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Taken is the second episode of Alan Wake. It follows Alan's journey to meet a man who claims to be his wife's kidnapper.
Plot[]
Bright Falls Sheriff's Station[]
Alan and Alice in their apartment in New York.
Three years ago, in New York City, a year before Alan's writers block started, Alan returns home from buying groceries while Alice is on her study working on the cover of her husband's next book. Due to the intense blizzard outside, the lights go out, much to Alice's discomfort. After lighting some candles, Alan and Alice snuggle together on the living room couch. Alan tells his wife a story about the clicker, a "magic" light switch that his mother gave him as a kid due to the nightmares he suffered and his fear of the dark, which he could use whenever he was scared to "scare the monster away. He then hands her the clicker so it can keep her safe too. While she accepts the gift, Alice jokingly tells Alan that he made the story up, and the two kiss.
The kidnapper calls Alan.
In the present, Alan is being checked by the local doctor, Nelson, who gave up his fishing morning to go to the Bright Falls Sheriff Station. The writer hides the truth about his headache and memory loss as that would result in him being sent to a hospital. After finishing the checkup, Nelson informs Alan that Sheriff Sarah Breaker is waiting for him on her office. On the reception, Alan sees Cynthia Weaver, routinely checking the station's light, much to the annoyance of Deputy Grant. Once in the sheriff's office, Sarah tells him that his phone is on her desk and informs him that her deputies have begun searching for his wife. Before the two could begin discussing the details of what had occurred, Alan receives a phone call from an unknown caller. After walking out of the office, he takes the call and hears his wife calling out for help on the phone. Then, a man tells him to stop talking with the sheriff and to follow his instructions if he wants to see Alice again.
Alan punches Emil Hartman in the face.
The man instructs Alan to go the station's back lot and to look inside the old truck, where he left something for him. He also tells the writer to go to meet him at Lovers' Peak, on the Elderwood National Park, at midnight, alone, and warns him that he is being watched. Passing through the cell corridor, Alan meets a drunken man named Walter Snyder, who has been arrested for beating up his friend, Danny, and who asks him to turn the lights on. Once outside, Alan finds Alice's driver license on the old truck and realizes the caller was not lying about having his wife. He then receives a call from his agent, Barry Wheeler, who had come to Bright Falls in search of him. When Alan returns to the reception area, he sees Sheriff Breaker talking to Doctor Emil Hartman, the local psychologist. Alan tells Sarah that he is leaving. The Sheriff agrees but tells him that she needs to know where he will be staying, to which Deputy Grant suggests the rental cabins at the Elderwoood National Park. Doctor Hartman introduces himself to Alan and invites him to stay at the Cauldron Lake Lodge. He also explains to him that he was the one who convinced Alice to bring Alan to Bright Falls in the first place. Alan, in anger, punches him in the face, breaking his nose. Soon, Barry walks into the station, ordering Sarah to leave Alan or else he would sue them. Hartman says that will not press charges and tells Alan that his offer still stands. As they walk out of the station, Barry reproaches Alan for his behavior and the two head to the Elderwood National Park.
Elderwood National Park[]
Alan and Barry meet with Rose.
On the way to Elderwood National Park, Alan tells Barry everything that has happened up to that point, but, aside from Alice's kidnapping and the fact that Alan had written a manuscript, Barry was unable to believe his story. They arrive at the visitor center and meet with Rose, who had come to deliver coffee for Rusty. After she departs, the two walk in, with Alan calling her an "airhead", to which Barry berates him. While Barry stays by reception, questioning his friends sanity and warning him not to go meet the kidnapper, Alan meets with Rusty, who is trying to help an injured dog named Max. The Ranger asks Alan to get the registration form on the reception desk, sign it and bring it to him. After doing so, the ranger gives Alan the cabin key. The writer also asks Rusty on how to get to Lovers' Peak, to which he tells him that it is located on the far end of the nature trail. Alan and Barry depart the visitor center and head to their cabin.
An injured Rusty tells Alan to turn the power on.
On their cabin, Barry is still trying to convince Alan to call the authorities, but the writer reminds him that if they do so Alice will be killed. Alan then tells Barry, who is stating to have an allergy attack, to wait in the cabin, and, if he is not back by morning, to call the police. Alan departs from the cabin and proceeds to make his way to Lover's Peak while Barry assures him that he will "hold down the fort". As he approaches the visitor center, Alan experiences another vision of Cauldron Lake, Alice being kidnapped by the mysterious old woman, and of a man in a diving suit. Once it is over, the ground begins to tremble, and Alan hears gunshots, followed by Rusty screaming, coming from the visitor center. The front part of the building has been destroyed and Alan finds Rusty seriously injured. The ranger tells Alan that the events described in the page he found came true and urges him to turn the lights on before the entity that injured him returns. Alan reaches the fuse box, but discover that it has been destroyed with an axe. Alan hears the ranger screaming in horror once again and returns to help him, but is attack by some Taken. After dealing with them, he sees that Rusty has disappeared and that there is an enormous hole in one of the walls. Stepping outside, he finds Max's dead body and is attacked by Rusty, who has now turned into a Taken. After Alan manages to kill him and other Taken, he continues to make his way to Lover's Peak.
Alan is saved by the kidnapper.
Alan receives a call from Barry who tells him that he saw something happening on the visitor center from his cabin window before realizing that what Alan had told him was true and that he was not crazy. The writer warns him not to open the door to anyone and continues forward. Alan continues advancing through the nature path, while being repeatedly attacked by more Taken along the way, before eventually reaching a cable cart, which he uses to cross a ravine. However, the cart is attacked by multiple flocks of taken crows and crashes on the other side of the ravine. Alan lands on the floor and sees the Taken approaching him. He tries to grab his flashlight but one of them prevents him. Before the Taken are able to kill the writer, however, they are destroyed by an unknown man, who then tells Alan to follow him as more of them are coming. Alan picks up his flashlight and follows the man. He also confirms that, since the man can also see the Taken, they are not a product of his imagination. The writer tells the stranger that he has lost his gun, but the he assures him that he has a gun and tells him to use his flashlight on the Taken. Alan then realizes that the stranger, who he had already seen on the ferry the day he and Alice arrived, is the kidnapper. The two make their way to Lover's peak, fighting the Taken along the way before finally arriving at the meeting point, where they are forced to fend of from even more of them in "last stand".
The kidnapper demands Alan the entire manuscript.
After the fight is over, Alan ask the kidnapper where his wife is. The kidnapper reveals him that he knew how the events where going to unfold as he had already read them in the manuscript pages written by Alan and claims that he will bring something "glorious and terrible" once he recieves "proper editorial control". He then demands the writer the entire manuscript, threatening him with Alice's life. Alan punches him in the face and they both fall off the ledge, landing on the ground below. The kidnapper loses his gun, but is able to Alan grab it. The kidnapper escapes into the forest, with a desperate Alan yelling him that he will kill him if Alice is hurt. The writer decides to return to his cabin and to reunite with Barry to plan their next move. Once again, he is forced to make his way on foot through the bear trap infested forests, passing through the remains of an crashed airplane and an old water mill, and having more encounter with the Taken, before he reaches the park's abandoned campgrounds. Alan soon receives a call from Barry who tells him that the cabin is surrounded by birds. He assures him that he will be there sure and urges him not to open the door.
Alan finds a vehicle and uses it to return to the rental cabin area, though he is forced to continue on foot on the last stretch of the path. He then receives another call from the kidnapper. Alan attempts to negotiate with him, claiming that the manuscript is incomplete and that he needs a week to finish it, but the kidnapper only gives him two days and tells him that their meeting point will be the old Coal Mine, at noon. With no other option, Alan agrees. When he finally arrives at the cabin, which is surround by birds, Alan, using flares, his flash light and a flare gun, manages to fend them off. After he reunites with Alan, Barry apologizes for believing he was psychotic.
Rose under the influence of the Dark Presence.
The following morning, after sending Barry to the town to inquire about the kidnappers' identity and to find information about the island on Cauldron Lake, Alan attempt to write a manuscript, but finds himself unable to do so, feeling pain whenever he attempts to write. In the town, Barry gets a call from Rose, who tells him that she has found the manuscript pages and that they can pick them up on her house on the trailer park. Unbeknownst to him, Rose is actually being controlled by the old woman in order to lure Alan into a trap.
Cast[]
- Matthew Porretta as Alan Wake (voice)
- Ilkka Villi as Alan Wake (model)
- Brett Madden as Alice Wake
- Fred Berman as Barry Wheeler
- Benita Robledo as Rose Marigold
- Jessica Alexander as Sarah Breaker
- Jason Nuzzo as Ben Mott
- Mark Blum as Emil Hartman
- Linda Cook as Cynthia Weaver
- Kate Weiman as Barbara Jagger
- Jeff Gurner as Rusty
- Clark Warren as Doctor Nelson
- R.J. Allison as Pat Maine
- Helen Greenberg as Deputy Grant
- Bill Buell as Deputy Mulligan
- Bill Lobley as Deputy Thornton
- Gianfranco Negroponte, Navid Khonsari and Andrew Totolos as The Taken
Walkthrough[]
Main article: Episode 2: Taken/Walkthrough
Trivia[]
- There was a slight error in Episode 2. The events in the station are said to take place around 7:30pm, as Alan's phone shows the time as "7:29pm", yet people in the Sheriffs station and Pat Maine on the radio state it is morning. It has been revealed in a forum post that it was a texture mistake. This was fixed in the remaster with the time showing it to be "10:29am".
The scripted event of the Taken walking past the window.
- After turning on the radio inside one of the cabins in the Elderwood trail, you see a Taken walking past the window slowly. If you run outside, it has already disappeared. Even if you manage to sprint outside you may be able to see the Taken for a second but it cannot be hurt as it is a scripted event.
Behind the scenes[]
- There were huge differences between the 2009 E3 Demo and the proper episode 2.
- In the E3 version, the house Alan and Barry stayed in was a smaller.
- The inanimate objects would just stop when the darkness is burned away. In the main game, they disappear.
- Instead of fighting Rusty, it was originally going to be an inanimate object fight.
- Rusty pointed out the Taken that was trying to kill him.
- Rusty was pulled further and further away by the Dark Presence, eventually ending up at Stucky's Gas Station and does not become a Taken.
- After finding Rusty, the objective is to reach the light house. That objective was moved to the first section of episode one, with a different outcome to how the dream ended.
- There was a large encounter and a generator that had to be switched on before going on the cable car. Also, the cable car section came a lot earlier than usual, and Mott was not present either. Instead, you encountered Taken at the end.
- The section where the building is destroyed by a tractor is no longer present. It was moved to the previous episode, with the change of the building being pushed off. Yet, there is version of the demo that does show the building being pushed off as a cliffhanger ending to the presentation. Also, in the demo, you could destroy the tractor, unlike episode one.
- The combat screen was tonnes different that the current one.
Gallery[]
