Alan Wake 2

Watched some reviews. Agree it looks fantastic, especially atmospheric etc. I just don't really do supernatural games like that. I'd love a more puzzle focused game with that level of graphical fidelity.
 
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I might get this as watching more of the gameplay and seeing reviews, does sound good.

What settings and fps are people with 3080 getting? Particularly at 3440x1440?

Everything maxed out, except for motion blur and film grain, using full path tracing and RR, 3440x1440 DLSS Ultra Performance {:p}

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Looks great.
 
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Where is your video?
I re-recorded it as wasn't happy with the level of gameplay variations shown, I later got to the Watery town bit and switched to Alan Wake and did his musical (!!!!) and that showed a good variation all round of combat, visuals, gameplay and everything so am happy with that. Now to commentary over it and upload :D

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Honestly the musical chapter is something else, visually absolutely stunning but also one of the weirdest things I have ever experienced in a game, and the tune ABSOLUTELY SLAP! Those Old Gods of Asgard are awesome lol. I'd say this bit was a greater performance both visually and musically than the Phantom Liberty one when Song and Reed dress up to the event.

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And Watery itself is rather atmospheric:
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Edit*
I have come across a few graphical glitches too, like an all blacked out area that randomly appeared:

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I'm also now playing with Frame Gen off, have noticed that there's some mouse camera panning judder very similar to how Last of Us used to have before it was patched out, but only when Frame Gen is enabled. It's not major and only noticeable if you slowly pan the camera side to side. For me it's enough to be an annoyance given how smooth everything else is though so have kept it off, yeah I get less than 100fps in most areas on DLSS Quality, but it's still well over 60 so this is fine.
 
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Now that I've made it to the city streets as Alan, the debris and clutter is rather beautiful.Comparison of Ray Traced vs Path Traced vs Raster at 3440x1440, DLSS Quality, Ray Reconstruction ON, Frame Gen OFF and all other max manually set settings:

https://imgsli.com/MjE2OTQ5
^ There is a 32fps difference between Ray Traced and Rastered. The visual difference is essentially zero.
^ There is a 47fps difference between Rastered and Path Traced. There is a visual difference, especially with shadows. Some might call it minimal/subtle, but it is there.

:cool:

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I have noticed a few quirks with the rendering, there is black crush but only in certain distances, like when you get too close to a dark corner, black crush sets in , otherwise the colour grade has a faded black tone much like how Cyberpunk used to have that faded black look and still does but minimal. This feels intentional to look cinematic like a movie, not sure if I like it or not because I'm on OLED, so want inky blacks at all times, not 50% of the time.

I'm also doing a commentary video comparing the path tracing features against Cyberpunk since both games are "full ray tracing" and use RR. I've already noted some differences earlier, so just want to expand on that as I do think that Cyberpunk does it better due to the nature of the colour grading on AW2 being seemingly deliberate and as a result not fully playing ball with how colour is represented in some scenes, especially indoors and on NPC faces.

As well as the GI of course.

Edit*
Oh yeah, HDR does work and looks good, but it says it's maxing out at 500 nits whereas my screen is capable of 1060 nits. Other games detect 1000 nits fine like Cyberpunk but the HDR brightness doesn't go above 500 on the slider in AW2 so this must be a bug. Enabling HDR mode in-game when NOT in HDR mode in Windows does trigger the HDR mode in Windows to enable, whic is nice. It does not however revert back to SDR mode when you exit the game, not nice.
What gamma setting are you using, that can make a significant difference to the black levels.
 
It's at 2.2, I've also tried all the other modes, this is not a settings issue, this is a design choice by Remedy and it's really obvious when that is the case in any game.
 
Sounds like you haven't played the 2 DLC's for AW1 then nor Controls last DLC which Alan Wake features in?

In the DLC's he's literally in rehab/therapy sitting down explaining things to a doctor/shrink and they're talking about his drug addiction and how it got worse and worse to the point he started taking things out more aggressively on his gf and friends.

Then it gets to the point where he doesn't know wether this is happening or not, due to his paranoia and excessive drug use and being such a narcissist!

Where he is so full of himself he refuses to accept this and thus it drives him madder and madder along with what he's writing, or thinking he's wrote/is/isn't reality.
This then triggers loads of trippy sequences which occur at the rehab/doctors place in between what's actually occurring with the shrink conversation. Thus confusing him further and further to what's reality.

I've played the lot, including Alan Wake Remastered and the DLCs a few weeks ago. There's simply no suggestion at all any of it is drug-related and there's never any mention of it. The whole point of the game is that the Dark Presence is an unexplained supernatural presence in Bright Falls dating back decades or more, and that's what causes Wake's hallucinations and ultimately traps him; it's the same thing that got Thomas Zane (the man in the diving suit). The fact that the game ties in with Control demonstrates it's not actually of his own manifestation.
 
I've played the lot, including Alan Wake Remastered and the DLCs a few weeks ago. There's simply no suggestion at all any of it is drug-related and there's never any mention of it. The whole point of the game is that the Dark Presence is an unexplained supernatural presence in Bright Falls dating back decades or more, and that's what causes Wake's hallucinations and ultimately traps him; it's the same thing that got Thomas Zane (the man in the diving suit). The fact that the game ties in with Control demonstrates it's not actually of his own manifestation.
You must have a bad memory then. As the booze and drugs are one of the reasons he's so nasty/snappy to people especially his girlfriend and pushes people away. And why he is always forgetting stuff, where he gets blind drunk when stressed and or writing, and ends up having no idea what's happened and finding out he's upset his missus the next day/not done what he said he would do.

Because he is obsessed with himself, is a major narcissist, he denies this for ages until he eventually speaks to a shrink. He literally sits down with the shrink and then eventually admits to it.
Then there's a sequence where he re-lives this but as fantasy and then it goes all trippy/nightmare spec. I cannot believe you don't remember this!

Regarding Control, the AWE expansion clearly explains how the Altered World Events (AWE) are linked to Bright Falls and the other locations etc etc... So no it isn't just all in Alan's Head, hence why the FBC are investigating things in AW2 in reality, not in AW's head...

THUS it isn't all in AW's head is it! It's a AWE occurring and causing real things to happen! Thus making it even more confusing for AW, then pair that with his heavy drinking and later drug abuse he admits to in the DLC's...

For example a review of The Foundation DLC for Control said the following:
"This isn’t to say that AWE isn’t for Control fans who haven’t played Alan Wake, though. Yes, it provides a satisfying amount of extra detail and context to those wanting more Alan Wake in their lives, but it does so without ever alienating those who aren’t familiar. While the thriller writer himself may not appear as much as I’d wished for, there’s a healthy amount of extra reading to be done in the form of collectibles that expands on his old adventures in the town of Bright Falls. These range from interviews with residents to case files about Cauldron Lake and the Altered World Events that took place there. There’s also plenty that don’t relate to the events of Alan Wake, though, including more background information to be found out about the Bureau and some delightfully bizarre correspondence that frankly could only be found in Control."
 
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I guess Sam Lake does too, because he forgot to mention the drugs and alcohol abuse that apparently made up such a pivotal part of the story that no plot or character synopsis anywhere mentions them. :p
So I just wrote that part of the game, just like the scene when him and his agent/best friend get steaming in that house they've broken into on the farm, and black out, just like when he argues with his missus then wakes up in the flat the next morning and she's gone and he has no recollection...
Just like that review I pasted is lying about the Federal Bureau of Control and the Hiss causing abnormalities in Bright Falls etc, I made that up too, and hired a journo to write a lying review didn't I.

I don't know why you're intent on making out I'm lying? I've listed countless bit's that have happened. I cannot be bothered to dispute this anymore. We'll just agree to disagree this is pointless carrying on.
 
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I don't know why you're intent on making out I'm lying? I've listed countless bit's that have happened. I cannot be bothered to dispute this anymore. We'll just agree to disagree this is pointless carrying on.

I haven't accused you of lying, I think you're perhaps just mistaken or are putting too much emphasis on some minor events or themes in the game. Alan's personality and history absolutely feed into it (as is evident from how Mr Scratch manifests as part of his ego) but the events of the game were never a result of Alan "tripping balls"; the game might not explain everything that happens but it's clear on the point that all hallucinations and experiences he has are due to the Dark Presence manifesting itself, as opposed to it being the consequence of drug abuse.

I think we're both better off just playing the new game than bickering over the old one.
 
I haven't accused you of lying, I think you're perhaps just mistaken or are putting too much emphasis on some minor events or themes in the game. Alan's personality and history absolutely feed into it (as is evident from how Mr Scratch manifests as part of his ego) but the events of the game were never a result of Alan "tripping balls"; the game might not explain everything that happens but it's clear on the point that all hallucinations and experiences he has are due to the Dark Presence manifesting itself, as opposed to it being the consequence of drug abuse.

I think we're both better off just playing the new game than bickering over the old one.
Yeah man I get what you're saying.

I think it's the dark presence from the AWE Control related things as shown in The Foundation DLC for Control...
However I think he in general was still not a very nice guy to his missus/best friend, as is evident from how aggressive he gets and then some of those times he's got drunk and blacked out and woke up and not remembered what was going on/what'd happened before.

Like that scene in the flat for example. And then he snaps at his missus over nothing and upsets her Then he realises after it's too late, so then pair that with the AWE thing going on that makes it even harder for him to know.

I wasn't saying it's solely cause he's a messhead, I was just saying that does contribute to a lot of his anger where he's pressuring himself to write this new book and everyone else keeps asking, so it gets to the point where he drinks/takes drugs as he mentioned to that shrink, but it isn't the sole reason no :)

All I'm saying is once you add that to the mix whilst crazy stuff is or isn't going on be it in his head or the AWE causing it, it's going to make his life even more hectic and make him trip out more in multiple ways, isn't it :)

TLDR take a narcissistic self absorbed perfectionist, put them under pressure, they end up taking it out on everyone due to their god complex, add booze/drugs to that, they become even more of a nightmare/unstable... Add that to crazy stuff going on due to the HISS or AWE's from Control, and you have a mad set of events.

Which is why they've deliberately chosen mixing bits that make you and AW wonder whether it's him imagining it/the booze talking/can't remember due to being tired/drunk/on something/or the AWE/or a combo of all of them, which makes it nice and confusing/hectic in a good way and makes the plot more hectic/confusing/intense - which is what I believe they were going for.

Anyways, the 2nd game is pretty decent. The engine/controls seem to behave very nicely unlike the original's mechanics, it feels way less linear and boring too, and the story for once believable adult, vs B movie/P take grade/bollywood/written by someone doing a Pron parody :p
 
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Quick test done, playing with a 4090 at 3440x1440, Frame Gen off, Manual maximum settings, Max path tracing, DLSS Quality, Ray Reconstruction on - Level tested on: Watery where the break room is, run around from break room outside, loop round back into break room.

Rbar on:
30-10-2023, 14:45:34 AlanWake2.exe benchmark completed, 2771 frames rendered in 35.344 s
  • Average framerate : 78.4 FPS
  • Minimum framerate : 57.9 FPS
  • Maximum framerate : 89.7 FPS
  • 1% low framerate : 53.7 FPS
  • 0.1% low framerate : 42.5 FPS
Rbar off:
30-10-2023, 14:51:40 AlanWake2.exe benchmark completed, 2712 frames rendered in 34.656 s
  • Average framerate : 78.2 FPS
  • Minimum framerate : 61.5 FPS
  • Maximum framerate : 91.6 FPS
  • % low framerate : 47.4 FPS
  • 0.1% low framerate : 26.0 FPS
So whilst the minimum fps is slightly higher, the % lowers are noticeably lower, and the map loads slower too with a momentary black screen right after you press the map button.
There is a reason why Nvidia didn't enable this by default.
 
Watched some reviews. Agree it looks fantastic, especially atmospheric etc. I just don't really do supernatural games like that. I'd love a more puzzle focused game with that level of graphical fidelity.

Agreed. Not a fan of supernatural stuff. It's what I enjoyed least about Tormented Souls.

And yes, puzzles are cool. Resi style. Not too hard, but not easy either.
 
Nah, these games are not exactly scary anyway. Only thing that ever gets me a little is jump scares.

Amnesia games were scarier as I recall.
 
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