How to manual save in Alan Wake 2

Psychological horror games like Alan Wake 2 pride themselves on being able to unsettle and scare their players. One of the easiest ways to do so is to make the time players can save less common, leaving fans asking: How do I manually save in Alan Wake 2?

After playing about an hour of Alan Wake 2, following a trip to Cauldron Lake for what seems like a coincidental murder at the same time as two FBI agents’ arrival, avid gamers will realize that there isn’t a save option in the menus. In fact, there isn’t any save option early on outside of the autosave circle that appears after important moments throughout the first two chapters. 

Players won’t even know what a true dedicated save spot looks like until your FBI protagonist Saga Anderson encounters a small hut near the crime scene.

How to manually save in Alan Wake 2

To manually save in Alan Wake 2, players need to encounter Break Rooms. Whether shaped like the hut mentioned earlier, or some other potential area, there will be multiple signifiers whether it is a Break Room or not.

First off, Break Rooms are very well-lit, considering how much light plays a role in character safety throughout the franchise. Secondly, the true marker for a Break Room is the Thermos. On a table, presumably with some coffee or even warm soup inside, that will be the catalyst for a save point. 

Simply walk up to the Thermosand press the interact button, and it will give you the option to Quicksave or Manual Save. Choosing the Manual Save option will create a manual save, showing you both how much time you’ve spent in the game so far for said save and which chapter you are in.

There are three manual save slots in Alan Wake 2, allowing for either multiple players to play their own progression, or for one dedicated fan to backtrack and investigate previous moments. To overwrite a save and update a slot, simply hold the interact button over the slot you want to use.

As the game even states, “Don’t forget to save often” in Alan Wake 2, as the opportunities to do so outside of autosaves aren’t as common as other story games.