Remedy Entertainment communications director Thomas Puha recently announced that Alan Wake 2 would have a performance mode, despite the game being designed as a 30 FPS experience. At the time, Puha didn’t give any further detail, but he just revealed more information that has fans cautiously optimistic.
In a recent tech interview with IGN, Puha revealed that the upcoming survival horror game will receive a performance mode for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S that “mostly runs at 60 frames per second.” Puha also claimed that in order to get the performance mode working, the development team “cut back on the memory use”, which “was super painful.”
He also said the frame rate would be consistent “especially in the Dark Place, because that’s just a lot easier.” Puha claimed the performance will “mostly” be 60 FPS, especially during Dark Place sections, suggesting the game likely won’t have the stable 60 FPS that players have come to expect from modern releases.
Puha also reiterated that while players are free to use performance mode, the game was built for a solid 30 FPS experience and that “really, the main work has been that it’s got to be a rock-solid 30.”
It’s also worth mentioning that performance mode will not be supported on Xbox Series S despite Puha claiming the team was working heavily to optimize the game for that console.
While we know Alan Wake 2 will have a dedicated performance mode on consoles, we won’t know how consistent or reliable it will be until it releases on Oct. 27 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
