Alan Wake 2 The Final Draft new ending explained

Alan Wake 2's brand new New Game Plus mode is finally here. Aptly titled "The Final Draft," players will relive the events of the game to unlock a unique ending. This is in addition to extra collectibles, carried-over item progression, and other elements that should make dealing with a brand-new super-hard difficulty mode easier.

But the icing on the cake is the all-new ending segment. Since Remedy Entertainment's titles are known to be incredibly narrative-heavy, players should prepare for new revelations that will no doubt set the stage for future games from the Finnish studio.

Since we will discuss what this new ending entails, it should go without warning that there will be major plot spoilers for Alan Wake 2 below.

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What happens in the new ending for New Game Plus in Alan Wake 2 The Final Draft update?

To summarize, if the original ending was a cliffhanger, then The Final Draft finally delivers the complete ending. As the narrative of Alan Wake 2 comes to a close, protagonist Saga Anderson meets up with the titular writer inside the Dark Place to put an end to Alan's doppelganger, Mr. Scratch — who has possessed Alex Casey, Saga's partner-in-law and fellow FBI agent.

The key to this is using the Bullet of Light and the Clicker — items players track down during the finale, with the latter able to alter reality as the user sees fit. The duo realizes that Mr. Scratch has infiltrated their Mind Place, leading to Saga using the Clicker. This causes the Dark Presence haunting Casey to leave him and return inside Alan again. Saga takes the opportunity to shoot Alan using the Bullet of Light.

This causes the latter to go slack, seemingly annihilating Mr. Scratch — but not before Alan reminisces everything up to this point. Saga and Casey meanwhile seem to be still stuck in the Dark Place, with the former trying to call her daughter Logan to see if the Clicker succeeded in reverting the harmful ending written in the in-game novel Return that had come to life.

If players who beat Alan Wake 2 have been following closely thus far, they will realize that until now, this plays out just like the original ending, albeit an abridged take on how proceedings panned out. Here onwards, things change drastically, finally answering some of the most burning questions.

The original ending's post-credits showcased a recording of Alan's wife, Alice, revealing that she got in touch with the Federal Bureau of Control to unravel the truth. She eventually found herself inside the Dark Place to help get Alan outside of this "loop." This leads to the latter jolting back up, realizing all the time he has spent repeating the horrors is not a loop but rather a spiral.

In other words, the new ending in The Final Draft highlights the end of the spiral with Alan getting where he needed to be with Alice's help, thanks to the Clicker and the Bullet of Light. The new ending reveals that Saga was indeed able to establish contact with her daughter and determine her safety. Alan also wakes up to reveal that Mr. Scratch is gone and that their ending worked.

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So what's next? It remains to be seen, with the gang still inside the Dark Place, how all of this will tie into upcoming Remedyverse games. To find out everything that's changed in the free The Final Draft update, check out the full details here. Alan Wake 2 is available right now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.