Alan Wake 2 is filled with PC tech. It appears like one of many true next-gen video games that we’ve seen on PC, wanting remakes like Portal RTX and updates like Cyberpunk 2077. From path tracing to border technology to AI-powered denoisers, Alan Wake 2 reveals off what PC has to supply in 2023, even when which means leaving much less highly effective rigs behind on this mud.
Although the sport itself is easy sufficient, its efficiency on PC is something however. Alan Wake 2 is a shocking showcase with high-end {hardware} and the entire trendy bells and whistles enabled, however it’s a slog on lower-end machines that fall exterior of its demanding minimal {hardware} necessities. There’s good and unhealthy right here, and after spending a while with the sport, we have to study each.
With three folks enjoying the sport right here at Digital Trends, we did encounter one bug that may hard-lock development, however I wasn’t capable of recreate it. Still, there are different studies of comparable points, starting from shedding 30 minutes of development to totally resetting the sport, so maintain these in thoughts if you wish to decide up the sport on launch day.
Low isn’t unhealthy
Remedy Entertainment
A well-liked Reddit thread circulated after the discharge of Alan Wake 2′s system necessities, claiming that solely 7% of PC players will have the ability to run the sport at 1080p at 60 frames per second (fps). That’s not true. I examined 5 graphics playing cards with the sport: the RTX 4090, RTX 4070, RX 7600, RTX 2060 Super, and the RX 5700. I used to be capable of hit between 40 fps and 60 fps with every of them with out the help of upscaling by adjusting the decision and graphics settings.
Alan Wake 2 helps each DLSS 3.5 and FSR 2, and also you’ll get a way more constant expertise turning one of many options on. It appears the system necessities are offering a worst-case state of affairs, although. With the RTX 2060 Super, for instance, I solely dipped all the way down to 30 fps as soon as at 1080p, whereas primarily hovering within the mid-40s. That was with the sport set to its High preset with out upscaling.
We want to speak concerning the high quality presets, too. Unlike most video games, Alan Wake 2 doesn’t have an “Ultra” preset. It consists of Low, Medium, and High presets. Even the Low preset appears nice, so not like what we’ve seen in video games like Diablo 4, there isn’t a “potato mode” for the lowest-end {hardware}. There’s an argument there needs to be, however it’s clear Remedy intends for many gamers to really use the graphics settings moderately than default to the very best and lowest presets.
There’s some room with these presets as properly. With the RTX 2060 Super, I used to be capable of obtain between 55 fps and 75 fps with the Low preset. As you possibly can see within the comparability shot beneath, the distinction in picture high quality isn’t large, and there’s an enormous efficiency uplift. This was at 1080p with out upscaling as properly.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
I used to be capable of obtain the same efficiency degree by maintaining the entire settings maxed out and falling again on DLSS’ Performance mode. It doesn’t look nice at 1080p, however it supplied the same degree of efficiency because the Low preset. It’s a decide your poison sort of scenario, however it’s good to see that not less than PC gamers have choices to enhance their efficiency, not like a recreation like Starfield, the place hefty CPU necessities and restricted upscaling choices means you simply need to accept decrease efficiency.
Still, Alan Wake 2 could be very demanding. As for whether or not that {hardware} demand is well worth the visible payoff, that’s as much as you. It’s clear Remedy got down to create a really dense, lifelike world with Alan Wake 2, even when the efficiency on lower-end {hardware} suffers because of this. It could seem small, however a superb instance of that’s the leaf you possibly can see beneath. It’s not clipping by way of the steps, however as a substitute poking out, and the early forest areas of the sport are dense with these bushes that transfer and react to the wind. It’s very immersive. Thankfully, you have got choices to enhance efficiency, and with a recreation as visually beautiful as Alan Wake 2, that’s about probably the most PC gamers can ask for.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
I might lean heavier on the graphics choices in the event you don’t have an Nvidia GPU, nonetheless. FSR 2 is an effective fallback choice, however it displays the identical instability in high-quality particulars that we’ve seen in different video games, which is barely exaggerated at extra excessive high quality modes and decrease resolutions.
As for PCs that fall exterior of the {hardware} necessities, you’re not going to have a superb time with Alan Wake 2. I used to be capable of obtain playable efficiency on {hardware} that simply met the minimal necessities, however that have doesn’t make me looking forward to something much less highly effective.
DLSS 3.5 is beautiful
Alan Wake 2 is the second recreation we’ve seen with Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling 3.5 (DLSS 3.5). That consists of Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction, with Ray Reconstruction solely being out there in the event you activate path tracing within the recreation. I’ll get to the trail tracing settings later on this part.
This bundle of options is barely supported on RTX graphics playing cards, with Frame Generation being restricted to RTX 40-series GPUs. Alan Wake 2 additionally helps FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 for non-RTX GPUs, and also you’ll must have both DLSS or FSR turned on. Alan Wake 2 handles this in a wierd manner, although. With FSR 2, you possibly can nonetheless set the sport to native decision, and with DLSS, native decision will as a substitute use Nvidia’s Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA). There was some concern that Alan Wake 2 requires upscaling. That isn’t the case, however it’s clear the sport was designed round having both DLSS or FSR turned on.
DLSS 3.5 is certainly the way in which to go in the event you can handle it. You can see a main instance of that beneath. From left. you possibly can see ray tracing turned off, ray tracing on with out Ray Reconstruction, and ray tracing on with Ray Reconstruction. That setup is constant all through the screenshots right here.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Ray tracing additionally does rather a lot to make the lighting on this scene extra lifelike. The condiment tray and napkins near the window solid exhausting shadows from the direct mild, whereas with out ray tracing, shadows are merely implied. It’s beautiful how Ray Reconstruction can clear up the ultimate picture, too. The shadows are a lot sharper, as is the faint reflection of the window within the desk. There are additionally small particulars just like the shadow solid on the small plate close to the center of the desk. It’s clearly a shadow from one thing behind the menu, which might in any other case be obfuscated with out Ray Reconstruction.
The similar holds true for direct reflections. Alan Wake 2 makes use of some screen-space reflections with ray tracing turned off, however it skips smaller reflective surfaces just like the puddle close to the sting of the sidewalk you possibly can see beneath. Once once more, ray tracing brings that realism, and Ray Reconstruction clears up the ultimate picture. It’s outstanding simply how way more dimension there’s within the picture with Ray Reconstruction.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Thankfully, the sport doesn’t look unhealthy with out ray tracing. In the night time scene beneath, you possibly can see how developer Remedy makes an attempt to seize the identical environment with out ray tracing, even when the ray-traced model appears higher. Here, ray tracing helps carry the sunshine by way of the road fog in a extra lifelike manner, whereas Ray Reconstruction bolsters that with higher dealing with of the fence particulars. Something you possibly can’t see on this static picture is how the fence sparkles a bit with Ray Reconstruction turned off.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Alan Wake 2 achieves this degree of realism with path tracing. In brief, path tracing is a extra demanding type of ray tracing, however it usually results in extra lifelike lighting circumstances. The manner Alan Wake 2 handles path tracing is a bit of attention-grabbing, although. Unlike Cyberpunk 2077, the place there’s a single toggle for path tracing, Alan Wake 2 consists of three ray-tracing high quality modes. Here’s how they break down:
Low — no path tracing
Medium — partial path tracing (one bounce), medium high quality for path-traced oblique lighting
High — full path tracing (three bounces), top quality for path-traced oblique lighting
All of this comes with an enormous efficiency value. Out of the 5 GPUs I examined, solely two have been capable of deal with ray tracing in Alan Wake 2. It’s no coincidence that these two GPUs supported Nvidia’s Frame Generation tech, which is necessary if you wish to play with ray tracing at any cheap body charges.
With the RTX 4090, I used to be capable of hit round 90 fps to 100 fps with DLAA and Frame Generation with the entire settings maxed out at 4K. With the RTX 4070, I needed to resort to DLSS Performance mode to realize 60 fps at 4K, which often dipped decrease. If you’re operating something older than an RTX 40-series graphics card, I might advocate towards turning on ray tracing. It’s definitely fairly, however the recreation appears beautiful even with out the entire ray tracing.
What about mesh shaders?
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
There was an outcry shortly after Alan Wake 2‘s system necessities went dwell, which got here all the way down to the truth that you would want an Nvidia RTX 20-series or AMD RX 6000-series GPU, or newer, to run the sport. In a now-deleted tweet, a developer from Remedy defined this was on account of mesh shaders, locking out older GPUs from being formally supported.
This led lots of PC players to imagine these playing cards merely wouldn’t work with the sport, which isn’t the case. I used to be capable of boot up Alan Wake 2 and play it on an RX 5700 with out dire points. The recreation didn’t run nice, however it labored. I used to be capable of hit between 35 fps and 55 fps on the GPU with the Medium preset at 1080p, and that was with out upscaling.
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If you have got a GPU that isn’t supported, you’ll get a warning if you launch the sport, however it’s going to nonetheless boot. You’ll simply expertise decrease efficiency. The RTX 2060 Super I examined was capable of common between 40 fps and 60 fps at 1080p High, even though the RX 5700 is quicker in most different video games. If you’re sitting on an RX 5000 or GTX 10-series GPU, or older, it’s in all probability greatest to attend on Alan Wake 2 till you possibly can improve your PC, even when the sport will technically run.
No HDD assist
Western Digital
For as a lot as DLSS 3.5 shines in Alan Wake 2, the PC model has quite a few points. First and most urgent is HDD assist. The recreation doesn’t technically assist spinning exhausting drives, and after just some minutes within the recreation, it’s clear why. The recreation will nonetheless run and play simply high-quality — primarily based on what {hardware} you have got in your PC, not less than — however it’s going to shortly flip into a large number with a spinning exhausting drive. Load occasions, expectedly, take a number of minutes on a spinning exhausting drive, and also you’ll usually have to attend for not less than a minute when transitioning between chapters.
The points go far deeper, although. With a spinning exhausting drive, audio tracks will desync from one another. That means you’ll run into points the place dialogue from a cutscene carries over into gameplay, in addition to facial animations not matching with the voiceovers. The greatest downside was audio stuttering, although. It appears the varied audio tracks are all combating with one another for bandwidth whereas being learn from the drive, resulting in conditions the place sound results will abruptly cease when dialogue begins, all earlier than coming again a number of seconds later. It’s weird and clearly not the way in which Remedy meant gamers to expertise Alan Wake 2.
As talked about, HDDs aren’t supported in Alan Wake 2, however in the event you don’t have a look at the minimal system necessities, you’d by no means know that. The recreation ought to warn gamers earlier than loading that it needs to be put in on an SSD as a result of the expertise is totally damaged on an HDD.
Texture points
Remedy Entertainment
Even with a top-spec PC, Alan Wake 2 has some severe points with texture pop-in. I examined the sport on a handful of rigs, together with a top-of-the-line PC packing an RTX 4090, Core i9-13900Ok, and PCIe Gen4 storage. Even on that PC, Alan Wake 2 confirmed clear texture pop-in points.
They primarily come up when transitioning shortly between zones. The in-game menu — not the pause menu — is definitely a playable house, and also you’ll be popping out and in of it continuously. Each time, textures would take a number of seconds to load in, even on PCIe Gen 4 storage. The slower your storage, the longer it takes for the textures to load in. This might be a problem that may very well be cleared up by DirectStorage, and I believe Remedy developed the sport across the fast storage interfaces out there on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
I believe that is associated to the problem one of many DT editors skilled with a game-breaking bug, the place belongings wouldn’t load totally when transitioning, inflicting the sport to interrupt. As talked about, I wasn’t capable of recreate the issue, even with the RTX 2060 Super and a spinning exhausting drive, however it’s clear Alan Wake 2 has some bottlenecks relating to streaming in belongings.
Occasional stuttering
Alan Wake 2 doesn’t have main stuttering points, not less than with an up to date driver. I examined the sport initially on Nvidia’s present driver, which doesn’t convey official assist for Alan Wake 2. With this driver, you’ll expertise main stuttering points when transitioning between zones, notably with Frame Generation turned on. Thankfully, these points disappear when utilizing the Alan Wake 2 driver, so ensure that to replace.
Even with the driving force, I nonetheless encountered some occasional traversal stutter. This if you hit an invisible loading zone on the planet, inflicting a stutter. These are few and much between, fortunately, and primarily come up with transitioning into bigger areas of the sport. I didn’t expertise any shader stutter in my 10 or so hours with the sport, fortunately.
We obtained the bugs
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Alan Wake 2 isn’t completely polished on PC, and also you’ll encounter some bugs in the event you decide up the sport on launch day. In addition to the game-breaking bug I discussed within the intro, I encountered some characters of their T-pose when backtracking to sure areas, in addition to points with collision on objects.
Particularly when combating enemies, I might generally be pushed on high of one thing within the atmosphere like a rogue trash bag or bench. This would lock my character in place, inflicting just a few seconds of wildly sprinting to get off no matter merchandise I used to be caught on. In one case, I needed to reload my save, and in one other, I needed to pressure the sport closed, shedding about 10 minutes of development. I’m hopeful these bugs can be labored out with a patch on launch day, however given the semi-random nature of these items, it’s greatest to attend a bit if you need a very polished expertise.
Alan Wake 2 on PC: the decision
Remedy Entertainment
You can have two very completely different experiences in Alan Wake 2 relying on the {hardware} in your PC. The recreation is pretty secure no matter {hardware}, however it’s nonetheless demanding. For lower-end PCs and people simply assembly the minimal necessities, it’s greatest to attend for an improve or accept turning down settings. Even if the PC launch doesn’t have obvious points like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or Cities: Skylines 2, it’s nonetheless very taxing, and lower-end {hardware} will usually must accept body charges beneath 60 fps.
On the opposite hand, Alan Wake 2 is likely one of the most visually spectacular video games I’ve seen when utilizing high-end {hardware}. Path tracing and DLSS 3.5 look unbelievable, and Alan Wake 2 is likely one of the few video games we’ve seen previously few years that gives a visible payoff for enjoying on probably the most highly effective {hardware} in the marketplace. There are nonetheless some points, with texture pop-in and a handful of immersion-breaking bugs being the important thing issues, that I hope Remedy will tackle in a future replace.
So, for these with high-end {hardware}, Alan Wake 2 is one to select up, even only for the attention sweet. For lower-end and older machines, it is perhaps greatest to attend for an improve or to select up the sport on console.
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