Fadeouts

Alan fighting Fadeouts.

 The shadows faded out, until they didn’t. They were trying to stop me. With the gun and flashlight, I could fight back. 

― Alan Wake

Fadeouts, named in-game as Shadows, are enemies that appear in Alan Wake 2. They are entities of darkness inhabiting the Dark Place.

Background

Fadeouts are humanoid entities made up of darkness. Their initial appearance is that of black, shadowy silhouettes which seem to fade in and out of existence. Fadeouts are blind but can detect the player character if they get too close, make too much noise, or are using the Flashlight. A lot of the words they utter are Alan Wake's name but they also say sentences about not wanting to be part of the story. All of the phrases spoken by Fadeouts come from the Writer's Journey videos narrated by Alan.

There are four types of Fadeouts which appear in Alan Wake 2: regular non-hostile Fadeouts, Hostile Shadows, Heavy Shadows, and Glitching Shadows. They serve as the regular enemies in Alan's side of the story, while Saga Anderson will only face them in Return 9: Come Home.

Gameplay

Hostile Shadow

 Hostile Shadows are ghostly figures lurking in the Dark Place. Hostile Shadows hide amongst groups of Shadows. They do not react to visual stimuli, but if you make too much noise, get too close to them, or shine the Flashlight on them for too long, they will sense your presence and become highly aggressive. 

― Tutorial, Hostile Shadow

While all Fadeouts will react to Alan/Saga's presence, not all Fadeouts are hostile. A normal Shadow can be differentiated from a Hostile Shadow by shining the Flashlight on them; normal Fadeouts will fade away, while Hostile Shadows will not. However, shining the light on a Hostile Shadow for too long will make it become aggressive and start approaching Alan/Saga, alternating between regular walking speed and "glitching" forwards to close the distance. Regular Hostile Shadows do not need to be fought, as they will fade away if the Flashlight is shined on them long enough, which can sped up by using Flashlight Boost.

Heavy Shadow

 The Heavy Shadow delivers heavy-hitting melee blows and will Grapple you and throw you to the ground if it catches you. The Heavy Shadow can summon a Darkness Projectile that steadily pursues you and detonates once in close proximity. You can slow down the projectile's movement with the Flashlight or destroy it by boosting the Flashlight 

― Tutorial, Heavy Shadow

Heavy Shadows are the first type of Hostile Shadow which need to be actively fought. They are melee attackers which can Grapple the player character and knock them down. They are also capable of using a ranged attack: Darkness Projectiles, which are homing projectiles that track the player character and explode when they get close enough; the explosion can knock down the player character. The Darkness Projectiles can be slowed down by shining the Flashlight on it, but can only be destroyed using Flashlight Boost.

Heavy Shadows are protected by their Darkness Shield, which works identically to how it does on regular Taken. Once the Flashlight Boost or some other light source is used to remove the shield, the Heavy Shadow will take on a physical human form like that of a regular Taken, and can be killed accordingly using any weapons.

Glitching Shadow

 The Glitching Shadow can quickly close the distance between you with its Glitch ability. Glitches allow them to perform a flurry of melee attacks. Pay close attention to the after-image they leave behind to get an idea of the enemy's whereabouts. Dodge the first attack of a Glitching Shadow's melee flurry combo to leave the enemy vulnerable. 

― Tutorial, Glitching Shadow

Glitching Shadows are the second type of Hostile Shadow which need to be actively fought. They are also melee attackers, but they are capable of Glitching (rapidly teleporting/dashing) around the area and using a quick melee attack combo. They can be tracked by the afterimage they leave behind when Glitching, and dodging their first melee attack in a combo will cause them to be vulnerable, as they cannot quickly stop. Otherwise, they can be defeated in the same way as other Hostile Shadows and/or Taken, including using light to remove their Darkness Shield.

Trivia

• The name "Fadeouts" is only used in Remedy's official patch notes for the game ("Fadeout" is the internal ID used for the enemies). All sources actually visible to the player in-game refer to the enemies as "Shadows" or variants thereof.
• The Fadeouts are voiced by Matthew Porretta, who voices Alan Wake and portrays Casper Darling, albeit with a distorted filter.
• Based on concept art and the overall story of Initiation, which is influencing the Dark Place, some Fadeouts take the forms of members from the Cult of the Word.
• The Fadeouts are similar to the Invisible Taken from Special 1: The Signal.

Quotes

Below are some of the voice lines they can be heard saying throughout the Dark Place. They are direct quotes from the "Drowning" video in the Writer's Journey Collectibles:

Alan Wake 2

• "I write and I write and I write..."
• "Drowning, I'm drowning."
• "Please let me sleep."
• "Alan Wake."
• "Wake."
• "You're in my story."
• "I'm lost in the dark."
• "Let me die."

Gallery

Concept art