Return 5, Old Gods, takes Saga to a new location in Alan Wake 2. Investigating the strange events in Bright Falls brings her to Valhalla Nursing Home, where Alan’s story has placed her estranged grandfather and great-uncle, Tor and Odin Anderson.
The Nursing Home, particularly the attached Wellness Center, is full of puizzles and surprises. Your reward for getting through this tense, foreboding chapter is not only more of the game’s story, but the Bolt Cutters – a new item that will let you find the rest of the hidden collectibles hidden throughout the map!
How To Get Into The Wellness Center
When gameplay resumes as Saga after the encounter in Bunker Woods, you’ll be able to explore a much larger area of Bright Falls. Take a moment to explore, and you’ll find Cult Stashes to the north and south of the Break Room. There’s also a lunchbox on a hill to the southwest, just before the path is cut off by more flooding.
When you’re ready, take the main trail northwest to the Valhalla Nursing Home. Your first stop is the large main building; ring the doorbell and talk to Rose to enter. Follow her to the common room to begin your investigation.
Talk to Norman and Mandy-May and add their clues to the Case Board. Turn left and head toward the room at the back of the building and speak with Ahti.
The interior of the building has lots to explore, and the second-floor lounge has coffee and a Shoebox so you can save and stash any items that you acquire. When you’re ready to continue, enter Tor’s room (also on the second floor) and investigate the broken bottles and drum set. Add your new clues to your Case Board.
Odin’s room is next door; read the notes by his bed, then try to talk to him. After a few attempts, you’ll be able to create a Profile of Odin in the Mind Place. You can follow several threads of inquiry in doing so, and they’ll lead yout to search for Tor in the Wellness Center.
Go back downstairs and talk to Rose at the table near Ahti. She’ll open the door to the Wellness Center.
Wellness Center Security Room Password
Follow the path to the reception desk, then turn right toward the Patient Rooms. Enter Room 102 on the left and take the Manuscript Page on the desk as you enter. Check the bed in the far corner; you’ll find Tor’s bandages and a hastily-written note where his medical chart should be. Add everything to your Case Board, then continue.
Follow the signs to the Rehabilitation Ward; as you open the door, you’ll see Tor just as he leaves at the opposite side of the room. Before going after him, it’s a good idea to save in the Dispensary further down the hall, which serves as the area’s Break Room.
The door locks behind Tor, and you’ll need to disable the electronic lock from the Security Room. Take the door to the left and follow the path until you come to a door with no handle; the entrance to the Security Room will be on your left from there.
Inside, check the calendar on the wall, the documents in the filing cabinet, and the notes on the counter to the left. Finally, check the computer; it needs a password, but interacting with it will unlock a new section of the Case Board that allows you to figure it out.
Vladimir Blum, the security guard, is set to join the Cult of the Tree the day after the next New Moon. The latest notes in the journal indicate that it’s currently August 2023, and according to the calendar that means the initiation date is the 17th, since the New Moon falls on the 16th.
Since Blum writes his dates with the day first and the month second, this means that the password is 170823 – the seventeenth of August, 2023. Use the computer to disable the locks, then check the email history for a hint about the location of the missing door handle.
Where Is The Anger’s Remorse Record?
With the doors unlocked, you can leave by the exit to the left of the computer for a shortcut back into the main area. If you don’t have any Hand Flares, grab some from the Shoebox before proceeding. As you approach the door to follow Tor, you’ll be attacked by a creepy Taken that uses grab attacks frequently. Use the Hand Flares to counter them and expose his Source Point, then blast him with the shotgun.
The Taken will vanish for a few seconds after taking damage; use that time to reload, and watch for objects around the room to move to get a hint about where he’ll emerge.
Defeat the Taken, then follow Tor into the Cafeteria. His path leads out the back of the building, where a cutscene will trigger. When it’s done, cross the pond and talk to Rose – you’ll be able to create a Profile of her after your conversation.
Use the Profile to find Rose’s Cult passphrase, then talk to her again. Take the key she offers you; it will let you open any remaining locked doors at the Nursing Home.
Use Profiling to communicate telepathically with Odin; he’ll tell you the record you need is in the Old Gods Of Asgard Museum on the premises. Go to the second floor and use Rose’s key to enter the museum, to the left of the stairs. Inspect the shattered frame on the ground, then create a Profile of Cynthia Weaver to find out where she took the record.
Keep Profiling Cynthia until she reveals that the record is in her room on the third floor. Optionally, you can speak with Ahti in his room on the way to retrieve it. When you approach Cynthia’s door, the building’s power will be cut; you need to go to the basement and find a new fuse.
Where Is The Nursing Home Fuse?
Leave the building by the back door, in the room with the jukebox. The basement door is down the stairs and around to the left, but watch out for Taken that are now patrolling the yard.
Make your way to the laundry room at the back of the basement; you’ll need to crawl under some fallen beams and through a shaft to reach it. The fuse is in a locked toolbox on a shelf in the room with the film projector. To find the combination, continue to the end of the path and read the note on the bulletin board.
Return to the toolbox and use combination 273 to open the lock. Take the fuse, then make your way back. The fuse box is in a side room near the boiler, close to the exit. Once it’s installed, the light will immediately turn the room into a Break Room.
With the power restored, go back up to Cynthia’s room and use Rose’s key to enter. Look around the room for clues, then use your flashlight to destroy the Darkness Barrier over the bathtub. Take the record, then go downstairs to the jukebox. When you arrive, you’ll have to fight another Mirror Taken; use the same strategy as before.
Remember to restock on Hand Flares from the Shoebox on the second floor!
Where Are The Bolt Cutters?
When you place the record in the jukebox, the Overlap will open in the pond outside. Inside, follow the path straight ahead. You’ll see a door on your left, but it just leads to an endless loop. At the very end of the long corridor, you’ll find a generator guarded by a Taken. Turn it on to get the power in the bunker going.
Pull the lever just outside the generator room to turn on the lights and slightly change reality. A door will appear by the generator, letting you proceed. You’ll find yourself back at the beginning of the area.
This time, when you pass the door on your left, you’ll hear Cynthia’s voice coming from inside. Follow it until you reach a dead end, then turn around. When you return to the main hall, a new path will be directly in front of you. This is another loop. Instead, turn right as though you were trying to go back to the beginning of the maze.
At the top of the stairs, you’ll find a locked cabinet near another lever. Use the lever to turn on the lights, then enter the door that appears to your left. Pull the lever in the next room, then loot all the drawers that appear. One will contain the key to the tool cabinet.
Return to the first room and turn the lights back off to make the cabinet reappear. Inside are the Bolt Cutters, which you can use to open doors held closed by yellow chains. Take them, then go back into the second room and turn the lights off there too. Use the Bolt Cutters to open the door to the right of the lever.
A Hammer Taken will ambush you from the left as you approach the door. The route back is now blocked by a Darkness Barrier, so if you need some light to hide in run past her and enter the room behind the wall she crashed through.
How To Find Tor And Cynthia
Follow the path beyond the door until you end up back at the beginning of the loop. A new room will have opened up on the left with some supply boxes; fill up, then continue onward. At the end, you’ll finally encounter Cynthia and Tor. Enter the structure at the center of the room and press the button inside to start the battle.
Cynthia will attack any time you’re in the water. Before you start moving, look for rubble and ledges to climb onto. Try to move between them so that you’re out of the water before Cynthia can reach you. Make your way clockwise around the room in this way until you hear the generator running on your left.
Go through the hole in the wall and make your way counterclockwise around the outer area until you find stairs leading to the generator. Cynthia can deal a lot of damage if she catches you, but as long as you can heal between attacks you should be able to survive.
You can climb onto the rusty platform across from the stairs to get back to the main area once the power is back on. Return to the center console and hit the button again to turn on the lights and drain the water, revealing stairs down to the lower level. There, Cynthia will emerge to fight.
How To Defeat Cynthia Weaver
Cynthia floats slowly around the room, but her projectiles are very dangerous. Stay as far away from her as possible so that you have plenty of lead time to react when she fires. You can either run and dodge from the projectiles, hiding behind the walls around the area, or shoot them out of the air with the pistol. The flashlight can also burn the projectiles at close range, but you’ll usually take damage trying to deal with them this way.
The crossbow is great for dealing heavy damage to Cynthia early in the fight, but you’ll need to recover your bolts quickly after she is defeated – you’ll only have a few seconds before being automatically teleported out of the Overlap.
Once Cynthia takes enough gamage while flying, she falls to the ground and attacks like a normal Taken – albeit a much faster, more aggressive one. She attacks rapidly and relentlessly, so be ready to mash the dodge button and fend her off with the shotgun and pistol.
When Cynthia is defeated, the chapter ends.