“Finally, someone noticed”: a fan found a clue in Alan Wake 2 that reveals the villain’s secret at the very beginning of the game

The intrigue around the villain of Remedy’s horror Alan Wake 2 lasts until the big reveal near the end of the game, but the developers hid a hint of this plot twist at the very beginning of the playthrough. Warning: spoilers.

Image source: Remedy Entertainment

In Alan Wake 2, the aforementioned revelation is presented in the form of a big plot twist, however, as user WillieTPJ recently noted on the social network X, the truth can be revealed without waiting for this moment in the story.

We are talking about where to look for Scratch (aka Mr. Squeak in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare) – the evil double of Alan Wake created by the Dark Entity, who poses as a hapless writer.

There will be spoilers ahead

As it turns out during the passage of Alan Wake 2, in fact, Scratch is not just pretending to be Alan Wake, but literally lives in his head – the doppelganger has subjugated the protagonist.

WillieTPJ noticed that if you hover over clues around Alan Wake’s portrait in the mind palace, ominous sounds begin to play in the background, hinting at the presence of a Dark Entity and, accordingly, Scratch’s location.

You might think that WillieTPJ is making a simple sound effect too big of a deal, but no. Josh Adam Bell, audio designer at Remedy, commented on the discovery: “Finally, someone noticed. 100% intentional.”

Alan Wake 2 was not the first game to hide a future plot twist in the soundtrack: composer Borislav Slavov pulled off a similar trick with one of the key plot characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 (spoilers at the link).