Alan Wake 2is full of enigmas as you unravel the dark tale of the missing writer’s return and FBI agent Saga Anderson’s initiation into the strange world in and around Cauldron Lake.

The earliest of these enigmas is the murdered Agent Nightingale, seemingly risen from the dead and escaped into the woods. If you need help finding and beating the undead ex-Fed, we’ve got the steps you need to take to find his heart and get to where he is, as well as how to prepare for the fight and how to beat him in this handy guide.

The Key Image inquiry tree for Cauldron Lake Witch’s Hut. The arrow points to an important manuscript. The circled area is all about acquiring the heart

Updated July 08, 2025:We’ve added some details to this guide regarding the fight in the Final Draft and Nightmare modes.

Where Is The Heart?

Case Board

After you discover andlight up the Witch’s Hut,you’ll find a Manuscriptandunlock the “Cauldron Lake Witch’s Hut” Key Imagefor the Case Board.

Once you apply the Manuscript Page evidence “Saga Opens The Cauldron Lake Overlap” to “What Is The Ritual?,” in your Case Board. It unlocks aProfiling on Nightingale, the results of which you can apply to the “Where Is The Heart?” inquiry.

A map to the Witch’s Ladle and the Overlap from the General Store. There are two routes, one takes you to the Witch’s Hut save room.

This reveals the heart to be located in the General Store.

If youdon’t follow this threadon theCase Board,theheartwillnot be presentin theGeneral Store.

Nightingale in Alan Wake 2

The General Store

After the Witch’s Hut, you’ll be able to trigger the next step in the General Store. Entering the store willstartle a deer,and advancing towards thenow-open door on the far side of the roomwill trigger the Cultist to smash through the wall.

Defeat the Cultist, the room he came from will have the heart. It will beon the left side, in anice cream freezer, hidden by a distortion.

Saga looks at the entrance to the Overlap, which is bathed in red light

If the distortion isn’t there, you need to follow the steps above on your Case Board. Once you do that, you’ll find that the distortion will appear.

Shine it away, and you can pick up the heart, triggering a cutscene and giving you more evidence to add to your Case Board. Add them to the “Words on the Heart?” inquiry to unlock the phrase you need to start the ritual.

The Shoebox menu in the Final Draft. Every weapon is in the Gear section, despite this being early on.

Where Is Nightingale?

Nightingale is at the treewhere you discovered thefirst Manuscript Pagein Chapter One, which you’re able to traverse if you make a detour to the“Witch’s Ladle” sign– it features a familiar-looking woman with a hole in her chest.

Interact with the signwith your newly-acquired heart andyou’ll activate the Threshold. This will activate a short cutscene, after which you can walk into the tree, and into the Overlap beyond it, where Nightingale is.

Nightingale ambushes Saga while she runs around in the Overlap woods. A red stain marks his face where Saga shot him.

The Overlap is more woods. As soon as you exit the tunnel, you’ll see a flooded area toyour rightandstraight aheadwill be another tree tunnel. Go to the tree tunnel, and you’ll loop back to where you first left the tunnel.Go to the flooded area to clear a distortion and pick up a Manuscript page.

Gothrough the tunnel again, and you’ll end up wandering through the woods. Keep an eye out for resources to help you out. You shouldencounter Nightingaleeventually. You’ll know the fight’s startingwhen he picks up a tree.

How To Beat Nightingale

Preparation

The Taken Nightingale is thefirst boss you’ll encounter in the game, tougher than the rank-and-file creatures of Cauldron Lake. As such, you’ll want to prepare as much as you can before facing him.

In the same room as his heart,the Sawn-Off Shotgun is locked in a casewhose combination can be found in the store. If you’ve beendiligentaboutcollecting Manuscript Scraps from Alex Casey Lunchboxes,you shouldhave enough tobuy one upgrade for one of your weapons.

There’s also aCultist Stashin ayellow house nearbyas well as anyred boxesyou can find which will give you resources for the coming fight.

If you’ve collected every possible Alex Casey Lunch Box (five in Cauldron Lake, one in Bright Falls) before this point, you should have around 14 Manuscript Scraps. This allows you to acquire the upgradesMore BulletsorAnother Headshotfor your pistol, orOut of Actionfor the Sawn-Off

The Fight

You’ll find that Nightingale fights much like other Taken, save for the fact that the tree he wields gives him greater reach, and he useshis grab attack more often. If he lands the latter, you’ll have tomash your way outand will take some damage in the process.

Burn away the darkness by Boosting the flashlight beam while aiming at his chest. Doing this once should leave him vulnerable to damage for the rest of the fight.You should hit his Source Point – the glowing red part revealed after the darkness is burned away – for big damage, once.

Dealing enough damage causes Nightingale to vanish and hit you with a jumpscare.

You can do a few things to make the fight easier.Blind himto slow his advance if you need to reload. Wait until he’s close toshoot him with the Sawn-Off.Aim for the headwith the Pistol, which is especially effective if you took the Another One upgrade, since he’ll be stunned after two rapid headshots.

You’ll have to run away and explore until you find the next area he attacks you.Keep an eye out for extra resourceswhenever you’re not fighting.In thethirdandlast time he attacks you,he getsa new attack where he slams the tree on the groundto send a wave of darkness at you. This attack is clearly telegraphed, so be ready to get out of the way.

After you kill Nightingale one last time, you’ll trigger a cutscene, signaling that you’ve beaten him for good.

Final Draft And Nightmare Mode

The Final Draft update added a new game plus modethat allows another journey through the Spiral with some interesting changes. It also adds the Nightmare Mode difficulty, which amps the toughness of all the Taken in the game. As a result, the fight with Nightingale can feel a bit different.

Preparation (Final Draft)

Remember to grab your gear the first chance you get, which is when you power the Witch’s Hut. Your old gearwill be waiting for you in the Shoebox!

The Fight (Nightmare Mode)

The fight is largely the same, though they do throw in a few curveballs to keep you on your toes. The biggest effect of the difficulty mode is that Nightingale has way more health. He also doesn’t wait for you to get to the designated fight zones like he did the first time around andwill actually ambush you while you’re running around in the woods.

Ultimately, the fight is only about as difficult as it was the first time around, and your strategy remains about the same. Just leverage your most upgraded weapons and mag dump until you put him under. Just keep in mind thatCrossbow bolts and Hunting Rifle rounds won’t appear in the game until this fight, so you won’t be bringing in a lot of either.

If you have theKill Shot upgradefor your Hunting Rifle, this fight gets a lot easier, provided you luck into getting spare rounds from the coolers and supply stations in the Overlap.

It only takes 2-3 shots to the head to get him to retreat during an ambush and 3-4 to finish him off in your final encounter.