Before Alan Wake 2 came out, Remedy and NVIDIA were advertising it as a game that would feature full Path Tracing. But when the game came out, it appeared to have numerous issues. In our eyes, the game didn’t use full Path Tracing effects. We wrote about this in the past, and some people heavily criticized us. However, in its latest PC video, DigitalFoundry came to the same conclusion. DF found that Alan Wake 2 doesn’t use the full suite of Ray Tracing. So, it seems like we were right all along.
Now before continuing, I want to make it crystal clear that even with its issues, the path-traced version of Alan Wake 2 looks great on PC. However, it’s not as transformative as Portal RTX, Quake 2 RTX or even Cyberpunk 2077 with its PT Overdrive Mode. In short, you won’t be missing much if just stick with Ray Tracing. Hell, the game looks great even without Ray Tracing or Path Tracing.
In the video, Alex did a great job and did not overlook the game’s PT issues. Basically, he talked about all of the issues we raised, like the missing indirect shadows. In many parts of the game, the game seems to use a mix of rasterization and path-tracing effects. These tricks sometimes don’t work well together and can cause visual issues. But the good thing is that this mix makes the game run smoother and faster. That’s why Alan Wake 2 can use path tracing and still be playable, while something like Portal RTX is tough to run with its full path tracing mode.
Alongside the missing shadows, Alan Wake 2 has major shadow radius issues with Ray Tracing and Path Tracing. In short, you’ll see the RT/PT shadows being formed right in front of you while moving. This can be really distracting. A setting to increase the quality of these shadows would have been great.
This is why we called this “Path Tracing Lite.” It’s clear that Remedy had to make some compromises to use path tracing in the game. So, let’s hope that the developers will add an Ultra+ setting for Path Tracing in a future update.
Lastly, be sure to read our PC Performance Analysis. You can also find here our “DLSS 3.5, Ray Tracing and Path Tracing” benchmarks.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
I’m going to refund it now, unacceptable.
I will not be the victim of a scam orchestrated by soft Caucasoids.
Excellent ! 🙂
One of the many lies of this game, its own title is a lie, this wasnt Alan Wake 2, this was Saga Woke
At least Alan has a cameo.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53cbd8ff17085a326abd3fad1f4518f3b0407e0083708e5adebeffdb4389ac2b.jpg
I am watching a walkthrough of this, not only is thing a walking
simulator/movie wannabe on top they drop the ball, intentionaly, with
the race swap bs instead of doing something like south park.
At this rate there will be no alan in alan wake 3
I havent played the entire game because im finding it extremely boring and iv put it down since getting Rogue City, but the majority of the game i have played (about 6-7 hours of it) iv played as Alan Wake.
That’s weird, considering you start as saga and you get to play as Alan after the hefty 2-3 hour introduction, you’d only been playing the majority of those 6-7 hours if you’re sub-80 iq and his tutorial puzzles really took you that long before the game takes him away from Alan again back to Saga.
Or maybe he’s not a meth-head like you and likes to take his time with his games? And accusations of low IQ coming from someone who’s avatar basically screams “I’M AN XBOX FANBOI!!!” is a tad ironic. Not that, mind you, idiocy is exclusive to Xbox fanbois, it is rather the defining characteristic of any and all fanbois, regardless of their chosen product of loyalty.
God you idiots are fascinating.
You can seap between the two, but facrs never matter with you “reeeee woke” losers.
🙄 Im not sure why youre so triggered but thats quite an angry, juvenile response Mr. “if you’re sub 80-IQ” .. 🤣
i think i can live with that…its just a game guys. A game …Chill out life has much more to offer than game tech.
Absolutly but you know, be grumpy and critizise is a game too ! 😉
you should not say that ..its just a game ,i understand but saying that will allow developers to do worst .
Because of people like you spouting “is just a……” things got as bad as they are not only in games.
this is true, the evidence is in the mirrors. If that was real pt they would be 1;1 reflections, well yunno, like in real life where we have pt on max
This game does not deserve the requirements it requests, I see it almost the same as RE 2 REMAKE.
The only thing I see here from REMEDY is a terrible optimization job.
Err…WUT? Bro no way. RE2? Not even close. I am running this on a 3080Ti using Nvidia’s recommended settings, which are all highs with only post-processing effects at low, with RT off at 4K, for a steady 60fps. And it still looks way more detailed than ANY RE game, including RE4 and Village.
I mean the vegetation in the first location is just absurdly realistic, the trees, plants, shrubs etc. are better than anything I’ve seen anywhere else in a game. Even the locations in the police station and the town are extremely impressive.
Still, is there room for improvement in performance? Sure. I can see optimizations squeezing out another 10%-15% more fps. But the RE games are simply not on the same graphical tier with this one. Do a side-by-side comparison of screenshots taken from the actual games (not crappy YouTube videos), of locations and characters and you’ll see for yourself.
Game devs have been doing crack on the job for at least the past 6 years. They just don’t care about putting together a polished game anymore. My recommendation is to avoid buying these broken games for a couple of years and the industry will naturally cleanse itself.
Unfortunately the amount of stupid people will drive this practice for a very long time
Maybe for Sports game COD and GTA but for more niche games like Alan Wake it would send a message. They have already given PC gamers the middle finger with an EGS exclusive release. So they can’t complain if it bombs…
Y’know, I get it how sh***ing on EGS is fashionable these days. Afterall it has no proper review system like Steam, and installing mods is often a pain in the butt, and gamepad support is not quite as frequent as is on Steam.
There are though things that, surprise, surprise, EGS actually does better than Steam, like they have a more customer friendly return policy, and buying games actually gives you cash dollars as bonus, that you can save up to buy other games, unlike Steam’s stupid points that are only good for buying stickers, launcher cosmetics, and give “trophies” to reviewers.
On Epic you get 2-3 games for free every week and on special occasions like Christmas, Easter etc. you even get AAA titles for free. And lastly, games made with the UE are often cheaper at EGS compared to anywhere else. I for one am glad that there is someone to challenge Steam’s monopoly, because competition in any market ultimately benefits the customers.
Idiot…
It’s been fashionable to sh|t on Epic since launch as they force exclusivity while offering a terrible service.
Epic, make piracy great again.
“… they force exclusivity …”
Isn’t that something consoles have been doing from day one? With consoles, that exclusivity is locked behind a $400+ console purchase. Here? You just have to install a free launcher, you whiney li’l b****. And are you new to planet Earth, to not know how business is conducted here? There are automobile companies that keep exclusivity on life-saving safety features through copyright. There are pharmaceutical companies that keep exclusivity on life-saving drug formulas. Why? Because that is how business is done here, child. Go cry in your pillow that the toy that you want is not being sold in the shop that you like.
“…while offering terrible service.”
Name one company, in ANY field, that offers “perfect service”. There is none. You can find faults with any company and its services and label them “terrible”, rendering the term objectively entirely moot. There are some things that Steam does better. there are other things that EGS does better, which is to their credit, since they are a much newer and smaller company.
“Epic, make piracy great again.”
Sure… whatever helps you justify your petty theft of IP. You would rather play a game without any online features whatsoever, without timely bug fixes, patches and updates, and deprive the devs of that game their due payment, just to avoid installing another launcher? Wow, you really are a very “special” kind of turd, aren’t you.
I hope Epic are sending you some free butt hurt cream to go with that free launcher…
Epic, make piracy great again.
Just noticed the v.1.0.9 patch is out for the free version 🙂 Excellent service from the community once again.
“I hope Epic are sending you some free butt hurt cream to go with that free launcher…”
rofl… Sure little man, and all the while you’re the one b****ing about not being able to buy AW2 from papa Gabe. I don’t think you understand what the expression “butthurt” actually means. I guess it is asking for too much to expect basic language comprehension from a blithering troglodyte.
You appear to misunderstand. My issue with Epic is the removal of consumer choice which I circumnavigate by sailing the high seas, hence the term piracy.
The emotion within your posts does suggest that butt hurt cream is rather necessary…
Epic, make piracy great again.
“You appear to misunderstand. My issue with Epic is the removal of consumer choice…”
Yes, making some games exclusive, hence the removal of consumer choice, of being able to buy them at Steam. Now compare that to what I said earlier:
“…and all the while you’re the one b****ing about not being able to buy AW2 from papa Gabe…”. See? I’m not the one misunderstanding. It is just your lack of basic language comprehension kicking in.
“The emotion within your posts does suggest that butt hurt cream is rather necessary…”
smh… okay, first of all, it is “butthurt”, a single word, not “butt hurt”, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/butthurt
…and secondly, (now I’ll write this so even a small child can understand)
-you are the one complaining
-about a single store
-for following a business practice
-that is a norm in any capitalist market
-even for products that are far more important than toys.
-And you are so indignant by that fact
-that you believe that even committing a crime (theft of IP) is justified.
And yet you don’t see the irony of you calling others butthurt, while your own behaviour so far has been the very definition of the term.
Goodness sake, I’m genuinely starting to think I’m actually arguing with someone with some sort of a disability, like a mix of ADD and Dyslexia. Debating with someone with a mental impairment is like boxing with someone without legs… not really a fair fight. So, in the name of human decency, I really see no more point in continuing this conversation. I hope for your sake that someone who cares for you, gets you the help that you need to lead a normal life.
Oh dear, It appears the cream has a child safety cap…
Double A and retro gaming is such a way…
Double A and retro gaming is such a way…
It’s also the fault of reviewers.
1) They almost all review on Playstation, not on PC.
2) Developers know this and prefer sending out Playstation review copies, which tend to have far less issues than PC games.
3) When reviewers do encounter technical issues, they rarely dock points for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBSVwc0W4Os
It’s a well optimised decent game. The only negative is Epic’s exclusivity which is why I went with the free version.
Epic, make piracy great again.
If the game “replaced” software GI, with true hardware RT when the settings are enabled ,would be a great optimization for people using HW RT solution in the game.
Done on purpose so it doesn’t look generations ahead of the consoles.
Sad
I finally got this all installed and booted up and wow, despite the terrible perf on a low end rtx card 16gb, 6gb, etc I was bored almost instantly. I wanted more narrated twilight zone alan wake game, some lite run and gun, etc, maybe a different location too with some of the comedy involved but so far it’s a boringaf fbigatekeepers slow detective story with obnoxious case board stuff and typical terrible UI like control had. This seems like another version of control w another “FIB” ldyboy transplanted into bright falls.
Wow, MP2 one of my favs as are AW1, control was just ok, but this is a terrible falloff for remedy. They used the AW ip to get initial sales and buzz but it’s bait and switch, they did the reverse in control where they dragged poor wakey into the dlc for “buzz”. And the so called vg “journalism” community is just a bunch of mangeydogs, but I wouldn’t ever discount how low they can go w all the 9-10s, even steam isn’t too trustworthy anymore in the ai/chatgpt era. Oof. I’ve been playing cp77 and it looks better and despite the visual and other many bugs it plays smooth for me. Sooo disappointed, but yoho makes it easier lolz
Since the game can’t run with decent fps at its highest settings, who really cares. Maybe when 5090 releases it will be worth another look.
That’s going to be a long wait. First half of 2025 is the current rumor on Videocardz.
I won’t be one of the very, very few waiting for the 5090. I’m more than fine with 1440p so I’m going to see what the Ada Super lineup brings in benches and upgrade my 2070 Super. It’s time to retire it.
why is this news? lol only gullible and ignorant people would eat the marketing, full ray tracing is still only possible with render farms or tech demo with very limited scope and direction if you want to run it on real time with a single consumer GPU.
It’s just a badly optimized game like people have been saying for weeks.
I don’t play FPS, but PC gamers are the reason PC gaming is in such a horrible state.
CoD MW3 (2023) has been one of the worst reviewed games this year. IGN 4/10. Gamespot 5/10.
Guess which is the best selling game on PC right now.
Addicted Activision/Blizzard players are the most pathetic and spineless demographic in PC gaming.
COD has a loyal fan base of millions and millions of players. They buy the new COD every year at release no matter what it is generating around a half billion USD in revenue every year within days of release.
The COD fans that I have been able to get a response from over the years say they do this because they have friends that already bought the game and they don’t want to miss out playing with them. Teen peer pressure I guess.
The fact people are praising this as a “defining” game only shows how bad things are.
Forget the insanity from the usual clowns for a moment, this is a walking simulator with a so so story which has a horrible pacing and ending.
It clearly had the potential for bing something great, a “Crysis” it was touched by the insane clowns reverse midas touch though.
This is the game that runs the worst on my 1080ti
Try DXVK.
Boring game.
Coming back to this game, it’s terribly optimized for the looks at low-med it looks like RE2/3 remake level(and below those a lot too btw) and STILL stutters all over in places, the cynthia bunker is a total constant stutter fest. I get it, w a 800$+ gpu w rt,pt, FG, etc it likely looks amazing. No reason for mesh stuff req, no reason for ssd/nvme reqs either see SF disc cache mod fixes that there, 40kb. I moved it over to an nvme deleted moved a few things. So scaling is not done well here, it’s either all the tricks w consoles at 30fps or brute force it on pc. And those systems still get a lot of stutter for some.
As to the gameplay it’s really slow, and horrible UI but once you figure it out it’s just a time penalty of going to case bORed and dragging stuff around until game is happy, you can proceed; OR asking everyone around questions until all done. It’s a detective interactive novel type of game, w a little bit of AW in it. And of course the remedy cringey stuff, the music video and more is embarassing.
WAY too many cutscenes and slow boring dialogue it’s a huge skip button fest, if I want a book I won’t come to a video game and certainly not anything these tribester-brickmason-trainsy cultists put out there. I also would get a headache if I didn’t have headphones and could just take them off w the sections full of jump scare flashing video/audio it’s an awful cheap tactic. The AW sections are awful esp the city, a watery, bloom fest so hard on the eyes and awful UI and such for figuring out where what next. If I have to look up things more than a couple times to figure it out it’s bad game design, a remedy hallmark since control. And bringing the case bORed into the AW parts of “writing” the story is even more overdoing it.
The Shaniqua mulatto levels are what the whole game should have been, forest, interesting places, more combat, less very weird tv show/music video stuff overdoing it etc The bloated amount of cutscenes and music probably half the game size, sheesh just make a short movie and make it optional separate download.