Alan Wake 2: How to Find Inspiration in Shrine Street Station

In Last Night: Initiation, the game’s second major level, you’re thrown into a nightmarish version of New York City. It’s one of the trickier obstacles between you and relative safety as you investigate. Here’s how to find inspiration in Shrine Street Station in Alan Wake 2.

Where to Find the Hidden Echo in Shrine Street Station

I was stuck here for a little while, so I’m putting this up top in case it’s also a problem for other players. The solution turned out to be in plain sight, which is embarrassing, but it’s also a question of spotting one particular shadow in a room that’s filled with them.

As you explore the subway, you’ll eventually reach Shrine Street Station (although getting inside is tricky by itself). At this point, you may end up stuck again in short order, as it’s not obvious how to progress; your Goals list will say you’re here to “find inspiration,” and Alan won’t have much to say on the subject.

Head to the east end of the station to find its information booth, which triggers the appearance of a new scene, End of the Line, for the plot board in the Writer’s Room. You can force shifts in the Dark Place’s story by adding new elements to End of the Line, which also dramatically changes the east end of the station.

This is a familiar gimmick by this point in Initiation, but none of the three topics you’ve unlocked to this point will do anything to help you progress and find inspiration. In all cases, you’ll have greater or lesser access to the south side of the tracks, but none of them will let you cross over to the north side and continue through the subway. You’ll need something new to make progress, which is where the “inspiration” comes in.

Incidentally, you can find a couple of interesting optional scenes while you’re here. There’s an odd tape recorder inside the information booth if you combine End of the Line with Missing FBI Agent, and the addition of Torchbearers turns the area into a messy slaughterhouse but changes little else. As with every other scene shift in AW2, changing the End of the Line can make new enemies spawn, but won’t do anything useful like reload nearby item containers.

When you add the Murder Cult element to End of the Line, it triggers a transformation that, in addition to everything else, creates a new Echo that hangs in the air above the cultists’ workbench (above). As with previous Echoes, this is unlocked by circling around it until you trigger an “eclipse,” by staring at it from the right angle.

Trigger this Echo and listen to it all the way through to create a new story element for Alan: Summoning Ritual.

If you add Summoning Ritual to End of the Line at the plot board, you add a final plot twist to change the scene. This removes the various pieces of debris that are keeping you from reaching the west end of the north platform in exchange for spawning a few more hostile Shadows in the station. Make sure you’re healed up before you start heading west, just in case.

While there are a couple of tough fights ahead of you, it means you’ll be able to finally leave Shrine Street Station.

That’s how to find inspiration in Shrine Street Station in Alan Wake 2. For more tips and guides, like where to find the rhymes in Cauldron Lake or solve the parade float puzzle, click the links or check out our dedicated guides hub.