Remedy Entertainment’s communications director recently confirmed that Alan Wake 2 would feature a Performance Mode at launch on consoles (except the Xbox Series S), giving players the option to play the game at 60 frames per second with visual cutbacks to accommodate the higher frame rate. Now, in an interview with IGN, Puha has provided further details on what to expect.
Interestingly enough, though Alan Wake 2 won’t have a Performance Mode on the Xbox Series S, it was during the process of optimizing the game for the weaker Xbox consoles – with the bulk of the work starting in May earlier this year – that the development team was able to find ways to implement a “good” Performance Mode that, according to Puha, “mostly” runs at 60 FPS.
“We started back in May, really, to work on Series S heavily,” Puha said. “We cut back on the memory use, and that was super-painful, but all that work has helped us to kind of get to a good Performance Mode which mostly runs at 60 [frames per second], especially in the Dark Place, because that’s just a lot easier.”
Puha went on to add that though the Performance Mode is a good option, Remedy Entertainment’s primary focus was on ensuring that on default settings, Alan Wake 2 runs at a “rock-solid” 30 frames per second while also maintaining the highest possible image quality and fidelity.
“In the end, we were able to pull it off, but really, the main work has been that it’s got to be a rock-solid 30 [frames per second],” he said. “That’s been what we’ve tested, that’s what QA and everybody has been testing, that it’s got to be a super-solid 30.
“I’m a big Performance Mode guy, but I’ve mostly only played Alan Wake 2 at 30, because it’s just so smooth and the visuals do look incredible. But I do also like Performance Mode, and I’m glad it’s in there.”
Alan Wake 2 launches on October 27 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
