When it comes to fighting the Taken, the bigger boom the better. While not too hard to find the location of this powerful weapon that Saga Anderson can wield in Alan Wake 2, the code for it is an entirely different story.
Here is how to get the code for the Pump-Action Shotgun in Alan Wake 2, and how to find and unlock the weapon for one of the two protagonists in the game.
How to find the Pump-Action Shotgun in Alan Wake 2
This weapon is essentially a bigger, badder version of the sawed-off shogun that Saga gets early on into the chapters of Alan Wake 2. However, this weapon is locked away until the start of the chapter Return 6: Scratch.
As soon as the power is returned to the Sheriff’s Station, the player can go to Tim Breaker’s office, just beside the holding cells, to spot both a Break Room and a shotgun on the wall. This is the Pump-Action Shotgun that you are looking for. Or, if you’re like me and miss the room before the encounter with Mr. Scratch, thankfully it’s hard to miss it afterward.
When the player meets alongside Casey and FBC agent Kiran Estevez to discuss what to do next in the Sheriff’s office after blasting Mr. Scratch away, the shotgun is immediately to the left. On the wall to the left, a large shotgun is mounted on a display, but locked with a three-digit lock keeping it shut.
How to get the code for the Pump-Action Shotgun in Alan Wake 2
Similarly to some other code puzzles in Alan Wake 2, the answer is in your surroundings. Go to the desk in the middle of the room, the same one that has the save station Thermos and hot coffee on it.
Walking to the side with the chair and computer, the items on the desk are viewable in more detail. The key to solving this code is the note on the right, likely handwritten by the Sheriff, Tim Breaker. It shows a simple substitution code with a small change: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so on.
The one significant change is that, due to the lock only having three digits, when a letter were to reach a double-digit number, it only counts the second digit. This is shown on the note, as when the letter J would be 10, it instead marks 0. K = 1, L = 2, and the code loops again. Fitting, since loops are a constant theme across the game for both protagonists.
Now, that means that there are three letters that correspond to the code. The trick to where they are is also on that note, but with the drawing. What seems to be a box with an aura around it, instead, turns out to be a book. The books on the desk are the key, with the first letter of each author’s last name as the code.
The squiggled line around the book drawing almost makes it look like the book itself is getting zapped or transported somewhere—indicating you want the UFO books, which provide the player with the letters W, B, and Q. In the order of Q-B-W, the code is 723.
Use that on the lock and it will open, giving players access to the improved shotgun. Just be wary that the increased size of the gun will mean it will take up more inventory space, so players who collect items as frequently as I did might not have the space. To solve this issue, players can put other items from their inventory in the Shoebox to fit it in, or be prepared to move around items to fit the Shotgun in.
