Alan Wake (plus both DLCs)

TruthLies · 04-05-2011, 07:50 PM

I will also organize in the order in which you will likely receive them, or in a way in which it is best to do. There will be some slight to major spoilers throughout.

Difficulty : 6 /10
Time to 1500: 20-25 hours
Offline : 67 (all)
Minimum Playthroughs : Two (plus one for each DLC)
Missable achievements : Hard to gauge, most non-story ones are just reaching milestones while others are collectibles. No glitched achievements.

I will have a full text guide in this and coming posts, but we will begin with video guides if you prefer those, and they will be how I show you all collectibles as well.

Video Guides (episode and DLC guides include all collectibles):

Episode 1 - Achievements covered: Follow the Light, Let There Be Light, Nordic Walking, Two for the Price of One, Bright Falls' Finest
Episode 2 - Achievements covered: Under a Thin Layer of Skin, Finders Keepers, Damn Good Cup of Coffee, Float Like a Butterfly, Paging Mr. Wake, Park Ranger
Episode 3 - coming soon!
Episode 4 -
Episode 5 -
Episode 6 -

DLC 1 - The Signal
DLC 2 - The Writer

Nightmare Guide
Miscellaneous Others

Text Guide:

(1) Follow the Light – 10 G – This achievement is received for completing the prologue level of the story mode, which is the night-time nightmare following the cut-scene where you hit the man with your car. This sequence ends when you reach the lighthouse and get inside to escape the darkness tornado.

(2) Let There Be Light – 10 G – This is received as you turn on the generator behind the lodge where you and your wife are vacationing. It is story related and must be done, so no worries here.

(3) Nordic Walking – 10 G – While traveling toward the gas station, in the logging camp you will finally fight the possessed gas station owner and kill him as you do the other darkness enemies, by breaking their darkness shield barrier with your flashlight, and then shooting them.

(4) Bright Falls’ Finest – 20 G – Once you reach the gas station, you can use the phone inside and it will trigger a cut-scene with the sheriff and this achievement will be unlocked, signifying the end of the first chapter of the game.

(5) Under a Thin Layer of Skin – 10 G – In Chapter 2, you will have to fight the possessed park ranger you were just helping and when you kill him this achievement will be yours.

(6) Finders Keepers – 20 G – With your flashlight, you can see a yellow-orange writing on walls, rocks and other objects and every once in a while there will be arrows and series of dots. Follow these, and you will find at the end a trunk of supplies. Once you have found 5 of these, this achievement unlocks.

(7) Paging Mr. Wake – 20 G – Throughout the game, you will find lots of manuscript pages that help reveal the story. The pages glow on the ground, so they are generally easy to find, but some are also well hidden and involve a lot of side tracking. However, this achievement unlocks once you have just 25 of the over 100 pages, so you’ll get it eventually during the story.

(8) Float Like a Butterfly – 15 G – You get this by performing a “cinematic dodge” which is done by doing a dodge move (left bumper) as time is slowed by an incoming enemy.

(9) Park Ranger – 15 G – This is the only chapter end achievement not worth 20 points, which is odd, but you get this by finishing chapter two.

(10) Sound and Fury – 10 G – You must kill 4 taken, or darkness enemies, with one flashbang to get this. The flashbang is an instant kill on any regular taken form enemy, so this is easiest to get by running to get a few to follow you, then let them catch up, dodge if you need to, and drop one.

(11) Damn Good Cup of Coffee – 20 G – Throughout the game, you find coffee thermoses scattered about. There are 100 total, but like the first manuscript achievement, you need to only find 25.

(12) Heavy Metal – 10 G – In chapter three, you encounter the first object possessed by the darkness, a bulldozer. Once you destroy it using light (could be flashlight, flares, flashbangs) this achievement will unlock.

(13) They’re Heeeeeere! – 20 G – For this you need to destroy 20 total objects possessed by the darkness. You can keep track of your progress for this under statistics in the pause menu.

(14) Energized! – 10 G – As your flashlight battery drains, you can refill it more quickly than letting it charge on its own by hitting “Y” to use a battery. Use 100 total batteries throughout the game and this achievement will be yours. Carries over into next playthrough if you didn't get it in first.

(15) Iron Horse – 10 G – Near the end of Chapter 3, you will reach the front car of a train lying in front of a building. The engine of the train car will become possessed. Simply destroy it with light.

(16) Wheels Within Wheels – 20 G – By completing chapter 3, you will get this achievement. It will unlock after the cut-scene with Mott being taken by the darkness and you jumping into the lake.

(17, 18, 19, 20, 21) It’s Not Just a Typewriter Brand, The Six-Gun Scribe, Thunder and Lightning, Taken Season, What Light Through Yonder Window – 20 G each – These are the five major weapon milestone achievements – shotgun, pistol, flashbangs, hunting rifle and flare gun respectively. You need 100 kills for the pistol achievement, and 50 for the other four. You should be able to get many of these in one playthrough. If not, replay chapters five and six because they have all of these weapons and lots of enemies.

(22) Back! Back, I say! – 10 G – When your health is low and the screen is darker than normal, use a flare to cause enemies nearby to back away and you will get this achievement.

(23) Collateral Carnage – 20 G – You need 20 total kills with indirect means. These vary greatly, and can include explosions, electricity, water, someone falling off a cliff, etc. Also, when you turn on a generator and it kills a taken it seems to count as well. In addition, when you are in the stage scene at the Anderson Farm, the fireworks killing taken also seems to count, and can kill up to 10 or so in a good run.

(24) Child of the Elder God – 10 G – During the Anderson Farm concert stage scene, you need to survive the entire scene without dying and you will get this achievement. Remember to stand in spotlight in the middle of the stage whenever it is on; Barry should tell you when it is.

(25) Two for the Price of One – 10 G – For this, you have to kill two taken with a single barrel shotgun shot. I honestly have no idea how I got this, but I think I have a sound method for it. Using the double-barreled shotgun, weaken two taken by getting their darkness off them, and then make sure they are right next to each other and since the weapon is so powerful, they should both die. I’m not sure, but it might also work when one is behind the other.

(26) Perchance to Dream – 20 G – This is the achievement for the end of Chapter 4, and will be received after the section where you see what happened in the “lost week” in the dream sequence at the Anderson Farm.

(27) Gatekeeper – 10 G – In Chapter 5, when you reach the power plant Cynthia will ask you to get to the power outside and when you set it off, the achievement will unlock. There is also a can pyramid you can shoot next to it.

(28) Come One, Come All – 10 G – This is similar to the flashbang achievement, as you have to kill 4 taken with one flare gun shot. I got this outside of the power plant after I hit the generator, but it can really be done anywhere, just lure 4 taken to be close and aim the flare gun in between them.

(29) The Lady of the Light – 20 G – By completing chapter 5 and reaching the interior of the Bright Falls Dam and the bright room, you will get this.

(30) Tornado Wrangler – 20 G – You unlock this one by defeating the tornado “boss” at the edge of Cauldron Lake. A tip to make this much, much easier: as you are jumping across the gaps toward the platform where you fight the tornado, there will be a box FULL of flare gun ammo (the flare gun itself should have been picked up from a red box earlier in the level). Just keep firing at the middle with that and you are golden.

TruthLies · 04-05-2011, 07:51 PM

(31, 32, 33) Departure – 40 G – Hardboiled Writer – 40 G – Alan, Wake Up – 50 G – These are the three difficulty achievements.Beating the game on any difficulty unlocks nightmare mode. Nightmare mode really is a lot more difficult than normal, but it is still manageable. You still get a lot of items, but you need to use more light and more bullets to kill any enemy, so plan accordingly, and avoid fights whenever possible.

(34) Medical Opinions – 10 G – While in the opening of chapter 4 you will be in Cauldron Lake Lodge. Eventually you must use the staff keys to get to Hartman’s office. When you head to the staff hallway, though, head first to the room on the left hand side of the hallway. On the desk is a tape player, and for this achievement you must hit play for all three recordings. So, hit play and listen to the recording, repeat, and one more time, and the third time you hit play this will unlock.

(35) Boob Tube – 5 G – A little later on in the beginning of Chapter 4 you will have to leave the lodge as it is consumed by darkness. On your way through the hallways of the lodge, you’ll pass through the staff room where a tv will be mounted high on the wall. Simply hit play on this TV.

(36) Drink ‘Em Both Up – 10 G – When you are entering Bright Falls on the ferry, you will then be in the Diner. In the diner, the Anderson brothers will ask you to put a song on the jukebox. Do so, by hitting the machine, and performing a button press mini-event. Much later in the game, in Chapter 5, you will be accompanying the Sheriff on the way to get the helicopter keys. While you are outside, on the edge of the lake, you can optionally re-enter the diner. Do so, and again activate the jukebox and this will unlock.

(37) An Idyllic Small Town – 30 G – This achievement is for surviving part one of chapter five without dying, the section called “Night Life in Bright Falls” that ends with the helicopter standoff. This really is not that difficult, especially on normal, but the one trouble area for me oddly enough is pretty early on. When Sherriff Breaker is trying to open a gate you are ambushed. Not only are there a lot of enemies, but then a chainsaw enemy appears, and for whatever reason this is the area where I died a couple times. My advice is to use flares wisely throughout the section and save the flare gun or flashbangs for the larger groups of enemies or elite enemy types.

(38) If It Flies, It Burns – 20 G – This is another milestone achievement, this time for killing 1,000 birds. There are TONS of flocks of birds that attack throughout the game, so you will likely simply get this by the end of your first playthrough. If not, repeat the end of episode 2.

(39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) Bright Falls Aficionado, KBF-FM, Hypercaffeinated, Collector’s Edition, Every Nook and Cranny, Couch Potato, Carny, Picking Up After Yourself – 240 total G – These are the collectible achievements. Follow my video guides in the first post above.

(47) Missed by a Mile – 25 G – Perform 25 cinematic dodges. This will come through playing on hard or nightmare, so do not stress over it.

(48) Right of Way – 10 G – Kill 15 enemies with a car, all you have to do is burn their darkness away and run into them. This is pretty easy, especially during the final chapter where you can get all 15 if you haven’t already gotten this.

(49) Gunless Wonder – 30 G – In the first part of the final chapter, On the Road to Cauldron Lake, you must beat this section without firing a shot, meaning no guns or the flare gun. Flashbangs and handflares are okay. The achievement will unlock toward the end of the section.

(50) Meet the Deadline – 30 G – In the chapter three section “Mirror Peak,” you need to get from the coal museum to cauldron lake in under 30 minutes. Like most achievements, this is best done on normal (the lowest setting), and avoid any unnecessary battles or objects that are possessed, and you will be fine.

First DLC - The Signal (free with new purchase, otherwise i think it is 560) - for both DLCs, i suggest you play them only after finishing the story, because they are both continuations of the story that build on each other

Words Will Never Harm You - 25 G - This achievement relates to the basement of the church. There are rows and rows of furnaces, and you have to shine your flashlight on all of them until they explode. Some are easiest done as an aid in combat, but once you kill the 4 sets of enemies throughout the basement, you can go back and get the rest with no worries. Just don't climb the ladder to leave until you have the achievement.

A Friend in Need - 25 G - This is story related, and will be picked up after you escape the church basement, there will be four words you can reveal, and for this achievement reveal "friend."

License Revoked - 20 G - This is most easily done on normal, since that is the easiest difficulty. When you drop down into a lumber yard there will be a few cars and a lot of open space between stacks of logs. The achievement is to clear the area without using any of the vehicles. This is made difficult by infinitely spawning enemies, two possessed trucks and, once you trigger the way forward, poltergeist objects as well. My advice is to take out the trucks immediately and then avoid any other combat at all and run back to the area to get inside. Once inside, make use of the explosives to take out enemies, but the key is to keep moving forward. When you drop down out of that building and into the next area, you will get the achievement.

Fast and Furious - 25 G - This involves beating the final "boss" of the DLC in less than 90 seconds. It is incredibly easy, you just have to have saved up 4-5 flare gun shots for the battle. Simply shoot 1-2 at each of the three phases and it will be yours in less than 30 seconds.

A Friend Indeed - 50 G - This is the story achievement for beating the final boss. Unlocks during credits.

Now for the harder achievements in the DLC:

Run-On Sentence - 50 G - This is for completing the DLC in one run, no checkpoints loaded and no deaths. you have to beat it in one sitting. My advice is just to play on Normal, save your flare gun for the end, avoid battles if you see a checkpoint ahead, and just stay back when possible.

Tick Tock - 30 G - This is for finding all 10 alarm clock collectibles. Follow my video guides in first post for locations.

Cardboard Companions - 25 G - This is to get the 6 cardboard cutout collectibles. Follow my guides in the first post for locations.

Second DLC - The Writer (i believe it is also 560 points)

Whirlwind - 20 G - This is quite hard - it involves getting past the tornado in under 60 seconds. The timer seems to start the second you pick up the manuscript page to trigger the words around it. The best strategy is to get the first available object on your level to jump on and then look up and slightly back and reveal that piece so when you get up top you can jump on it right away. When you jump to go up to the top area, a large enemy will ambush you. DO NOT FIGHT HIM, just keep going and jump onto the first available piece and you should get it.

Ding! - 5 G - This is actually incredibly hard because it's the last step of the windmill. When you reach the insane spinning section, the important thing is it is not as hard as it seems. The first couple times I did not get it at all, but I can tell you now you just have to go slow and be patient. The one part that takes effort is the recreation of the tunnel where you got the clicker at the dam. When you have waited long enough for it to be nearly flat, but not all the way horizontal, run to the circular door at the back and then back to the square room outside. Wait for one more entire rotation and go back in that hallway. The door will now be open and you can get to the elevator.

Heartbreaker - 20 G - This is for listening to a recording of your wife as you observe the TV-you and Hartman discuss your mind, part of the story.

Creative Space - 25 G - You will get to a point where you run across a crashed airplane. Fight off two waves of enemies on the ground and then to the left of the plane there is a large boulder. To the right of it is a small path, follow it down and around to the left and you will find the secret cave.

Go Gentle Into That Good Light - 20 G - After you are on a small deck, you will trigger a spotlight and a memory with your flashlight. The second you do so, be ready to not use any weapons no matter what for a few minutes. You have to make it up to the lighthouse, using only your flashlight (and flares if you have them). The lighthouse itself will kill all the enemies at each area, but you have to reveal the areas with your flashlight.

Iron Will - 25 G - This is quite easy if you're playing on Normal as it involves not taking a serious amount of damage. In the final boss battle, which is several stages, just dispatch the enemies as quickly as you can. As long as you never get near death or die, you will unlock the achievement.

Kill Your Darlings - 50 G - This is the story achievement for clearing the DLC.

No Punctuation - 50 G - This is like the first DLC, to play through it all in one sitting without dying or reloading a checkpoint. The two hard parts are the windmill until you get the process down and the lighthouse run if you're also going for the achievement for that part. Otherwise, this is not too bad.

Licensed Properties - 30 G - This is to collect all 10 Night Springs video games. Follow my videos in the first post for help.

IRELAND NO 1 · 04-05-2011, 10:37 PM

May i be the first to say it's an well written, detailed amazing guide big thumbs up from me!
It almost makes me want to go back and play it to mop up the achievements i missed lol.
Good work you will be given a well deserved guide badge in your logo