The Alan Wake crossover event in Phasmophobia is the game's first major collaboration, and it brings a mechanic that feels right at home in a ghost-hunting game: hidden messages you can only read with the right tool. Words of Power are secret glowing inscriptions scattered across four special event maps, and revealing them is one of the core tasks for earning event points. Miss them and you leave a lot of progress on the table.
What are Words of Power in the Phasmophobia Alan Wake event?
Words of Power are hidden messages embedded in the walls and environments of the four Alan Wake event maps. They're completely invisible to the naked eye. Only a UV Light makes them appear, along with the yellow arrow trail that leads you to each one. Once you shine your UV Light directly on a cluster of words, they scatter outward and the reveal registers as complete. That scatter animation is your confirmation that it counted.
These aren't just flavor text. Revealing Words of Power is listed as a key mission objective in the event, and you'll need to repeat the process across multiple contracts to accumulate enough event points for the bigger rewards.
Follow UV arrows to each cluster
How to Find Words of Power
The process is straightforward once you understand what you're looking for. Here's the full sequence:
- Load into one of the four event maps. Words of Power only spawn on the special Alan Wake versions of the maps, so standard contracts won't work.
- Add a UV Light to your loadout before the contract starts. Any tier of UV Light works, so use whatever you have available.
- Activate the UV Light the moment you leave the truck. Yellow arrows can appear outside the main building, so waiting until you're inside means you might miss the start of a trail.
- Scan walls and floors with the UV Light as you explore. The arrows glow yellow under UV and point toward the nearest Words of Power cluster.
- Follow the arrow chain to its end. The path terminates at a bright yellow circular arrangement of words.
- Hold your UV Light beam directly on the words. The text scatters when fully revealed, confirming the task is complete.
- Repeat across the whole map. Each map contains multiple clusters, and you need to find all of them to maximize your event point gains.
Which maps have Words of Power, and how many are on each?
The event reskins four existing maps with Alan Wake theming and new names. All 68 Words of Power are spread across them as follows.
Coffee World has the fewest at 10, making it the fastest map to clear if you just need to tick off the objective quickly. Oh Deer Diner and Elderwood Palace Lodge both cap out at 20, so they're the most efficient for grinding event points in a single contract.
The event maps use the same layouts as their original counterparts but have reskinned visuals and different names. If you already know the geometry of Bleasdale Farmhouse or Grafton Farmhouse well, that knowledge transfers directly to Elderwood Palace Lodge and Cauldron Lake.
Do you need to find all Words of Power in one contract?
No. The task tracks progress across contracts, so you can reveal a handful on one run and continue on the next. That said, staying methodical and clearing one map at a time is more efficient than bouncing between locations. Stick to Oh Deer Diner or Elderwood Palace Lodge if you want the highest return per contract given their 20-cluster counts.
Because the UV Light doubles as your primary ghost evidence tool for identifying ghost behaviors and hidden abilities, you're not wasting equipment slots by carrying it. You'd want one in your loadout anyway for normal investigation work.
What happens after you reveal a Word of Power?
The words scatter visually the moment you've held the UV Light on them long enough. That animation is the confirmation. There's no separate prompt or on-screen notification beyond the scatter effect itself, so if you're not sure whether it registered, look for the words flying outward. If they don't scatter, keep the beam on the cluster a moment longer.
Completing Words of Power reveals counts toward your event mission progress, which translates directly into event points. Given that some missions ask you to reveal Words of Power repeatedly across multiple contracts, building a consistent route through your preferred map early saves a lot of time.
After you've run a map two or three times, you'll start to remember where the arrow trails begin. The starting points don't appear to randomize between contracts on the same map, which means repeat runs get significantly faster once you know the layout.
For more on surviving the investigation itself while you hunt for Words of Power, the Phasmophobia hunt survival guide covers hiding tactics and looping strategies that keep you alive long enough to finish the job. The full collection of Phasmophobia guides has everything else you need for the event and beyond.