The Alan Wake crossover in Phasmophobia doesn't mess around with its Doll Puzzles. Each one steps up the complexity, and the second puzzle trips people up because the solution is buried inside a cryptic poem rather than spelled out directly. Three Dolls, three drawings, one riddle about the stages of life. Here's exactly what to do.
What is the second Doll Puzzle in the Phasmophobia Alan Wake event?
The second Doll Puzzle is the middle challenge in a three-part sequence tied to the Alan Wake crossover event. To solve it, you place three specific Dolls onto three matching drawings at the puzzle board. The drawings represent different stages of human life, and the Dolls correspond to those stages. Get all three right simultaneously and the puzzle completes automatically, unlocking the third and final Doll Puzzle in its place.
These puzzles unlock in strict order. You must complete the first Doll Puzzle before the second becomes available, and the second before the third. Don't skip ahead.
Before attempting this puzzle, you also need all 13 Dolls collected from across the event maps. Our complete Alan Wake event walkthrough covers the full scope of the event if you need context on how everything fits together.
Puzzle board drawing positions
How do you decode the second Doll Puzzle riddle?
The game gives you this poem as your only clue:
When we are young we dance in the sun then years of toil and family in the house we suffer quietly in our twilight years we make our way to the sunken shore and we journey across the sea of night the dreaming sea as we surrender to the waves
Breaking it down by stage:
- "dance in the sun" = childhood, pointing to the child Doll and the sun drawing
- "years of toil and family / in the house" = adulthood with a family, pointing to the man with a baby Doll and the house drawing
- "surrender to the waves" = old age and death, pointing to the old man Doll and the waves drawing
The riddle describes a human life from youth to death, and each Doll represents one of those three phases.
Second Doll Puzzle Solution
Here's the complete solution:
Place all three in the correct spots and the puzzle resolves on its own. No confirmation button required.
The child Doll is described as a little girl wearing a flared yellow skirt, so it's visually distinct from the other Dolls. If you're unsure which one to grab, look for the yellow dress.
Child Doll on sun drawing
Where to find all three Dolls for the second Doll Puzzle
All three Dolls needed for this puzzle are spread across different event maps. You'll need to run three separate locations to collect them all.
Child Doll location (Coffee World / Camp Woodwind map)
Head to the center of the camp and find the large pole near the grill. Walk around to the back side of the pole and look down to your left, near the cardboard box on the ground. The child Doll is sitting there.
Man with a baby Doll location (Oh Deer Diner / Nell's Diner map)
Go to the breakroom inside the diner. The Doll is on the table next to the water cooler, just behind the door as you enter the room.
Old man Doll location (Elderwood Palace Lodge / Bleasdale Farmhouse map)
Head upstairs and walk to the far end of the hallway on the second floor. Enter the door at the end of the hall and look for the desk with the typewriter. The old man Doll is sitting next to it.
If you haven't visited all three event maps yet, you'll need to run each location specifically to grab its Doll. None of these three Dolls share a map with each other.
What reward do you get for solving the second Doll Puzzle?
There's no standalone reward for completing puzzle 2 on its own. The prize is tied to finishing all three Doll Puzzles together. Complete puzzles 1, 2, and 3 and you unlock Saga Anderson's Outfit Cosmetics. The second puzzle is purely a stepping stone to that final reward.
For help tracking down all 13 Dolls across the four event maps, the Phasmophobia Alan Wake Doll locations guide has every spawn point mapped out. And if you're also working through the Words of Power objectives alongside the puzzles, check the Words of Power guide for UV Light locations across all four maps.
With those in hand, the second puzzle takes under a minute to finish. For more strategies and event coverage, browse the full Phasmophobia guides collection at GAMES.GG.