Control is out today and, as you might have expected, features several Alan Wake Easter eggs. This post will pull double duty, showing you where they all are but also explaining what they could mean for the future of both franchises.

If it wasn’t obvious by this point a bunch of spoilers lie ahead. If you’re not ready to read this, bookmark it and return back after you’ve finished the game.

America Overnight Results

This collectible describes how the Federal Bureau of Control has used a radio program called America Overnight to “assist in providing disinformation to the naturally skeptical population of America.”

It “has additionally led to the discovery of numerious AWEs and altered materials by allowing civilians to call in and report their experiences with the supernatural.”

While that’s all well and good, this document gives us a confirmation that Alan Wake and Control share the same world.

“The more [redacted] results of Night Springs have also been catalogued in a seperate report.”

As you’ll recall, Night Springs was a television show seen in both Alan Wake and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, a Twilight Zone parody that offered players the chance to watch full episodes in-game.

Where to find the Easter egg: This is inside Central Executive, in a room that requires Clearance level 03.

Television proposal

This collectible continues the America Overnight narrative and likely introduces one of Control‘s creepiest collectible types: Threshold Kids, a bizzare puppet show meant for children.

Threshold Kids was meant to “[present] superstition and skeptical thought as entertainment, in order to popularize these concepts among the civilian population and create less resistance to redirecting information regarding public paranatural events.”

Ultimately, the Bureau opts to “purchase and ‘reboot’… one particular property… called ‘Night Springs’.” The report notes the show has been “off the air for a few years now.”

Where to find the Easter egg: Once Arish moves to Central Executive, look behind some cases stacked to his right.

Vivid Dreams

While it’s nice to know that Night Springs exists, this particular collectible is in direct reference to Alan Wake antagonist, The Taken. Therefore, it’s cooler.

“Last night I had [a dream],” Richard Bowker writes in desperation to the American Psychiatric Council.

“I saw a small, empty town. It was utterly dark. There was a Lake [sic] at its center. Shadows of people moved around me, muttering odd things. A bright light woke me up. I was screaming in my sleep. My wife had been shaking me for minutes before I woke.”

If Bowker’s description doesn’t sound like Taken, we don’t know what does.

Where to find this Easter egg: On a desk in the upper floors of Dead Letters. Levitate is required to get to it.

Bright Falls Summary

Now we’re getting into the good stuff — an actual confirmation that the events players experienced in Alan Wake are fully part of the world of Control.

“An unconfirmed Threshold manifestation at Caulfron Lake, WA resulted in a fictional story written by the author Alan Wake creating an AWE [Altered World Event] in which reality was altered to match that of the story, though only locally and for a limited time,” a report reads.

The Federal Bureau of Control was made aware of the incident via Wake’s agent, Barry Wheeler, and Bright Falls Sheriff, Sarah Breaker. As it turns out, Breaker’s father was an ex-Bureau Agent.

Better still, the report also acknowledges AWEs in 1970 with Thomas Zane — and that sure will be important later — as well as in 1976 & 1978 with the Old Gods of Asgard, Odin and Tor Anderson.

“Alan Wake was believed to [redacted] instigator. Eyewitness reports highlight an old light switch (possible Object of Power) that [redacted] missing. Wake was not found at the scene. Reports claim he dived into the lake, but no body was recovered in the search.”

Those who’ve played Alan Wake know that the writer’s body wasn’t found because Wake himself is in the Dark Place. In Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, we learn that Wake is trying to write himself out of said supernatural prison.

Where to find this Easter egg: This is on an upper floor of the Prime Candidate Program area, sort of hidden behind a box on the lower shelf of a cabinet.

Bright Falls Supplement

The Easter eggs keep getting better, folks — this one suggests that Alan Wake could become a Bureau Agent… or even a Bureau Director.

“Bureau researchers believe this event was the result of a forceful perception of subjective reality (stemming from Mr. Wake) overlapping on our own,” the report reads, attempting to explain what happened in Bright Falls. “Wake has been flagged as a potential parautilitarian (see Prime Candidate file for more details).”

The report also confirms (like Alan Wake’s American Nightmare) that Wake successfully saved his wife, Alice, and that the Federal Bureau of Control has set up a monitoring station at Bright Falls’ Cauldron Lake.

Where to find the Easter egg: On the upper floor of the twisted area of the Prime Candidate Program space. It’s underneath a large rubbish bin and near the Mannequin rogue Altered Item.

Typewritten Page Procedures

This next collectible is basically the bestest. Located in a hidden area of the Panopticon, it gives us an actual glimpse at Alan Wake, still stuck in the Dark Place and trying to write himself out.

“The text has been written by Alan Wake with the same typewriter as the earlier materials discovered in Bright Falls in 2010 (see Bright Falls AWE case file for information),” the report, which refers to a typewritten page, reads. “Apart from the top seven lines, all the rest has been violently scratched out.”

The typewritten page is being considered an altered item by the Federal Bureau of Control.

“When the text is read, there is a feeling of dislocation, as if witnessing the page being written as you read it and as if reality around you was being [redacted] to match the words on the page. The feeling is stronger if the text is [redacted].”

As you pick this document up, you’re treated to a voiceover (and in Luke’s case on PC, some imagery as well) from Wake himself. The video below starts with me showing you how to get to the location, then Luke’s capture with the extra video.

“I used to know where fiction ends and reality begins,” Wake says, mirroring the typewritten page (that we’ll get to next). Curiously, the voiceover and the typewritten page deviate at the end — Wake says “that thought alone can drive you insane” while the page ends in “mad.”

We’re going to chalk that discrepancy up to fact that Remedy got the publishing rights to Alan Wake back in early July 2019, so this might have been a last-minute add.

Where to find this Easter egg: This in a Hidden Location on floor 5 of the Panopticon. You’ll need levitate to get to the area’s opening. Once there, look to one of the containment cells.

Thermos Procedures

Stored left of the Typewritten Page is an Oh Deer coffee thermos. Remember having to collect all those within Alan Wake? They made a perfect tip of the hat to Agent Dale Cooper and his love of coffee within Twin Peaks.

A document in the Panopticon’s Security Room — where the Panopticon Manager is holded up — contains a document that describers it. (Thanks, Ponk!)

Typewritten Page Supplement

This collectible details how Wake’s typewritten page ended up in The Oldest House… and gives us hope for what could come next.

“The page was discovered in an instance of the Oceanview Motel and Casino that was linked to the Investigations Sector,” the case file reads. “The page had been pushed into the motel’s corridor from under the door with the symbol of a spiral. [Redacted.]”

Going off Emily Pope’s assumption that the Oceanview is a space that connects parallel universes or realities to one another, it’s likely that the Oceanview’s Spiral door — located to the right of the Board door, by the way — leads to the Dark Place and a trapped Alan Wake. Perfect, right? That means the Bureau can leap in and save Wake!

Nope. The problem there is that, as Pope says, the FBC is unable to figure out how to open up any door in the Oceanview apart from the inverted pyramid one connected to its Board. Considering Wake may be a parautilitarian like Jesse Faden, maybe he has to be the one to open the door.

Theories aside, let’s get back to Wake — the writer has confirmed he’s been stuck in the Dark Place for quite some time.

“For ten years I’ve tried to write my escape, only sinking deeper,” Wake’s page reads. “I used to know where fiction ends and reality begins. Here, they are all the same. It’s a hideous trap, my every thought made real. Fear. Desire. How can I ever know for sure that I’ve escape and not just lost in my own fantasy of it? That thought alone can drive you mad.”

The page also have scratched-out portions — courtesy Mr. Scratch? — but some words and phrases are still identifiable: Falls. Haunting. Wake. Light switch. Ocean. Too late. You’ve been warned.

We don’t know about you, but this whole premise seems like the perfect way to start Alan Wake 2 or even Control 2. Marvel Cinematic Universe crossovers are huge these days, so why not video game ones?

Where to find this Easter egg: This is in a Hidden Location in the Transit Corridor South. Look for a window on the side of a wall and Levitate up and break through it.

Dylan conversation

This one’s just neat and is as much as Max Payne Easter egg as it is an Alan Wake one.

Your brother Dylan will spend a ridiculous amount of time at one stage speaking of his dreams, and one is particularly interesting.

“Reality now feels like a dream,” Dylan said. “Maybe it’s all a dream. Maybe it’s all real.

“I was in a dark place, and there was a dark man there. His name ws Mr. Door. And he told me that there are many worlds, side by side, on top of each other, some inside of others. In one world, there’s a writer who wrote a story about a cop. In another world, the cop was real.”

It’s likely Dylan’s referring to Alan Wake and his novel “The Sudden Stop,” which stars a character named Alex Casey. Casey’s a stand-in for Max Payne (Remedy doesn’t own the IP; Rockstar Games does); Max Payne’s voice actor, James McCaffrey reads excerpts from the book in Alan Wake (and stars in Control as Former Director Trench, by the way).

(Another fun fact: “The Sudden Stop” makes an appearance in Remedy’s Quantum Break.)

“Door said he himself was in all of them at the same time, endlessly shifting between them,” Dylan continues. “I asked him how I could reach these worlds. I wanted to bring the Hiss there. But he didn’t want to help me. He didn’t like the idea. What did he know?”

Neatness of the Easter egg aside, it’s hard to believe that the doors inside the Oceanview and a dream-man called Mr. Door aren’t related. Dylan’s dream leads credibility to the notion that the Oceanview could provide access to the Dark Place and Wake himself.

Where to find this Easter egg: After Dylan surrenders himself and is placed in a cell inside Central Executive, talk with him until he’s all talked out.

Jesse Therapy: Polaris

This one’s a little cruel on Remedy’s part.

“You mentioned a poem last time we talked… by Thomas Zane,” a psychiatrist tells Jesse in a recording. “I looked the poem up, only I could not find any poet by that name. I did find a European filmmaker who moved here in the sixties, named Thomas Zane.”

The psychiatrist then asks a troubling question: “Maybe you wrote it yourself?”

Playing Alan Wake, we know of Zane as a poet and not a filmmaker — has Jesse (or Alan) rewritten reality to make the artist a poet instead of a filmmaker, or a filmmaker instead of a poet? Who knows.

The poem, by the way: “Beyond the shadow you settle for, there’s a miracle illuminated.” It featured on a sundial inside Alan Wake.

Where to find this Easter egg: After you check out the mini Ordinary AWE setup, head up some stairs. It’s hard to miss.

Album cover

This is just a cute Easter egg, and a good one to conclude this article (unless we find more Easter eggs down the line, that is).

The Old Gods of Asgard have released a greatest hits album called “Rebirth”. Good to see Odin and Tor Anderson are still rocking.

Where to find this Easter egg: When you’re in the Ordinary dump, look to the lone car sitting in the centre. Check the backseat for this one.

Bonus Easter egg: The Old Gods of Asgard are essential in getting through the Ashtray Maze in what it, hands down, the best action bit of Control. We won’t show you the whole thing because it’s one of those things you need to experience for yourself.

What do you make our our assessment? Have we figured out Remedy’s next game? Tell us what you think — and if you’ve found any more Easter eggs — in the comments area below.

Control is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4.