Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 was much-awaited by fans. The first Stephen King-inspired game was a cerebral jaunt through the dark recesses of a writer’s mind as he tried to combat forces far larger than himself.
The sequel, however, doesn’t always evoke the same sense of lovecraftian dread as the first. This was accompanied by a laundry list of technical issues experienced on PC. However, Remedy may be trying to turn things around with its latest patch.
Remedy Announced Massive Patch for Alan Wake 2 on PC
The announcement comes from Digital Foundry, which tested the new patch set to launch for the game. It claims the update will offer improved performance for GTX 10-series Pascal GPUs. The post also showed test footage, with the pre-patch build putting out 28.0 frames per second, while after the patch that number reached as high as 59 FPS.
Alan Wake 2 PC is due a big upgrade this week, delivering vastly improved perf for GTX 10-series Pascal GPUs – and we've tested it. @Dachsjaeger revisits the game to assess optimisations over time – and the benefits to 10-series users with the new patch: https://t.co/76cX36BOlV pic.twitter.com/UqKqVQuIny
— Digital Foundry (@digitalfoundry) March 3, 2024
Remedy retweeted the post, claiming the patch would be available later this week. It states the patch has now reduced the minimum specs for Alan Wake 2 to GeForce GTX 1070 and Radeon RX 5600 XT. This should come as great news for PC players, as the long list of issues affecting the game was making it nearly unplayable.
Horror games rely entirely on atmosphere and immersion to deliver the full experience. Texture issues, frame rate drops, stuttering, and in-game bugs all pull the player out of the moment. After all, things can’t feel super tense if you see a chair half-clipped into a wall or floating at head height by the player.
The Alan Wake subreddit is also filled with criticisms about the game, from the story beats to the technical issues some are facing. While the issues may not be numerous, the ones that are present hamper the gameplay.
Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 Fix Needs to Work for the Studio to Get Back Into PC Players’ Good Graces
The studio has been known to release consistently good games, such as Quantum Break and Control, which came after the first Alan Wake. That’s why it’s disappointing to see the state of Alan Wake 2 on PC. While the studio can’t fix the issues with the narrative and scares, it needs to offer an uninterrupted game to get back into the good graces of PC players.
The major concern for PC players was the high minimum requirements of the game. The Alan Wake sequel is filled with beautiful visuals, and to truly enjoy the atmosphere, you need a decently equipped system. You can run it at the lowest possible settings and have an acceptable experience, but that’s no way to play a horror game such as this.
With the latest patch fixing this minimum requirement issue, we can expect to see even more people purchase the game. However, unless the patch also addresses the other issues, we will see only an increase in the number of complaints regarding the game.
If you are playing on PC, would you buy the Alan Wake sequel once the patch drops? Let us know in the comments.
