The Platinum Road #3 - When he writes Stories in the Dark (Alan Wake: Remastered)
It’s a new year and we’re continuing with our quest for the eventual big 250 and so The Platinum Road continues. I recently read the novelization of Alan Wake and thought why not get back to the game now instead of whenever I had a vague plan for it, so here we go!
My first playthrough back in late 2021 earned me all the story achievements and most combat related trophies save for a couple and I only obtained one optional trophy, the one for defeating the Possessed Bulldozer in an early chapter. That means all of the optional trophies as well as the trophies for the many collectibles still need to be obtained.
Here are the stats from the last playthrough for reference in what we need to do here.
Step 1: Departure Act 1
So I started the game with collectible guide ready on my phone. Straight away I got the trophy ‘Carny’ for toppling 5 Can Pyramids. For some reason, the game only asks for 5 of the total 12 (Unlike other trophies that need entire sets) but I won’t complain. Collectibles track across playthroughs and I managed to find 4 initially. Another trophy I could have gotten the first time around was for killing 1000 birds. This was ticked off while saving Barry in Chapter 2, their first appearance in the story.
The missing Radio was 10 of 11 in Chapter 4, up a Firewatch tower on the main path so I’m surprised I didn’t get it originally. I also got the Hunting Rifle kills trophy around here, obtaining the last of the combat related trophies.
Interlude
In the evening I was playing, I didn’t have time for another full chapter but I did have time to go back for the two trophies I had missed - Child of the Elder Gods and Meet the Deadline, The former I was annoyed I didn’t get during the playthrough but the latter I had no chance considering I was trying to get the collectibles at the same time.
Child of the Elder Gods takes place during the climactic finale of Chapter 4, where Alan and Barry defend against hordes of Taken on a stage on the Anderson Farm, while the in-game band Old Gods of Asgard blares out. This trophy is unique in games as the requirements are to not die during the section but also not get to low health. Having your head on a swivel is the key to surviving this as enemies can come from the front and either side in (as far as I could tell) no discernible pattern.
Meet the Deadline is a weird one, time based trophies in games that don’t really have speed mechanics or even any kind of movement tech just don’t tend to work. You’re given 30 minutes to get to your destination and it seems like a solid time is 24 minutes. By my own count I took longer than 30 but that was with checkpoint resets (that reset the time) and vaguely ysing the time I started as a guide since there’s no way of knowing in game if you’ve done it or not until the trophy pops (or doesn’t, as the case may be). Pleasantly surprised this only took one proper attempt.
Step 1: Departure Act 2
We’re back with Chapter 5 and there’s not much to report on - I found the missing TV which was upstairs in Town Hall and the last manuscript page I needed - #82 of the 91 available in the pre-Nightmare difficulty mode.
Interlude 2
I had plenty of time during this session I just got annoyed I messed it up - the first half of Chapter 5 has a challenge to get through it without dying - thats Bright Falls Police Department to the Helicopter Pad. This isn’t a super long section but it does have three hold out points, the first is minor but the following two are a bit longer. I’ve been playing on easy for this playthrough for the sake of getting collectibles (My original playthrough was on hard!) but even on easy it’s well, easy, to get caught out. I died twice during my playthrough attempt, one at the Church holdout which is two thirds the way through and the Helipad holdout, the final bit for this trophy and this section. Both were to the agile invisible Taken. Thankfully thanks to the trial run that was my playthrough, I knew spawn points and timing for these enemies so I managed to get it on this second attempt.
Step 1: Departure Final Act
We have reached the sixth and final chapter of the game and seeing the last of each collectible ding was very satisfying - Coffee Thermos (the last was #98 and Chests (#29) but not Signs! (see below). I also managed to get this chapter’s special challenge - ‘Gunless Wonder’ which is for not using your guns. Considering most of the chapter (like a good two thirds) is in a car, it’s definitely the easiest of the game’s challenges.
Unexpected Epilogue
Despite following a guide, I somehow managed to miss one of the signs, which was a major annoyance. So began the search. The issue is that collectibles only register when a checkpoint is reached (or so I thought) so my first idea was a sign in Chapter 5, one I found not long before I died. It wasn’t that one. Consulting a guide, I figured it might be one in the second half of chapter 3 - it wasn’t that one either. I figured I may as well continue with the chapter to see if it was the other one - it wasnt, again.
I was about to quit for the night but I checked a google search, turns out the guide I was using didn’t mention that an early sign was a double bill entry. Thankfully that was 30 seconds into Chapter 2. Glad I managed to solve it before having to use two guides on the nightmare run but it did take just under an hour extra which is annoying.
Step 2: Time to Wake Up, Mr Wake
The last stop on this journey is twofold - the Nightmare run and the 15 remaining manuscript pages that are exclusive to the hardest difficulty. There’s not much I can say here, Nightmare just highlights how iffy Alan Wake’s gameplay can be. There wasn’t any section that took more than 5 tries to get through but there was no fun challenge, just difficulty. The Nightmare exclusive Manuscripts weren’t too hard to find and the trophy to get all Manuscripts combined with completing Nightmare difficulty means I finally have my Platinum trophy!
The Cancelled Sequel
I was going to do a sequel article on the games two DLC’s - The Signal and The Writer. I did a first run through of The Signal, getting all the carboard cutouts but still missing an Alarm Clock despite having the guide open on my phone. I got the no driving trophy and the one for beating the final boss in less than 1 minute 30. The only one remaining was to beat the DLC without dying - I made one attempt, got about 15/20 minutes into the DLC before dying to a stupid Poltergeist that freaked out. I decided then there that I’ve had my fill of Alan Wake.
Still, I’m glad Alan Wake is done and dusted - that’s #3 for the year and #166 in total! Next Platinum and next entry in The Platinum Road is going to be a return to Moscow in Metro 2033: Redux! Stay Tuned!
