Alan Wake 2

88 Achievements

1360 XP

Epic

Shape of a Man

Discover the fate of Rudolf Lane Details for this achievement will be revealed once unlocked

15 XP

2.0%

How to unlock the Shape of a Man achievement in Alan Wake 2 - Definitive Guide

ItIsTheLord

TrueAchievements

22 Oct 2024 18:50

EDIT: Following Arenafighter's advice below, I changed from performance mode to quality mode and following the steps below I managed to get it to unlock. This seems to be a bug related to performance mode, at least as of right now.

This is missable, and also buggy! In order to get it you have to return to level -2 once you have the level 3 clearance card so you can open the door opposite the broken cell on the right side of the room. You have to watch the video on the projection screen all the way through.

I've done it a couple of times and it hasn't unlocked, some say it's because of the painted enemy in there might bug it out and others said it took a few minutes to unlock. Either way, it's intended for you to watch the video to unlock the achievement so if it hasn't unlocked for you, try reloading a save or restarting the DLC.

Edit: I have tried a few methods to trigger an unlock but have been unsuccessful. BlackTorito on youtube shared this method which I have written in text form below if you'd like to try that.

Before you go to open this door, after getting the level 3 clearance, go to level -4 and talk to the painting again, then pick up the note that it leaves behind. Then go to level -2 and go into the broken cell and read the note on the floor and the notes and tape recorder on the table to the right. Then open the door with clearance level 3.

I have tried killing the painted enemy before entering the room but it still didn't unlock the achievement. For now, this seems to be a buggy achievement. It was pretty much like that with the main game when it came out. A patch may be needed to fix this.

22 Oct 2024 18:50

34 Comments

ok here are my solution for this one. Had the same probs to get unlocking this one.
first to know....no need to get to UG-4 and speaking with the Painting.
I was going straight to UG-2 collected all things in the Brocken Cell and than opened the Door with the Projector. After the Video Achivevement unlocks and Paint Creature spwans.

And what i also changed was from Performance Mode to Quality Mode.

TRY you luck with this

By Arenafighter on 22 Oct 2024 22:04

@Arenafighter You solved it! At least for me anyway, I changed from performance to quality mode and it unlocked after redoing the steps. If performance mode is the issue then that's really bizarre. Thank you, I'll add it to the guide!

By ItIsTheLord on 22 Oct 2024 22:12

Change to quality mode setting apparently it work and got my achievement just now thank god smh try it guys might work

By zDayWalkerz on 22 Oct 2024 22:14

+1 for @Arenafighter. Switched to Quality* mode and redid the steps and popped for me also

By MattyMoore08 on 22 Oct 2024 22:15

Can also confirm switching to graphics mode works for me. What an absolutely bizarre glitch.

By NoHeroes94 on 22 Oct 2024 22:17

@arenafighter thank you. The comment about switching to quality mode worked after everything else failed.

By DemonSpawn2714 on 22 Oct 2024 22:18

Its a performance mode glitch then. I always play on quality, that's why i got it

By SPΛΙΝΤΞRCΞΛΛ on 22 Oct 2024 22:18

good to hear some people unlocking this switching the Graphic Mode.

Some things are very strange ;)

By Arenafighter on 22 Oct 2024 22:19

Switching modes worked for me. Now at 100%

By BlakeyBizz40 on 22 Oct 2024 22:37

Yeah, quality mode works a treat; pops when the painted enemy spawns as the video stops. On performance mode, that enemy doesn't spawn at the same time.

By Dale Baldwin on 22 Oct 2024 23:07

Switching to Quality and doing the steps again worked for me too.

By Chaosm345 on 22 Oct 2024 23:25

god quality mode is terrible, runs at like 30 fps yuck glad i didnt have to deal with it for long

By xCENAxMOD on 22 Oct 2024 23:26

Switching to quality mode unlocked the achievement for me also. Thank you @Arenafighter

By MdReeda on 22 Oct 2024 23:40

I can confirm we just need to switch to the quality mode and watch the video on that room, nothing else is required. Thx @Arenafighter

By Constaintine01 on 23 Oct 2024 01:39

Did the steps above, already in quality mode, but the achievement hasn't unlocked. Might be bugged depending on the mode you are already in? I'm still working on it :/

By Diddles564 on 23 Oct 2024 01:49

Replayed the video in Quality Mode as suggested, achievement didn't pop immediately and required a game restart. Otherwise worked like a treat. Thanks all! 😊

By El Cappitan on 23 Oct 2024 05:01

I can confirm we just need to switch to the quality mode and watch the video on that room, nothing else is required. Thx @Arenafighter

By Constaintine01 on 23 Oct 2024 05:17

yup def glitched for me it just plays a blank screen then if you sit there she says what happened to him but he never spawns, waiting for a patch i guess.

By GNAWMAN on 23 Oct 2024 07:00

Didn't unlock on my first thorough playthrough because I was in performance mode and I unknowingly overwrote my save, so I had to start over. Second time around I just did a 15 minute speedrun back to that point with accessibility options on (invulnerability, infinite ammo, etc). Switched to quality mode shortly before entering the room and the achievement popped right after the video ended and the painting monster started spawning.

By Soundgoodizer on 23 Oct 2024 13:23

To help the PC players. After troubleshooting myself, you have to cap your frame rate to 30 fps using third party software for the achievement to pop. Seems this achievement is tied to frame rate in some bizarre way.

By tomisgreatness on 23 Oct 2024 16:31

Just did Soundgoodize's method for my second PS5 playthrough, but played in Quality mode for my 25 minute speedrun.

By Heisenbat94 on 23 Oct 2024 21:26

Works in quality mode, can confirm.

By The GameAddict6 on 24 Oct 2024 08:37

Got everything except this one, so i did a 15~20min rush to the part on quality mode and it didn't unlock at first. Rebooted the game, reloaded the save right before it and again, no achievement.
Tried hard reseting the xbox and as soon as i opened the game the achievement unlocked, so it might be worth trying if it doesn't unlock right away even on quality mode.

By Maverick Hiro on 24 Oct 2024 12:46

For series S players: Alan Wake 2 on series S does not have a performance mode, the game is default quality mode for us. So if you spent a ton of time looking in the settings and the Internet for how to change that setting on series S (like someone I know) (it's me I'm that someone) you won't find it.
The achievement unlocks normally when you watch the projector.

By Geezr Pleazr on 24 Oct 2024 19:37

Bugged form me as well. I tried reloading a save before getting the level 3 pass, watching the whole thing again, running around, and reloading didn't help. I guess I'll have to restart the entire DLC

By Lifeform13 on 22 Oct 2024 19:23

I feel like this requires a chain of collectibles that culminates in getting the correct projection screen video.

By Maka91 on 22 Oct 2024 19:39

I have already restarted the DLC and the achievement did not appear either

By o NooB SAIB0T o on 22 Oct 2024 19:41

@Maka91 Is there more than one projection video? Looking at the video I shared, the notes about Lane that are on the right side of the map are similar with the same 5 bullet points, but I'm unsure if there's possibly a variation of the projection video or another note to find. I have a feeling they maybe need to be found in a certain order.

By ItIsTheLord on 22 Oct 2024 20:05

I think there's a projector in -3 that requires Level 02 keycard. It does complete instead of running in a loop. You may even need the conversation with the writer on -2. Just knowing how Alan Wake tends to do things, it wouldn't surprise me that there are other prerequisites as this is technically "solving a mystery" to a specific outcome.

By Maka91 on 22 Oct 2024 20:14

Done precisely as per the guide and this didn’t unlock for me. I do have a save to reload. I unlocked the achievement for all files so I didn’t miss anything.

By NoHeroes94 on 22 Oct 2024 21:31

Same Here. did it multiple times and the achievement still not unlocking.

By MdReeda on 22 Oct 2024 21:33

yeah im throwing in the towel until they make a fix or someone makes a 100% list of what you need to do. i did EVERYTHING on my first playthrough and it doesnt pop, and then I do a new run, and do the specific thing of doing everything up to going to level 4, talking to the painting then going to level 3 instead, reading the cell papers and then watching the interview room projector and still nothing.

By xCENAxMOD on 22 Oct 2024 21:40

Its possibly buggy. Mine unlocked first time. I had 75/100 files discovered if that's a help.

By SPΛΙΝΤΞRCΞΛΛ on 22 Oct 2024 21:52

Missed it first time I played so restarted the dlc and speed through without collecting any collectibles except for the 2 in lanes cell (document and tape record) then went into the room and viewed the projector clip untill it finished and it unlocked for me.

No clue if the collectibles still counted from first playthrough

By Holbath on 22 Oct 2024 22:03

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