Alan Wake 2 is one of the best-looking games on the market today. But great graphics come with heavy requirements. Paired with the sequel’s natural nicheness, this meant that, in spite of being a legitimate Game of the Year contender, Alan Wake 2 was never going to sell well, at least not right away. But that doesn’t mean Remedy Entertainment can’t give it a slight nudge.
In a bid to try and draw more players into Alan Wake 2, Remedy’s latest update has made the game more accessible to players with budget-friendly PCs. The updated requirements now allow for a broader range of PC configurations to run the game, potentially expanding its player base.
The initial system requirements for Alan Wake 2 demanded at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 or an AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU to run the game at 1080p / 30 frames per second (FPS), leaving owners of older GPUs, such as Nvidia’s GTX 10-series, unable to enjoy the game. However, the latest patch, update 1.0.16.1, has introduced optimized rendering for GPUs that lack mesh shader support, enabling the game to run on older hardware. As a result, the minimum requirements have been adjusted to require at least a GTX 1070 or an RX 5600 XT graphics card.
Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia conducted a retest of Alan Wake 2 running on GTX-10 series cards and noted a performance improvement. For instance, the GTX 1060, which is among the top five most popular GPUs according to a Steam hardware survey, now experiences fewer severe framerate drops in demanding areas, showcasing Remedy’s commitment to optimizing the gaming experience for a wider audience. In addition to supporting lower-end GPUs, the latest patch also benefits modern GPUs, with the RTX 4070 seeing a nearly 14 percent frame rate increase. Thus, the update makes Alan Wake 2 more accessible while refining the gaming experience for those who already own a copy of the game – a huge plus with Alan Wake 2 still getting at least two pieces of DLC content later this year.
Despite still not breaking even, Alan Wake 2 is still Remedy’s fastest-selling game to date, with 1.3 million units sold as of last month. This update should guarantee that more players will show interest in Alan Wake 2 now that they won’t have to upgrade their desktops just yet.
Furthermore, by lowering the system requirements for Alan Wake 2, Remedy is not only accommodating fans with older setups but also reinforcing its reputation as a developer that values its community.
