Old Gods is one of the scariest chapters you’ll encounter when playing as Saga in Alan Wake 2. There are also a couple of puzzles you need to solve, and this guide will help you out with that.
The chapter scares you with some unusual elements, including an old lady named Cynthia. With enough ammo, a flashlight, and some quick thinking, you’ll survive this nightmare and learn more about Saga’s family history.
Valhalla Nursing Home
This is another chapter where there are a few collectibles within reach, but it’s a smarter idea to do your final sweep for these in the sixth chapter. Your first objective is to head to Valhalla Nursing Home. This involves venturing through the forest.
As you begin your journey, you’ll pass a small shack where you can save and sort out your inventory with the shoebox. Following this, continue on your journey to the old age home. On your way there, you can collect a cult stash at a cul-de-sac. Have your weapons ready because you will come across Taken along the way.
Once you’re at Valhalla Nursing Home, look on the other side of the street and you’ll find a Mayor Setter ad, which should be the last one you need. Afterward, head to the old age home and press the doorbell to speak to Rose who’ll be reluctant to let you see Tor. So ask her to see the rest of the guests, but you know you’ll be looking for Tor after you’ve been allowed to enter.
Inside, speak to the old couple (Norman and Mandy-May) and ask them about Tor. They’ll let you know that Odin is asleep upstairs, and he’s not in a good state. Before heading upstairs, grab the map behind the admin desk. Also, walk to the jukebox and speak to Ahti, though that’s optional.
Upstairs, you’ll find Tor’s room is a mess. Odin is in his bed, but he can’t speak. Fortunately, you can communicate with him if you head to your Mind Place but before you do that, head to the far end of the second floor where you’ll find Cynthia who mysteriously disappears.
Profile Odin in your Mind Place, and you’ll learn that Tor is in the Wellness Centre which you cannot enter without Rose’s help. Walk back to Rose on the first floor. She’s sitting outside the entrance to the Wellness Centre. I’d suggest you save in the second-floor break room first, as there have been multiple reports of this particular part of the chapter being glitchy.
Speak to Rose, and she’ll refuse to let you enter at first. Pull your FBI rank on her and she’ll finally let you into the Wellness Center.
The Wellness Centre
Enter the Wellness Centre and you’ll find a map of the place at the entrance. Once again, have your weapons ready because the place has a few Taken in it. First head to the hospital room where you’ll find two clues around Tor’s bed which is empty.
Next, head to the rehabilitation room where you’ll catch a glimpse of Tor who’s not acting normal. You won’t be able to follow him, as the doors are locked. To fix this, you’ll need to head to the security room. There is a PC there but you need a code which you can figure out by looking at the diary on the desk and checking the calendar. If you don’t want to deal with this, the answer is: 170823.
With the doors unlocked you can explore the rest of the Wellness Centre. It’s advised you arm yourself with a hunting rifle which you can acquire with this guide. Once you have the gun, travel to the kitchen. On your way there, you’ll encounter some Taken which you can take out if you’ve been stocking up on ammo.
Exit the Wellness Centre via the kitchen and you’ll witness Tor entering the pond and, consequently, entering an Overlap. Rose tries to stop him but she’s unable to. If you speak to Rose, she’ll lie to you about the whole event but after profiling her in your Mind Place, you’ll know what to say to get her to help you.
Acquire the Old Gods of Asgard record
Overlaps are powered by art, which means you need to slot in the Anger’s Remorse record into the jukebox. If you enter the Old Gods of Asgard museum on the third floor, you’ll find the sleeve for the record, but the record itself is missing. Cynthia has it. Attempt to enter her room and the power will switch off in the old age home, making it impossible to open the door.
The only way to restore power is to head to the basement and replace the fuse. The entrance to the basement is outside. On your way there, you can talk to some of the old folks who have congregated together under some light.
Enter the basement which is flooded with water. This guide will show you how to get the fuse. Once it has been replaced, head back to the nursing home and proceed to Cynthia’s room. In there, you’ll find the record in the bathtub as well as a new manuscript.
Once the record is in your possession, play it on the jukebox on the first floor. You’ll have to defeat a Taken first. Accomplish this, and you’ll open the pond Overlap which you should enter next.
Navigating the Overlap
Be prepared for a lot of loops. The overlap takes you to an underground bunker flooded with water. Enter a hallway and you’ll realize it sends you in endless loops until you turn around. Exit the loop, and keep exploring the bunker which will wind you back up where you started. Keep going around the loop until you find a room with a generator to turn on.
With the generator on, you’ll find two rooms where you can turn on the switches to activate the lights. This will make some walls disappear. This will take you through yet another loop, but when you wind up in the same place, you’ll discover a cabinet where you can claim the bolt cutters but not without dealing with a Taken first.
With your bolt cutters, you’ll be able to open the door that will take you deeper into the bunker. At the center of the bunker are some switches, but you need to activate the power to use them. There’s a hole in the wall on the other side of the room, but to get there, you’ll have to jump from island to island because spending too much time in the water will have Cynthia chasing you.
Head through the hole in the wall and travel left until you see a small storage room where there’s a generator to turn on. Once you’ve activated the generator, return to the main room of the bunker and flip on the light switches at the center of the room. This will reveal a set of stairs leading you even deeper into the bunker.
Cynthia boss fight
At the bottom of the bunker, you’ll face your boss fight with Cynthia, which is one of the hardest in the game. She has two main moves. The first has her hovering and blasting water your way. This one can be hard to dodge though you can see it coming. The second move has her on the ground attempting to scratch you up.
Empty your weapons in her direction while evading her attacks. Though it’s not too challenging to avoid getting damaged by her, she can take a lot of hits, which makes the boss battle take a while. Once she’s finally dead, you’ll have another meeting with Alan.
This marks the end of the chapter, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. You can solve these problems with help from our Alan Wake 2 hub page featuring the guides you need.
Changes in Old Gods in the Final Edit of Alan Wake 2
The manuscript you find in Cynthia’s room is new. It is titled “Dark Poem 2”. It is hard to make sense of it, but it seems to predict Saga’s fate.
