Aside from pistols, shotguns and the like being available in Alan Wake 2, there’s more weaponry to be found! Here’s when, where, and how to unlock the crossbow in Alan Wake 2. 

Alan Wake 2 Where to Find the Crossbow:

You’ll locate the Crossbow in Alan Wake 2 when visiting the town of Watery during Return 3: Local Girl. Once you arrive, you’ll need to talk with the Koskelas brothers, who tell you about the trailer you own and that the key to open it is at Coffee World. They’ll move out of the way for you to continue story progression. Follow the path, and you’ll eventually come across a Hunting Shack. I’ve marked it in the map below. 

Once you’re here, if you look to the right of the Hunting Shack, you’ll see a shooting range as well as a chest on the ground with a combination padlock. 

Alan Wake 2 How to Unlock the Crossbow Chest

The combination to opening this chest is 527. The solution is within the shooting range. Looking at the numbered targets, you will notice arrows in three of them. Number 5 has 1 arrow, number 2 has 2 arrows, and number 7 has 3 arrows. 1, 2,3, which means the combination is 527. Input this into the padlock, and the chest will open, unlocking the crossbow. 

You now have the crossbow unlocked! Pretty easy, right? It’s a fun weapon to use, especially if you are trying to play stealthily and take out Takens without alerting others. 

If you found this guide to be helpful, be sure to check out our other Alan Wake 2 guides!

More Alan Wake 2 Reading:

• Alan Wake 2 Best Settings – Consoles and PC
• Alan Wake 2 How to Unlock the Double-Barrel Shotgun
• Alan Wake 2 How to Unlock the Safe in Coffee World Gift Shop

So you found the screwdriver to open the Coffee World Gift Shop door in Alan Wake 2, but realized that the trailer park key is tucked away in a locked safe. Were you having trouble finding out the combination? Well, worry not, as we’ll give you the solution as to how to find it yourself.

Alan Wake 2 How to Unlock the Safe in Coffee World Gift Shop:

During Return 3: Local Girl, Saga will be tasked with retrieving her trailer key from the Coffee World Gift Shop. You’ll need to do a few things first before gaining access to it, specifically finding a screwdriver to open the shop’s door. There’s a note outside detailing what equipment was used and where, so this part is pretty self-explanatory. Go get the screwdriver, come back, and open the door. Once inside, head behind the counter, and you’ll see a safe with a note above it. It’ll mention the old safe password being “Lookout, Fixer, Supplier,” with the new one “Tracker, Lookout, Cleaner.” There’s not much to go by with this clue as the safe is protected with a number keypad.

So leave from this spot, and make your way back towards the exit, hanging to the left side of the shop. You should see a board with pictures of employees on it, each one with a specific number of coffee bean stickers.

Their job title is what you are looking at, and you are trying to find the ones that closely match the new passcode, which is “Tracker, Lookout, Cleaner.” The Tracker is Susan, who is in charge of Lost and Found. The Lookout is Joonas, who is in charge of security. The Cleaner is Victor, who is the Janitor. So counting the coffee bean stickers each one has, and going by the order listed in the passcode, you get 146. Go back to the safe and enter this code.

You now have the key to Saga’s trailer! As Ilmo said, it’s not rocket science, though we can understand if this wasn’t as obvious as it should have been for some. While you’re in the area of Watery, don’t forget to grab the crossbow.

For more guides, be sure to check out our Alan Wake 2 guide hub.

More Alan Wake 2 Reading:

• Alan Wake 2 Best Settings – Consoles and PC
• Alan Wake 2 Where to Find And Unlock the Shotgun
• Alan Wake 2 How to Unlock the Double-Barrel Shotgun

Are you looking for some more firepower in Alan Wake 2? While we already tell you where to get the shotgun, there’s more weaponry to be found! Well, we got you covered as we show you exactly where and how to unlock the double-barrel shotgun in Alan Wake 2.

Alan Wake 2 Where to Find And Unlock the Double-Barrel Shotgun:

The double-barrel shotgun becomes unlockable in Alan Wake during Saga’s campaign. Once you reach “Return 6,” you’ll gain access to the room with the shotgun in it.

Follow the story when the chapter starts, you’ll encounter Estevez at the Sheriff’s Station. Talk to her, and eventually, she will give you the Sheriff’s Station Key to continue with the story. Before you head downstairs, head towards the holding cells in the opposite direction. The Sheriff’s office is located near the holding cell, and you can now use the key to open his office. Inside is the Double-Barrel Shotgun locked behind a display case.

Looking at the sheriff’s desk, you’ll find some books with a note to solve the puzzle.

The solution is “723,” and how we got that is we looked at the first letters of a three-part book series.  So Part I starts with “Q” for Quincy, Part II “B” for Baston, and Part III “W” for Westmore. Each letter in the alphabet is assigned a number 1-0, resetting with each count. So Q would be 7, B is 2, and W is 3. That’s the passcode, 723.

That’s how you unlock the double-barrel shotgun in Alan Wake 2. It’s a devasting weapon capable of quickly dispatching Takens and other enemies, though it does have a slow reload time. So, use it wisely during combat.

If you found this guide to be helpful or were wondering where the other unlockable weapons were, be sure to visit our Alan Wake 2 guide page

Who doesn’t want extra firepower, right? Especially in a horror game. This is no different in Remedy’s Alan Wake 2! MP1st is here to help with a quick guide showing you where to find and how to unlock the Sawed-Off Shotgun in Alan Wake 2.

• Related Reading: Alan Wake 2 Best Settings – Consoles and PC

Alan Wake 2 Where to Find And Unlock the Sawed-Off Shotgun:

The Sawed-Off shotgun is unlockable very early on in Alan Wake 2. After completing Chapter 1 and starting Chapter 2, you’ll head back to Cauldron Lake to try and track Nightingale. Follow the story path, restoring power to the Witch’s Hut, eventually leading to the General Store to locate the heart of Nightingale.

Once you enter, a few scenes will play out, and a Cultist Taken will spawn that you have to deal with. Looking at where they spawned, the Sawed-Off Shotgun is located in the far back right.

The Sawed-Off Shotgun will be in a display case with a combination lock. You’ll have to find the combination, with a hint telling you to check with Lady Fortuna at the counter. Before you head there, look directly below the Sawed-Off Shotgun towards the ground to see some filing cabinets. There’s an inventory upgrade here to expand your inventory. Pick it up, then head to the counter in front of the store.

There’s a cash register; go to it, and you’ll see a note with scratched-out combination numbers and a lottery ticket.

The hint is that the combination starts with seven always, with the other two going down the lottery number—so 705, 713, 717, 723. The latest combination would be 739. Head back to the Sawed-Off Shotgun case, input this number in the combination lock, unlocking it and giving you the Sawed-Off Shotgun.

Congrats, you now have the Sawed-Off Shotgun as part of your arsenal! If you turn around and head towards the freezer with the heart, there is a red toolbox with some Shotgun ammo. It’s only two bullets, so use it wisely until you find more.

I hope this guide has helped you solve this puzzle, even if it is an easy one. If it has, be sure to check out our other Alan Wake 2 guides!

Alan Wake 2 is finally here! I’m sure many of you are anxious to jump into this new American nightmare, but you may want to adjust the game settings before you do. Luckily, we’ve prepared this Alan Wake 2 best settings guide to go over each setting on consoles and PCs. 

Alan Wake 2 Best Settings – General for All Platforms:

All platforms are different, but they all share some standard settings that I think everyone should change before they jump into Alan Wake. I’ll go over the more specific graphical modes afterward, but let’s focus on what’s shared across every platform. 

Gameplay

• Enable Tutorials – Keep this on, as Alan Wake 2 has plenty of new mechanics that can be rather confusing at first. 
• Controller Sensitivity – The defaults are fine because Alan Wake 2 is a slower-paced game. However, you may want to increase aiming sensitivity a little bit as enemies can easily overwhelm you. 
• Gameplay Assist 
  • Controller Aim Assist – ON (Default) 
  • Single Tap Walk – ON – Running in Alan Wake 2 is slow, and I found holding the button to be annoying. Turning this to a single tap means you can alternate between running and walking with a single button press. 
  • Quick Turn – ON (Default)
  • Adaptive Triggers (PS5 and PC with a DualSense Controller) – ON (Default) – In some games, this can be a bit aggressive, but in Alan Wake 2 they’re hardly noticeable. Plus, it’s a slow-paced game, not an online shooter where speed matters. 

Controls

I found the default mapping to be perfect in Alan Wake 2, but if you want to customize and remap an action to a different button, you can do so under this menu. 

Graphics

I’ll break down this more for each platform in the next big section, but for now, these are the settings to focus on. 

• Motion Blur – OFF on PC and on consoles if you use performance mode. ON if you use quality mode on consoles. 
• Film Grain – OFF

Audio 

Default. There’s no controller audio, so there’s no need to worry about turning that off for players using the DualSense. 

Interface

Alan Wake 2’s UI isn’t what I would describe as being cluttered. But, because the game lacks photo mode at the moment, for those looking to capture the perfect picture, turn the following ON:

• HIDE HUD
• HIDE HUD WIDGET
• HIDE HUD NOTIFICATIONS
• TURN SUBTITLES OFF

This will give you the cleanest possible way to capture images. 

If you aren’t a big fan of nudity, you can censor nudity under the Interface tab at the bottom. 

Alan Wake 2 Best Consoles Settings – Quality or Performance Mode?

The big question that always surfaces for a console game is whether or not you should play in performance or quality mode. This is all dependent on the user, though in this case, I’d highly recommend playing in quality mode. First, let’s see precisely what each mode targets for frames and resolution. 

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X:

• In Quality mode, favoring visual fidelity, the output resolution is 4k, the render resolution is 2258 x 1270. The framerate is 30fps.
• In Performance mode favoring performance, the output resolution is 1440p, render resolution is 1505 x 847. Framerate is trying to reach 60fps.

Xbox Series S output resolution is 1440p.

• There is no Performance mode on the Xbox Series S.

So why do I recommend Quality Mode over Performance Mode? Well, anyone who has read my past Best Settings Guide knows that I am a performance-first type of person. However, in the case of Alan Wake 2, I have to say that Quality Mode is really, really good. First, graphically, you are getting more on the screen. Resolution plays a bit of a part since it’s much higher than the render resolution in performance mode, but textures, screen-space reflections, lighting, and effects are just that much more of a difference in Quality Mode. You even get more foilage, which matters a lot because the game takes you through a lot of wildlife areas. 

And I know 30fps is usually a big no-no amongst the community. But give it a try because the techniques employed to deliver it make it feel perfectly smooth to the point that I’d argue it’s hard to tell the difference or even notice it’s running at 30fps on any of the platforms. You’ll notice a big dip in visuals switching to performance, something you might come to regret in the latter portions of the game. 

Just be sure to keep motion blur on, as it does help hide camera choppiness. Otherwise, if you use performance, turn it off. 

Alan Wake 2 Best PC Graphical Settings:

Before we start, it has been brought to our attention that some graphical options are missing in the settings. Luckily, there’s a workaround, as listed by X user PC_Focus. Alan Wake 2’s system config is located in the following directory: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Remedy\AlanWake2

Search for that, open the configuration files, and change the following:

• m_bVignette: set this to “false” to disable vignetting
• m_bDepthOfField: set this to “false” to disable depth of field
• m_bLensDistortion: set this to “false” to disable lens distortion

There are other options to toy around with, such as FoV and scaling, but these are the big ones, as they remove several onscreen graphics to give you the cleanest possible image. 

Now, onto the in-game graphical settings. 

Everyone has different PC configurations, and I will try my best to offer you settings based on our own testing. Though at the current moment, we’ve only tested out our RTX 4000 series builds. 

RTX 4090 GPU, AMD 7900X CPU

If you have an RTX 4090 and a high-end CPU, you should be more than capable of running everything on max, including full 4K resolution. For framerate, DLSS 3.5 and frame generation will get you into the high 110-130fps. For those using a capture card that doesn’t support VRR, I recommend locking the frame rate to 60fps via the Nvidia control panel to avoid screen tearing. 

Also, if you find the game is constantly crashing upon boot or locking up your systems. Then make sure MSI Afterburner isn’t running. You might also want to use borderless instead of fullscreen. That was an issue I had myself, and switching to borderless fixed it. 

• Display Mode – Bordlerless if you are having issues; otherwise, Fullscreen.
• Display Resolution – 3840×2160 – Lower if need be to improve performance. 
• Resolution Rending – 3840×2160 (DLAA) – Change to whichever if you prefer a different quality resolution or performance. 
• Resolution Upscaling – DLSS for Nvidia cards, FSR 2 for AMD cards. 
• DLSS Frame Generation (Nvidia 4000 Series card only) – ON
• Vsync – If you run uncapped frame rate off, turn it on to match your monitor and/or capture card. 
• Motion Blur – OFF
• Film Grain – OFF
• Quality Preset – Custom
• Post-Processing Quality – HIGH
• Texture Resolution – ULTRA
• Texture Filtering – HIGH
• Volumetric Lighting – HIGH
• Volumetric Spotlight Quality – HIGH
• Global Illumination Quality – HIGH
• Shadow Resolution – HIGH
• Shadow Filtering – HIGH
• Shadow Detail – HIGH
• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing; on otherwise. 
• Global Reflections – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Screen Space Reflection – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Fog Quality – HIGH
• Terrain Quality – HIGH
• Far Object Detail (LOD) – HIGH
• Scattered Object Density – ULTRA

RAY TRACING

• Ray Tracing Preset – High
• DLSS Ray Reconstruction – ON
• Direct Lighting – ON
• Direct Lighting Denoising Quality – HIGH
• Path Traced Indirect Lighting – HIGH
• Path Traced Indirect Lighting Denoising Quality – HIGH

RTX 4070 GPU, 13th Gen Intel i9-13900KF CPU

• Display Mode – Bordlerless if you are having issues; otherwise, Fullscreen.
• Display Resolution – 1920×1080, but you can up it to 1440P. 4K can get demanding even on this card. 
• Resolution Rending – 1920×1080 (DLAA) – Again, you can increase this to higher, but you may have to tone some settings down. 
• Resolution Upscaling – DLSS for Nvidia cards, FSR 2 for AMD cards. 
• DLSS Frame Generation (Nvidia 4000 Series card only) – ON
• Vsync – If you run uncapped frame rate off, turn it on to match your monitor and/or capture card. 
• Motion Blur – OFF
• Film Grain – OFF
• Quality Preset – Custom
• Post-Processing Quality – HIGH
• Texture Resolution – ULTRA
• Texture Filtering – HIGH
• Volumetric Lighting – HIGH
• Volumetric Spotlight Quality – HIGH
• Global Illumination Quality – HIGH
• Shadow Resolution – MEDIUM
• Shadow Filtering – HIGH
• Shadow Detail – Medium 
• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Global Reflections – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Screen Space Reflection – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Fog Quality – HIGH
• Terrain Quality – HIGH
• Far Object Detail (LOD) – HIGH
• Scattered Object Density – ULTRA

RAY TRACING

• Ray Tracing Preset – High
• DLSS Ray Reconstruction – ON
• Direct Lighting – ON
• Direct Lighting Denoising Quality – HIGH
• Path Traced Indirect Lighting – HIGH
• Path Traced Indirect Lighting Denoising Quality – HIGH

RTX 3080 GPU, AMD 5900x CPU – 60 FPS

• Display Mode – Bordlerless if you are having issues; otherwise, Fullscreen.
• Display Resolution – 1440P
• Resolution Rending –  2560x1440P (Quality) 
• Resolution Upscaling – DLSS for Nvidia cards, FSR 2 for AMD cards. 
• DLSS Frame Generation – N/A on this series of cards.
• Vsync – If you run uncapped frame rate off, turn it on to match your monitor and/or capture card. 
• Motion Blur – OFF
• Film Grain – OFF
• Quality Preset – Custom
• Post-Processing Quality – HIGH
• Texture Resolution – ULTRA
• Texture Filtering – HIGH
• Volumetric Lighting – HIGH
• Volumetric Spotlight Quality – MEDIUM
• Global Illumination Quality – MEDIUM
• Shadow Resolution – MEDIUM
• Shadow Filtering – HIGH
• Shadow Detail – HIGH
• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Global Reflections – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Screen Space Reflection – OFF if you are using Ray Tracing, On otherwise. 
• Fog Quality – MEDIUM
• Terrain Quality – HIGH
• Far Object Detail (LOD) – HIGH
• Scattered Object Density – ULTRA

RAY TRACING – OFF

Keep an eye out for updates to this guide, as we’ll add more graphical presets for different builds shortly after launch. 

If you found this guide helpful, be sure to check out our other Alan Wake 2 guides! If you’re having second thoughts before picking up Alan Wake 2, go read our review here that might just change your mind.