picnic table just next to the path, before you hit the mobile home trailers.
There’s a supply box not far ahead into the campsite. As you enter, turn left and make for the bathroom building there. In the men’s room, you can get to a Safe Haven in the back. Look on the bench for the “Garage Key.”
When you go to leave, you’ll be ambushed from the bathroom stall. You’ll also find hunting rifle ammo in the women’s room.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Go to the women’s room. Just past the garbage can outside of the door is the “Nightingale Fires at Wake” page.
Cross the campground to the other side where headlights are coming through a wooden door. Open this garage with the key you just found and get in the car. After you’re taught to drive, you’ll get a chance to kill a Taken with it.
ACHIEVEMENT ALERT! Killing 15 Taken with the car gets you the “Right of Way” Achievement. Do so by softening Taken up with headlights the same way you would with the flashlight, then running them over at full speed.
THERMOS! After you kill the Taken, you’ll come to the road. The compass directs you to the left, so as always, check to the right first. You’ll find a jackknifed trailer and a thermos in front of it.
CHEST! Down the road is a fork, where more logging vehicles are blocking the way. Drive the car to the right, where you’ll see reflective paint. Get as close to the chest as you can with the car, and use a flare to protect you as you loot the chest. If you don’t, you’ll be vulnerable to the many Taken who are appearing all around you.
Where the road is blocked near the lumber trucks, you can turn off onto a dirt road that heads left — follow the compass. You’ll have to dodge some debris in the road, but before long you’ll see a Safe Haven and another car parked beside it. This is a good place to get out of your probably damaged vehicle and pick up a fresh one.
There’s also a hunting rifle and ammo leaning against the picnic table.
CANS! Standing in the Safe Haven, facing the picnic table, you’ll see a second table behind it, to the left of the blue trailer. It has a can pyramid on it you can shoot.
With your new car, follow the dirt path back out to the main road. You’ll be on the other side of the blocks now, so turn left and follow across the bridge. You’ll next come to a big lumber truck blocking the road. Stop here for a second and there are collectibles to find.
THERMOS! Beside the lumber truck on the left, you should see a wooden archway over the side road. Between that and the truck is another archway marked with a cross-country skier stick-figure sign. Look for a picnic table with the thermos on it. You’ll have to fight some Taken to get it, so use flares if you need to.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Drive around the lumber truck to find a tunnel blocked with concrete dividers. Slip between them and run down to the truck blocking the tunnel to find the “Wake’s Despair” page.
Take the left into a parking lot, where you can grab a new car if you need it, and follow the road and your compass ahead on the curve to the right.
You’ll pass under a sign that reads “Elderwood National Forest” and you should recognize the destruction of the Visitor Center. Make a right here and continue up the road toward your cabin.
Up ahead, the road is blocked by a trailer and a few cars. Get out and pass between them, stopping by the forest ranger truck that has a box with a flare gun and flares on it.
Just a little ahead, you’ll be ambushed by two groups of Taken near the cabin on your left, one after the other. They’re composed of two smaller Taken and and a big woodsman Taken, which is harder to kill. Remember that you have the hunting rifle if you get in a scrape. Right after the fight, a street lamp ahead will turn on, creating a Safe Haven for you to heal in.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! The “Wake at the Dark Presence’s Mercy” page is right in the middle of the road as you approach the cabin.
Keep going up the road. As you approach the cabin, you’ll see it’s being swarmed by birds. Stop by Barry’s yellow truck to find some more flare gun ammo just short of the stairs leading up to the house. It’ll be useful in taking out the swarms.
Head up to the house and talk to Barry at the door. You’ll find extra flares and flare gun rounds scattered around the house, as well as batteries.
CHEST! Follow along the side of the house away from where you first entered the yard around it. The chest is on the back rock wall of the yard, about midway between the fence you’re standing at the fence at the far side of the yard. More flare gun flares are inside.
NOTE: When you hear the birds squawk loudly, it means a group is about to attack. Use that opportunity to pop a handheld flare to protect yourself and burn them en masse.
Just keep killing birds — burning them with the flare gun, with the flashlight and with flares — and eventually they’ll go away and end the episode.
ACHIEVEMENT! You get the “Park Ranger” Achievement when you finish the episode.
Escaping the Police
-As the episode starts, you’ll follow the trailer park’s manager to where Rose lives. Stick with him until you see the sailboat lying on its side in the middle of the trailers.
THERMOS! Facing the boat as you approach, turn right. On the right side of the path between the trailers is the thermos, on a table.
-Keep following Randolph and he’ll lead you the rest of the way to Rose’s. There’s nothing else to find along the way, so knock on the door when you arrive, which will trigger another cutscene.
THERMOS! When you get control back, walk through the trailer until you reach the kitchen. The thermos is on the counter beside Rose.
-Drop past Rose and Barry for a bit of Alan’s narration, then head outside.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Your first page of the episode, “Randolph Calls the Police,” is on the path just outside the trailer.
-Follow the path Randolph led you on away from the trailer. You’re heading toward the fence where the shed is ahead, then turning left to walk along the sides of the trailers, where the stone path is.
RADIO! At the stone path, you’ll see the green light of a radio on the steps going up to a trailer. Push the button when you stand beside it on the ground rather than going up the stairs.
-When you’re back on the main path, walk straight to the exit of the park, where you’ll meet Randolph and the cops.
-Alan’s principally running along a dried riverbed — just stick to it and you’ll be fine. Try to keep the pace up to avoid being shot, and before long you’ll get into the deeper woods and give the cops the slip, at least for the time being.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll drop down and get a checkpoint, and the page titled “The Dark Presence Sleeps” will appear on the path to your left, on a log.
-Keep going along the path. You’ll see a Safe Haven up ahead before long. From there, climb up where the police car is crushed to reach the road.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Rather than run straight to the Safe Haven, turn right and follow the road back the way the police car came. Down at the far end is the “Rose Visited by the Dark Presence” page.
-Back on the path, keep following the compass. You’ll stick to the path heading up the mountain, with the cops looking for you below. You’ll hear them as you go.
-As the path goes higher, the police helicopter will find Alan, hitting him with a spotlight and firing shotguns at him. Use the rocks along the side of the path for cover, sprinting from one to the next.
-Just beyond that, as the helicopter leaves, you’ll come through a gate. To the left are some stairs that lead up into a ranger tower — climb it to use a set of binoculars to see what’s happening to the police below. The tower also is a Safe Haven.
THERMOS! In the tower beside the bedroll, sitting on the iron stove.
RADIO! There’s a blinking green CB sitting on the right side of the tower.
-Leave the tower and follow the compass to a gate that will lead you back to the path. Keep going until you come to a much larger gate — it’ll become possessed of darkness and you won’t be able to get through.
-Climb the path to the left instead. After a second, if you bear left, you should come to a green search light that’s without power.
THERMOS! Behind the search light is a piece of wooden fence that forms a ramp. Climb it to find a big flat rock behind it, with a thermos on top.
-Away from the light to the right, further onto the hill, is a generator under a small shed ceiling. Start it up to power the light, then go back and check it out. The generator gives out, sending you back to start it up a second time.
-Give the generator a kick and then start it up. Back at the light, use the boost to destroy the gate and clear the way. Keep on the path until you come to another Dark gate, and look right. In a shack is a flashlight you can grab. Destroy the gate by hitting it with the boosted flashlight.
-You’ll find another wrecked cop car just up ahead, and spilled out near the trunk, a handful of flashbang grenades. Throw one using RB — you’ll need to use them to defend yourself shortly. Drop down and face the Taken on the path ahead.
Path to the Radio Station
-Keep moving along the path. Taken will appear behind and around you, so keep on your toes. You can use flashbangs to protect yourself, but before long you’ll just have to make a break to a Safe Haven up ahead. When you get there, you’ll find more flashbangs. There’s also a broken red supply box on the fencepost nearby with batteries inside.
RADIO! The set is sitting on a stump right beside the Safe Haven.
-Set off across the bridge ahead of the Safe Haven. As you do, Taken will appear more or less all around you — including a bigger one that will walk against your flashlight. This one’s tougher to kill.
-Run to the right of the bridge once you’re across it, keeping your back to the cliff — this will put the Taken all on the same side of you. Use your flashlight to keep them at bay and weaken the big one. When they’re clustered together or you can’t wait any longer, toss a flashbang. You should be able to get them all in one shot.
ACHIEVEMENT! This is a good chance to get the “Sound and Fury” Achievement. If you can hold off long enough to draw all four Taken together, you can hit them with a single flashbang and kill them all. It’s tricky, however, and you’ll need to use your flashlight to stun the ones trying to circle around you.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Right here on the rock to the right of the bridge, the “Rose Touched by the Dark Presence” is near the drop off and hard to miss.
-Stick to the path and try to keep moving. When Taken ambush you, do your best to retreat from them and get them all on the same side of you, then hit them with a flashbang when they’re clustered together.
CHEST! Watch the right side of the path for some big boulders — one will be slightly speckled with yellow paint. Just ahead, the path forks right and left: Looking down the left fork, you’ll be able to see lights from a police car, but head right following the reflective arrows. You’ll find a cave with a generator that you can start to create a Safe Haven and a chest full of flares and batteries.
-The left fork takes you toward that police car. There are more flashbangs in the trunk, so do your best to defend yourself and grab them, then keep moving quickly along the path. Taken will appear around you, so speed will help a lot. Remember that you can stun them with the flashlight burst, giving you a second to move away or hit them with a grenade.
-As you approach the radio station, a big Taken will appear near the gate that gets you inside its fence. Use the flashlight and your dodge ability to keep clear of him, then hit him with a grenade when he’s weakened. After that, dodge inside the radio station’s lot to find a Safe Haven.
THERMOS! You’ll find this one near the car in the parking lot, underneath the big lighted sign there.
-Head inside the radio station and into the booth for a cutscene.
Path to the Train Depot
-When you get control back, you’ll be on the path in the woods again. Follow the path down the hill.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Pinned to the fence ahead is the “Nightingale in the Radio Station” page. Snag it as you walk by.
-You’ll move into deeper woods as you go. Up ahead, a rusted-out car with boxes all around marks supplies and a Safe Haven you can switch on. Fight off the Taken in the woods surrounding it and head left to the generator first. Fire it up and you can use the Haven as a base location while you search around for flares, a revolver, and ammunition.
-The path goes on ahead some. After fighting some more Taken, you’ll notice that the path swings left, but it appears as though there’s a fork that goes to the right, up a steep hill. That long path is clear of enemies and leads to collectibles.
THERMOS! As you climb the mountain path upward, you’ll start to see sidewinders — the path will lead to a cliff and then turn away, going up in a different direction. The second of these in which the path turns left holds a thermos, hidden behind some bushes. Look for a spot that allows you to look down on the radio station below.
MANUSCRIPT PAGES! Keep going up the ridiculous path and eventually you’ll reach the radio tower. On the base in the left corner is the “Walter Fights Danny” page and a couple of flares for your considerable trouble.
-It’s a long walk back to the path. Keep an eye on the compass to find your way. The bad news is that just a little way down from the tower, you’ll be attacked by a small flock of possessed birds. They’ll hit you at intervals all the way down, so keep your head up.
-Back at the bottom, it won’t be long until you hit a power company truck, with work lights scattered at intervals around a shed. Inside the shed is a shotgun, but grabbing it triggers a Taken ambush. Quickly run around turning all the lights on — they only last for a limited time — then grab the gun and get ready for a huge fight. You’ll want flashbangs at the ready as well.
-Break into a run out of the shed. The best direction seems to be the right, since most of the Taken advance from near the truck. Wait till they bunch up and hit them with a flashbang. At minimum, that’ll clear out a few of the smaller Taken and weaken the big ones. Use the shotgun here — there are too many enemies not to. With some quick movements and thinking, you’ll be able to bottleneck the Taken and blast them with the shotgun before they have a chance to surround and murder you.
-When they’re clear, you’re free to explore a little more. Standing at the truck, you can walk toward the left-side cliff to find another wooden shack. Inside are some bullets and cans.
CANS! In this same shack is a can pyramid you can shoot. If that’s your fifth (and it should be if you’re following this guide), you’ll get your “Carny” Achievement.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Exit the shed from the side door and look ahead for a path. Follow it all the way up to a wooden gate, where the “Wake Attacked by a Bulldozer” page is pinned.
-Next go back to the shed with the shotgun and go out the door to the right, near the other of the workmen’s lights. Standing at the light, turn left and follow the compass to pick up the path again. You should see another wooden shed ahead.
THERMOS! Inside that shed on the right is a thermos, just hanging out.
-Up ahead is a Safe Haven. Keep moving along the path — it’s a little overgrown — with the Haven as your next goal.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! On a rock beside the path on the right is the “Sarah Distracts Nightingale” page.
-The Safe Haven has a red supply box with batteries and bullets in it. Grab them and keep going. You’ll be interrupted by a cell phone call and, as you reach the bottom of the hill, the path will diverge left and right.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake Attacked by a Possessed Object” page is on a stump at the outset of the right path. Grab it, but don’t go that way just yet.
CHEST! Take the left fork and you’ll see reflective paint almost immediately. It leads to a wooden shack filled with spare ammo. The chest itself has flares and batteries, but taking them triggers an ambush by some Taken. Be careful as you take to the path exiting the shed.
The Bridge
-The path continues along the way the compass indicates and you’ll approach a bridge. The train depot just over on the other side – that’s your destination. Climb the ladder up to the bridge and proceed on the catwalks beneath it.
-As you reach the end of the catwalks, random bits of the bridge will start to snap off and hurl themselves at Alan. Hit them with the boosted flashlight to destroy them, but keep moving – as they rise into the air, the objects will pause, then come flying at you. They hurt pretty badly and come fairly quickly.
-It’s also advisable that you turn and take out any objects that land behind you without falling off the bridge. Many of those objects will continue to assault you from behind.
ACHIEVEMENT! The “poltergeist objects” you destroy go toward your “They’re Heeeeeere!” Achievement. Take out 20 to unlock it.
-With the bridge clear, advance onto the cliff on the far side of the chasm. More objects will attack you from up ahead at the train depot, but you have lots of space to dodge sideways. Just be careful not to slip (or get knocked) off the cliff behind you.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! You’ll reach a the chain link fence that blocks the way into the train depot. Follow it to the right and look for the “Wake and Night Springs” page on a stump.
-Head left along the fence to get into the depot. You’ll find a ladder before long that you can climb up.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake and the Dark Presence in the Lodge” page among the pile of debris just in front and to the left of the ladder.
-At the top of the ladder is a Safe Haven where you can heal, and in it, you’ll find the “Heavy Duty Flashlight” on the pace of the pillar. Snag it for a boost in the duration of your light, but recognize that you won’t refill it entirely when you pop a new battery into it. Then drop down into the depot ahead.
THERMOS! Proceed first to the back right corner of the yard. Up a short concrete ramp, a thermos is waiting for you.
-Explore the yard while you have a second. Along the wall to the left, you’ll find the button to activate the gate, as well as a red supply box and a flare further to the right, sitting on a crate. When you’re all set to advance, hit the green button.
-Touching the button triggers a Taken ambush. It’s a tough one, so be ready with flares or flashbangs to protect yourself. You should also have picked up shotgun shells, which will be very helpful.
-The open gate leads you to a garage. As you enter, a big ax-wielding Taken will start toward you from the front, which is meant to distract you from the smaller Taken ambushing you from the side. Step back out of the garage if you need more room to fight them off.
-You’re clear to the second floor of the garage. You’ll find a door there that back outside and some supplies on the table just before.
TV! Before you exit back outside, turn on the TV on the right side of the room to add it to your stats.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just outside the door, on the railing beside the stairs to the left, is the “Wake Attacked by the Dark Presence” page.
-Dropping down the stairs puts you in wide-open industrial yard. There’s a supply box on the shipping container you’re passing on the right – spin around when you’re past it to see it – and more scattered around the yard. Get ready for a big battle.
The Bulldozer
-Coming from the left, the possessed bulldozer is basically playing keep-away with you. It’s huge and deadly, and lethal from multiple sides – able to charge you, hit you while turning, and back over you. You need to get out of its way quickly if you want to survive.
-To make matters worse, Taken are dropping down from the fences all around you to join in the melee. You’ll have to work at keeping them off you while you continually hit the bulldozer with your flashlight in order to kill it. Luckily, there are batteries and bullets scattered all around the yard.
-Your standing order is to keep moving and keep inflicting as much damage as you can on the bulldozer. Flares will sort of keep it at bay.
-Watch your back, keep sprinting out of the way of the bulldozer, and clear out the smaller Taken as they appear. Whenever you’re free of being attacked, hit the bulldozer with the flashlight. It’ll spend a lot of time backing up to turn around and attack you – so stay away from it so you don’t accidentally get killed. In the meantime, throttle it with the flashlight.
-They key is not to get surrounded or distracted by smaller Taken, which means taking them out quickly. Be prepared to pop a flare – this is what you have them for – at the first sign of real trouble. It’ll give you a few seconds to regroup and take aim. The shotgun also is recommended for its stopping power and multiple-enemy-destruction capabilities.
-If you can dodge the bulldozer sufficiently, you should be able to take it out before too long. It doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of light to kill, just enough concentration to do the damage.
ACHIEVEMENT! Destroying the bulldozer unlocks the “Heavy Metal” Achievement.
-Keep in mind after killing the bulldozer that Taken are still scattered around the yard – in fact, more are being summoned because you won the fight, and are likely flanking you. Pop a flare or sprint to one side of the yard to try and get all enemies on the same side of you.
-When you’re done, run around the yard and gather up any supplies you need to replace. Hit the button at the far end of the yard to advance toward the truck that’s in the Safe Haven just beyond the gate.
THERMOS! To the right of the gate as you go through are some green iron slips where vehicles can enter. Inside the first, on the left wall toward the back is your thermos.
-Hop in the car as day breaks over the forest.
Road to the Coal Mine
-You start with your truck at your disposal. Backtrack the way you came if you like (it’s a ways, so drive) and you’ll get a bit of narrative about the destroyed bridge there. There’s nothing to find, so drive on.
-The road toward the coal mine takes you to another road block and another outed bridge. Drive to the right to get under the bridge and stop by the staircase there. Alternatively, you can drive your truck along the dirt road that curves up ahead of you. It also leads to the shack and the road.
RADIO! At the top of the stairs is a shack with a radio inside.
THERMOS! Leave the shack and cross the road, heading back toward the destroyed bridge. On your left, look for a downed log that acts as a ramp up onto the embankment. Climb it and head straight forward through the woods, toward the cliff. You should see a comfy looking red easy chair. It has a thermos on the seat.
-Get in a car (either your forestry service truck or the SUV parked by the shack) and continue down the road. You’ll drive up a hill – keep going until you see the parked car and ranger tower on the side of the road. Stop there.
RADIO! You’ll find it in the ranger tower.
-Back in the car. Drive on down to the red building on the left and park again.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Hop out and enter the mill. Climb the steps to the top, where you’ll find the “Mott on the Ferry” page.
-When you’re done here, drive down to the mine proper. You can park beside it – it’s set in the left wall and has a mine cart out front. You’re headed into the big red building ahead.
THERMOS! Run into the actual mine – it’s just a small alcove – and check the back left corner for the thermos.
SIGN! Read the posted information to the right of the mine to add it to your stats.
SIGN! The whole mining camp is a museum now. Beside the sign for the actual mine is a glass case with a sign explaining it on the left wall.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Sarah in the Radio Station” page is on the walkway in front of the building, right on the main path.
SIGN! Again, right on the path in front of the main building.
Road to Mirror Peak
-When you get control back, you have to find a way out of the building. Hop over the chain and go down the ramp into the room below. Turn around and head to the shelves in the back left corner.
ACHIEVEMENT! If you can get from the coal mine to the end of the episode in 30 minutes, you’ll unlock the “Meet the Deadline” Achievement. This is best accomplished on Normal mode. Do your best to avoid confrontations by running from Safe Haven to Safe Haven when possible.
-Bullets and batteries can be found on the shelves, as well as green button that opens the red hatch in the middle of the room.
THERMOS! Standing beside the shelves, facing the hatch, there’s an alcove between the shelves and the wall on the right, just in front of where you found the bullets. The thermos is in the corner.
-Open the hatch and drop down, back outside. Take the ramp on your right to reach the ground and the train yard beyond.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Thomas Zane in Love with Barbara Jagger” page is right in front of you when you exit the museum building.
-Find your way through the train cars ahead. As you go, you’ll find a revolver and a big box of ammo, right before an entrance into a larger open space. Reload and get ready for a bigger fight.
-As you enter, you’ll see Taken preparing to ambush you – several smaller ones on top of the train cars on the left and right, getting ready to jump down or hurl axes at you. In the center is a big Taken, stalking toward you.
-Flares are your friend here. You should have quite a few stockpiled, so use them to keep the Taken from surrounding you and maintain the upper hand in the battle. Use the revolver and the flashlight to take out the little guys from a distance, and then mop up the bigger one when it’s convenient or necessary.
-When the Taken are killed, the big single-person train car in the center of the area will become possessed. Hit it with your light and watch for it to shimmer slightly, which will indicate it’s coming at you. Dodge clear and destroy it with light, which will allow you to move on.
-Climb through the train car ahead. Right inside the doorway, to the left, are a pair of flashbangs to grab. Keep moving and you’ll find yourself walled into another car, with a pair of Taken leisurely dropped down to attack you. Take your time and drop them – it should be quite easy – before pushing on into the open again.
-Look for a ladder on the train car ahead. Climb it as two big objects come to life inside the car. There’s a hatch on top that you can open, and you’ll need to drop down. First, drop a flashbang into the car, or stand at the hatchway and aim your light down, to destroy the possessed objects.
-Drop in and use the car to enter the building. Exit by the door on the right back outside.
-The path into the building is blocked by a downed electrical line, and the power box to turn it off is at the other end of the train yard. Hop in the car and use it to mow down the various Taken that appear in the yard ahead of you, the drive to the stairs and get out. There’s a Safe Haven here for your convenience.
-The button is on the side of the building – hit it and you’ll kill power to the wire, but also destroy the Safe Haven. There’s also a flare gun on the box beside the button as you approach it.
-Get back in the car with the power out – you’ll need the vehicle to protect you. The train yard is alive with Taken and possessed objects. Use the headlights to destroy them and get back to where the power line went down. Climb the steps to get inside.
-Head to the back of the room. Taken will kick down the door to your left and attack. The group, a big Taken and two smaller minions, are easy to kill if you use the room’s layout to your advantage. They’re stuck coming through the door single-file and there’s a lot of stuff in the room you can duck behind.
-There are bullets and batteries on the table across from the door if you need them.
-Once you’ve cleared the way, use the door the Taken kicked down for you. You’ll find flares, more batteries and more bullets in the next room.
-Up the steps you’ll find another big room. As you move into it, heading left from the door, four Taken will drop down from above you.
ACHIEVEMENT! The close quarters of this room make this a great chance to get the “Come One, Come All” Achievement, which you can unlock by taking out four Taken with one shot from the flare gun.
-You’ll find a ladder in the center of the room to climb up.
THERMOS! You’ll see the easy chair right in front of you at the top of the ladder with the thermos on it.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’re headed for the door across the walkway, and the “Wake Touched by the Dark Presence” page is on a lumber pile beside the door.
-Out the door and down the stairs is a locked gate. You’ll find the switch to open it in the cabin. Once out the gate, you’ll find more flashbangs near the power company truck.
-Head right from the power company truck, being careful to avoid or destroy the puddles of darkness on the path there. At the little wooden bridge, you’ll see three Taken appear ahead of you – first a group of three, then several more. Take them out.
-Keep your head on a swivel to deal with any Taken that appear in the woods around you – they like to sneak up for ambushes. Stick to the path through the fog.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake and Barry in the Cell” page is right along the path on the side – hard to miss.
-Ahead, the path splits off in a fork – the right side heading toward a bright light and your compass marker, the left up a hill.
CHEST! The left path leads up another shallow mine. The chest is inside, filled with flashbangs. Keep in mind that Taken are gathering outside the mine as soon as you open the chest, however.
THERMOS! As you exit the mine, you’ll see a wooden lookout point that leads out to a thermos at its end. You’ll have to jump to some thin planks to get to it.
-From up here, you can take the wooden stairs near the lookout point down to the Safe Haven below. There’s a supply box there with ammo and batteries, and a power company trailer filled with ammo for your shotgun.
-Head across the bridge when you’re loaded up. There’s a power company work light on the far side. Switch it on.
-The path diverges all left and right here, but both will lead you to the same place. Take the left path, switching on the lights as you go. Taken will continuously attack you at intervals, so be careful and try to conserve ammunition.
THERMOS! As you round the lake here, you’ll see a red shack in the distance to the left, near to the first power company light that aims at an angle to the right. Run up there, quickly since Taken will be chasing you and respawning, and grab the thermos off the table. There also is ammo for your guns and flaregun here.
-Keep moving from light to light. The next one you approach ahead will be facing toward you, and as you approach it, a huge group of Taken will appear right in the light’s beam. Switch it on and start blasting away – one very effective tactic is to toss a flashbang as the enemies converge on you.
-Spin around and face behind you from this light to find the path. You’ll see wooden walls marking a channel for you to follow and a Safe Haven up ahead.
-Beyond it is an open area with a wooden walkway above. Head underneath into the graveyard, where Taken will appear.
-Among this group is a blurry, fast-moving Taken emulating Rusty, who you fought back at the national forest’s Visitor Center. Clear out the other two attackers and then concentrate on this one. Keep your light on it as it moves around the graveyard to keep it away from you.
-You’ll approach a wooden shed just ahead. Inside are batteries and a switch to make a Safe Haven.
-Follow the compass as you move on. You’ll pass more building as you go. When you see a rusted car ahead of you, get ready – it’s about to come to life. Destroy it to move forward toward a wooden bridge.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! The “Doc Examines Barry and Rose” page is left as you enter the town, tacked to a fence.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! On the railing of the bridge is the “Wake and Casey” page.
SIGN! Across the bridge is a sign for the “Gray Peak Gorge” on the right of the path, beside the red building.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! After the bridge, look for a building on the left side of the path. Walk around to the far side of the building, where you’ll get the “Wake Reads a Page” nightmare page.
Ghost Town
-As you enter the town, you’ll see a train car with lumber on it. Batteries are in the little car to the left, and more goodies are on a small path to the right that goes around the buildings.
-On the right path, you’ll enter a red building with more batteries on the floor to the right.
THERMOS! It’s hard to miss the thermos, which is pretty much in the middle of this building.
-Exit the building and turn right at the old train track. Follow it under the tower, where you’ll be attacked by possessed objects – first two smaller crates, then three big pieces of equipment.
-Since all the possessed objects are directly in front of you, position the struts of the tower between the objects and you to make an effective barricade and avoid taking any damage at all. The objects will pile up under the tower for you to destroy.
-When the objects are caught on the tower struts, you can toss a flare there to continually damage them without wasting batteries.
-With the way clear, keep following the tracks across a wooden bridge and to a larger, open area with a rusted-out locomotive.
-Of course, two huge hunks of the old locomotive come to life and start to fling themselves at you. Move quickly, because these possessed objects are huge and hard to dodge.
-Backtrack quickly the way you came and get behind the boulders and trees there to use as cover. Meanwhile, blast the locomotive pieces with as much light as you can muster. When they land near you, pop a flare to do continual damage with two light sources.
-As big as these things are, they’re not smart, and using cover properly (i.e. standing behind something big and letting the two pieces just sit there with the object between you) will keep you almost completely safe. Blast them with light and they’ll die without much difficulty.
ACHIEVEMENT! Destroying the possessed locomotive earns the “Iron Horse” Achievement.
-With the way clear, you can head to the back of this area where there’s a wooden shed and a Safe Haven for you to heal up in.
THERMOS! Against this shed leans the blade of an old windmill. Just behind it is a thermos, sitting on some debris.
-There’s a key on a box inside the shed with the Safe Haven. Using that, you can open the larger building, where you’ll catch some story from the TV and collect flaregun ammo and a hunting rifle. Exit through the door in the back of the building.
-You’ll see a ladder to climb to the left. At the top, the path curves up the mountain to your right
CHEST! Look for a stump splattered with reflective paint next to the fence bordering the path. You’ll see that you can descend by going past the fence, down a hill. The chest and lots more flaregun ammo are around the corner.
-Back on the path, you’ll be climbing the mountain. Before long, marauding swarms of dark birds will start dive-bombing you. The flaregun works wonders on them, but basically they’re meant to hinder your ascent.
-You should be able to dodge the birds long enough to reach the opening of a mineshaft. You’ll escape the birds, but fall into the mine.
The Sliver Mine
-The path through the mine is pretty straight-forward until you reach an open area. Here the compass points you toward the light ahead, but you can descend deeper to the left. A reflective paint message advises, “Tunnels lead to Cauldron Lake.”
-Head down there anyway. Alan does some narrating along the way.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! As Alan has the vision of Alice in the water and narrates that he is “losing it” and “needs to leave,” check the wall of the shaft to the right. Behind a big rock is the “Hunters Taken” page.
-This is as far as you can go, so turn around and head back up. The path leads you up a ramp and then right, into another tunnel. Stop and pick up the flares in the overturned box along the way.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! After you drop down, you’ll see the “Nightingale at the Majestic” page leaning against the wall to the left.
-Look to the right for some ammunition to pick up and head toward the exit of the mine. Of course, the way out collapses and you’re privy instead to a Taken attack. Remember all those flares you picked up? Time to use them.
-After you’ve killed the Taken attackers (who will appear on multiple sides of you, so be ready), head through the tunnel they opened.
THERMOS! Up ahead on the left is a little alcove you can see as you enter the larger room.
-Further on, you’ll find a huge vertical room with wooden walkways. The path to cross the room and ascend, however, is broken. You’ll have to use the crane and its load of wooden planks as a bridge.
-This isn’t really a puzzle. Push the first green button and lower the crane to make a bridge. Cross it, climb up, and it hit the button there to do the same thing. Repeat the process to reach the top.
-At the top of the shaft is a Safe Haven and a checkpoint. Beyond that, you’ll find a ladder to keep ascending. Kick through the wood planks to get back outside.
Mountain Path
-There are stairs here going up and down. Take the upward steps first to the top of this mountain, where you’ll find a box of flares.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Tor Hits Nurse Sinclair” page is at the top of the wooden lookout point atop the mountain. Climb it using the ladder on the side as you approach.
-Now head back down. Along the way, you’ll encounter some divebombing birds to kill, but there aren’t many. Then, further down, you’ll encounter a gondola that will help you cross a chasm. Fire up the generator nearby.
-Grab the flaregun ammo from the box near the gondola and board it as it arrives. Get the flaregun out, as you’ll be attacked much more zealously by birds on your trip on the gondola. Be careful not to get knocked out the open back side.
-At the far end of the chasm, you’ll be dropped onto a slope and immediately attacked by Taken to your left. Finish them and climb the hill back up to the path.
CANS! Check the gondola platform after you exit for a can pyramid to shoot.
-Stop by the Safe Haven near the gondola’s end point and get ammo from the red supply box there. There are stairs ahead of you that mark the path forward.
-The top of the stairs leads to a path through the woods. Stop by the wooden shack on the right for hunting rifle ammo. The darkness will close in, alerting you to be on the lookout for Taken attacks.
-Stick to the path. There’s a Safe Haven not far away, so keep your head up and fight off any attackers that come after you. Make it to the light and you’ll find more supplies in a red box there.
SIGN! Read the green sign just past this Safe Haven for some information about Cauldron Lake.
-Next you’ll cross a rope bridge. Midway through, you’ll get jumped by Taken, approaching from both sides.
-Pop a flare and leave it behind you to slow down the advance of the big sledge hammer-wielding Taken approaching from behind you. Kill the smaller one approaching from the side you’re headed to, taking care to avoid flying axes coming your way from the two Taken on the sides of the bridge.
-Your best bet is to get across as quickly as possible. Use the hunting rifle to kill the smaller Taken and get yourself some maneuvering room off the bridge, then turn your attention to the big Taken, who should be getting close now.
THERMOS! Standing at the bridge facing the direction your compass is directing you, turn left and hug the edge of the cliff to find the thermos.
CHEST! Again using the end of the bridge as a reference point, walk straight forward, toward some tall, monolithic rocks. You should see reflective paint before long, directing you behind a rock near the cliff face. The chest there has flaregun ammo.
-Follow the compass to retake the path. It leads toward a destroyed bridge and a curving path to go around it.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Mott at Cauldron Lake” page is on a fence alongside the path.
-Keep on the path heading up. You’ll have to kick down some pieces of wood to make yourself some bridges, but soon you’ll get to a ruined house at the top. The way in is through the cellar door, which you have to kick in.
-Inside, read the paint-covered walls, then head up the stairs. Search this floor for all kinds of ammunition, then head up the stairs toward the back.
-On the top floor, as you run, a huge chunk of the floor gives out, dropping you into a Taken ambush. You should have flaregun ammo and lots of handheld flares to keep your enemies off you – don’t be afraid to use them.
-Back at the top of the house, you now have to jump across the thin sections of destroyed floor to get across. At the back of that area is a ramp made of debris to get back down to the forest floor.
THERMOS! At the bottom of the ramp, run left around the side of the house to find the thermos near a stone wall. You may have seen it from the other side of the house.
-The compass leads you down the mountain to a wooden path with stairs. You’ll see a light in the distance as you descend.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll find the “Wake Wakes Up in the Lodge” page along your descent.
-Reaching the bottom ends Episode 3.
ACHIEVEMENT! You’ll get the “Wheels Within Wheels” Achievement.
Cauldron Lake Lodge
-Follow Hartman to the elevator. He’ll take you outside eventually, and explain what’s happening to Alan.
SIGN! When you reach the big sun dial, on the side furthest from the railing, you’ll find a small plaque you can read.
-Stick with Hartman and you’ll enter a large room with other patients. After a moment, he’ll lead you to a door to go through. Before you follow him, take a second to explore for collectibles.
THERMOS! While you’re here, you can grab a thermos on the other side of the room — turn right at any point and walk around the central fireplace to find a desk with the thermos on top.
SIGN! Turn right from the door where Hartman is and you can go to the back wall, where there are doors leading outside. Look for a big poster of Hartman’s book cover to read.
THERMOS! Look for a set of stairs leading upwards in the back right corner of the room. Go up and around to the right to find another thermos on the railing that looks down into the main room.
-When you’re done, stick with Hartman as he leads you through the lodge. You’ll see some more paintings on the walls here.
SIGN! Look for a big yellowish sign that reads “Welcome to Cauldron Lake Lodge!” You can read it to add it to your stats.
-You’ll meet the Anderson brothers in the last room. After Hartman leaves, you’ll get some more information about what to do. Head back toward your room when you’re ready.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The Anderson brothers will give you the “Thomas Zane’s Writing and Assistant” page.
-Leave the dining area and follow your compass. You’ll go up the stairs at the back of the main room, where you’ll get some story from the TV on the upper level.
-Next, go through the door up here, which leads back to Alan’s room. There will be a cutscene when you arrive.
-Head back out to the main room. You’ll need to take the stairs down.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Beside the stairs leading down into the great room, you’ll find the “Barry in the Lodge” page lying on the floor.
-Downstairs, you’ll find the Anderson brothers standing beside a nurse. Take the keys from beside her and spin around, following the compass to the office wing door. Open it with the key. Then duck into the office door immediately to the left.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! At the back of the room is the “Mott Fails Hartman” page on a table, beside a painting of a wolf.
ACHIEVEMENT! Straight in front of the door is a tape player on which you can listen to Alice’s sessions with Dr. Hartman. Hit the button three times to listen to all of Hartman’s recordings and unlock the “Medical Opinions” Achievement.
-Open the room at the back of the hall to find Barry.
THERMOS! On the table at the back of the room is a thermos, just hanging out.
-Next, open the lock on the door next to Barry for a cutscene.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll get the “Hartman Watches Wake Fall” page after the cutscene.
Escape the Lodge
-Run down back out the door and down the hall. Darkness in thick puddles is flooding in, and the Presence is knocking out lights. You need to keep moving.
-You’ll hit the door back to the great room, which you’ll need to open with the key. Tap A to get it open fast and avoid the darkness behind you.
-The way out is blocked by possessed objects — they’re scattered all over this room. Turn right and look for the stairs to the second level.
-Run to the generator just ahead and fire it up. It’ll clear lots of the possessed objects out of the room and clear the way ahead. Fire it up again to kill even more objects, since the Dark Presence is literally possessing everything down there.
-When you feel safe enough to go, head back down the stairs and sprint for the door. The way ahead will be closed off by objects, but you can duck into a side room to advance. Look for a flare on a box to the side of the room and take it with you.
-In the next room, all the objects will become possessed and a couple will block your way. Pop the flare to clear them from your path.
-Cut left down the hall toward the light.
ACHIEVEMENT! There’s a lamp to the left and a TV right in front of you as you leave the room with the two bears that blocked the door. Stop at the TV and turn it on, which unlocks the “Boob Tube” Achievement.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Hartman’s Mission” page is on the sofa next to the door out of this room.
-You’ll move into a long hallway. At the end are a pair of doors, but they’re locked. On the other side, a huge chandelier will become possessed and break down the doors to get to you.
-Stand in the hallway as the object starts to break the door down, back by an alcove where a lamp still works. When the object breaks down the door, duck into the alcove and let it fly past you. Then run down the hall into the room there.
-The door outside is also locked. Wait for the chandelier to return. When it comes back, it’ll lift in the air to attack you. Stand in front of the doors and let it come at you, then dodge at the last second. The chandelier will break the door down and you can get outside to Barry.
THERMOS! Follow the stone porch around to the right to find a thermos at the far end, on the railing to your left.
SIGN! There’s a plaque in front of the central piece of art in this courtyard that you can add to your stats.
-Talk to Barry and get a flashlight, then turn and face the lodge. Four big hunks of statues will be possessed by the Dark Presence — one at a time for the first two, then the last two at once. Use the strategy of keeping things in between you and the objects, like the center statue, and destroy them.
-With that done, head to the gate on the other side of the courtyard. Grab batteries from the bench to the right of the path and use the flashlight to kill the possessed gate. Then head to the Safe Haven beyond.
Hedge Maze
-Grab flares and batteries from the wooden shack here, then enter the hedge maze. The path goes to the right first, past a desk and a wheelbarrow, where you’ll find more supplies. Up ahead, a T-junction is marked by a bench, some batteries, and a Taken ambush. The pair of enemies will come from both sides, so check your back.
-Standing facing the bench, go right, then left at the next intersection (the dead end to the right has a reflective paint message that says, “Don’t trust Emil”). You’ll come to an open court next, with a tree in the center.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! At the base of the tree is the “Wake Sees the Old God Stage” page.
-Grab batteries and bullets from the bench to the left of the exit, then proceed through the maze. Follow the path until you see a park bench on your left and an opening to the right. There are two light posts there – they mark the way forward.
NOTE: Watch for Taken to appear behind you, especially at dead ends. You won’t always get the musical crescendo that usually alerts you to their presence. Use the strengthened flashlight to disorient them and stop their charge.
-Turn right to face the three Taken massing in the wider, bench-riddled court ahead. The one in the back is a big one with a sledge – remember that you have flares if you really need them. Kill them all and head through, turning left at the end to go find a manuscript page.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The path to the left leads to a park bench with the “Hartman and the Power Failure” page on it.
-Go back the way you came, following the path past the courtyard where you fought the three Taken. Go left when you come to an intersection, toward a Safe Haven you can see ahead and the exit of the maze.
-A little further you’ll come to a gazebo. In it is a supply box and the big orderly, Birch, from Hartman’s lodge. He’s a souped-up Taken and will require more than the usual to kill. He’s also backed up by a huge flock of birds.
-First, try to lure the orderly away from the gazebo – in that supply box is a flaregun that will do serious damage to both him and the birds. Remember the flares you have with you, which you can use as the birds dive on you to ward them off and kill a bunch.
-When you’ve got the flaregun, turn your attention to the Birch. He’s big and fast, and while the bird attacks hurt, they’re less important than the orderly. Knock out his darkness with a concentrated effort, then dump all the handgun ammo in him you can muster to kill him.
-Because he’s just one guy, he should be fairly easy to take out, even with the birds as backup. Use bursts from the flashlight to give him a stagger and keep him from attacking you directly.
-When it’s just the birds left, look up and try to keep track of them. Despite all the others circling the fight, it’s really only one swarm that’s attacking and if you can keep an eye on them, you can defend yourself pretty successfully.
THERMOS! It’s waiting for you on the floor of the gazebo.
-Killing the birds allows you to move on. Take the stairs that lead down past the gazebo. You’ll face two more Taken here, including one big one, but with lots of room to back up you should have no issues.
-The path leads on to a Safe Haven. Check the wood shack beside it for weapons, including a shotgun.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Mott in Charge” page is on the sacks beside the table, where the shotgun is lying.
-Through the gate ahead, you’ll cut through a garden with some bushes. Watch out for an ambush of three Taken, including one behind you. Duck off the path and deal with them, before heading up the steps.
-Check to the right of the stairs for a flare before following the stone walkway. The gate ahead and the wheelbarrow in front of it are possessed, so watch for the wheelbarrow to become belligerent.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just past the gate, the path makes a left turn. In the corner of the path, right there next to the walkway, is the “Barry Attacked by a Taken” page.
-There’s a Safe Haven up ahead with a supply box. Follow the little pond to the left until you reach the wall, being prepared for another three-man Taken group to attack you.
CHEST! Follow the wall to the right, where a path hugs the cliff. You’ll find the chest, loaded with flaregun ammo, waiting there.
-Go back the way you came, up the stone steps toward a Safe Haven. Around it, on a couple of tables, are weapons and ammo.
THERMOS! Straight out to the wall from the Safe Haven, directly in front of you, is a thermos on the wall.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The compass points right, so turn left and go up a small flight of stone stairs. The “Hartman Sedates Wake” page is waiting in the lookout point there.
-You’ll get to Barry at the gate just ahead. As he’s struggling to open the gate, you’ll need to defend yourself from a whole bunch of Taken. For the most part they’ll just march toward you, but a few will come from the sides over the walls of the staircase.
-Use flares and the flaregun here when you can maximize the damage. Feel free to use all your supplies, because surviving until Barry opens the door earns you a cutscene anyway. There’s not much to the strategy except effective use of flares and the flaregun to keep enemies at bay.
Forest Path to the Anderson Farm
-Follow the path around until you reach the train tracks. From there, you’ll turn left and go toward a big wooden walkway.
-When you path cuts left, you can head toward a deep tunnel, but objects will become possessed along the way. Dodge to let them fly past you and run up to the workman’s lights that shine into the shaft.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! At the back of the shaft is the “Walter at the Anderson Farm” page.
-Head back out of the tunnel. You can follow the wooden tracks toward a couple more possessed objects to dodge, and a staircase that leads down.
THERMOS! Right behind the two possessed barrels, the thermos sits on a crate.
-Pretty much every object you encounter out here will become possessed, so just keep moving the way the compass indicates, as fast as you can. Try to put anything that’s not coming to life between you and the objects pursuing you.
-Ahead you’ll come to some relative safety when you find the gate possessed on your right. Climb the steps to your left. You’ll have to jump to avoid a hole in the walkway.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Ahead on this wooden path is the “Nightingale Arrests Wake” page.
-Fire up the generator beside where you found the page and go back down the stairs. Beside the Safe Haven you just lit is a valve. Use it to turn the light pole above you and settle the Safe Haven over the possessed gate.
-Through the gate on the left is a flashlight. You’ll have to let it recharge if you use it, as you have no batteries. Take the stairs down to the path.
-You’ll have to run along the path to escape Taken. Use the light to disorient them as you go and look for a generator up ahead. Activate it quickly to create a Safe Haven. Check the area around the generator for batteries.
-You’re stuck running to the next Safe Haven. Taken will be a little more brazen this time, showing up in front as well as behind. Knock them back with the light and just sprint to safety.
-Keep moving and you’ll find a small abandoned camp site. Grab the heavy duty flashlight and the batteries you find there.
THERMOS! There’s also a thermos on the table beside one of the tents.
-You’ll have to stick to the path. Keep moving to the possessed wooden gate.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll see this page “The Dark Presence at Large,” get dropped right in front of you.
-Grab flares from beside the path and watch ahead for numerous bear traps. Keep going toward the light at the cabin.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Patients Escape the Lodge” page is right on the path as you approach the cabin.
-When you reach the cabin, the light will go out. Fire up the generator to activate a Safe Haven, and you’ll find a shotgun and shells just inside the doorway there.
THERMOS! Go around the side of the house from the Safe Haven – left if you’re standing in the light, facing the door with the shotgun shells inside. Go up the stairs to access the inside of the ruined cabin. A thermos is on the windowsill to the right, and a Taken will attack you from behind once you have it.
-Keep moving on the path. You’ll have to dodge bear traps, and before long Taken will start attacking you. There’s a Safe Haven ahead – that’s your goal, as you probably don’t have the ammunition to seriously fight off all the attackers headed your way.
-Fight off the first group of Taken and keep hauling. As you go, more Taken will appear in front of you. Use flares to keep them off your back, which can be more effective than trying to take them down one at a time.
-Be aware that ahead, close to the Safe Haven, a sledge-carrying Taken will step onto the path in front of you, looking to put the hurt on. Also recognize that dodging him and getting to the Safe Haven is a quick and economical way to win the fight.
-Enter the cabin and start picking up ammunition and flares. By the front door you’ll find flares and batteries, and there are shotgun shells in the kitchen.
THERMOS! There’s also a thermos in the kitchen, on the counter.
-Head upstairs. You’ll find Walter in the bedroom, along with a revolver and some ammo. When you’re done talking to him, go across the hall to get some story from the TV.
-Back downstairs, Danny, Walter’s killer, busts through a window in the living room to come kill you. He’s a stronger Taken than most, so hit him with as much light as you can manage while retreating into the kitchen. That should give you room to take him out without him hitting you.
-Hop out the window when you’re done. There are collectibles to get before you jump in the car, however.
CHEST! Look to the right for the entrance to the cellar. Head down and find a chest with flaregun ammo there.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Around the house on the other side is the porch, with the “Hartman Considers Mott and Wake” page in front of the door.
Road to the Farm
-Take the car and drive down the road. Stop when you see a red rusting tractor on the side of the road.
THERMOS! It’s sitting right in front of that tractor.
-Drive on until you see the road fork right and straight. Continue going straight, even though the compass would have you turn. There’s a house just ahead. Stop there and go inside to find ammo.
CHEST! Inside the house is also a chest full of flashbangs, along the back wall.
-Keep following the road until you come to another parked car with a ranger station and some stairs on your right. Park and head up to find a hunting rifle.
RADIO! Hit the radio set while you’re up here to add it to your stats.
-Drive on further. You’ll soon come to a spot where the road cuts right – this is the road you could have taken at the other end and didn’t. Turn down there now to find another collectible.
THERMOS! On this road, on your left, you’ll see a largish rock. It’s way down just short of where this road intersects with the other road, near the cabin where you found the chest. The rock marks where another rusting tractor sits a few feet out of sight, with the thermos nearby.
-The road eventually leads to a field filled with Taken. Clear them out and follow until you reach a smashed gate, where you’ll have to abandon your vehicle.
-Just beyond the gate, a huge earthmover goes crazy with possession. You’ll have to take it out, but Taken will attack you from behind. Use flares and flashbangs to kill the earth mover and keep the Taken off your back, then proceed to the Safe Haven just ahead.
-Hop down onto the field through the break in the fence ahead. You’ll see a windmill ahead and to the left. Walk toward that, and beyond it, toward the outbuilding there.
CHEST! This building, which is far from where you’re actually heading according to the compass, is marked with reflective paint and a tractor out front. Inside is a chest with ammo inside. A big Taken and little Taken await outside when you leave.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Keep moving in the same direction behind this building toward the outhouse, where the “Hartman During the Missing Week” page is on the door.
-Follow the road outside the building back toward the compass mark. You’ll see bleachers on either side of you as you go.
THERMOS! On the bleachers on the left, a thermos sits waiting for you.
-Advance further and you’ll meet up with Barry in a cutscene.
Stage Fighting
-You need to protect the stage from a ludicrous number of Taken that are headed your way. You’ll see many of them coming, but a few will climb up and get at you from the sides as you’re fighting. Keep looking around and use the Safe Haven Barry turns on whenever it’s available.
-First stop: Grab the pump-action shotgun on the right side of the stage, and fill it with the ammo there. The extra rounds and faster rate of fire will be extremely useful during this fight.
-Ward off the first wave of Taken and go to the left side of the stage, near Barry, to find a heavy duty lantern — a monster of a flashlight that’ll make quick work of Taken defenses.
-Use flashbangs and flares to keep the area around the stage clear for the most part. You’ll have to run around, dealing with incursions and picking up extra batteries and ammo as you need it. After quite a few waves and dead Taken at your feet, you’ll get a short cutscene notifying you the worst is over.
ACHIEVEMENT! If you finish the stage fight without ever being knocked to low health (where the world goes black and white and you can hear Alan’s heart beating), you’ll earn the “Child of the Elder God” Achievement.
THERMOS! On the edge of the light booth where Barry was working, you’ll find a thermos.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Go down the stairs of the stage near Barry and go around the side of the structure. You’ll see the “Mulligan Questions Nightingale’s Orders” page tacked to an electrical box there, right behind the steps.
-You need to get inside the barn. The ladder’s around the right side, so head that way.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Nightingale Finds the Manuscript” page is straight out into the field if you’re standing with the ladder at your back. Look for a rusted tractor and a wooden cart behind it. The page is on the cart.
The Farm
-Climb the ladder back at the barn. You’ll get up to a corrugated metal overhang. Follow it around the corner and hit the button to lift the metal engine out of the way, pausing to talk to Barry.
-Back on the ground, you can open the door to get into the farmhouse. Look for ammo scattered around in front of you, near the TV set, as well as on the shelves along the left wall. When you’re done down here, you’re headed up those stairs.
TV! Hit the TV for an episode of Night Springs to add to your stats.
THERMOS! Go to the back right corner of this level to find the thermos on a table.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! On the second level, you’ll see a page, “The Anderson Brothers in the 70s,” pinned to a stump at the far end of the floor.
-Around the other side of the barn is a button that releases the viking ship from its hoist, battering down the door of the barn.
SIGN! Past the button is a tour poster for the Old Gods of Asgard that you can read. It’s on the left toward the back.
-An ambush of Taken awaits you as you head back to the stairs. They’re in front and behind, so pop a flare or use some fancy footwork to get through them. Clear them out and descend.
-As you go through the newly opened barn door, a fast-moving, blurry Taken will attack you. It’s best to deal with him outside if possible, where you’ll have more space. Remember that he’s tougher to kill, and try to keep track of him so he can’t get behind you and attack.
-Follow the path that Barry took past the hanging power lines and you’ll see a possessed car blocking your path, with additional Taken moving to attack you from the sides. Back up near the lines so you have lots of room and take down the three smaller Taken and two big ones.
CANS! Near the hanging lines is a large wheel among the debris here. Look for a can pyramid standing on it.
-Meet Barry at the Safe Haven to enter the silo. Look to your right for a door you can kick down to get upstairs. Give the second floor a quick check for a couple of boxes of shotgun shells.
-The top of the stairs on the third floor is home to an ambush from a huge sledgehammer Taken. Back down the steps and hit him with your light, then blast him with the shotgun to take him out.
THERMOS! Look at the shelf at the back of the room to find a thermos, behind the bales of hay from which the Taken appeared.
-On the top floor, you’ll find a ladder that you can climb up. There’s another heavy duty lantern and batteries you can grab here. Look for steps that you can ascend even further.
RADIO! Before you go up that last flight of stairs, hit the radio. This should unlock the “KBF-FM” Achievement.
-Up the stairs is a generator and some spare batteries. Fire it up and take the elevator down to the garage below. Inside you’ll find a supply box with all kinds of additional ammo.
The Thresher
-As soon as you exit this garage, the huge thresher you just passed will come to life and attack. Try to get clear and start hitting it with light. Flares are your best friend here, as little Taken will also be appearing from all around you to attack.
-If you have a flashbang, now is a good time. Otherwise, concentrate on keeping an eye on the thresher – it’ll go way off into the field to make its turns to come back after you – and clear out the Taken attackers, which will be more dangerous on the whole. Keep moving to dodge the thresher and your attackers.
-When the little guys are clear, you can dedicate yourself to pounding the thresher with your lantern. It shouldn’t take too much effort to destroy it, so long as you’re not distracted.
-As soon as the thresher dies, you’ll see a big Taken kick down the door of a building on the other side of the field and start toward you. He’s all alone, so head over and take him out.
-Go into the door the enemy just kicked down and climb the ladder there. Drop down on the other side and go to the building with the flickering light inside, where you’ll find the “Silo Key.” Then follow the compass to the silo door and let Barry out.
-You can now go across the farm with Barry to the farmhouse. There’s nothing more to find along the way, so head to the front door.
Valhalla, the Farmhouse
THERMOS! Just inside the farmhouse is a door on the right. It leads to a bathroom with a thermos sitting on a chair.
THERMOS! Bypass the stairs and head into the dining room just ahead instead. Go right and go into the room on the left, which is the kitchen. On the counter on the left is the thermos.
-Head up the stairs to find the fuse-box, following the compass.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll see this one right on your path in the hallway, titled, “The Mystery of the Missing Week.”
-Hit the fuse-box and head back downstairs. Go into the living room, turning left from dining room. Look on the coffee table for a record player. Hit the button to activate a cutscene.
-You’ll go through a dream sequence and the episode will end.
ACHIEVEMENT! Finishing Episode 4 unlocks the “Perchance to Dream” Achievement.
Episode 5
Escaping the Police Station
-After the cutscene, you’ll be let out of the jail cell by Sarah. You’ve got pages to collect first, however.
MANUSCRIPT PAGES! There’s the “Nightingale Reads the Manuscript” page right at the cell door, and the “Nightingale Attacked by the Dark Presence” page near the door to the right.
-Leave the cell block and head left, away from Sarah, into the little office. You’ll find two flares scattered about there.
THERMOS! To the right of where Sarah is headed is the reception area. The thermos is against the back wall on a table.
-Follow Sarah as she switches on the power and then opens the door to her office. Inside you’ll find a flashlight, batteries and Alan’s revolver. You can also take the shotgun in the gun case near the door.
-Sarah will lead you outside. Go over the small wood fence and through the chain link to the area where the kidnapper called you back in Episode 2. Look at the building wall next to the rusted truck to find a switch that lowers the ladder. Look out for darkness puddles on the way.
ACHIEVEMENT! You and Sarah will meander through much of Bright Falls on your path to the helipad. If you can make it without being killed or restarting, you’ll unlock the “An Idyllic Small Town” Achievement. It’s not too hard if you do this Achievement on Normal mode and stick with Sarah, avoiding any extra exploring and confrontations. Note that you have to be all the way on the helicopter, and survive the final stand you make there, to get the achievement.
-Climb to the top and kill the puddles there too. Grab the flares on the rooftop, then climb the ladder on the water tank.
-When you drop down onto the rooftop below, you’ll be attacked by swarms of birds. Figure out where the birds are coming from – they’re on all sides of you at first – and try to hit them with flashlight blasts as they dive at you. That’ll melt them and keep you safe.
-Once they’re dead, continue across the roof to the wooden walkway. Go over the plank to get to an elevator and ride it down.
-Back over by the gate, you’ll find an electrical box that you need to use to open the way for Sarah. When you do so, she’ll lead you through the town.
NOTE: Directly across from the gate is a little alcove between two buildings. You’ll see a wooden shed there on the right that has a flare inside.
-Just up ahead the way will be cleared by an attack by a large group of Taken. Sarah will back you up, but the enemies are basically gunning for you. Keep them from getting behind you and you’ll get through okay.
-With the Taken dead, you can clear the possessed van with your light and advance out to the street. More Taken will attack you out here as well.
NOTE: Sarah’s using a shotgun and it won’t run out of ammo. Support her best by giving her defenseless targets to kill.
THERMOS! When the way is clear, run across the street to the dock area. Go up the stairs to the right and look immediately right at a ticket booth. The thermos is on it.
CHEST! Go all the way to the right to where Deer Days float has stopped. To the left of it is a destroyed wooden boardwalk bordering the water. Follow the fence to find a small plank bridge that will get you onto the boardwalk just past the float. Follow that to the end to find the chest, with a flaregun inside.
CHEST! Closer to Sarah on the right side of the street, you’ll see a cannery – a big building behind a fence, right on the water with a sign that says “Fresh Seafood.” Go through the fence and follow the reflective arrow left between the buildings, where a Taken ambush waits. Pop a flare to drive off the enemies and get clear of them. When they’re all dead — Sarah should run back and help you, but it can be tough — Go around to the left to find a staircase. It leads up to the chest. A flaregun and batteries are inside.
-Following Sarah, you’ll find another alley to the left of the street, near a blue pickup and some port-o-johns. There are flares back there, but grabbing them sends two Taken climbing the fence after you.
-Further down, the diner, Bright Falls Oven, is still lit up on the left side of the street. Go inside and grab the heavy duty flashlight from the counter, as well as revolver ammo from the right side.
THERMOS! Behind the counter closest to the front door is a thermos, on the ground.
ACHIEVEMENT! Flip on the jukebox to earn the “Drink ‘Em Both Up” Achievement. You need to have played it for Thor and Odin Anderson back in Episode 1 to unlock it, however.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! In the back of the diner, take the hallway back to the bathrooms. Turn left to find the “Barry in the Sheriff’s Station” page pinned to the wall.
-Now you can follow Sarah. She’ll lead you through a fence, around the back of a building. You’ll get ambushed by a Taken at the corner, but both your lights and guns should make them easy to kill. There are ammo and batteries scattered along the way.
-At the field of port-o-johns around the corner, another group of Taken will attack. Check your back – there’s one behind you – and use flares to keep Sarah protected. When you’re done, hit the green button ahead to create a Safe Haven and resupply at the red box.
-Back on the street, Sarah will lead you down toward a van with an active car alarm. She turns left toward a light, but you can press on further toward the fence to get ammo.
CANS! Back on the street, look to the left side for a hot dog vendor truck, before the car with the alarm. The stack of cans is on top of it.
THERMOS! Go straight down to where the road is blocked, the thermos is just behind a port-o-john.
-Go to Sarah where she’s opening a gate. Taken will ambush you while she’s working, and you’ll have to defend the position. Use flares and grab spares from the supply box on the other side of the courtyard. There’s nothing too dangerous until you face the chainsaw-wielding Taken toward the end of the battle. Concentrate on him when the time comes.
-Sarah will open the gate once everything is dead. Head into the backyard after her.
THERMOS! Under the tent immediately to your left, the thermos is on a table.
Town Hall
-Grab flares from under the tent just ahead, then turn left and follow Sarah into the building. She sends you after the helicopter keys, which are downstairs. Check upstairs before wandering the lower level, however.
TV! Head to the top floor and look for the TV on the back wall to add it to your stats.
CHEST! Through the door beside the TV is a chest, against the wall in the back right corner. You’ll be attacked by a Taken after you get the flaregun ammo inside, however.
-Go back downstairs and to the right to look for the keys.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! You’ll find a page on the small stage around the corner from Sarah, titled “The Dark Presence Set Back.”
-You’ll enter a big conference room next. Go through the door on the right and a big Taken cop will ambush you. Step into the room and use its length to give yourself time to kill him.
-Head into the room where the Taken kicked the door down and you’ll find a hunting rifle and some ammo.
THERMOS! To the right of the desk is a small kitchen, where a thermos waits on the counter, to the right once inside the doorway.
-Back out in the main lobby, check the office across from the room with the flickering light for some flares, then follow the compass into the next room.
-There are all kinds of goods in this room. The helicopter key is in the back corner, but also take the lantern and flashbangs from the right corner. There is in the supply box on the right wall.
-Head back out for a cutscene.
The Book Store
-Go with Sarah into a large courtyard on the side of the street. It’s marked by a big statue in the middle of it.
SIGN! Read the plaque in front of the statue to add it to your stats.
-Go up the stone stairs and fight off the Taken attack there. Then continue up, following Sarah to the Safe Haven, then across the street to the book store.
THERMOS! Immediately inside the bookstore to the right is a thermos, sitting on the bookshelves in the window.
SIGN! Go to the right wall of the book store and walk to a table with batteries on it. There’s a sign on the wall detailing Alan’s books.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Go to the back of the store where the cash register is to find the “Cynthia’s Work” page on the counter.
-Follow Sarah out the back of the store after grabbing the batteries. There’s nothing upstairs, so don’t bother.
CHEST! Head left from the book store and look for a door on the right into a small wood shed. The chest, and flaregun ammo, are inside.
-Stick with Sarah and go into the small playground.
THERMOS! Turn right at the entrance and head to the other side of the playground. The thermos is resting on a small sandbox.
-You’ll reach the street up ahead. Sarah heads to the church steps, but divert to the right first.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Look for a yellow truck. Walk around back and go up the ramp inside to get the “Barry in the General Store” page.
SIGN! Read the illuminated sign in front of the church to count it.
-Grab ammo and batteries from the power company truck and from the supply box across the street from it, right in front of the church.
-Up the stairs, Sarah will struggle with the lock and you’ll be attacked by Taken – most notably, two of the fast blurry ones. Deploy flares to keep them off you and take out the little guys first, then turn your attention to the harder-to-kill ones.
-After the fight, the lock will be open and you can enter the church. Follow Sarah to the back.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Check the podium for a page titled, “The Dark Presence Hunts Wake.”
-You’ll go out the back and descend into the crypt. Watch out for a Taken attack from the right as you go in.
THERMOS! Head first to the back left corner of the crypt to find the thermos on the floor.
-The stairs out are to the right and back. Look for a lighted area. At the top, cross the parking lot and grab ammo from the supply box, then ascend the stairs.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! At the top of the steps, you’ll see a small lookout point. Grab the “Alice in the Dark” page from the table there.
-Grab the flare from the wooden railing before continuing to the helipad. When you reach the street, go right to find a van with flashbangs in the back and a single Taken guarding them.
-Follow the compass the other way. You’ll fight some Taken, including the chainsaw variety (who are strong enough to survive a flaregun blast to the face), before reaching the heliport parking lot.
THERMOS! Go to the back of the parking lot on the left side, behind the wooden tower, to find a thermos.
-Run around and gather whatever ammo you can. There are flashbangs and flares near the helicopter. After the short cutscene, switch on the power company lights and start defending the area. You’ll be dealing with a lot of Taken, so make full use of flaregun ammo and grenades.
-Your job is just to hold the area as long as you can. After each wave of Taken, the tornado will toss debris at you, so stay back toward the helicopter. Keep the lights switched on so you can spend more time shooting and less time with your flashlight, and watch your sides for attacks.
-Stick as close to the helicopter as you can, only leaving to grab ammo between waves of Taken. When Sarah and Barry finally get the chopper ready to go, if you’re close to it, you’ll be pulled into a cutscene immediately, instead of having to retreat to get on.
Transformer Yard
-Fight off the birds descending all around you. You’re stuck with a weaker flashlight, so do your best to keep an eye on the birds and blast them as they get close.
THERMOS! When you’re free to do so, head to the right along the fence to find a thermos on a chunk of concrete.
-Cut to the left and look in a security hut station for a revolver and a bunch of ammunition. Go to the garage door that’s jammed and shoot the red plank of wood holding the chain on to break it. Get ready for a Taken ambush as soon as you do.
-This is a tough fight. You don’t have any of your normal gear, so running away to regroup is your best strategy. Dodge enemy Taken attacks, keep your focus mostly on the big sledgehammer-wielding cop that’s after you. He’s the biggest threat.
-Use the debris scattered around the parking lot to keep the Taken from surrounding you. Hit-and-run tactics will help you stay alive and clear out the enemies. Alternatively, you can break for the Safe Haven inside the garage.
-Check the shelves in the garage for ammunition, including batteries and flares. There’s a pump-action shotgun on a table at the back wall. When you’re set, climb the ramp onto the crates against the fence and jump down.
RADIO! The set is right in front of you when you get down from the fence.
-Dropping onto this side of the garage triggers a huge Taken ambush. All the ammo and flares you just got will be needed to survive it. First you’ll face a few small Taken and a huge one carrying a pickax, who appears right in front of you. Don’t be afraid to use everything at your disposal to kill them.
-This first group gives way to two more big Taken and a few more small ones. Try to keep moving – checking your flanks, of course – to keep the big ones away from you. Pop batteries whenever you need to and keep the light coming.
-It might be close, but before too long you should be able to kill the Taken and clear the area. Check the shelves for ammunition to restock some of what you’ve lost.
THERMOS! Near the exit of the garage is a pile of concrete tubes. Check the back of these, along the left wall, to find a thermos on the ground.
-Outside is another Safe Haven. Past it, you’ll come to the transformer yard. Drop down to enter it.
CHEST! Head left as soon as you enter the transformer yard to find a chest at the end of this area, to the right. It has a couple of flashbangs inside.
-To the right you’ll find a button that opens the gate – look left immediately to see a Taken attacking you, and hit it with the light to knock it into the power lines and destroy it.
-Go through and follow the path along the side to a staircase that leads down to the water. Hit the green button ahead to create a Safe Haven and look on the blue crate for ammo.
-Up the steps you’ll be attacked by several Taken. A great way to deal with them is to backtrack down the steps and stand by the switch that activates the Safe Haven. As they approach, flip it to take out several of them.
ACHIEVEMENT! Destroying 20 total Taken with indirect means, such as hitting them with this big light, to earn the “Collateral Carnage” Achievement.
-Go through the gate where the Taken came from and fight off another big attacker from the left. Finish him and follow the path around.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Cynthia on Her Way to the Dam” page is just to the left at this T-junction. You may have seen it as you entered the transformer yard.
-Continue following the compass. There’s all kinds of ammo in the supply box on the right side along the way. Next you’ll go up a few stairs into a court yard filled with live transformers.
-Two huge sledgehammer Taken appear on either side of you as you enter here. If you’re really good, you can let them get close and knock them back with your light into the live wires surround you, killing them. If not, pop a flare and leave the area with the wires, forcing the Taken back to where you can more easily deal with them.
THERMOS! When you walk down the stairs on the other side of this area, turn right to find a thermos on a wooden pallet to the right.
-Keep moving along the path. At the blue elevator, hit the button and ride up to the top of the shipping container.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! The “Wake’s Plan” page is up here, sitting on the arm of the big red easy chair.
-Drop off the container and continue to the Safe Haven, then along the path to the road ahead.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! When you get to the road, head left. You’ll see a page titled “The Poet’s Muse and Lyrics 4″ among the car pile-up.
SIGN! Read the big green sign right at the end of the path to get it counted in your stats.
-Cross the road to the red bridge operating station on the far side. The door is on the back, but a Taken will jump out as you approach.
THERMOS! Before going in, go around to the side of the building that faces the bridge. The thermos is in the corner on the ground.
-Inside, grab the flare gun and ammo off the tables, in addition to batteries and bullets. Then hit the button to rotate the bridge.
Crossing the Bridge
-Head out and jump across to the rotating bridge. If you have the flaregun, pull it out and prepare to fight swarms of birds.
-These three sets of birds actually aren’t bad, and a good shot with the flaregun will put down most of them. Use the length of the bridge if you need to run to dodge their attacks.
-When they’re dead, you can wait for the rotating bridge to bring you to the other side of the river. You’ll recognize the bridge operations booth on the left side of the road.
-Hop off the bridge as it meets the bank and duck inside the booth for some shotgun ammo.
THERMOS! Sitting on the chair as you come through the door here.
TV! Flip on the set next to the shotgun for a new episode of “Night Springs.”
-Back outside, head down the road until you see the helicopter swoop in. Sarah and Barry will be covering you from the chopper, so head to the Safe Haven its spotlight has made on the path ahead.
-Stay near the helicopter’s light. The chopper will move along the path a ways until stopping as Taken attack you.
-This is a tough fight. Use the helicopter’s light to instantly make Taken vulnerable, but recognize there are about three big guys among the enemies, plus little ones coming from the sides or chucking sharp things at you. The area around the path is pretty large, however, so use the space to your advantage.
-The flaregun is also a nice tool to have here, but just a little ways further down the path is another big fight, so you may want to save a round. As always, remember to pop a handheld flare or flashbang if things get too messy.
-The second fight happens just down the path from the first. The helicopter will whiz away from you after you finish the first batch of taken and start moving forward again, and the spot where it hovers is where you’ll be attacked.
-Use the same set of tactics to get through this second fight. Big weapons like the shotgun you picked up are a must here – those heavy duty Taken can finish you in very few hits. Keep flares on hand to protect yourself.
-With that fight finished, keep going and another big flock of birds will attack the helicopter, sending it off. You can do most of your damage to the birds now, while they’re attacking Sarah and Barry, which will keep them from doing much damage to you in the aftermath.
CHEST! After the helicopter leaves, you should see a Safe Haven some distance ahead and big rocks flanking the right side of the path, splattered with paint. Follow the arrows right, down toward the water – the chest is against the wall of the building right at the river bank, and contains flaregun ammo and flashbangs.
-Proceed on to the Safe Haven. Grab the hand flare on the ground at the corner of the building to your right. There are also batteries and a box of bullets in the trailer cart ahead.
-The path leads under the water pipes at the back of the power station. As you round the corner, small, agile Taken will descend all around you. The two you can see are in front – the other three or four are behind.
-Your best strategy is to try to retreat and get all the Taken on one side. You’re dealing with quite a few enemies, so a flare is a wise decision as well. Back up so that all the Taken are coming at you from the same attack point and start firing away, or hit them with the flaregun.
-You’ll come to a dropoff that leads into the power plant’s parking lot.
THERMOS! Head to the back left corner, near a small hut, to find a coffee thermos on the ground. A reflective paint sign nearby reads “Trust No One in the Dark.”
-Go to the big doors to enter the power plant.
Power Plant
-First, scour this room for ammo, batteries, and a heavy duty lantern behind Weaver. Inside the room beside her is a flaregun and even more batteries.
THERMOS! Also inside Weaver’s room, you’ll find a thermos on the floor on the right side wall, near the back, between the shelves.
-As soon as you’re loaded for bear, Weaver sends you – surprise – back outside.
SIGN! Before going anywhere else, spin around and face the doors. Beside them is a small orange sign. Read it for an addition to your stats.
-You’re heading to the right, down the stairs. Just a little ways ahead, Taken start popping up to attack you. Back up to the steps, watching to your left for a fast little Taken coming at you. Kill all of them – there should be three or four – before advancing around the corner to the right.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Where the Taken attacked you, turn left toward the riverbank and walk down to the water’s edge. Stick to the edge of the water, heading left, until you see the “Children of the Elder God Lyrics 1″ page on a rock, near the wall.
-Follow the compass to a Safe Haven. Past it are three buttons that control the gates. You will need to across them to reach the kill switch; you need all three gates to be closed at once.
SIGN! Read the small sign to the left of the buttons to add it to your stats.
-The gate puzzle is pretty easy. Each button opens and closes certain gates: The third button, furthest to the right, opens both closed gates in the back but closes the first gate. press it first. The center button closes the back two gates without effecting the first one, so press it next to solve the puzzle.
-Cross the gates to the kill switch. When you arrive, grab shotgun shells and a flare from the table beside the switch, then hit it.
CANS! To the right of the kill switch, on the wall, is a can pyramid you can shoot.
ACHIEVEMENT! You’ll earn the “Gatekeeper” Achievement once you kill power to the transformer yard.
-Cutting the transformer yard power makes the gates start acting wonky, opening and closing in order. Watch for the gate to close and time your run across it to get to the other side.
-The other two gates are a little quicker. Sprint across them as they are closing to make sure you make it across before they open again. When you’re clear, you’ll get a checkpoint.
-Head back to the big doors. On the path along the water, three Taken will climb up to attack you. Kill them and destroy the possessed gate ahead.
-Get out your shotgun. As you get up the stairs, Taken will ambush you from behind. The big one closest to you is wielding a chainsaw – he’s priority number one.
-A flashbang or flare will keep most of the Taken off your back and give you time to gun down the big one. He’s immune to even the strongest light attacks and will take real bullets to put down. You have nowhere to run, but having your back against the fence means you have only one place to defend against the Taken.
-The button next to you opens the gate. If you can manage it, hit it and retreat back to the power station as an alternative to fighting.
-Either way, head back inside when you’re set and talk to Weaver.
-Follow Weaver through the generator hall. When you get onto the upper, middle catwalk, grab ammunition off the table there. Up ahead, as you get down the stairs, you’ll find a shotgun to the right.
Heading to the Helicopter
-Back outside, descend to the pipe strut marked with arrows pointing to the Well-Lit Room. You’ll find batteries on the log there.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Just ahead on the path is a page titled, “The Falling Helicopter.”
-Follow along the cliff. When you pass over an archway made out of rocks, several flocks of birds will attack you. Use the lantern and your flaregun if you need to.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! The “Children of the Elder God Lyrics 2″ page is on a downed tree here.
-Proceed to the Safe Haven. Grab batteries and bullets from the supply box and get ready to fight more birds just past the Haven.
-An effective way to do this, beyond just standing still and hitting the birds as they approach, is to step far enough away from the Haven that you can lure the birds after you, and then step back in or nearby. This cuts off some of the areas from which the birds can attack and sends them careening through the Haven to their deaths.
-Just keep moving toward the compass mark. You’ll cross a log between sections of the mountain path, and even more birds will come after you. You can pop a flare to cook them as they attack, then finish them with the flashlight before moving on.
ACHIEVEMENT! By now you ought to be approaching or have surpassed killing 1,000 birds in total during the game. Doing so gets you the “If It Flies, It Burns” Achievement.
-Drop down and keep fighting birds until you reach the crash site up ahead. Follow the path up the hill, collecting flare ammo and handheld flares along the way, and meet up with Barry and Sarah near a cabin, where they’re fighting Taken.
-Support Sarah in fighting off the monsters. It shouldn’t be hard, and you can make use of the flaregun and flashbang to clear out many Taken at once. With help, it shouldn’t be hard.
CHEST! Before you do anything, go up a small path marked by paint spots behind the cabin, against the cliff wall. Inside is a hunting rifle and ammo.
-Keep moving along the path to a Safe Haven. Grab ammo from the supply box there as well. Up the hill some more, you’ll be attacked by two or three of the fast, invisible-type Taken.
-These guys will try to distract you, flank you, and rip you apart from behind. The best way to deal with them if they get close or you lose them is to pop a flare, which will damage them and send them away. Then try to hit them with the flashlight, and the guns, from a distance.
-Your primary job here is to keep the light on these guys and do as much damage with it when they stop as possible. Sarah will do the shooting when you’ve cleansed these guys of darkness – which also slows them down, so concentrate on giving her clear shots.
-The fight can get a little dicey, but keep popping flares when you’re in trouble and the Taken won’t be able to finish you off. Before long you should be able to kill them and advance to the Safe Haven beyond.
-Past that, you’ll see the elevator call button and a supply box. Gear up and reload your guns.
THERMOS! Check the big concrete pipe to the left of the path for a thermos inside.
-Calling the elevator summons Taken from down the hill after you as well. With Sarah’s support, you shouldn’t have much difficulty. Concentrate first on using the flashlight to prime the enemies to be killed, then mop them up with Sarah’s help. When the elevator arrives, hop on and hit the button to ascend.
The Dam
THERMOS! As soon as you get off the elevator, go directly to the right. You’ll see a thermos on a small rock outcropping that juts out into space. Skirt the small fence to get to it.
-Move up the path toward the button to open the door. Pause before hitting it so you can read the…
SIGN! Located directly beside the button, it’s another orange power company warning.
-Press and hold B to open the door for Barry and Sarah — you won’t be able to follow. Instead, after talking to the pair, turn left and fight off the big possessed cable spools.
-This is pretty easy. There’s enough huge debris for you to stand behind that you can safely destroy all the spools without even worrying about getting hit. When you have, head to the fence and hop over.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Right past the fence is the “Zane’s Shoebox” page.
-Follow the path onto the metal staircase. Keep going until you come to a ladder, and climb that into a big fight with Taken.
-Quickly get to the search light. You can train it on the roadblock ahead to the left, where many of the Taken start, or on the small hut to the right, where some ammo can be found. If you need supplies, get them from the hut, but if you can make do, don’t bother with the risk. Instead, put the search light to the left, where it will be most effective.
NOTE: The hut contains flashbangs and a pump-action shotgun, but again, this is your last major fight of the episode.
-Stand beside the light, dodge any incoming axes, and set about shooting at the Taken. You’ll see a few approach from the right side, but you should be able to handle most or all of them easily. When enemies do start to get close, a flaregun round or flashbang will take out quite a few pretty handily.
-Be wary of your location as you kill the last Taken – finishing the fight triggers an encounter with the darkness tornado, which will chase you across the dam. Try to be near the searchlight, at least when you finish the last enemy.
-When the tornado appears, start running along the top of the dam. You’ll hit a roadblock in the form of a jackknifed truck. Take the stairs to the left of it and descend to the side of the dam. You’ll cut through a small concrete tunnel – take the left side – and wind up on the catwalk below.
-You have to hurry, but not so much that you get killed, so be careful here. The catwalk gets broken up as you cross it, and large chunks will fall and take you with them. The first safe path is on the left side of the catwalk; the second, left again; the third, on the right side.
-Past that you’ll get to another tunnel and then a staircase, with huge iron girders landing like javelins all around you. Head up to the dam, turn left, and go inside the building to access a spiral staircase and descend again.
THERMOS! At the bottom of the spiral stairs, grab the thermos from the shelf as you pass.
-The catwalk starts to break up again – when it does, stick to the right – and when the truck goes flying through the metal floor, sprint and jump to clear the hole. Bear left again to avoid the last hole and cut into the tunnel on the left.
-Hang a right – no choice as you’re almost squashed by a car – then turn left, back onto the dam at the top of the stairs. Sprint to reach Barry, Weaver and Sarah ahead and get into the elevator to escape.
-Ride the elevator to the bottom and open the vault door to end the episode.
ACHIEVEMENT! Finishing Episode 5 unlocks the “The Lady of the Light” Achievement.
Episode 6
New York
-Circle the bed and take the sunglasses from the night stand, and then go left to the bathroom for painkillers. Leave the bedroom and listen to the answering machine, then move on to the living room.
-Follow the compass to find the remote on the coffee table. Hit the button to turn the TV on.
TV! If you’ve been following this guide, this should count as your last TV show and unlocks the “Couch Potato” Achievement.
-Go to Alice to trigger a cutscene and bring the story back to the present.
Drive to Cauldron Lake
ACHIEVEMENT! In order to earn the “Gunless Wonder” Achievement, you need to go from this point forward all the way to the end of the level without firing a single shot. Flashbangs and flares are okay, but NO FIREARMS. It’s best to try to do this on Normal mode. Spend as much time as you can in cars, and read ahead a little in this guide to find out where you need to go and what you need to do in each area. Usually you can sprint from Haven to Haven to avoid fighting. If things get rough or you run out of flares, use flashbangs as an alternative to fighting.
THERMOS! Spin to the right and check the table beside you for a thermos.
-Hop in the car and continue down the road. You’ll cross a bridge and see a picnic area off to the right. Stop there and check the middle table for batteries.
SIGN! Read the big red billboard next to the trailer to add it to your stats.
-Drive on to the logging area on the left. Hop out and go to the wooden shack on the left side of the area to find a hunting rifle, some batteries and some ammo.
CHEST! You’ll have to find this one without the benefit of your flashlight. Head down the path toward the yellow log mover, the furthest from where you are now. Keep going along the path as it cuts into the woods and you’ll find a wooden shack. Inside is the chest, with flares and flashbangs.
-Back to the road. Keep driving until you see a tunnel just ahead. On your left is a big wooden farmhouse. Park next to it.
THERMOS! Go around the side of the house to the back of a wooden crate there to find the thermos on the ground.
-Drive into the tunnel, where a roadblock will bar your path. Hop out and move through to find a Taken attack to deal with. There’s only three of them, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! On the road ahead is a page titled, “The Dark Presence Wants to Stop Wake.”
-Jump in the car beyond. Use it to mow down Taken until you get to a pile-up that’s blocking the road with a bright sign nearby. Turn left to get onto a side-street that will get you around.
-Drive up the road and park in the parking lot of the motel. Head inside and read the registry on the clerk’s desk to find out what room Nightingale was staying in. Behind the desk you’ll find a shotgun.
SIGN! Read the big black sign to the right of the check-in desk.
CANS! They’re located right on the counter, across from the door.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Check the bench right next to the big sign for the page titled “The Poet and the Muse Lyrics 1.”
THERMOS! To the right is a door to the bathroom, and a thermos inside.
-Leave the office and check around the side to find a supply box. Then check the rooms to find Nightingale’s. You’ll find ammo and flashbangs inside.
-When you come out, a couple of Taken will attack you. By this time they shouldn’t be an issue.
-Once you’re done with Nightingale’s room, there’s nothing more to find. Jump your car over the ramp at the far end of the parking lot, or just take the car that’s there, and drive back down to the main road. Swing left – there’s nothing to find on the right.
-Continue toward the light in the distance. Some objects will become possessed on the road – try to dodge them as they come at you rather than fight. You’ll also have to drive through a few Taken along the way, but if you get to the Safe Haven on the bridge, none of that will matter.
-Hop out at the road block and continue on foot. You’ll find a flare next to the open hatchback up ahead, and three barrels will come to life just beyond that. Kill them with the lantern — it should be easy — and move on toward the blinking light.
-Go slowly as you move forward. The darkness will keep possessing objects every few feet, causing you to have to stop and deal with them. This also lets you wait for the path to be clear as the floor of the bridge gets destroyed.
-Five or six times, random tires, rusted refrigerators and barrels will attack you. Kill them all and move up slowly, staying behind whatever you can use for cover.
-Before long, a huge log mover will come to life, using its long arm to attack you with. When the arm rises, run across to the other side of the bridge to dodge its attack — repeat moving side to side to avoid getting hit, keeping your light on it until it’s dead.
-Move on to the Safe Haven and grab the fresh car that’s there to continue on.
Driving to the Lake
-The road ahead is littered with debris and enemies. Keep moving as best you can and try to stay on the paved portions. Keep moving toward the compass point, as you’ll undoubtedly be lost in the farm fields before long.
-The Taken scattered around the road aren’t really your problem: Before long, as you’re driving, you’ll come upon a possessed 4×4 truck. It’s powerful and tough to kill, and it will pursue your car relentlessly until it can destroy it.
-Keep an eye out to the left. Deep in the farm field is a barn that’s glowing with light. Make for it, ideally in your car but on foot if you have to. Inside is a Safe Haven and a truck you can trade up for.
-Use the barn as a fortress to fight the possessed truck. It’ll struggle to get at you and it can’t easily get into the barn. If it does, the Safe Haven will destroy it. If not, you can stand back and keep blasting it with the lantern until it dies.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! “The Poet and the Muse Lyrics 2″ is on the top floor of this barn. Look for stairs behind the truck.
THERMOS! From the barn, look left across the field for a farm house. Drive over — you might have to fight a fast, invisible Taken along the way — and grab the Thermos off the front porch.
-Get back to the road and dodge the flaming trucks and other mess. You’ll see another Safe Haven ahead, over a bridge. Gun the engine to the other side, then pull off a little to dodge the flying bus and other debris coming your way.
-More possessed objects will be hurtling at you as you go, but your best bet is to just drive to the Safe Haven. When you get there, hop out and grab a pump-action shotgun and ammo.
-Get flares and your shotgun ready. You’re about to have a serious amount of fighting to do, with enemies all around you in multiple battles. Pop flares when you need to and try to move around the tunnel to keep your back to the wall, eliminating the Taken’s ability to get behind you. You’ll find lots of ammo on the ground along the way.
-At the end of the tunnel, you’ll find another Safe Haven.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Grab the page titled “The Trail of the Dark Presence” on your way out of the tunnel.
-Get ammo from the supply box in the Safe Haven and hop in your brand new truck. Drive down until you come to a fresh roadblock, and look right for a road that leads into a junkyard up the hill.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Stop at the road block and get out of the car. Slip through and run way down to the end of the road to find the “Sarah and Barry in the Well-Lit Room” page tacked to a truck.
SIGN! Hop out here where the dirt road begins and look for a small sign on the chain link fence on the left side of the road.
Junk Yard
-Drive up to the Safe Haven, where there’s another driveable truck, and hop out to explore. Start by going to the left.
CHEST! Around the left side of the building from the Safe Haven, the chest is located against the back wall, under a wooden overhang and beside some crates and containers. When you go back to it, you’ll be jumped by two Taken, one on either side of you. Inside the chest are flashbangs and flares.
-Back to the Safe Haven. Walk right from it to find an opening in the building you can enter.
SIGN! Read the sign just left of the building’s door. If you’ve been following this guide, that makes 25 and nets you the “Bright Falls Aficionado” Achievement.
-Just inside, expect an ambush from two Taken, one of whom comes from the door behind you. With them gone, you can go to the back of the room to find a hunting rifle.
THERMOS! Go through the left door into the next room and turn right. The thermos is on a shelf against the right side wall.
-Grab batteries from the shelves to the right in the next room, then head to the left and take the stairs leading up. In this room, check the shelves and table along the right wall to find some flashbangs and flaregun ammo.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Also keep your eyes open for “The Poet and the Muse Lyrics 3″ on a table in this room.
CANS! Step out the door to the left to get onto a wooden balcony. The cans are set up on the railing.
-Go back by the steps and hit the button, which opens the way into the rest of the junk yard. This triggers two more Taken to come attack you – one from behind you, one from down the stairs. Kill them and head back outside to the truck.
-You’ve got three more Taken coming down the dirt road you just opened up ahead. Finish them with either your guns or the car and drive up the road.
-Drive up until you reach a ramp and hop out.
THERMOS! To the right side of the ramp is a wood and aluminum hut with piles of crushed cars around it. Jump the low wall and grab the thermos from a stack of pallets.
-Jump the ramp, then drive around to the right and hop another one. Follow the compass to a path that cuts between the stacks of crushed cars on the left of this large area. Hop out and check the table for ammo and batteries.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Also on this table is the “Thomas Zane’s Last Dive” page.
-Walk through the Safe Haven for a checkpoint. Climb the ladder within it to reach a generator. That activates a button around the corner but destroys the Haven. Climb down ready to fight that conspicuously placed bulldozer on the left side of this wide-open area.
-Let’s be fair: this isn’t your first fight with a large piece of construction equipment. And this one’s relatively easy because you’ve got lots of room to maneuver. Keep clear of the ‘dozer and hit with your light. If you need spare batteries, there’s a cache on the table back by the ladder.
-Blast the ‘dozer with light as you dodge its charges and reverses. A couple of Taken will try to attack you in the meantime, but they’re not such a big threat.
-Kill the bulldozer and hit the button. It raises up that big blue shipping container beside the button, and after a few seconds, you can run or drive under it. There’s a Safe Haven on the far side and a fresh truck to drive.
-Follow the road until you hit another Safe Haven. Hop out and grab supplies from the box there.
CHEST! From the Safe Haven, follow the road and turn left, toward a broken bridge. There’s a small hut on the side of the road right next to it, with the chest inside. You’ll get flaregun ammo for your trouble.
-Go right to the blocked road and take the stairs up. You’ll have to drop down and push a big cart out of the way to get into the town proper.
The Ghost Town
-Advance into the town, where you’ll see some power company lights. A little ahead you’ll be attacked by Taken as you move through the town, including one with a chainsaw — use the power company lights if you need additional support. Check the buildings for ammo and weapons.
THERMOS! The general store, a square building with a sign in front reading “Holloway and Co.” has a thermos inside the door, just to the left on a shelf.
-Continue down the street toward the big light in the distance. There’s nothing more to find, so don’t bother searching around. Instead, get to the search light and train it down the street toward the Taken advancing toward you.
-This first batch of enemies — the ones advancing through the center of town — are best dealt with using the flaregun (there’s spare ammo beside the searchlight) or flashbangs. Clear them out quickly — scarier stuff is on its way.
-After a second of fighting, two chainsaw Taken will emerge from the building beside the church. These guys are much stronger than other Taken and can’t even be killed with the flaregun. Use flashbangs to hurt them and lure them into the search light for extra help, but you’ll probably need more grenades or the shotgun to finish them.
-When you’re done, go to the church. You can push the cart out of the way to enter.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Grab the page titled “The Dark Place” from the stuff piled in front of the fireplace.
-Turn left and push the cart blocking the door away (down the hill) to get back out of the church. Go outside and around to the back of the building to find a Taken ready to fight and a Safe Haven beyond.
-Past the Haven, go down the hill and up the wooden walkway. Grab flaregun ammo from the box and the ground and hop into the mine car waiting below the wooden framework. Get ready to battle birds.
-Ride the mine car to the other end of the tracks. You’ll get divebombed once but the lantern will protect you easily enough. On the other side, blow past the ladder waiting inside the track area to get to a Safe Haven up ahead.
CHEST! Descend down to the right, through a train car, to get below the wooden walkway. You’ll find the chest behind a flipped red cart, below the scaffolding holding up the walkway, pretty much dead in front of the train car.
-Climb up to the wooden walkway next. You’ll fight a flock or two of birds, but you may have killed one of them down by the chest already.
THERMOS! You’ll reach a roofed spot with a hole in the center where the walkway turns left. Go around the hole to find the thermos on the floor, next to one of the hole’s corners.
-More birds as you leave the wooden walkway to get back on solid ground. Watch for dark puddles as you move up the hill toward some buildings. When you get to the first of them, four Taken appear in front of you, the first three whipping axes in your direction. The last is a big one carrying a shovel.
-Head onward into the house, where there’s a Safe Haven and a supply box with ammunition. Go through to the back to find the path again.
Through the Woods
-Go past the buildings out back — stopping to grab ammo in the wooden shed — and descend back into the forest. There’s not much of a path, so follow your compass.
-A little way in, a truck will fall right in front of you, triggering a Taken attack. Among your enemies are a big Taken and an invisible one. Double-back up the path a little way to avoid being flanked and use your arsenal, which should be considerable, to kill them.
-There’s also a generator past the truck at a red wooden shed. You can use flares to get yourself there – you’ll find more on the floor of the shed – and start the generator to create a Safe Haven.
-Up ahead, the same shtick: something huge falls ahead of you, releasing an invisible Taken and a big Taken. Use the Safe Haven behind you for support if you need it.
-Keep moving. You’ll come to a wrecked train car, and another big object will fall in the woods, this time releasing two invisible Taken.
-This is a tougher fight. It’s really dark here, with lots of debris blocking your way — a great place to get flanked and murdered by these faster enemies. Your best option: retreat to the Safe Haven. It forces your foes to attack from one side and gives you a place to heal if you get into trouble.
THERMOS! Back at the wrecked train car, find a door to get in along the side. You’ll find a thermos into the left and flashbangs on the ground.
-You’re starting up a hill now. Fight off a small Taken attack — they’ll all be behind you — and move on until another big piece of equipment falls, this time on the side of a small cliff. It releases another invisible Taken, putting you in a tough spot of having nowhere to go and being in the open.
-To fight this guy, protect yourself with flares as best you can and get to the cliff. The falling vehicle exploded some things that produced a lot of light, and it won’t take much flashlight to make the invisible Taken vulnerable. Put your back to the cliff and wait for him to come to you.
-You can also use flares to get up the hill to a generator that will create a Safe Haven for your protection. There are more flares on the ground beside it.
-The Safe Haven doesn’t last, instead burning out. Keep moving up the hill, where huge, crazy objects are now being hurled at you. Ascend until you reach a wooden staircase and take it to the Safe Haven above, being careful to dodge darkness puddles.
CHEST! At the top of the stairs, you go through a big building. From the doorway, look to the right for the final chest. You’ll unlock the “Every Nook and Cranny” Achievement if you’ve been following this guide.
-Get to the second floor of the house and drop down into another destroyed town. There’s a supply box up ahead more stuff to explore to the left.
THERMOS! Turn left from where you dropped down and you’ll see a resting, half-destroyed water tower. Around the back side of it is a thermos on the ground.
-The building to the left, near the truck, has flashbangs inside — one to the left of the door, the other on a crate in the back. To the right is a generator you need to start up, and flaregun ammo in front of it.
NIGHTMARE PAGE! Go around behind the generator and check the fence surrounding it for the final nightmare page, “Zane’s Poem.” This will unlock the “Collector’s Edition” Achievement.
-Revving up the generator triggers a tough Taken attack – three chainsaw Taken and at least one, possibly two invisible Taken (I can’t be more precise because of all the panicked flaregun shots I took). This is a big one, so use flaregun and flashbangs accordingly.
-The chainsaw guys are an issue, but liberal use of your grenades will lay waste to them. The bigger problem is the invisible Taken, which will do its best to get behind you and shiv you in the back, taking most or all of your health. Keep it off you with flares while you deal with the other three.
-With the area clear, keep flares handy and do your best to keep an eye on the fast one. Deal with it the way you always do — pinning it with light whenever it stops. Another solid strategic advantage — put your back against the gate to your left or the generator to eliminate possible avenues of attack for your enemy.
-The generator powers an elevator in the middle of this area, above which is a Safe Haven. You can run to the Haven — which you can access even when the elevator is up — to heal if you need to. Hit the button when you’re ready, and spin around to deal with a small attack while you wait.
-Your Safe Haven is gone by the time you reach the top of the elevator. Step out and look for items on the ground around it, including a flare and flaregun ammo.
MANUSCRIPT PAGE! Your last Normal mode page, “The Way through the Dark Place,” is sitting right at the opening of the elevator. If you’ve been following this guide, you’ll earn the “Picking Up After Yourself” Achievement.
-As you move toward the tunnel through the mountain, the Darkness will block the path with all the debris it can manage. You have to cut through four possessed objects to get to the tunnel, and you can only damage one at a time.
-Meanwhile, every few seconds, a pair of Taken will attack you — one in front, one behind. You’ll have to kill them to move forward. Also attacking you are a pair of possessed barrels, which will come flying from the debris pile.
-A solid way to deal with the possessed objects, if you have the grenades to spare, is to toss a flashbang at them. This will instantly vaporize the front-most object, which helps you get through here faster. Another good strategy — stand in front with your back to the objects and pop a flare. This will damage the barrier and force the Taken to come at you more or less from one side.
-Once you’re through, head down the tunnel, moving slowly. The Darkness keeps sending struts and beams shooting through the rock wall, and once or twice you’ll have to stop to destroy them with the flashlight. Move to the end and face the Darkness head-on.
Fight the Tornado
-You’ll exit the tunnel more or less in front of the Dark Tornado. Drop down through the hole in the walkway ahead of you and watch as it heaves objects as you. There are rocks and other objects you can use as cover, so run from place to place to avoid being squashed by something huge.
NOTE: After you drop down a second time, you should unlock the “Gunless Wonder” Achievement if you haven’t fired your weapons up to now.
-Drop down again as you get closer. Use the rocks for cover against possessed objects. Kill them and move up to the first rock just ahead.
-The Tornado is composed mostly of possessed objects whirling around it in specific orbits. A few of those objects cut through the rock path you’re on to block the way. Watch to the right for the objects that are coming toward you and wait for them to pass, then jump the gap to the box of flaregun ammo.
-Fill up on flaregun rounds and pull out the flaregun. This is the weapon you’ll need to hurt the Dark Tornado.
-Wait again at the gap for the mine carts that block your way to go past — there are two pairs of two that are fairly close together on this orbit — and jump across again. Ahead, you’ll see the core of the Tornado, which has a couple of buses and other vehicles whipping through it quickly.
-The core is protected by those possessed vehicles, so set about destroying them with the flashlight or flaregun. You can do this easily by just leaving the flashlight beam in the vehicles’ path, increasing its power when its charged or by pumping more batteries into it. Either way, after a few seconds, all four vehicles should be destroyed.
-Okay, time to finish this. Aim the flaregun at the center of the Tornado and let it fly. The thing will scream and threaten you, so, naturally — do it again.
-After it takes a second hit, the Darkness will send birds to attack you. Spin around and hit them with the boosted lantern to stay safe, or pop a flare — whatever. They’re birds, and this is not a big deal.
-Back to the Tornado. Take aim at the now-smaller core and fire your last round. That should kill it.
ACHIEVEMENT! You get the “Tornado Wrangler” for finishing that very easy, anti-climactic fight.
The Dark Place
-You wake up in a mock New York with some evil copy of Alice. Leave the bedroom and walk down the hall. Go through the kitchen into the living room.
-Alice is there and you’ll get your flashlight. You can zap her, and other things, to make them disappear. Whenever you’re ready, grab the Clicker from the coffee table.
-You’ll get a short cutscene and find yourself in another place, with words floating in the air ahead of you. Focus your flashlight on them to turn the words into the objects they describe.
THERMOS! Beside the couch to your right is the word “thermos.” Destroy it with the flashlight to make a thermos appear. This should nab you the “Hypercaffeinated” Achievement.
-Keep moving, zapping the world into existence as you go. You’ll cross the bridge to Diver’s Isle and before long, you’ll use the flashlight to make the cabin appear. Go inside and enjoy the ending.
ACHIEVEMENT! You unlock the “Departure” Achievement if you finished the game on Normal difficulty; both the “Departure” and “Hardboiled Writer” Achievements if you finished on Hard difficulty; and both plus the “Alan, Wake Up” Achievement if you were on Nightmare difficulty.
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