While the original game wasn’t all that scary,Alan Wake 2pushes players to the limit with its carefully built atmosphere and terrifying enemies. No matter if you’re playing as Saga or Alan, the terrors of the Dark Place await you around every corner.
Among the many enemy encounters, not all are as scary as the others, yet all serve to rank up the tension. The ones that stand out will be remembered as the scariest moments of the year, leaving players twitchy after so many Taken and sudden jump scares.
9Scratch
An Action Pumped Encounter
Being one of the final encounters in the game, Scratch lacks the intensity he could’ve had if he appeared earlier on. As it stands, the final encounter as Saga is a great battle with a fantastic soundtrack, but hardly scary due to the arsenal you’ve amassed this late in the game.
The first encounter, however, does have some deserved tension and uneasiness tied to it. The character of Scratch had been established for a while by that point, so the sudden reveal at the police station could make even the bravest players spout an “Oh no.”
8Mulligan And Thorton
It’s All In The Build Up
In isolation, the fight against Mulligan and Thorton isn’t the scariest, even if it can get mechanically challenging. What elevates the encounter is the build up to it. It starts by running around the theme park and ends with a seemingly infinite loop down a well.
The entire story surrounding the well makes your imagination get the best of you, imagining what horrible creature could crawl out of there. While facing just two Taken cops could feel like a relief, you still need to do a challenging fight with all the built-up tension still running through you.
7Deer Masked Taken
Basic But Still Scary
While the effectiveness of the regular Taken diminishes as you advance through Alan Wake 2, their initial impact shouldn’t be understated. Their constant whispers always have you on edge, and the Cult of the Tree variants are a striking sight in the woods, with their masks making you wonder if they’re even human.
From their slow approach out of bodies of water and the sudden jump scares when destroying walls, the Taken are some of the better basic enemies the Horror genre has to offer. Their campy dialogue, however, does remove the tension as you get used to them.
6The Dark Presence
Run Segments Done Right
Even if it isn’t exactly an enemy, the sequences where Alan is chased by the full might of the Dark Presence are fear-inducing indeed. This is a force that you may’t fight against; you can only hope to find shelter in time or be destroyed.
This ends up being the primary source of death for a lot of players, particularly on the easiest difficulties. This means that these chase moments are closely related to the death scene, where a chilling picture of a deceased Alan is shown, making for the most gruesome image of the entire game.
5Splitters
The More, The Merrier
A type of enemy Saga can encounter in the woods is the Wolves, whose speed makes them hard to hit. Fortunately, they don’t do much damage and can’t take much punishment, but certain Taken share the same strengths as Wolves but are even faster and deadlier.
What’s worse is that some of these blurred menaces have an additional ability: they split in two when illuminated, meaning that now you have two Taken zooming around the forest trying to get you. Since you’re constantly fighting in the dark, it gets hard to know how many enemies are left, particularly with them being so fast and multiplying in an instant.
4Fade Outs
The Unseen Threat
Exclusive to the Dark Place, the Fade Outs are shadowy figures constantly muttering Alan’s name. Not all of them are hostile, yet they all look the same, the difference being if they disappear when illuminated or if they just become vulnerable.
The scary part of these enemies is how their silhouettes are used throughout the game, functioning as subtle jump scares when you can’t see them and as a menacing horde in large rooms. Flashlight batteries are scarce in the Dark Place, so you’ll spend most of your time escaping these creatures and suffering through their unstoppable muttering.
3Nightingale
A Memorable First Boss
Nightingale works as both the tutorial enemy andeventual first boss fightfor Saga, and he excels at his role in both situations. His naked corpse is already unsettling, and during the police station moments, you get quite a few close-ups of his visage.
During his boss fight, it is where Nightingale really shines, needing no support to keep you on your toes. Worse of all is how he deteriorates as the fight goes on, with his exposed chest leaving nothing to the imagination.
2Cynthia Weaver
Screaming Queen
Cynthia Weaver will terrorize your dreams even before you’re even close to fighting her, since her seemingly unending jump scares will make you dream with the old lady’s face. It gets worse and worse as you get near her lair, but she has quite a few frights before the main event.
As you’re trying to get the power going to face her once and for all, Cynthia will chase you while submerged, almost like a shark closing in on its prey. Once you’re ready to fight her, she gives you no time to rest, since if you don’t keep the pressure on, she can easily down you with a massive wave attack.
1Divers
A Terrifying Sight
Even with all its fantastic bosses, the scariest enemy in Alan Wake 2 is definitely one encountered out in the wild. The enemy in question is the Diver, a creature that looks like two Taken joined at the torso, the bottom one using its arms as legs.
The creature can even have more arms than you’d expect, and it can “dive” into itself, being functionally invisible except for the ripple effect they leave as they move. Just looking at them is unsettling enough, and the fact that they can show up anywhere in the game makes them the worst enemy in the game.
