Alan Wake 2: How to solve the Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Watery

There are plenty of nursery rhyme collectibles to be found in Alan Wake 2, all of which will reward you with a special Charm for Saga’s bracelet that offers a certain buff once you have solved the rhyme. 

These Charms are incredibly useful little additions for Saga, so I would definitely suggest trying to find and solve as many of the nursery rhymes as you can whilst playing as Saga in the game. 

One of the nursery rhymes that you can find in the Watery area of Alan Wake 2 revolves around three deers, and we are going to be looking at how you can find this nursery rhyme as well as how to solve it and what Charm you are rewarded with upon completing it. 

Where is the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

The location of the deer nursery rhyme is a little tricky to get to, as it can only be found if you veer off of the beaten path. When you arrive in Watery as Saga, you will need to ask around to find out where to head next to find the trailer that Alan mentions in his manuscript pages. You will eventually be directed to the Koskela Brothers, who will tell Saga to head to Coffee World—the coffee-themed amusement park in Watery that they own—to collect the key for the trailer from the gift shop safe. 

Ilmo Koskela will tell Saga to simply follow the trail into the woods to get to Coffee World as the bridge going that way is flooded. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems and so Saga will face various people who have been corrupted and become shadowy Taken monsters on her way there. Not only that, but it is really easy to get turned around when you are on the trail. To make things easier for yourself, be sure to pick up the Watery map from Suomi Hall when you first arrive in the area. Suomi Hall is easy to find as it is directly across from where Saga parks when she arrives in town. 

As per the image above, the nursery rhyme can be found up in the top area of the woods in Watery, nearby to the radio tower. The radio tower is a good point to keep going towards if you can’t find your way, but so long as you pick up the map, you should have no problem getting there. 

What is the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2?

The deer-related nursery rhyme is a somewhat depressing tiny tale of three deers, which goes as follows:

The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the various deers in the area seem to be a running theme in Alan Wake 2, seeing as another set of collectibles to be found across the game includes a bunch of taxidermied deer heads. The deer torment only continues in this nursery rhyme, as one of the joyful deers doesn’t stay joyful for long when they don’t return home from their day out, leading the other deers to cry mournfully over their fallen comrade. 

Finding the doll for the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2

To solve this rhyme, you first need to collect the deer doll. When you find the nursery rhyme, all you need to do is turn around and head to the picnic table nearby. In the map picture above, you can also see the dolls on the map, depicted as two small, childlike figures. 

There are two dolls on the table, a deer doll and a moose doll. You won’t need the moose doll for this particular puzzle, but you will need it later on down the line, so make sure that you pick it up along with the deer doll. While we are on the subject, it’s important to remember to collect all of the dolls by picking them up as you go and also by picking them up again once you have completed the nursery rhyme, as you might need them later. 

Solving the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2

This is a relatively simple nursery rhyme to solve, as there is only one doll that needs to be placed in the right spot on the chalk drawings. Take the deer doll and put it down on the chalk drawing of the house. This acts as a sort of morbid commemorative symbol of the one deer who didn’t come home. Once you have placed the deer doll on the house, the environment will change and your Charm reward will become available, but it isn’t clear straight away as to what you need to do to collect your Charm. 

Finding the Charm reward after completing the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme

To collect your reward, you are going to have to engage in a bit of combat, so make sure you are stocked up in terms of ammo for your weapons and health items. Make your way toward the radio tower and you will see the corpse of a deer that has been chewed on pretty significantly. Unfortunately, the chewers in question are still lurking in the shadows and they aren’t happy about you going near their kill. 

Two Taken wolves protect the corpse of the deer, and they can be quite hard to kill due to how fast they are and how often they run in and out of the woods to keep themselves hidden. They are sneaky doggos that will circle you viciously and their black fur and fast movement can make them difficult to spot as they do so. Keep your flashlight out at all times and be prepared to dodge, as they will definitely try and hit you with some stealthy bites. 

Once you have taken care of the wolves, you will be able to approach the deer’s corpse without the fear of being mauled when you do so. You will see that the orange box containing the Charm is directly in front of the deer, so go ahead and pick it up. 

What is the Charm reward that you receive after completing the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme?

The Charm you get from successfully solving this nursery rhyme is the Deer Charm, which offers a buff that increases resilience for Saga when she is being interrupted whilst attacking as well as when she is being staggered by an enemy.

If you want to equip the Deer Charm to Saga’s Charm bracelet, press the action button when hovering over the Charm in your inventory. The option to move the Charm will appear, so click on it and hover over the Charm slots to the left of the inventory section. Simply press the action button over an empty slot and voila, you will have successfully equipped the Deer Charm. 

You might find that you already have three Charms equipped so if you want to remove a Charm and replace it with your new Deer Charm, go over to the Charm bracelet and click on the one that you want to take off of Saga’s bracelet. Press the action button and move your chosen Charm back to the inventory and replace it with your new one. You can do this as much as you please, so mix and match your Charms to keep things fresh as you play as Saga. 

Final thoughts on the Three Little Deers Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2

This is definitely one of the simpler nursery rhymes to figure out in Alan Wake 2, thanks to only requiring one doll to be placed in the correct place on the chalk drawing base. 

I found the most challenging parts of this nursery rhyme to not actually be the nursery rhyme itself. Instead, it was the wolf combat and finding the nursery rhyme that had me stuck for a bit. Finding the nursery rhyme was tricky as I kept getting lost whilst on the trail to Coffee World. I have zero sense of direction, so I doubt that you will have as much of an issue with it as I did. 

When it came to the wolf fight,  I wasn’t really expecting to have to engage in a gunfight to get my reward so I wasn’t as well prepared as I could have been. Not only that, but I find the wolves really hard to fight anyway as they are so quick and can down you very quickly if you don’t dodge and weave fast enough.

Again, I think this is probably just me being terrible at the combat in the game rather than it being an actual problem that you will face. As long as you know that you are about to start fighting once you have completed the three deers nursery rhyme, then you should be able to prepare yourself well enough to do better than I did during the wolf fight. 

The best tips that I can offer with this nursery rhyme are to pick up the Watery map beforehand so you can find the location more easily and to prepare yourself for the wolf fight beforehand. The actual nursery rhyme is easy to solve, so all you need to do is make sure that you are prepared for everything else surrounding it and it will be an easy one to tackle.