Alan Wake 2 Guide: “Initiation 7: Masks/ Initiation 8: Zane’s Film” Walkthrough

Alan Wake 2 Guide: Masks & Zane’s Film

Area List (Tap to jump down the page!)

Masks

Zane’s Film

Poet’s Cinema Lobby

Theater Hall

Out In The Night

Theater Hall & Projector Room

Parliament Tower

 

Masks

When you start the chapter in the flooded dressing room approach the TV and hold X to enter. After a brief cutscene with Mr Door, head out the familiar corridors all the way to the exit. When you arrive at the janitor’s room, head through the door to the right (pictured below) and all the way down to the basement.

Push forward and you’ll find yourself in the familiar area from before where we originally started transferring the light around. Take a left at the bottom of the stairs and go into the familiar Break Room with the TV monitors. Hold X to transfer the light over.

Now, head behind the monitors and back up onto the street level again. When you do, look toward the hotel and you’ll find another Echo (pictured below). Line up the orbs and watch the Casey scene play out.

Head for the Oceanview Hotel. At the front door, turn around and activate the next Echo. Next, head inside the hotel and take the elevator all the way up. Exit the lift and go into Room 665. Interact with the projector and watch the film. After, you’ll gain 1x Movie Ticket.

 

Zane’s Film

The next port of call is the cinema, so take the elevator back to the ground floor and out the main entrance. Our destination is the Poet’s Cinema, which can be found in the bottom right hand corner of this map (pictured below)

You want to head out the hotel and take a left along the street. Don’t cut through the plaza as there are a lot of Taken here that will attack. Instead, go the long way round and you’ll have far fewer to worry about.

At the end of the street, you’ll find some scaffolding to walk under. Do so and turn left. At the car wash entrance, use your flashlight to destroy the three orbs and head under.

Loot inside the car wash before turning right and heading out the door and into the main area of the Poet’s Cinema.

 

Poet’s Cinema Lobby

Approach the main entrance and press X to add the movie ticket we gained as an automatic story-related collectible. The front doors will open and we’ll be able to push into the lobby. When you do, you’ll gain a new Plot Scene, Lobby.

Be sure to go and investigate the Break Room on the right hand side (pictured below) before we start switching things around. You’ll also gain 1x Stop Writing videotape too.

Head into the kitchen behind the counter and spin round to grab 1x Poet’s Cinema Map from the wall. Now, head up the stairs and line up the orbs to activate another echo (pictured below).

Watch the Echo play out and you’ll gain a new Plot Element, The Cult of The Word. Before heading downstairs, head over to the other side of the lobby atrium. Turn off your flashlight and turn it back on to point toward the location pictured below to gain 1x Words of Power, Words of Fix.

At this point, head back downstairs and check the door under the stairs. This will hold a Trunk just round the corner holding Trauma Pads, bullets and 1x Battery Pack too.

To activate the next Echo, head out the front of the cinema and round the corner, where you’ll find a ladder leading up. Go all the way to the very end and look up, the Echo will be here. There’s also another Trunk at the far end of this area, just next to the green bins.

Go back inside the cinema and behind the Concession Counter again and make sure you’re standing in the kitchen. Open your Plot Board and add Cult Of The Word to the scene. Another Echo will appear in this changed scene. Watch this play out to gain a new Plot Element, New York’s Finest.

Switch over the Lobby scene to New York’s Finest and head out the kitchen and back in the main lobby. On the ground floor, take the left path into the theater.

 

Theater Hall

Head all the way up the stairs to the back, and hold X to take the light. Now, with the light gained, head all the way onto the stage and line up the orbs for another Echo. After, switch the scene over to New York’s Finest.

You can go all the way back to the place we gained the light and head up a door here, which leads to a locked door and a new task – Finding a way into the projection booth.

Some Taken will show up and attack in the midst of all this, so get rid of these before returning to the stage and switching the scene over to Cult of the Word. There’s another Echo in the back room so line this up, watch it play out, and you’ll gain a new Plot Element – Clip Of The Lost Film.

With the film playing, destroy the Taken that show up and go all the way down to the stage. Hold X to transfer the light over to the screen. 

This will open up a beam of light, shining on a new doorway. Head through to the other side and we’ll be back outside.

 

Out In The Night

To your right will be a Break Room. Rest up in here, loot the gear and then return to the alleyway. There will be metal stairs heading up to a locked door. Keep this in mind for now but switch the Plot Board over to New York’s Finest. When you do, new orbs will show up in the street, next to the police car. Line them up and watch the Echo play out.

At this point, switch the Plot Board over to Cult of the Word and look up. You’ll notice another Cyan Orb in the air, and seemingly no black orb in sight. The idea here is to progress up to the rooftop, but the game doesn’t make it explicitly clear that this is what you need to do. Not to worry, we’ll get you there quickly so you don’t waste any time!

Switch the scene back to New York’s Finest and make sure you’ve transferred the light from the Police car so you can see a giant W sign on the ground. 

Head round the side of the fence and make sure you’re hugging the wall that says “Find Alice” in graffiti. When you do, transfer the light back to the police car again to allow us to proceed forward.

When you emerge back on the rooftop again from the stairs leading up, switch the scene from New York’s Finest to Cult of the Word. Climb up the ladder and head right to find another Words of Power, Words of Stuff on the rooftop. To grab it, look to your right for a metal stairwell leading to a different rooftop.

Head over and check for the yellow paint on the ground. There’s a trunk behind the boxes ahead holding all sorts of goodies, along with the toolbox. Now, spin round and you’ll find the Words of Power location on the picture below, marked with an X.

Return to the ladder you just climbed up and take a left instead. There’s another metal stairwell here leading to a closed door. Open it up and take the next left, toward the red light.

There’s a ladder leading down at the end of this path, and also a Break Room on the right. At the bottom of the stairs, if you haven’t already, make sure the scene is on Cult of the Word and look down. Activate the Echo. At the end, you’ll gain a new Plot Element, The Grandmaster.

Retrace your steps back to the ladder and switch the scene back to New York’s Finest. Transfer the light back to the police car to let us pass and then we’ll be back in the alleyway again.

Head up the metal stairwell and you’ll find the door wide open. Go through and return to the Theater Hall.

 

Theater Hall & Projector Room

When you enter, destroy any enemies lurking about so you’re not ambushed. Then, switch the scene over to The Grandmaster. Approach the stage and hold X to head inside.

There’s now another long looping section where you’ll be looping around the projector room over and over again. On the third cycle, when you enter the big room with the filing cabinets and stacks of movie reels, check out the door marked “Exit”.  Inside, you’ll gain 1x Initiation videotape (location pictured below).

Finally, you’ll find Alex Casey tied up to a chair. Only… it’s not Casey. It’s the guy who played him in the movie. Head left, into the adjacent room. Press X to pick up the knife.

Chase this poor guy through the rooms, and you’ll eventually come to another Echo. Line up the orbs and watch the scene play out. Head into the next door, which is a dead-end. Instead, return whence you came and some overlapping scenes will play out.

Eventually, you’ll make it onto the Projector room. When you do, approach the corpse on the wall and watch the cutscene. We’ll now have our next destination – Parliament Tower.

 

Parliament Tower

Exit out the Projector Room down the stairs and you’ll find yourself back in the Theater Hall. If you haven’t already, switch the scene over to The Grandmaster in the Lobby. There will be another Echo that pops up right in the entrance. Line the orbs up and watch this play out.

After watching this, head out the front door and back through the car wash until you reach the Plaza. Parliament Tower will be back… but there’s a problem. The doors are locked. 

Head over to the familiar payphone and answer the call. You’ll be tasked with taking the photos from the shoebox in the basement over to the front of the statue in the plaza.

Naturally, head down to the talk show basement again via the entrance in the street and hold X to transfer the light in the room. Go all the way through to the other side of the hallway until you reach the balcony area overlooking the basement. Hold X to transfer the light back here.

Leave the balcony and go down the stairwell to the basement. When you do, hold X to transfer the light again. Move through the basement and head toward the ominous red light. Hold X to transfer the light again and you’ll find the shoebox on the table. Approach and grab 1x Alice’s Photographs.

Now retrace your steps back out of the basement again, and into the main street. It’s worth noting here that this is the Point of No Return for Alan. If you go further and interact with the statue, you won’t be able to return here again. Make sure you do everything before leaving.

When you’re ready, add the photographs to the box by the foot of the gold statue in the plaza. This will trigger another cutscene, and automatically spit you out and return you to Saga. If you’re following this guide, we’re at the point of no return for both characters, so let’s do this.

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