Alan Wake 2: How to Open Locked Doors and Containers

In typical survival-horror fashion, you find many locked things in Remedy’s sequel that you can’t open — yet. Starting with Return 1: Invitation, you’ll run into barred gates and locked boxes that require specific tools. Here’s how to open locked doors and containers in Alan Wake 2 with the screwdriver.

Alan Wake 2 Locked Doors Explained

As a general rule, if you try to open a locked door in AW2, you’ll get one of two prompts when you try to interact with it. If it pulls up an inventory prompt, you haven’t found the right key or tool yet, and it may take some time before you do.

Other locked doors will typically get labeled on your map but won’t give you a prompt if you try to open them. You’ll have to circumvent these by either circling around to the other side or, less frequently, by triggering some plot development that results in the door being opened or destroyed.

The first example of the latter door is in the Cauldron Lake general store, where the back room is locked down. You won’t be able to get into it on your own, but at a specific point in Return 2 while you’re searching for Nightingale’s Heart, someone will bust that room open for you.

There are a couple of other places where you can find a gate that’s shut with a heavy chain. Saga will typically mention here that she’ll need bolt cutters, which you can find relatively early in the game. Note that your map subtly distinguishes between normal locked doors and chained-up gates by putting an X over the map icon for the latter.

How to Open Locked Containers in AW2

A little later, once you’re able to explore the northwest corner of the Cauldron Lake map, you’ll start to run into wilderness supply boxes with cheap locks on them, which require an unspecified tool to open. You won’t find that tool for another few chapters, however.

Where to Find the Screwdriver

Once you reach the story chapter Return 3: Local Girl, Saga’s investigation takes you to the nearby town of Watery and its bizarre theme-park attraction, Coffee World. While here, you’ll need to find a way to open the gift shop door. This will require some tool to break the lock, and a nearby note from maintenance tells you where to go to find a Screwdriver.

Specifically, it’s on the Percolator ride, which is down for repairs. You’ll need to get through an ambush by Taken park staff once you get there, but in exchange, you can pry the Screwdriver out of the Percolator’s control console. This also unlocks the trophy/achievement Finding the Way.

At this point, you can use Saga’s car to backtrack and open all those assorted supply boxes, which usually contain some randomized resources like bullets, bandages, flares, or batteries.

That’s how to open locked containers and doors in Alan Wake 2, as well as where to find the screwdriver. For more tips and tricks, check out our guides hub.

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