Alan Wake 2: How to solve the Sheriff Station Cult Stash combination lock code

As you explore the town of Bright Falls and the surrounding areas when playing as Saga in Alan Wake 2, you will come across various cult stashes that contain useful supplies to help you as you traverse the world. 

There are tons of cult stashes to be found, but one of the most interesting is the cult stash in the Bright Falls Sheriff Station, as it has a special item inside it that can unlock a certain area. 

With this in mind, we are going to be looking at how to open up the sheriff station cult stash in Alan Wake 2, as well as what rewards you will find inside. 

Where is the Sheriff Station cult stash in Alan Wake 2?

Unless the name of the stash itself wasn’t a dead giveaway, you will find this collectible inside the Bright Falls sheriff station. You will only be able to access it when you return there in the sixth chapter—called Scratch—as you need the boltcutters to access it. The boltcutters are obtained as part of the story during your trip to the Valhalla Nursing Home in chapter five, Old Gods. 

When you make your way back to the sheriff’s station, you’ll have to clear out some of the Taken that have overwhelmed the station and injured FBC agent Kiran Estevez. When you have done so, speak to Estevez to find out more about what is going on and where to find Alan Wake. She will explain you need to get the power back on so that you can access the holding cells and get to Wake. 

To get the power back up, you will have to head down to the morgue in the basement of the sheriff’s station. Estevez will give you the key to get there. This is at the far end of the station, but you will have been there once before, so it isn’t too tough to retrace your steps. You’ll know you are in the right place when you open a door that has stairs on the other side leading down. 

When you get to the bottom of the staircase that leads to the morgue, rather than going straight ahead, take a right through the blue door and you will see a locked gate that leads to the evidence room. To open the door, interact with the padlock and scroll down in your inventory until you get to the boltcutters. Click on the boltcutters and Saga will break open the lock. The stash is at the far end of the evidence room.

What is the Sheriff Station cult stash puzzle in Alan Wake 2?

This is one of those puzzles that will be much more difficult to figure out if you start overthinking it. It’s quite the opposite, being one of the simpler cult stash puzzles to solve, as you won’t need to look around for the answer and then circle back to the stash box. Everything you need to know is right there on the piece of paper attached to the top of the box.

The paper shows two crudely drawn shapes—a triangle with a line through it and a hexagon— along with a straight line. The clue to solve the puzzle comes from the number one drawn next to the line. The number simply refers to the number of lines that make up each drawing, so of course, the straight line is one as it only has one line. Using this logic, you can determine that the second shape has four lines and the third shape has six lines.

The code for the padlock is the number of lines in each drawing, which is one, four, six. Input this code into the padlock and it will open.

What is inside the Sheriff Station cult stash in Alan Wake 2?

There is a rather interesting item to be found inside this particular cult stash. There are also some handy items that will help you in your fight against the Taken as you continue your journey while playing as Saga in Alan Wake 2. 

The regular items to be found in the stash are a rocket flare and a flashbang. I call these regular items, but they are some of the more powerful items and weapons to be found in the game. Both the rocket flare and flashbang produce a lot of light, which is a must when fighting the Taken as you need to blast them with as much light as you can to remove their protective, shadowy shells and make them vulnerable. 

The flashbang can stun enemies for a fair amount of time, making for a great opportunity for you to fill them full of bullets or arrows. The rocket flare not only blinds enemies when you point them in their direction, but it can also kill them instantly if you fire the flare at them and hit them in the right place. Because of this, you will want to make sure that you have plenty of space left in your inventory to pick up these items when you have opened up the stash.

The more unusual item found in the cult stash is a key that opens up the lighthouse. The lighthouse can be found in Watery and if you visited it beforehand, you will have noticed that it is impossible to get in without a certain key. It turns out that this key was being kept in the sheriff station in this cult stash—for some reason—so once you have opened up the stash, you will be able to get into the lighthouse and search for goodies. 

At the time of writing, I haven’t been to the lighthouse yet, despite now having the key. I plan to do so as soon as I can get out of Bright Falls again. I hope there’s something cool in there, or you at least get a trophy or achievement for accessing it. Anything is good with me, so long as it’s not a boss fight with a stupidly difficult Taken. Or even if it is, just give me some good loot out of it. I didn’t go through all of this to find this key to not be rewarded. Give me what I deserve, Remedy.