Story Discussion [Spoilers]

[thebestbit]

Thought some might want to talk about the story.

So WARNING TOPIC WILL HAVE SPOILERS


Scratch is awesome from what ive seen. The last vid had him talking about the tools he likes to use :cool:

He reminds me of how Andrew Scott played Moriarty in Sherlock and of course his rather Jokerish and Bateman.

[Dusk Golem]

These spoilers revolve around some mini-revelations near the end of the game.

Honestly I'm a bit excited about the potential Lovecraftian-esque "Big Bastards" that exist in the dark place, just itching to get out. There was a single television in the original Alan Wake which touched up on them a bit, but this game cements these beings more as the game makes it clear Mr. Scratch serves someone or something, and he talks about how he's opening the door for the "Big Bastards" to be freed from their world of chaos and madness into ours. It actually has me very excited for future Alan Wake installments, especially since one of the thing I think the series is missing is end game punches, and something like a gigantic being of chaos and madness could be an amazing fitter for an end game scenario.

Mr. Scratch is a pawn. An interesting pawn, but one all the same. I'm interested in seeing more of the pure darkness beings or other twisted things that might exist in the Dark Place, locked up.

[thebestbit]

Ending spoiler

I really hope thats not the last of Mr Scratch?

[Hunter6]

I'm more nervous about the "Big Bastards".

I'm not sure if Scratch was a pawn so much as a vanguard of sorts... Clearing the way?

[thebestbit]

Yeah i look forward to seeing where Remedy take this story. It should start to get very strange in a cool way.

[kleiner352]

So is Tomas Zane now a villain?
He tells Alan in the first game not to worry, that Mr. Scratch will stand in for him and keep his place until Alan was ready to return. While this still happens, as we all see it is much more villainous and dark than Tom implied in the game.
So did Tom know that Mr. Scratch was really evil and from the Dark Place, or was it supposed to be accidental/Tom didn't know what would happen?
Oh, and the Tom the Poet poster was back again this time around in the projection booth if anyone missed it.

[ARokitLawnChair]

So is Alan back in the real world? I love how the story was moved forward through the manuscript pages and radio broadcasts but I am having trouble understanding what plane of existence Alan is in. He is able to communicate with Serena from the real world yet he is in the tv show? Or Night Springs has now been turned into a real place in Arizona because Alan wrote it that way from the cabin? Is he even still in the cabin? And the ending? Was that a cop out so that there wouldn't be a true Alan Wake sequel or just foreshadowing whats to come? So many questions!!

[JakeBloom]

So basically...

Events of Alan Wake, he saves Alice but gets trapped in the Dark Place, then 2 years later he's still in the dark place in AWAN.

[Dusk Golem]

So basically...

Events of Alan Wake, he saves Alice but gets trapped in the Dark Place, then 2 years later he's still in the dark place in AWAN.

Yes and no. He's in the Dark Place, but AWAN takes place outside of the Dark Place. A battlefield on the real world, just a fictional place has been brought to the real world for a night.

[thebestbit]

So is Tomas Zane now a villain?
He tells Alan in the first game not to worry, that Mr. Scratch will stand in for him and keep his place until Alan was ready to return. While this still happens, as we all see it is much more villainous and dark than Tom implied in the game.
So did Tom know that Mr. Scratch was really evil and from the Dark Place, or was it supposed to be accidental/Tom didn't know what would happen?
Oh, and the Tom the Poet poster was back again this time around in the projection booth if anyone missed it.

Thats what ive been thinking as soon as Scratch was announced as AN's bad guy.
Maybe he never thought Scratch would be so evil maybe he did? But Mr S says his simply opening the door for bigger bastards.

[jester131]

I noticed these elements in the singleplayer story:

Groundhog Day : Time Loop
Batman - The Dark Knight : Mr. Scratch taping himself, talking mad stuff and killing people.
Very much like Heath Ledgers Joker.
Adress Unknown from Max Payne 2 :
Allan is fighting his evil self Mr. Scratch, his doppelganger, a serial killer.
In Adress Unknown the schizophrenic protagonist is trying to escape himself, John Mirra, a serial killer.

[MattS]

My only real complaint on the story: could have used less Time Loop; playing same areas over and over and over got a little repetitive.

[MikkiRMD]

He tells Alan in the first game not to worry, that Mr. Scratch will stand in for him and keep his place until Alan was ready to return.

Weeell... This isn't quite what he says, though. The exact words are, "Don't mind him, he's Mr. Scratch. Your friends will meet him when you're gone." Nowhere does he say that he's harmless, or even not to woryr. It's also good to be aware of the context: Zane tells Wake to take care of The Dark Presence, then Mr. Scratch appears, and Zane tells Wake to ignore him...

[raum]

hey remedy i want to ask something...

in the credits we see that the night springs episode that alan wrote is named "return"...also in the end of the writer dlc we see alan wake to start writing a sequel to departure that is named also "return"...so in american nightmare do we actually play the story that alan started writing after the end of the writer dlc??

[thebestbit]

Raum..

No this is a night springs episode Wake wrote many years ago when he first started as a writer

But i did wounder about the Return part in the credits.

[ScofGR]

DAF@CK happend in the end?!?!? :O

Any theory? I'm lost :O

[kleiner352]

daf@ck happend in the end?!?!? :o

any theory? I'm lost :o

magic!

[kleiner352]

Weeell... This isn't quite what he says, though. The exact words are, "Don't mind him, he's Mr. Scratch. Your friends will meet him when you're gone." Nowhere does he say that he's harmless, or even not to woryr. It's also good to be aware of the context: Zane tells Wake to take care of The Dark Presence, then Mr. Scratch appears, and Zane tells Wake to ignore him...

Thanks for clearing it up, Mikki! So it's fairly safe to assume then that Zane may end up being an antagonist on the next game around? I assume that with the poster of him reappearing in a fairly pivotal location, we can expect to see him again on wherever Alan goes next in his journey through the dark.

[MikkiRMD]

So it's fairly safe to assume then that Zane may end up being an antagonist on the next game around?

I have been extremely careful to not say anything like that. =)

Or to deny that.

[Prof.Dr.Moertel]

I think we still don't have the slightest clue who Zane actually is and what his plans are. That's definitely something Remedy has to address in a possible AW2.

Something else: The characters in AWAN are all female (except Alan and Mr. Scratch). Was there a specific reason for doing that? Are the ladies supposed to be some kind of analogy?


My only real complaint on the story: could have used less Time Loop; playing same areas over and over and over got a little repetitive.
Remedy = biggest bunch of trolls :p

But really, I think integrating two time loops was an ingenious move. Only one déja vu would have felt it bit weird (well, it still does), but it really fits to the tone of the game that you have to do all the stuff a third time. It's strangely over the top.
And reducing development time/cost was probably also a reason ;)

[djshauny1]

I dont think Zane is as nice as he actually seems.

[thebestbit]

The time loops are saved for me by the conversations you have with people. Some are rather funny.

And ive been saying for a while now i see Zane to Wake as Vladimir was to Payne in the sense he is using him.

[explodingapples]

I couldn't help but sing "IT'S MY LIFE!" (Bon Jovi) At the ending :giggle:
Poor mr. Scratch...

[LonelyGreyWolf]

No need for spoiler tags. We're in the spoiler section, and it also clearly says spoiler in the thread title.

Anyway, I just completed it and got to melt it in. I need to re-read the manuscript pages and listen to the radios again. There were some really interesting things said in the manuscript pages. I like that they bring up questions that we had from the first game like "Who Created Who?" (Zane or Alan). As for the radios, they were also interesting. I couldn't listen to the three in the Observatory peacefully though. I always cleared the area, but a few seconds after I turned on the radio, Takens attacked me. This happened all three times in the observatory. It's great that you can listen to them again in the main menu though!

I have to say though, I was almost screaming at Alan: Give Emma some flares, damn it! Why didn't he give Emma some flares in act two and three? Selfish! He can only carry five anyway. Also, did Alice say that she seriously believed Alan to be dead, and that only Barry insisted that he was still alive? I hope Alice didn't mean that; she knows that Alan is in the Dark Place. Granted, she couldn't know if Alan was dead or not, but nonetheless she should have believed in him. Alice should have staid in Bright Falls and try to figure out more about the darkness. Then again, I don't really know what's true and what isn't. Mr Scratchie could be arranging the radios for all we know.

EDIT: The radio host guy is a great voice actor, by the way, just like in the last game. Speaking of good acting, the live action cut-scenes were great. I've played loads and loads and loads of games, but live action cut-scenes are really uncommon. But they worked great here.

[thebestbit]

Yeah she says its been 2 years now so she [sadly] thinks his dead other wise he would have made contact with her. She also says she feels like she catches a glimps of him watching her[we know its actually Scratch]

I was listening to the 3rd radio at the Observatory when all of a sudden it went in slow mo and a taken was right behind me. Could have shit myself!

[LonelyGreyWolf]

But she should have belief in him. She knows that he's in the Dark Place!

Yeah, I really think they should have put all the radios and TVs in, well, "safe zones" -- places where you wouldn't get attacked. Luckily it only happened in the Observatory.

[thebestbit]

I think after 2 years most would think his dead but then at the same time Barry thinks his alive.

Also as i said before i hope this is not really the end of Mr Scratch? Loved the noise the game made when Wake said his name.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Still, she should believe that he was desperately trying to get out. And for all she know, time could move differently in the dark place.

As for Mr Scratch; why did the game make that sound when Wake said his name anyway? Night Springs is a TV show, so... someone was censoring it? Mr Scratchie or... someone else? Zane? Maybe saying Mr Scratch is bad luck? Who knows. That radio show with Ricky was obviously edited.

[thebestbit]

Yeah whats was all that about when the radio DJ's voice changed?

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Yeah, that's really strange. Doesn't really make any sense. Maybe... Maybe something was "wrong" with the Night Springs episode. Like, the narrator is controlling everything: this is his story. And when the radio host says what the narrator wants the host to say, maybe something goes wrong, there's a hole in the episode or some censoring goes wrong, and we can hear the truth, that the narrator controls it. Maybe someone wants Alan to understand that this isn't reality, that he's still in the dark place.

Or perhaps I'm just over-looking?

[thebestbit]

I thought maybe it was the NS world breaking into the real world for a short moment? Maybe with all the loops and what not its causing some issues?

[LonelyGreyWolf]

What do you mean, breaking into the real world?

[MikkiRMD]

I hope Alice didn't mean that; she knows that Alan is in the Dark Place.

Well, at no point in the original game does she find that out, though -- the last time she saw him was at the Bird Leg Cabin, when they argued.

[thebestbit]

What do you mean, breaking into the real world?

one of the pages says alan has not returned to the real world but going off this Sratch could travel between worlds when he wanted. Maybe that plus the loops caused some of this fictional world to break into the real world?

[MikkiRMD]

one of the pages says alan has not returned to the real world but going off thise Sratch could travel between worlds when he wanted. Maybe that plus the loops caused some of this fictional world to break into the real world?

There's a manuscript page that addresses this very thing, actually. =) (I'd give you the title but I can't remember it off the top of my head.)

[thebestbit]

Oh please do. Ive still got to get the last 4 so i might not have had it yet.

[MikkiRMD]

Like I said, I can't remember it, I'd have to look it up, and unfortunately I can't right now. But the point is, there's information about that in the game.

[kleiner352]

So I'm getting the feeling that Alan is a tool for the Darkness to get released into the world. That was the initial intention in the very beginning of AW1, and possibly Zane is attempting to escape, which is why he had Mr. Scratch released to open the doors for what is in the Dark Place. If Zane is trapped in the Dark Place, then he himself would be able to then get out.

Who left the pages this time? In the first it was Zane, but I don't recall an actual explanation this time around.

I don't think Alice knows anything about the Dark Place. Yes, she was there, but she may have seen it as a nightmare she had, or possibly it was completely stricken from her memory in general.

Barry thinks Alan is alive because A) he was there when Alan survived everything else in Bright Falls, and B) I think it was implied that Mr. Scratch had talked with him.

The sound it made when Alan said Mr. Scratch sounded like an actual scratching noise, I assume it was there simply for the cool effect.

[thebestbit]

Ah well ill listen to them all again soon.

Did anyone else go back and talk to Serena Valdivia after getting the power on the 2nd and 3rd time? Enjoyed the chats with her and it really showed Wake has changed since the first game. His no longer a dick.

[kleiner352]

Ah well ill listen to them all again soon.

Did anyone else go back and talk to Serena Valdivia after getting the power on the 2nd and 3rd time? Enjoyed the chats with her and it really showed Wake has changed since the first game. His no longer a dick.

I really enjoyed all of the extra conversations available, and it really did give you a sense that two years have gone by and Alan has acclimated to his situation.

As for those characters: why doesn't Alan just take Emma with him or give her a gun and flare? There's even a nail gun in the garage right next to her, and an ammo box right next to the garage. Oh well, story purposes I suppose.

[thebestbit]

Well alan says at one point his been doing this for a long time. Look at how Barry nearly got killed when helping fight the Taken.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Well, at no point in the original game does she find that out, though -- the last time she saw him was at the Bird Leg Cabin, when they argued.
True, but... Surely she remembers? Or if she doesn't, she must be wondering where he went. And surely Barry must have been jabbing about it for eternity?

Then again. Maybe she doesn't remember, maybe she has been searching but found nothing, and maybe she thought Barry was insane. But... still...

one of the pages says alan has not returned to the real world but going off this Sratch could travel between worlds when he wanted. Maybe that plus the loops caused some of this fictional world to break into the real world?
But how is it connected to the radio show? You mean maybe when Scratchie looped the radio hosts voice was altered? Or how do you mean? I'm at all loss here.

Did anyone else go back and talk to Serena Valdivia after getting the power on the 2nd and 3rd time? Enjoyed the chats with her and it really showed Wake has changed since the first game. His no longer a dick.
I talked to her the first and third time, which was actually a tad weird because the third time Alan and Serena say something that doesn't make sense in context since I didn't visit her the second time but the game think I did.

[MikkiRMD]

True, but... Surely she remembers? Or if she doesn't, she must be wondering where he went. And surely Barry must have been jabbing about it for eternity?

Whether she remembers or not, it doesn't really make any difference -- she has no particular reason to think Wake's in the Dark Place, or that he would have reason to enter it, or that he could enter it, even. (One does not simply walk into the... okay, I'm not doing that joke. But you get the idea. =))

Just for the sake of argument, though, let's say she does get the idea that Wake is in the Dark Place -- she has no particular reason to believe that he could still be alive after two years.

[Dusk Golem]

My personal theory was that Alan had rewrote around history so that Alan ended up in the Dark Place when he jumped in the lake after Alice instead of Alice. Since the ending of Alan Wake shows time reversing, then it reshows the scene where Alan jumps in the lake after Alice, then days passing and Alice being the one who comes out of the lake instead of Alan.

When Alan came out of the lake, he didn't remember anything about the lake until using the Anderson's moonshine. I thought the same case may apply to Alice. And I think people like Barry and Rose and Nightingale only remember since they all were touched by the darkness during the plights of Alan Wake 1, and Darkness is eternal that is proven through Tom, Barbara, and the previous lady of the light to transcend time itself. Alan had to balance the scales to save Alice so the Darkness couldn't take advantage of the situation, balance out good and evil.

[GunGrave TZA]

Having just completed the game, I wanted to post my theory as to what the story actually was and what is happening to Alan Wake while it is fresh in my mind. I shall be posting a review tomorrow. Just a warning, it's a tad long... :p

Two years have past since the events of the original game, and Alan Wake has seemed to have mysteriously disappeared in the real world. Alice has assumed he is dead, and while Barry knows that this is not the case he has also tried to continue on with his career as an agent. But he cannot sever all ties with Bright Falls, as he has ended up becoming a producer for the Old Guards of Asgard and signing them on as his first musical artists. All the while the media and tabloids have been speculating around the mysterious circumstances of Mr. Wake's disappearance, with even local horror stories being sprouted about the crazy writer of Cauldron Lake. The Dark Presence believes that they could use this to their advantage...

...And so created Mr. Scratch. Acting as a physical embodiment and mirror image of Alan Wake's weaknesses and flaws as a human being, Mr. Scratch constantly tormented Alan through the way in which he could slip between reality and the Dark Place with ease. Alice would believe that she would see her deceased husband and dismiss it as nothing but her imagination, when in fact it was Mr. Scratch himself. While Mr. Scratch only acts as an enforcer for the Dark Presence, Alan knew that if he managed to permanently escape to the real world that he would wreak untold havoc all across the world. And so using what he had learnt from his previous experiences, Alan began writing a new novel within the Dark Place. A novel to defeat Mr. Scratch once and for all.

Alan knows that the same rules as before apply. The novel must make sense in terms of narrative, themes, characterization and symbolism in order for the Dark Presence to accept the novel without realizing the real reason for it's creation. Not only this, but Alan knew that there are certain realms through which both elements of the Dark Place and the real world bleed together - most notably, through dreams and through radio signals. As a result of this, Alan decided to use an episode for the TV show Night Springs he had written at the start of his career as the basis of the novel. Only this time he moved the setting from an artificial town to the real-world setting of Arizona, knowing that it would apply in both the Dark Place and reality.

As well as this Alan began to realize that the devil is in the details. The Dark Presense turns his writing into reality, but when given an inch it will take a mile. Alan knew he had to be specific in order for the reality he writes to become the truth. Once he had written these elements, he added the "blueprint" for a new reality subtly as a mysterious signal. It would seem to fit within the cliches of a supernatural horror story - which would please the Dark Presence and Mr. Scratch - yet it would include the small details that will create the reality ultimately leading to Mr. Scratch's defeat. Where these blueprints are from or go to? Does Alan simply hide these pages away then subconsciously send them to himself? To be honest, I have no idea. I haven't figured this part out yet.

This won't entirely appease Mr. Scratch, however. He will suspect something from the get-go, and Alan has planned for him to do exactly this. In fact the element of the mysterious signal relies entirely on trapping the trapper. When Alan gets close to Mr. Scratch he simply returns him back to the start of his story, yet every time this occurs Alan gets closer to completing the blueprint of the weapon that will finally finish Mr. Scratch. Once Alan finishes this cycle for the third time, he fully receives the signal and is able to complete the secret light weapon, destroying Mr. Scratch once and for all. All that is now left for Alan to have to deal with is the Dark Presence itself.

Now, if the video of Alan and Alice we see is reality or dreams...I'll leave that for you to decide. ;)

TLDR; Alan Wake is still trapped in the Dark Place, and he writes a new novel/short story based on an old episode of Night Springs he wrote in order to destroy Mr. Scratch, an agent of the Dark Place who can easily slide between reality and the Dark Place. He acts as a doppelganger and mirror image representing all of Alan's weaknesses as a human being, and Alan believes that he will wreak untold havoc if somehow he manages to permanently escape to the real world. Because of this Alan creates a short story spesifically to defeat Mr. Scratch before trying to escape into the real world, and that short story is the story that you play through in American Nightmare.

[Kahr]

Moved your post into an exciting topic, GunGrave TZA. :)

[GunGrave TZA]

OH okay, was searching for ages where my thread had mysteriously disappeared to. :D

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Whether she remembers or not, it doesn't really make any difference -- she has no particular reason to think Wake's in the Dark Place, or that he would have reason to enter it, or that he could enter it, even. (One does not simply walk into the... okay, I'm not doing that joke. But you get the idea. =))

Just for the sake of argument, though, let's say she does get the idea that Wake is in the Dark Place -- she has no particular reason to believe that he could still be alive after two years.
This was food for thought. I'm trying to imagine what Alice is thinking when she appears on the bridge and realizes that Alan is gone, and what happens the following days.

But I get nothing. Got too many theories flowing in my head right now. Very confusing.

[DontHitheSnooze]

Alright. So I was a day 1 buyer of all things WAKE and have lurked on these discussions since then. Thanks for pulling me into TWIN PEAKS Remedy...
After playing AN and reading what we have in here I just wanted to put something out there to see how the community responds.
AN seems more like the Doctor Who Christmas Specials. A bridge between seasons that catches us up on the major players and reveals more of the mythos but at the end does not necessarily push the arching story forward. That being said there are points of this installment that seem to get as close to making breakthroughs in the overall story due to the depth of the mythos being discussed. Aside from the "Big Bastards" and the discussion on Zane. Remedy reasserts the importance of myth and belief in the myth.

The reason Scratch worked so well as a "Wake" imposture is because he reflected a public mythos of Wake. The first game has a few moments where they discuss Wake punching a paparazzi. Scratch goes out and as a myth fills that void of the public image, becoming stronger.

The Alan Wake we see in AN is different. All the women say "You can't be him." But the Alan we play may or may not be the "Complete" Alan. The Old Gods hint that Balance slays the beast. Balance between Alan's understanding of himself. The film that Alice is showing at the Film Festival contains an intimate side of Alan, Scratch doesn't want this shown because if it is viewed the mythology he has established for Alan begins to weaken and fade and the viewers will have to Balance the two images of this intimate and vulnerable Alan with this crude proud Alan.

The Champion of light would not be fighting for his survival, but rather truth, since light and truth are treated as synonymous. So there is even potential to say that this Alan isn't even the real Alan, giving Remedy the ability to say its' not a sequel. The events really happen as a way to allow Alan's future return because the Champion must allow the Balance of the mythology of Alan Wake to preexist his return.

Sorry for writing so much.

[MikkiRMD]

one of the pages says alan has not returned to the real world but going off this Sratch could travel between worlds when he wanted. Maybe that plus the loops caused some of this fictional world to break into the real world?
There's a manuscript page that addresses this very thing, actually. =) (I'd give you the title but I can't remember it off the top of my head.)

I almost forgot about ths, but now that I had a chance to look it up, the manuscript page you want to think about is titled "Night Springs, Arizona".

[Pickman]

I just thought of something, if you are into evil Zane theories.
In the Alan wake game when he arrives at the cabin, which is supposed to be at the bottom of the lake, was brought back to surface, the real world.
That would require someone artistic to make it true, right. I might be wrong.
Did the Dark Presence have powers to bring it back?
I suggest that Zane was the artist to do it.

[Stammy]

The Dark Presence believes that they could use this to their advantage...

...And so created Mr. Scratch.But can the Dark Presence create anything? I think the act of creation must be made by an artist and Dark Presence just twists it to wrong ends.

So the question remains who created Mr.Scratch. Was it Alan or Zane (or some other artist)? Zane did seem to know Mr.Scratch at the end of first game but then again, the first game was Departure by Alan Wake.

If Mr.Scratch was originally Alan's creation, we can assume that he was suppose to be a good guy. Alan wanted that Alice wouldn't be alone while he's in the Dark Place and created a doppelganger. But that was "too good to be true" and Dark Presence twisted that like what happened to Zane when he tried to bring Barbara to life.

If Mr.Scratch was Zane's creation, we can't know if he was suppose to be good or bad. It's possible that Zane tried to help Alan and it went wrong. Or it could be that Zane was a bad guy from the start. It could be that the first game was all Zane's plan to lure Alan in to the Dark Place and place Mr.Scratch to wreak havoc in the real world. Is Zane one of the Big Bastards (I think one manuscript also talked about "dark presences" in plural) or same kind of agent like Mr.Scratch was or is he the trapped poet who we first thought he is?

[Doctor Bat]

Reading through the manuscripts, I've made sense of it. Alan wrote about a champion of light and the herald of darkness before on Night Springs. He chose to adapt this story into a new one.

I think this means that Same didn't make Scratch evil, Alan perceived him that way for use in his story to balance it. With good, there is evil. Yin and Yang. But it still doesn't explain why Scratch didn't go and 'greet his friends' as intended, so maybe I am wrong here.

One of the stories I wrote for the show involved a man, "the champion of light," fighting his evil double, "the herald of darkness". It was something I'd written back in the real world -- something I had a link to, a framework I could build on.

I adapted it into a new story. This story.

I imagine his story was interrupted by the urban legends surrounding Alan in BF.

[Pickman]

I think that when Alan left the ending open in The Departure, that gave the Dark Place a chance to fill the void with something malevolent. So that's how Mr scratch came to life. They'r own hero to finish the story.

[GunGrave TZA]

But can the Dark Presence create anything? I think the act of creation must be made by an artist and Dark Presence just twists it to wrong ends.

So the question remains who created Mr.Scratch. Was it Alan or Zane (or some other artist)? Zane did seem to know Mr.Scratch at the end of first game but then again, the first game was Departure by Alan Wake.

If Mr.Scratch was originally Alan's creation, we can assume that he was suppose to be a good guy. Alan wanted that Alice wouldn't be alone while he's in the Dark Place and created a doppelganger. But that was "too good to be true" and Dark Presence twisted that like what happened to Zane when he tried to bring Barbara to life.

If Mr.Scratch was Zane's creation, we can't know if he was suppose to be good or bad. It's possible that Zane tried to help Alan and it went wrong. Or it could be that Zane was a bad guy from the start. It could be that the first game was all Zane's plan to lure Alan in to the Dark Place and place Mr.Scratch to wreak havoc in the real world. Is Zane one of the Big Bastards (I think one manuscript also talked about "dark presences" in plural) or same kind of agent like Mr.Scratch was or is he the trapped poet who we first thought he is?

Well that was my assumption since it keeps things nice and simple, but yeah, that's another tricky question American Nightmare raises attention to.

[Arsh]

Near the end of the game, the theory popped into my head that Mr. Scratch was always going to be a villain, and that Alan had created him that way. He left a plot thread for a sequel in departure (Mr. Scratch) as a means to continue the story without leaving the book completely shut.

He just doesn't remember it right.

Anyways, loved the game Remedy! It was awesome from start to finish. Liked the three women Alan kept meeting and loved the whole time loop aspect. Mr. Scratch was also a great antagonist.

And Alan Wake's journey continuing into the night... awesome. Let's just hope it doesn't take quite as long as Max Payne 2's sequel, haha

[primakat]

My take on AWAN is that it's not real at all.

The power of words is a huge theme in the Alan Wake world. This is shown so much more in The Signal and The Writer. One of Alan's first writting gigs was writing for the show Night Springs. He could simply still be stuck inside of his own head and he has disapeared into that world. Rather than his words affecting a current world which he can't control the envirnoment perhaps his mind used his old words to create an envirnoment he knows and therefore giving him an advantage against the Dark Presence and escaping.

As for 2 years have passed, this could simply be Alan's perception of time. What seems like 2 years in his mind, could be 2 minutes in the real world. Another way the Dark Presence is screwing with him. Also, if he was honestly missing in the real world for 2 years what the heck was Mr Scratch doing? Tom states that he is going to meet his friends. Why would he wait so long before intergrating himself into Alan's life?

I don't believe Mr Scratch has been destroyed. In the Night Springs world, yes but not in the real world. When/if Alan makes it back to reality another confrontation between the 2 could occur.