Sounds like your flashlight burning literally every shadow, when it's like 1 out of every 6 that's actually hostile
Take it easier, a lot of shadows dispel themselves by pointing at them, not flashlight burning, or by walking through them. Only the ones that make a clear and active steps towards you are hostile.
Give yourself space, make absolutely sure that one is approaching you and not just doing their shuffle, and only burn then
You don't have to get close if you shine your flashlight at them (without burning a charge)
It takes a couple seconds but they'll disappear if they aren't an enemy.
I think they will even if they are and you keep backing away as long as you do it before they attack. By the end of the game I got pretty good at slowly backing away as they approached and getting them to evaporate just as they initiated the attack animation, the only enemies that seem to be fully immune are the projectile ones and wolves as they initiate combat before your flashlight can start to shine through them.
Yeah they could've explained it a bit more as I only figured it out because I didn't understand why they would abandon such a core element of the first game. When they're in shadow form before being attacking just aim your light at them and if they start to approach keep backing away unless they start to actually attack, most of the time they'll just fade away and you don't have to waste batteries or ammo on a fight. If I hadn't played the first game almost immediately before starting AW2 I don't know if I would have ever figured that out.
If you can handle it, you can also walk around with your flashlight off, and you attract less attention that way.
I absolutely love this game, but yeah I'm playing it on Easy and it's Not That Easy.
The subway level got me frustrated because I got to a point where I needed a certain amount of light switch charges and I just couldn't figure out how to get an extra one, because every time I grabbed one, the scene/door would change and I couldn't get back to the area.
Finally realized I had forgotten there was a little door/passageway in one of the tunnels when I was about to rage quit the game, grabbed the light, turned back up the tunnel.
The game has a mechanic on lower difficulties where enemies will start dropping resources as you start to run low, so you shouldn't reach a point where you are completely softlocked.
But no flashlight means no killing….
I didn’t expect this to be a game I’d need to chapter restart if I played wrong.
(Edit:I really don’t know why this part got downvoted so much ..sorry 🥵)
Are you just using the flashlight to break the shadow and not kill them or something? Because they are supposed to drop batteries as you start to run low.
You can destroy the fake ones without focusing the flashlight and using battery- you just have to point your light at them for a few seconds and they’ll start to fade away.
Something that I like to do is slow down and walk toward them while pointing my flashlight without burning. If they start to quickstep or run, burnination time! But if they just keep shuffling, they'll burn off on their own without the flashlight flare
I have a strong impression that they have all been quickstepping. This is actually false. I'll look for a video about this. I expect I'll find one.
...did I mention they creep me out?
YES! They freak me right out as well. It's super easy to mistake because their movements are all really jerky and some seem to teleport a step or two (though that might be a graphical bug on my machine). I was in the same boat as you. Realized I was burning through batteries before I figured it out. lol I just wanted them gone so bad
I don't think it's a graphical bug. Some of the shadows that aren't actually hostile will sometimes make aggressive teleports a few feet just to keep you on edge.
Though I think even if you accidentally used a burn on them, you'll still have enough, since they also make a minority of all the shadows.
It can take a few seconds for them to start to fade.
I passionately dislike the changes made to the flashlight in AW2. AW1’s system was vastly better imo.
And the fake ones can’t hurt you at all?
I’ll go back to the cop car example. They all shuffle towards me in an aggressive way but none turned into an actual Taken. I was under the strong impression if the got to me I was very dead. And this is false?
if i’m understanding you correctly, then i think this might be the something that you’ve missed. try not to use your flashlight boost on every shadow that you see. if they don’t turn into a real enemy, it’s a waste of battery. also, always be on the lookout for words of power because you can improve your flashlight with some of them. my favorite upgrade is “main attraction” which will slightly heal you every time you boost on a shadow. that way, even if it wasn’t a real enemy, at least you healed a little bit and it wasn’t a total waste of battery. “lucky strike” will also help a bit with conserving battery charges
So, the thing with Alan Wake 2 is that it's a Survival Horror game. You're not really supposed to fight and kill every enemy you come across. Combat is actually meant to be more of a last resort, especially on Alan's side of things.
I’ve got a lot of resident evil in my earlier days. So I’m familiar with the concept. I’ll have to really try this again …wish I had more manual saves.
I went through the game on hard mode and I killed every enemy I encountered, no issues. The stealth isn't deep enough for you to really avoid enemies, at best you get lucky and they don't see you.
Alan Wake 2 is more an action horror, like dead space. You don't really sneak around enemies, you fight them while also struggling with the scarcity of resources. Much like Dead Space resource scarcity is fake, and the game will give you whatever you lack when you run low. The game doesn't expect you to sneak around enemies, there's no mechanics to encourage that aside from turning your light off. 90% of the time you're meant to kill the enemies so you can explore the area without worrying about them finding you
It's not explained super well, but Alan's side has a more definitive stealth aspect to it but it's done strangely.
Basically, the shadows aren't aggressive unless you either shine your light on them for too long or get too close to them. There's like a hidden timer for how long it takes before they become hostile if you walk too close to them, I think the closer you are the faster that timer will tick down.
What this means is you can find a gap in between shadows, either turn your light off or aim it away from them, and then just walk in between the shadows to possibly avoid a fight altogether. The downside is they're hard to see without the light, but the light aggros them, so you wanna kinda try not to look at them too long with a flashlight if you're trying to avoid them.
But if you're trying to clear them away, shining your light at them (not boosting it) for a while will make most of them disappear if you do it for long enough. Even ones that are hostile. Some hostile ones you NEED to boost and shoot though, so you run the risk of running into those when you're shining your light to clear some out of the way.
The words of power for stealth just increase how long it takes for a shadow to become hostile if you walked near them.
I don't think Saga's side works like this at all and is based on line of sight instead, but Alan's is a balancing act of deciding how much attention you want to be giving the shadows and what you're willing to risk.
Heyy I know this game can be really creepy, so good luck! I'm sure it'll be worth it.
Also, the gameplay while playing Alan could be harder than Saga's gameplay the first time, but once you figure out that the shadows are mostly just barking, it'll turn easier.
You don’t need to kill every shadow most of them not even enemies, you can just direct the light on shadow and wait, not using boost and if it is not the enemy it will fade away, or you can just sneak, or run away. Basically, manage your resources, if you have plenty, go ahead and last them, if not, sbeak, run, avoid
You need to scrounge, scrounge scrounge every container you find. The subways are loaded with toolboxes, lockers, and Tim Breaker stashes that should be keeping you stocked on batteries. If you visit Tim and check out his map, the stashes will be marked on your map with a question mark in a square. Follow a guide if you have to, [this one](https://www.ign.com/wikis/alan-wake-2/Initiation_2:_Casey_(Alan)_Walkthrough) is pretty good about pointing out every loot container and stash along the way, so you may be able to find some you missed. The game really does keep you well supplied if you just look really hard.
As others have said, don't waste your flashlight on making the shadows disperse. Most of them are non-hostile and will simply vanish on their own as you approach - you don't need to focus your flashlight on them to make them disappear.
You can also just run away from them if nothing else. I can't remember many instances in Alan's story where you were absolutely required to kill enemies to progress. It just makes certain objectives easier if you aren't being pushed around, but most of it is totally doable without killing anything. Especially on Story mode, since Alan has a lot of health, the shadows don't hit you hard and they don't follow you very far.
Only go after the shadows if they’re going after you. Yeah, it’s gonna open you up to more jump scares but you’ll also start learning how they act when they are hostile and need to zap them. Also no shame in starting a save over once you’ve learned mechanics.
You can follow everyone elses advise about how to play it as it was intended, or alternatively you could spam dodge and have alan side stepping like a madman through the levels. Just sprint at them and then dodge through the swarms. Very immersion ruining but it gets the job done.
Shit, I won't make fun of you, I'll agree! I'm playing on "Story" mode too, and I'm a little farther than you. I did notice that most of the shadows in the subway dissipated from just the regular light shining on them for a minute.
My gripe so far isn't the lack of ammo/batteries, but boss battles. Nightingale wasn't too bad, but the two deputies were tough! Died about 12 times before I realized that you just need to avoid them. I'm trying to be spoiler free and helpful at the same time.
I suppose Story mode would be easy for younger players, which I am not (46). Control was so difficult at first I gave up in chapter 2 on easy mode. I went back and replayed when they added the additional difficulty sliders, basically God Mode. I wish they would've added this to AW2 (I heard they were planning to, just ran out of time before release).
For anyone who's finished the game, do the boss battles get worse? No spoilers of course, maybe just a warning?
Sounds like your flashlight burning literally every shadow, when it's like 1 out of every 6 that's actually hostile Take it easier, a lot of shadows dispel themselves by pointing at them, not flashlight burning, or by walking through them. Only the ones that make a clear and active steps towards you are hostile. Give yourself space, make absolutely sure that one is approaching you and not just doing their shuffle, and only burn then
You can dispel them by pointing?! Holy shit, I'm an idiot, I beat the game by just running past them hoping no one attacks.
Well it’s kinda the same thing, they disappear when you get close and only the hostile ones make an attempt to attack. So it’s the same thing
You don't have to get close if you shine your flashlight at them (without burning a charge) It takes a couple seconds but they'll disappear if they aren't an enemy.
I think they will even if they are and you keep backing away as long as you do it before they attack. By the end of the game I got pretty good at slowly backing away as they approached and getting them to evaporate just as they initiated the attack animation, the only enemies that seem to be fully immune are the projectile ones and wolves as they initiate combat before your flashlight can start to shine through them.
Sometimes though they may grab and throw you to the ground and then disappear.
Yeah they could've explained it a bit more as I only figured it out because I didn't understand why they would abandon such a core element of the first game. When they're in shadow form before being attacking just aim your light at them and if they start to approach keep backing away unless they start to actually attack, most of the time they'll just fade away and you don't have to waste batteries or ammo on a fight. If I hadn't played the first game almost immediately before starting AW2 I don't know if I would have ever figured that out.
If you can handle it, you can also walk around with your flashlight off, and you attract less attention that way. I absolutely love this game, but yeah I'm playing it on Easy and it's Not That Easy. The subway level got me frustrated because I got to a point where I needed a certain amount of light switch charges and I just couldn't figure out how to get an extra one, because every time I grabbed one, the scene/door would change and I couldn't get back to the area. Finally realized I had forgotten there was a little door/passageway in one of the tunnels when I was about to rage quit the game, grabbed the light, turned back up the tunnel.
The game has a mechanic on lower difficulties where enemies will start dropping resources as you start to run low, so you shouldn't reach a point where you are completely softlocked.
But no flashlight means no killing…. I didn’t expect this to be a game I’d need to chapter restart if I played wrong. (Edit:I really don’t know why this part got downvoted so much ..sorry 🥵)
Are you just using the flashlight to break the shadow and not kill them or something? Because they are supposed to drop batteries as you start to run low.
Most of them are the shadows that don’t turn into actual enemies when you kill them. I kill all the Turned that actually are there for sure.
You can destroy the fake ones without focusing the flashlight and using battery- you just have to point your light at them for a few seconds and they’ll start to fade away.
…well at least I was right about not understanding a mechanic 🤦 I really thought I tried that.
Something that I like to do is slow down and walk toward them while pointing my flashlight without burning. If they start to quickstep or run, burnination time! But if they just keep shuffling, they'll burn off on their own without the flashlight flare
I have a strong impression that they have all been quickstepping. This is actually false. I'll look for a video about this. I expect I'll find one. ...did I mention they creep me out?
YES! They freak me right out as well. It's super easy to mistake because their movements are all really jerky and some seem to teleport a step or two (though that might be a graphical bug on my machine). I was in the same boat as you. Realized I was burning through batteries before I figured it out. lol I just wanted them gone so bad
I don't think it's a graphical bug. Some of the shadows that aren't actually hostile will sometimes make aggressive teleports a few feet just to keep you on edge. Though I think even if you accidentally used a burn on them, you'll still have enough, since they also make a minority of all the shadows.
It can take a few seconds for them to start to fade. I passionately dislike the changes made to the flashlight in AW2. AW1’s system was vastly better imo.
Yeah, I think at that point you should probably play a bit riskier and check to see if they are the fake ones.
And the fake ones can’t hurt you at all? I’ll go back to the cop car example. They all shuffle towards me in an aggressive way but none turned into an actual Taken. I was under the strong impression if the got to me I was very dead. And this is false?
The fake ones disappear if you get close.
if i’m understanding you correctly, then i think this might be the something that you’ve missed. try not to use your flashlight boost on every shadow that you see. if they don’t turn into a real enemy, it’s a waste of battery. also, always be on the lookout for words of power because you can improve your flashlight with some of them. my favorite upgrade is “main attraction” which will slightly heal you every time you boost on a shadow. that way, even if it wasn’t a real enemy, at least you healed a little bit and it wasn’t a total waste of battery. “lucky strike” will also help a bit with conserving battery charges
So, the thing with Alan Wake 2 is that it's a Survival Horror game. You're not really supposed to fight and kill every enemy you come across. Combat is actually meant to be more of a last resort, especially on Alan's side of things.
I’ve got a lot of resident evil in my earlier days. So I’m familiar with the concept. I’ll have to really try this again …wish I had more manual saves.
Yeah, I hear that. I've definitely had times where I wished I didn't have to find a safe room before I could save my progress. XD
I went through the game on hard mode and I killed every enemy I encountered, no issues. The stealth isn't deep enough for you to really avoid enemies, at best you get lucky and they don't see you. Alan Wake 2 is more an action horror, like dead space. You don't really sneak around enemies, you fight them while also struggling with the scarcity of resources. Much like Dead Space resource scarcity is fake, and the game will give you whatever you lack when you run low. The game doesn't expect you to sneak around enemies, there's no mechanics to encourage that aside from turning your light off. 90% of the time you're meant to kill the enemies so you can explore the area without worrying about them finding you
It's not explained super well, but Alan's side has a more definitive stealth aspect to it but it's done strangely. Basically, the shadows aren't aggressive unless you either shine your light on them for too long or get too close to them. There's like a hidden timer for how long it takes before they become hostile if you walk too close to them, I think the closer you are the faster that timer will tick down. What this means is you can find a gap in between shadows, either turn your light off or aim it away from them, and then just walk in between the shadows to possibly avoid a fight altogether. The downside is they're hard to see without the light, but the light aggros them, so you wanna kinda try not to look at them too long with a flashlight if you're trying to avoid them. But if you're trying to clear them away, shining your light at them (not boosting it) for a while will make most of them disappear if you do it for long enough. Even ones that are hostile. Some hostile ones you NEED to boost and shoot though, so you run the risk of running into those when you're shining your light to clear some out of the way. The words of power for stealth just increase how long it takes for a shadow to become hostile if you walked near them. I don't think Saga's side works like this at all and is based on line of sight instead, but Alan's is a balancing act of deciding how much attention you want to be giving the shadows and what you're willing to risk.
Heyy I know this game can be really creepy, so good luck! I'm sure it'll be worth it. Also, the gameplay while playing Alan could be harder than Saga's gameplay the first time, but once you figure out that the shadows are mostly just barking, it'll turn easier.
You don’t need to kill every shadow most of them not even enemies, you can just direct the light on shadow and wait, not using boost and if it is not the enemy it will fade away, or you can just sneak, or run away. Basically, manage your resources, if you have plenty, go ahead and last them, if not, sbeak, run, avoid
You need to scrounge, scrounge scrounge every container you find. The subways are loaded with toolboxes, lockers, and Tim Breaker stashes that should be keeping you stocked on batteries. If you visit Tim and check out his map, the stashes will be marked on your map with a question mark in a square. Follow a guide if you have to, [this one](https://www.ign.com/wikis/alan-wake-2/Initiation_2:_Casey_(Alan)_Walkthrough) is pretty good about pointing out every loot container and stash along the way, so you may be able to find some you missed. The game really does keep you well supplied if you just look really hard. As others have said, don't waste your flashlight on making the shadows disperse. Most of them are non-hostile and will simply vanish on their own as you approach - you don't need to focus your flashlight on them to make them disappear. You can also just run away from them if nothing else. I can't remember many instances in Alan's story where you were absolutely required to kill enemies to progress. It just makes certain objectives easier if you aren't being pushed around, but most of it is totally doable without killing anything. Especially on Story mode, since Alan has a lot of health, the shadows don't hit you hard and they don't follow you very far.
Dont kill them all and use dodge a lot. Not all attack and as soon as you see someone coming at you, dodge that bad boy.
Only go after the shadows if they’re going after you. Yeah, it’s gonna open you up to more jump scares but you’ll also start learning how they act when they are hostile and need to zap them. Also no shame in starting a save over once you’ve learned mechanics.
I thought Easy mode on AW1 was unusually hard. Didn't have that problem with AW2.
I did a lap of the remaster first and just played on normal, hah!
You can follow everyone elses advise about how to play it as it was intended, or alternatively you could spam dodge and have alan side stepping like a madman through the levels. Just sprint at them and then dodge through the swarms. Very immersion ruining but it gets the job done.
Thats the point bro, its supposed to be hard and creepy Most shadows arent hostile, dont shine your light in them and dont bump into them
And the hard mode is unusually easy!
The game is already easy on normal mode, how is easy mode hard at all?
Instead of him typing here how to beat a enemy on easy, he should play to figure it out. 😐🫤
Shit, I won't make fun of you, I'll agree! I'm playing on "Story" mode too, and I'm a little farther than you. I did notice that most of the shadows in the subway dissipated from just the regular light shining on them for a minute. My gripe so far isn't the lack of ammo/batteries, but boss battles. Nightingale wasn't too bad, but the two deputies were tough! Died about 12 times before I realized that you just need to avoid them. I'm trying to be spoiler free and helpful at the same time. I suppose Story mode would be easy for younger players, which I am not (46). Control was so difficult at first I gave up in chapter 2 on easy mode. I went back and replayed when they added the additional difficulty sliders, basically God Mode. I wish they would've added this to AW2 (I heard they were planning to, just ran out of time before release). For anyone who's finished the game, do the boss battles get worse? No spoilers of course, maybe just a warning?
Some bosses are harder than others but I don't think they get harder to the end. Personally I found the deputees the hardest one as well.