Alan Wake 2 is a graphical showcase on both PC and consoles, so it was disappointing to see that the game's PS5 Pro patch left the game looking and running worse in some areas than it did on the base PS5. Fortunately, the developers at Remedy have lived up to their name with a solution to the situation: a new PS5 Pro patch that adds a switch for the problematic PSSR boost, as well as some other interesting changes and additions.
As we discussed in this week's DF Direct show, embedded below, the new patch is surprisingly comprehensive. In addition to the PSSR toggle, there's also a new Balanced graphics mode for 120Hz display users that targets a 40fps frame rate on PS5 Pro. Balanced mode is interesting as it combines the highest settings (including RT ) of quality mode with the lowest resolution of performance mode. The new patch also aims to modify settings in all modes to reduce noise, although (spoiler alert) it doesn't seem to work as we expected at the moment. We've tested the new modes and they are a welcome update for PS5 Pro owners that improve the game's presentation overall, although some areas still need improvement.
Oliver is our man on the field for this case, and he reports that the adjustments discussed in the performance mode settings do not appear to have been made. In side-by-side comparisons between the release and current versions of the game, there are no visible differences in terms of foliage, shadow quality, draw distance, etc. Image quality also appears to be similar, so if there are any adjustments to the settings, they're probably quite minor or affect different areas than what we've tested. Performance has improved, however, with around a 10 percent increase in frame rate in most of the challenging scenes we tested, bringing the game closer to 60fps.
- 0:00:00 Introduction
- 0:01:09 News 1: Switch 2 leaks describe base and magnetic connection
- 0:17:40 News 2: New Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro patch tested!
- 0:28:14 News 3: Indiana Jones lighting improved on Xbox
- 0:35:32 News 4: New Legion Go uses SteamOS
- 0:49:50 News 5: RTX 50 series leaks continue
- 1:01:35 News 6: DF Supporter Game of the Year Awards!
- 1:18:01 News 7: “Monkey Kong” comes to Nintendo eShop
- 1:25:36 Supporter Q1: After the interview with Mark Cerny, how do you think Sony will approach the PS6?
- 1:33:47 Supporter Q2: How will Project Amethyst affect Microsoft's relationship with AMD?
- 1:39:00 Supporter Q3: How will current high-end PC hardware compare to next-gen consoles?
- 1:45:01 Supporter Question 4: Why was PS3/360 game performance often so poor?
- 1:55:02 Supporter Q5: What do you think of FF7 Rebirth's PC lighting updates?
- 1:58:54 Supporter Q6: What is the most attractive next-gen game?
Elsewhere, the new patch offers some significant changes and improvements. For example, the noise we detected in reflections has been reduced or removed, suggesting changes to the denoising algorithm used here. The roughness limit for reflections may also have been changed, and some rough surfaces, such as unpolished wood, no longer show obvious reflections as they did in the previous version.
The biggest change, however, comes with the added option to toggle PSSR, which is becoming a trend for patched PS5 Pro titles. The PSSR upgrade tended to be a little better on the move, but suffered from some additional tearing and seemed less sharp in still shots, so you can now use the FSR2 enhancement if you wish. Alan Wake 2 was far from the worst looking game with PSSR enabled, but the relatively low internal resolution (864p) upscaled to 4K makes the choice of upscaler important.
In general, we recommend FSR over PSSR if you prioritize image quality in still shots, and PSSR may get a slight shake. The difference between the two modes reduces as internal resolutions increase, that is, in quality mode, where either is a perfectly cromulant choice.
Finally, that new balanced 40fps is a worthwhile addition. It gives you hardware RT from quality mode at a noticeably higher frame rate (after all, 40fps is exactly halfway between 30fps and 60fps in terms of milliseconds per frame) and performs well in our tests with a locked refresh rate of 40 fps. If you're curious to see the more realistic ray-traced images in Quality mode but don't want to sacrifice visual fluidity and input latency to do so, this is worth experimenting with.
So overall, the new patch leaves Alan Wake 2 in a good place on PS5 Pro, with three modes that are reasonable options; If you're unsure, we suggest starting with performance mode and seeing how it goes. If you want sharper image quality, quality mode is available; If you want hardware RT, then balanced mode is a good option.
Elsewhere on DF Direct, we cover the latest Switch 2 leaks, including magnetically attached controllers and an improved dock, and lighting quality improvements in Indiana Jones on Xbox consoles, among other topics.
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However, with 2024 coming to a close, I'd like to focus on some of the fan questions we received in our final DF Direct this year, with some viewers writing in to ask about next-gen consoles. from our interview with Mark Cerny and the announcement of Sony's Amethyst partnership with AMD.
Supporter Someguyperson wanted to know if Cerny's answers “added more credibility to adding 3D V-Cache to the PS6,” while DF Discord member DudleyTheGentleman asked if Sony had any significant ability to customize the hardware designs of AMD given its extremely long delivery times and whether Sony's “traditional backwards compatibility approach” could limit how progressive the PS6 APU could be.
Both are interesting questions worth discussing. For our money, 3D V-Cache would definitely speed up a potential PlayStation 6, but it might be too expensive to justify in terms of production costs, die area, and overall complexity. Consoles are generally produced to hit a mainstream price point, so adopting a novel APU design would have to have a big payoff and simplify or reduce the cost of the design elsewhere to have any chance of inclusion.
Likewise, we've only seen relatively minor changes to AMD APUs for PlayStation consoles so far – for example, the PS5 Pro reuses existing shader hardware for PSSR instead of having new dedicated silicon. And Sony will certainly have to ensure backwards compatibility on any PS6 console, given that people's digital libraries are becoming more valuable and comprehensive than ever as disc drives have become an optional add-on on consoles. most recent. The PS6's design may rely on similar methods, creating new features from existing hardware, but AMD's UDNA architecture announcements and various rumors suggest there may also be some major surprises in store.
We'll leave things there for now, but from all of us at Digital Foundry, thank you for reading, watching and supporting in 2024. We still have videos scheduled to go live over the festive period, so stay tuned and we'll see. Back properly in 2025 with what looks like an extremely interesting CES!