Alan Wake 2 Echoes: How They Work + [Our Expert’s Opinion]

Alan Wake 2 focuses on storytelling through its environment and piecing different parts together. In Alan Wake 2, dealing with an Echo becomes one of these vital environmental pieces that help shape the world and give insight into each mystery, especially during Alan Wake’s missions. 

You can learn more about Echoes in Alan Wake 2 from eXputer’s video guide:

What Is An Echo?

The Echoes can only be found during Alan’s part of the story.

• Each echo must be lined up to be activated.
• Once lined up, they usually reveal something from the past, such as Alex Casey’s findings or something related to the cult.
• Certain Echoes can also introduce plot points that are used to alter a scene, which ultimately reshapes the world around you.

These mechanics are mostly used during the puzzle-solving portions or the mystery-solving portions of Alan Wake 2. In fact, many of the starting sequences, as Alan, heavily rely on you finding new pieces of information through the echo in order to rewrite many of the scenes.

How To Activate An Echo?

1. For proper alignment, you need to approach the echo in such a way that the darker portion perfectly covers the lighter portion.
2. As you approach the echo from such an orientation, an eclipse-like figure will be formed.
3. Once you get close enough, the echo will activate.
4. If you have a look at the image above, you can notice the two different portions of an echo.

Although the echo in the image above is quite clear, many echoes that you’ll run into will be hard to spot. My advice is to always have the flashlight on in order to see each echo and line it up correctly properly. 

What Does Activating An Echo Do? 

• These flashbacks depend on the plot and give a backstory or hidden information related to wherever you are.
• Many of the Echoes tend to be flashbacks of Alex Casey as he tries to uncover the mystery of the Cult.
• You’ll also find other side characters during these moments as well. 

My Thoughts On Echo Mechanic 

The first Echo that I ran into in Alan Wake 2 I activated it by accident. But, the more echoes that I activated, the easier it got to understand how it worked.

My advice is that whenever you activate an echo, try to remain in that area for it to play out fully. Otherwise, you might miss the key plot point that Alan needs to rewrite a scene. 

With that, you know all about Alan Wake 2 Echo. They’re collectible points, specifically for Alan, which tend to add further backstory to the plot. Although some are optional, many of the Echoes are necessary for making progress. And if you don’t want to lose your progress, check out my guide on how to do manual save in Alan Wake 2.

Up Next:

• Alan Wake 2 Best Difficulty Settings
• Alan Wake 2: All Editions