Alan Wake 2 shotgun code: how to unlock Saga's shotgun

In any good survival horror, it's tradition to gradually build up an increasingly powerful arsenal, starting with bare hands and ending with automatic weapons of all kinds and Alan Wake 2 is no different.

Alan Wake 2 has taken a sharp turn into survival horror, abandoning its action adventure origins and picking up a few genre tropes and quirks in the process.

The protagonist Saga Anderson is armed with a pistol from the start, but it won't be long before she's firing off scattershots with a sawed-off shotgun – a weapon that will prove its use throughout the entirety of the game.

Here's how to get the shotgun in Alan Wake 2.

Saga's shotgun location - AW2

Saga's shotgun in Alan Wake 2 can be found at the General Store in Cauldron Lake – the starting area of the game – behind a display case that you cannot open unless you know a padlock combination.

The good news is that you cannot miss the General Store – you can enter it freely at will or as part of the main story, in Saga's second chapter, when you return to Cauldron Lake for the second time. You'll be forced to visit the store as part of the main story, so make sure you take a good look around once you get in there.

The three-digit combination is also located within the General Store, although the game is a little bit coy about its exact location. The clue given to you leads you toward the cash register, and encourages you to put your faith in lady luck.

Shotgun code - AW2

Right next to the General Store's cash register, you'll find a piece of paper that encourages the shopkeeper to change the code on the shotgun cabinet, and a lotto ticket. You'll see that all the combinations start with seven, and that of all the numbers on the lotto ticket, 39 was the only one not played: 7-05, 7-13, 7-17, 7-23... 7-39!

The combination of the case where the shotgun is located in Alan Wake 2 is 739.

The shotgun is a very powerful weapon that will make some of the challenges ahead much more manageable. It's a reliable backup to your main weapon, the pistol, and great for taking out wolves and bosses. Just keep in mind that this shotgun is double-barreled, so it will only fire off two shots before you need to reload. 

Exactly like the pistol and the other weapons you will find, it can be upgraded in various ways — the best upgrade, if you ask us, is to increase the reload speed, since it's rather slow normally and that can get you killed in tense situations.

Check out our Alan Wake 2 review to learn more about the game.