Summary
A developer working at Remedy Entertainment, developer ofAlan Wake 2, characterized the game’s graphical and performance upgrades on the upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro hardware as a “pleasant surprise.” In the wake of Sony’s announcement of the PS5 Pro hardware, commentary has surged as more details emerge about the resolution and performance targets of various existing games, including forAlan Wake 2.
After a nearly fifteen-year gap between the original game and its sequel,Alan Wake 2impressed players and critics not just through its well-written story and meta-narrative chops, but also through its visuals.Alan Wake 2quickly emerged as one of thebest games utilizing Nvidia RTX technology, particularly on PC, where high-end hardware could render the game’s realistic lighting effects at their full glory. Even on comparatively weaker systems like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5,Alan Wake 2still looked great, though the game was still criticized over some performance shortfalls.
With the PS5 Pro, Sony intends to rectify that lack of parity somewhat, with over a dozengames getting PS5 Pro enhancements. However, inAlan Wake 2’s case, there seems to be some outcry, as some technical analysis of early PS5 Pro footage revealed that the upgraded game may be running at a lower than expected resolution. Discussions of the analysis promptedcomments from Remedy Entertainment developer Thomas Puha in a thread on ResetEra, where he pushed back against negativity regarding the game’s supposed resolution.
Remedy Developer Says Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro Upgrades Will Be a “Pleasant Surprise”
Responding to some users complaining aboutAlan Wake 2’s rendering resolution, Puha said that “image quality” matters more, though he refused to confirm any particular information being discussed. He also said that Remedy Entertainment plans to release additional details about the PS5 Pro version ofAlan Wake 2"in the coming weeks," and will provide assets demonstrating the enhancements. He said that he thinks the enhanced version will be a “pleasant surprise” to players hoping to get a better play experience out ofAlan Wake 2on consoles. Responses to Puha’s comment in the ResetEra thread were generally positive, with some players looking forward to whatthe upcomingAlan Wake 2Lake House DLCmight look like with PS5 Pro enhancements.
Other players also pushed back against complaints about the resolution, saying that gamers tend to focus too much on raw resolutions like1080p versus 4Kdebates, whereas the image being put on the screen matters more than anything else. One player supporting Puha’s position said thatAlan Wake 2’s lighting implementation pushes even high-end PCs to their limits, so having a somewhat lower resolution to preserve performance and image quality on console hardware is understandable.
Alan Wake 2
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A string of ritualistic murders threatens Bright Falls, a small-town community surrounded by Pacific Northwest wilderness. Saga Anderson, an accomplished FBI agent with a reputation for solving impossible cases arrives to investigate the murders. Anderson’s case spirals into a nightmare when she discovers pages of a horror story that starts to come true around her.Alan Wake, a lost writer trapped in a nightmare beyond our world, writes a dark story in an attempt to shape the reality around him and escape his prison. With a dark horror hunting him, Wake is trying to retain his sanity and beat the devil at his own game.Anderson and Wake are two heroes on two desperate journeys in two separate realities, connected at heart in ways neither of them can understand: reflecting each other, echoing each other, and affecting the worlds around them.Fueled by the horror story, supernatural darkness invades Bright Falls, corrupting the locals and threatening the loved ones of both Anderson and Wake. Light is their weapon—and their safe haven — against the darkness they face. Trapped in a sinister horror story where there are only victims and monsters, can they break out to be the heroes they need to be?
