Rain Cove Point is a place located north of the towns of Bright Falls and Watery in Washington, which served as the setting of Alan Wake and Clay Steward's shared recurring nightmares.[1]
History[]
According to Sarah Breaker, an Army base located at Rain Cove Point was active during the Second World War. The personnel of the base also built a fortified chamber within the Bright Falls Dam.[2]
Episode 1: Nightmare[]
While traveling to Bright Falls alongside his wife Alice, Alan Wake falls asleep and experiences one of his recurring nightmares. On it, Alan found himself driving towards the lighthouse, feeling that something important awaited for him there, but in his rush, he hits a hitchhiker with his car, seemingly killing him. After stepping out of the car to check the body, the lights of the vehicle go out and the hitchhiker's corpse disappears.
As Alan continues to the lighthouse on foot, making his way through the forest, the hitchhiker is taken over by a dark presence and attacks him, before transforming into a tornado. Alan runs towards a nearby cabin, where he meets Clay Steward. Steward tells Wake to enter the cabin, but before he can join him, the front door closes, trapping Alan inside and locking Clay out. Steward tries to defend himself, but the hitchhiker merciless kills him with his axe.
As the cabin begins to tremble, a mysterious light dissolves one of the walls, allowing Alan to escape. After guiding him to safety, the light provides Alan with a flashlight and a gun, and teaches him how to defeat the hitchhiker, before departing. Alan continues towards the lighthouse, battling copies of the hitchhiker, and reaches a road leading to his destination. Another tornado appears and chases Wake towards the lighthouse. Alan manages to enter the house and shuts door, but the light turns off, allowing the Dark Presence to attack him.[3]
Behind the Scenes[]
- Rain Cove was going to be featured in the main story during a scrapped episode where Alan and Barry went to investigate the place. The area originally had a different layout, and the lighthouse was going to be used as a weapon doing a fight with hords of taken. While the episode was scrapped, the lighthouse was ultimetly brought back to the second DLC of the game, The Writer, where it did get to serve as a weapon against hords of taken.
- The original layout of Rain Cove is still present in the north-western point of the map, and several of its assets are still present in the gamefiles.
Trivia[]
- Clay Steward suggested that the lighthouse had significance in Departure due to the motif appearing in Alan's earlier work, Errand Boy.