How to investigate the crime scene in Alan Wake 2

Oct. 27, 2023

Where to find all clues and complete you first Alan Wake 2 murder

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

You’ll need to investigate the crime scene in Alan Wake 2 very early on the game to get Saga and Casey’s case in Cauldron Lake started. The pair of FBI agents begin their investigation by examining the horrific ritualistic murder of Nightingale, though you’ll have to find a range of clues both around and eveninthe body to begin piecing together what happened. To help you uncover the clues you need, I’ve detailed everything in the first crime scene investigation in Alan Wake 2.

Alan Wake 2 crime scene investigation guide

When you first approach the crime scene in Alan Wake 2just interacting with the body on the table will get you a key image you can place on theAlan Wake 2 case boardin your mind place.Once you’ve put that on the board you’ll begin a fresh line of investigation inAlan Wake 2and need to find clues to add to it. To start with the clues are on or around the body:

Alan Wake 2 Easter eggsAlan Wake 2 rock, rock, tree stashHow scary is Alan Wake 2?Alan Wake 2 ending

Interreacting with all of those will get you three photos you can then put on the case board by selecting them andplacing them on the yellow cardmarked ‘consistent with prev murders’. Saga will conclude the murders are all connected andyou’ll add two new threads to the case board: The Victim and The Killer(s)that will ask you to ‘talk to someone’ and ‘find evidence’ respectively.

The first piece of evidence can be found at the table you’ve already examined,where Saga will comment there’s a large amount of blood on the table and that the victim died where he was found.

Next, right by the body are two yellow markers labeled 2 and 3.The footprints you find here suggest multiple people, or killers, were at the location

The next set of clues is by the yellow number 4 marker.Here you’ll discover a knocked-over tripod suggesting a camera was used, and some empty beers indicating someone waited there.

To find out more about the victim you just have to talk to the deputywho’ll tell you the man was called Nightingale, an FBI agent who came to town 13 years ago. That will open up a few dialogue options with your partner Casey to get a bit more info.

This should give you everything you need for the murder for nowand Saga will say as much. Go to the case board and place what you’ve found so it looks like this:

This will start a new thread called ‘Victim came from …?’ and open up profiling which takes place at the table behind the profiling board. This is largely a cutscene where you’ll ‘hear’ the victim Nightingale explain the two topics you’ve unlocked, ‘Missing Person’ and ‘Ritual Murder’. This will give you a clue for the ‘Victim came from…?’ note on the caseboard.

You’ll now have to ‘Check the lake shore’ which will take you to the Witche’s Ladle, a massive tree with a sign by it.

At this point you’re now free to head to Bright Falls to investigate more, or you can freely explore Cauldron Lake to see what you can find. TheAlan Wake 2 mapsall generally open up more over time, so you won’t be able to find everything yet but there is stuff to find and it might make things easier to tick off a few items now before you have a larger area to explore.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

I’m GamesRadar’s Managing Editor for guides, which means I runGamesRadar’s guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.

Baldur’s Gate 3 dev says Stalker 2’s commercial success is proof of a “seismic shift behind so much” and players are “hungry for hyper-engaging, focused experiences”

Modders are already making Stalker 2 run better and have removed the most annoying mechanic in the game

After the massive success of Deadpool and Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds says he sees the Merc with a Mouth as more of a supporting character going forward