Alan Wake 2 PC - Rasterisation Optimised Settings Breakdown - Is It Really THAT Demanding?

[@BlindTrustProject]

I love the render quality of the northlight engine. This prove that the industry need more variety of 3D engine and not just UE 5. Kudos Remedy!

[@twocityfoodies8476]

Damn right...last generation was plagued by UE4 fatigue. Every game eventually looked the same and with the same flaws over and over again. Hopefully developers take inspiration from Remedy or even developers like Guerilla, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Square, etc that you can make your own engine still in 2023.

[@KefazX]

I really hope Remedy will get the praise they deserve for it, and that it keeps being economically viable for them to continue using in-house tech. Even though studios like CD Project Red have had issues with their own engines, it's still sad when they abandon their tech for UE.

[@mattengland653]

Northlight has received a massive influx of cash, resources and overhauls since 2019s control. It was good then but it is a world class engine now. As good as UE5

[@deathtrooper2048]

​@@KefazXNah, all of their games are trainwrecks on the technical side, especially on console.

[@baronsengir187]

And somehow they managed Frame Generation with vsync. At least it looks like it in game. Where Cyberpunk still struggles there. Constant breaks in image if you do not have G or Freesync

[@lern2swim]

I actually really like this format of using a console version to establish a baseline for optimizing pc settings.

[@brewski535]

Yeah, the developers have already done the hard work balancing IQ and performance, so why not copy them? The only big difference is RT performance, particularly on the Nvidia side. Oh, and also Texture filtering can almost always be turned up on PC for whatever reason, maybe it's the shared RAM pool.

[@hallyuniverse]

@@brewski535 Yeah it feels like the Ray Tracing/Path Tracing was only meant to work optimally on 40-series Nvidia cards. Seems like they intentionally wanted it to only be used alongside DLSS/DLAA and Frame Generation and they optimized it towards that, so AMD cards owners aren't really going to be able to enjoy the feature unless they have a top of the line card (and even then I doubt they'd be able to get good FPS beyond 1080p).

[@jegeroel]

@@brewski535 Memory Bandwidth.

[@aladdin8623]

​@@hallyuniverseWhat i really don't understand in regards of better performance for a wider range of gpus, is the lack of RTAO as an option besides Path Tracing. RTAO is the most performant rt feature of all and yet very impactful on visual quality. It even runs on a GTX 1060 without any rtx hardware at all per compute shaders. Instead remedy opted for sh..y screen space ao with all the terrible issues like artifacts around objects, vanishing at the edges and lights leaking. RTAO could have really helped a lot of gamers. It is even already implemented in the graphics engine as a final step after 1 to 3 light bounces in the path tracing pipeline.

[@memoli801]

Dont have the game yet but I would lower the rays or bounces first and than think about AO. This game reminds me on Witcher3 s HaireWorks.

[@Volker_A4]

The editing is so fun in this video. Can really feel the Remedy love.

[@samstrolia]

It's great that DF covers this stuff, as it will help differentiate the "unoptimized" from the "demanding" titles. Nice work!

[@SaithMasu12]

The average Gamer will never understand the difference between those 2 and will always blame the developer before he even upgrades the driver. Thank god this game isnt released on steam. Can you imagine the outrage by 2060 rtx users that cannot run this game in 16k 480 fps?

[@samstrolia]

@@SaithMasu12 lmao I guess it's probably better for those people to stick to console since it's clearly the "smarter not harder" was to play these newer titles, hit start and it just works most of the time. Especially since it seems like most of these new titles are not given much thought when getting ported to PC

[@KvltKommando]

nah, this game's shit while not looking noticeably better than anything else, just like Control. Remedy has done nothing of note after Max Payne, they make the equivalent of a Netflix show that gets cancelled after 1 season, and they've done that 3 games in a row, really I should say they have done nothing of note since they released Max Payne 2 in 2003, so about two decades worth of completely forgettable games.

[@samstrolia]

@@KvltKommando 😂 the Netflix analogy

[@johnny2598]

AW2 having DLSS & FSR as mandatory really unveils its optimization issues. Also the "smart devs" decided to lock out everyone with no AVX2 instructions . Maybe a patch will solve the issue tho.. as this happened with CP2077 they fixed it eventually. The point is : okay make tour game visually appealing but also include a potato pc setting for the poorest of gamers. You are having less sales with these sh@ty practice. Also a big turnoff is the Epic Store deal. Do you know how many have pirated the game just to not buy it on Epic ?

[@matthewjalovick]

Thank God for Digital Foundry. I try to subscribe to smaller channels doing tech/gaming but mannn in the lead up to this game they all dogpiled onto the recommended settings… the game looks PHENOMENAL and yet you’d think it was an early Xbox One title if you watched their videos or read any comments. Good grief. Upscaling is a net positive all around and yet it’s used as an excuse to criticize hard working devs. Jeez people.

[@TiagoWendel]

Loved the Control reference on beginning of the video! Nice work as always.

[@andreashofbauer2790]

Love how Alex is transforming his voice in between the video several times! Such a cool skill!

[@8Paul7]

seriously it was like a different person

[@HoroJoga]

I really thought it was a different person until the usual german greeting at the ending

[@takempf]

It sounds like someone else re-recorded lines and used an AI to try and imitate his voice

[@mattyfidful]

Honestly the voice thing is frying my brain, he suddenly sounds like a different American dude

[@Gaboou]

I was also quite perplexed by this change! 😅 He might be using a different microphone. In my opinion he sounds better in the second half. 🤓

[@Asian_Import]

It's crazy how the gap between low and ultra settings has gotten so much smaller over the years. I remember when low settings would fundamentally change the look and feel of a game, almost like you were playing something completely different. Now it's just slightly less-detailed and sharp, but still pretty much the same. Most of the time you can't see a difference without screenshotting and scrutinizing.

[@pobbityboppity1110]

Exactly. It cleans up the flaws but that cleaning up is expensive. Looks good everywhere!

[@MrVoland44]

which also makea you wonder such big perfomance hit...

[@hrkljus]

"I remember when low settings would fundamentally change the look and feel of a game" That's what low is supposed to do in order for games to be playable on a much wider set of hardware. Low looking good is not a good thing when there's only a 20% difference in performance compared to ultra

[@HunterTracks]

I do not care about graphical fidelity nearly as much as I do about games being playable at 60 FPS, and I suspect that most people do, too. To that end, I'd much rather have low settings that look like crap but are comfortably playable on my crap-tier system, than having low settings look gorgeous but being relegated to playing the game on KZbin.

[@Bulsara777]

@@hrkljusWell, game developers could lower the graphics so much that the game would become a PS2 potato fest, would be playable in any PC, but at the expense of artistic expression and art direction. Remedy believes that a certain level of realism is necessary for the game to be immersive, that's why the low settings are still pretty. But you can wait for modders to lower the graphics beyond Remedy's presets if you want.

[@selohcin]

Digital Foundry is simply irreplaceable. No one else on the internet makes this kind of content. Good job, Alex.

[@destroyermaker]

Hardware Unboxed does

[@selohcin]

@@destroyermaker No, Hardware Unboxed does not meticulously inspect console graphics settings and compare them against the PC's settings.

[@KarlDag]

​@@destroyermakerabsolutely not. They do benchmarks with everything at ultra settings and then whine.

[@KarlDag]

@@garrusvakarian8709 sure, they made that video, then they review mid and low end GPUs at ultra settings and cry foul. Those two guys are full of themselves

[@simonrockstream]

no. lmfao@@destroyermaker

[@Sabbalab92]

I understand the point you are making in this video, but that doesn't change the fact that the minimum system requirements are quite high. Yes, the game looks spectacular even on Low, that's not the point. Instead of getting mad at Remedy for misleading system requirements, you are mad at everyone for trusting Remedy when they said that the requirements are THIS high. Not only that, but the majority of PC gamers at the moment do not have a 2070 or higher. I myself only have a 1660 Ti. I plan on upgrading after Christmas, but that's not the point. The people who are upset at these high requirements aren't wrong to be upset.

[@TheT0nedude]

The 1660ti has the mesh API, no upgrades needed.

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

At 5:00 Alex left the house and screamed into the wind for an hour before coming back to record the rest

[@Shieftain]

lol yeah, I was going to say that it sounds like he hit puberty at that point and his voice changed. Realistically speaking, I think he's just under the weather. I caught a cold earlier this week and my voice has been deeper than usual. He'll likely go back to his old self as soon as it clears up.

[@moustiboy]

The control intro editing was stellar !

[@davidd.6448]

They absolutely nailed it

[@Evaquiel]

3:00 Alex voice gets deeper haha, cleary recording on a different day. Masterful video and loved the format ( i don't even play on PC ).

[@lovac_hunt]

This video should be recommended to everyone. It's such a detailed analysis of the game's graphical settings that needs to be seen by every PC players who are planning on playing the game

[@Silvar55x]

Not to people who can't stomach horror... :-/

[@DavidAlfredoGuisado]

But there's no discussion on the different ray-tracing options 😢

[@parthkaushik2165]

@@DavidAlfredoGuisado This was just a preview of how scalable the game is and the kind of misleading spec requirements from Remedy. We will get a more in depth analysis for PC probably next week. DF never disappoints! 😄

[@wanshurst2416]

@@DavidAlfredoGuisado turn it off. raytracing in this game is basically useless.

[@mcgarnacle21]

@@DavidAlfredoGuisado Alex said in the video he'll be covering ray and path tracing next week.

[@sleeplessindefatigable6385]

I seriously love The Board calling in for this one. I think a lot of the frustration online stems from the recent crop of games that look alright but run poorly on PC, like Jedi Survivor, Sporfoken and Immortals of Aveum, mixed with the poor state of new GPU releases and the looming notion that we're probably going to be waiting until 2025 for new GPUs. I'm glad Remedy managed to release this game in good shape, and what I've seen says that its performance even on an RX6600 is solid, given how brutal a workout it is.

[@pneumonoultramicroscopicsi4065]

Immortals of aveum uses lumen and nanite that's why it's intensive

[@ThunderingRoar]

The amount of comments I've seen of people calling AW2 devs "lazy" for apparently not optimizing their game is mind boggling. Meanwhile its one of the only games on the market that supports mesh shading, you know, a very modern optimization technique

[@jcm2789]

I hope my RX 480 can run Alan wake 2 😢

[@monochrony]

Upvote just for "Sporfoken"

[@amirhb7531]

Finally a comment with actual thought behind it

[@HydroTRI]

Love your PC videos. Hope to see them more consistently, this is the best place to get info on how to expect a game to run.

[@mandrews6282]

This game actually looks like a next gen experience. The world detail and lighting are next level. I can’t even imagine what games in the future will look like. Every gen we think we’re hitting the peak, and every gen it gets pushed further. A few hours in and this game is insane. Definitely in for a ride with this one.

[@ni9274]

And every gen it gets harder for normal people to even have a chance to play these games

[@RayzaNC]

@@ni9274Get a console then, you want the best looking game ever maxed out you will need to pay for it.

[@MrVoland44]

​​@@ni9274wdym? console market getting bigger and bigger with each gen

[@mateusbarao1761]

Control 2 is going to melt eyeballs

[@TheKain202]

@@ni9274 This is completely normal. It was the last decade that was the aberration due to Ps4 and X1 launching EXTREMELY underpowered for their time, and then games being held back for sake of cross-gen for a few years of this gen too. Games stagnated, due to being shackled to Ps4/X1 2011 era laptop tier hardware, and so did the requirements, luring people who never got to experience a proper generational leap into a false sense of security. Back in the 00's, games were putting GPU's of the previous generation in their grave, sometimes - they even pulverized the contemporary generation, like the famous Crysis. Post like these are, no offense - "how to tell me you got into PC gaming in the last decade, without telling me you got into PC gaming in the last decade" in a nutshell.

[@thattonytuna]

I think we just got so used to high and ultra settings on mid-range gpus because low settings were equivalent to PS3/360 games for so long.

[@Ward413]

Even PS4 era games if you think about it. The CPU in the PS4/Xbox One was outdated the day it released. I can remember several games where the lowest graphical settings you could choose on PC was still higher than the settings used on PS4/Xbox One; that is to say, the console versions were running custom settings unique to the consoles that were even lower than low. I think Red Dead 2 was one of these games. But because this current gen of consoles has some really solid hardware, “low” is the new medium. If that makes sense. So your comment rings true for sure even for more recent games.

[@InnuendoXP]

What's incredible to me is how many people are complaining that GPUs which are older than the consoles (& 4-5 years old at that), aren't able to effectively run games which were designed for the consoles. As if this should be something anyone should expect? That's never been a reasonable expectation! An RX7600 is $250 new, it's not like PC hardware is dangling out of reach in the distant sky! And those trying to make it a class issue, give me a break. PC gaming has always been more expensive, and consoles are there as they always were. Someone who wants to be buying new AAA games day 1 on release, but the cost of a midrange GPU upgrade 4 years later is too much, probably needs to pick a lane!

[@johnny2598]

And what's bad about it ? Let more people enjoy and be able to buy the game. I won't upgrade my pc just for 1-2 games when others are trash and not worth anyway. Stop with these consumerism comments. Think about us poor bastards who can't afford a 4090 .

[@Ward413]

@@johnny2598 Well the alternative is to just play the newer games on console since you can get a pretty quality presentation on the current gen consoles these days. If you want graphical quality above the current gen consoles on PC, it’s going to cost you. These new consoles aren’t like last gen where games were releasing at 900p with sub 30fps performance and incredibly low graphical settings. That’s why I own both a PS5 and a gaming PC but their rolls have reversed every since the release of current gen. Prior to PS5, I’d use my PC for the superior graphics/performance since it shat on my PS4 Pro. But now my PS5 kicks my PC’s dick in so I use the console for new games for the best experience and my PC for last gen titles, especially since Sony has terrible backwards compatibility support as you get zero benefit playing last gen games on PS5 unless the devs release a patch. And even then it’s a toss up.

[@SWOTHDRA]

True

[@speedracer2please]

I admit, I was pretty offended at the idea of 1080p/medium on my RTX 3070. Thank you for entertainingly setting me straight! The steam deck is also making me realize that 'low' on some games still looks pretty great these days.

[@1GTX1]

They recommended 540p medium for rtx3070, you can also see it in this video. The fact that it can run at 1080p native without problems means that people who complained about requirements were right. 540p looks bad, but Digital Foundry can't say it for some reason, and that requirements were silly and misinformation, to promote 40 series cards.

[@SaithMasu12]

at least you are not one of those bots roaming arround the steam forum and complain why a new next gen game isnt running great on 10 year old hardware, which i kid you not is a common thing these days.

[@gotworc]

​@@SaithMasu12most people's PCs are less powerful than the current consoles which most games are going to be optimized for now. Not shocking that these games don't run well on their systems lmao.

[@ActNasty5]

@@1GTX1games running good for me on medium preset 4k dlss quality on my 3080

[@speedracer2please]

@@gotworc the Series S is somewhere around the power of a GTX 1650, the hardware floor of this generation shouldn't be that high

[@TimTam69420]

Something to note that I've not seen anyone discuss - Turning the "Global Reflections" setting to OFF will dramatically reduce the distracting fizzy sparkly effect you see on reflective surfaces. Obviously you lose reflections from objects not in screen space, but I consider it a massive visual improvement if you are running at a scaled resolution and saves GPU performance to boot.

[@eisregenhaha]

I would prefer the sizzling anyway, turning reflections off looks horrible and very weird and destroys immersion in the woods with the puddles and all, even the sizzling doesnt do that

[@Androktasie]

I'm loving the use of Perfect Dark's OST backing this video

[@TexelGuy]

The fact that the game uses ray tracing (a more cut down version, but demanding nonetheless) even when the PC "ray tracing" options are turned off explain a lot about why the game is so demanding, and also why it looks incredibly good at that "low" preset. A lot of people probably thought the game was 100% rasterized without the RT preset when they saw the system requirements table split into a section with "Ray Tracing" vs one without, when in reality even the lowest settings have some form of ray tracing enabled by default.

[@Eternalduoae]

The problem here is that it was never explained. So, the requirements are just put out there without any communication. What annoyed me a little was the condescending attitude some people had (of course they had really access to the game code). Instead of just explaining this or saying nothing, they were pretty dismissive of the concerns without any justification. Sure, NDAs... but then don't say anything because you can't present anything. Honestly, though. I think it is a shame there is no fall-back for mesh shaders like there is for RT. RX 5000 is not an ancient piece of hardware!

[@josecangrejo3086]

It does not clarify what kind of alternative ray tracing you are using( SDFGI, Voxel Tracing, SSGI) you are using, it may simply be lying to justify the poor performance. Lineman said he was using GI backed.

[@KillahMate]

@@Eternalduoae But those people wanted to tell everyone as much as they were allowed. They're under NDA so they can't say 'the game runs fine and looks good'. They can only say 'you don't need to worry about it' or stuff like that. Regarding mesh shader fallbacks - well there _is_ a fallback. If they hadn't implemented a vertex shader path for this, the game would just crash on a GTX1080 or any other GPU without mesh shaders. But the fallback can't give good _performance_ because if they could have good performance without mesh shaders then they wouldn't need mesh shaders.

[@niks660097]

@@josecangrejo3086 didn't df video on ps5 aw2 explained they are using SDF for specular lighting, lighting dynamic objects and reflections, that's literally software ray tracing..

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

yeah my 5800x RX 6800 at high preset without FSR2 can't maintain 60fps. very sad i got to use FSR2

[@NumberJuancho]

Finally someone uses the mesh shaders present in the series x, that's the real deal

[@THU31]

I wonder if using mesh shaders would increase performance in other games that perform badly, or are they only useful with extremely high geometric detail like we see here, where classic vertex shaders get completely crippled.

[@GeordiLaForgery]

Around 5 minutes in you sound like a different person Alex, actually thought it was a different person until the end. Great analysis thanks.

[@pneumonoultramicroscopicsi4065]

Gpus are just too expensive, that's why there's push back, it's not like the old times when even a 60 series could run all games for years and years and for a modest price, now even very expensive gpus have been shipped day 0 with bottlnecks like low and slow vram

[@HerpderpCcC]

Best comment you are right

[@vonpotatostein]

At this point it would be wiser to get a console that will have the perfomance of the game guaranteed (after all that's the baseline devs are using to create games) than spending the same money for a 3070 that's going to be bottlenecked.

[@DenkyManner]

Crypto caused the prices to skyrocket. When that ended Nvidia thought "hmmm, people are desperate enough to pay these fake prices..." It will only stop when people stop paying. But they won't as there are a lot of nerds with more money than sense, and nothing more interesting to do than play video games.

[@lumirairazbyte9697]

Im sad that GPUs with DLSS/FSR are now a mandatory feature for the new games, because as much many want to upgrade their rigs, many couldn’t afford it, due how expensive those cards are. Remedy could have strong sales in the US but it will be in a slow pace worldwide.

[@Voltomess]

change your hobby if you can't afford PC upgrades every 5 years

[@lumirairazbyte9697]

@@Voltomess There plenty of games already, but you’re right. I shouldn’t be worried about this. Anyways, Remedy will not end up like what happened with Asendant Studios.

[@Voltomess]

@@lumirairazbyte9697 there's always consoles and you can screw that pc master race 😁😁

[@jcgmusic16]

Following this guide made my 3060 ti go from 40 to always 60 at 1440p. Amazing work!

[@GatheredMyst]

The music playing at around 3:45 was bothering me. "Where have I heard that before?" Then it dawned on me... ... Perfect Dark menu music. Very nice touch. Blast from the past, there.

[@cts006]

Alex always kills it with the background music selection.

[@GoodTalkHQ]

omg this is one of the best videos I've seen in a very long time, thank you fellas, 100% top notch content here! so helpful!

[@castrolias]

Guess I understand some of the outrage because it was interpreted as bad optimization which we have seen too much of this year already. Having said that, I wish the game ran a bit better on my 3080.

[@cipherbenchmarks]

Game looks absolutely incredible.

[@amirhb7531]

Valheim looks better

[@kartikranjha1533]

It looks like a blurry mess

[@mariuxxxx1]

don't compare cartoon with real life@@amirhb7531

[@Shieldz01]

​@@kartikranjha1533it's anything but. Easily the best visuals I've seen in a game.

[@Karabitaz]

yes, even at low settings.

[@ymanexpress]

Love it when games push boundaries

[@RayzaNC]

This. I hate when i see people moan about it being poorly optimised because they aren't willing to spend the money needed to max it out. Developers like Remedy & CDPR are pushing the industry forward and i'd hate for them to lower their ambitions to make a bit more money in sales.

[@nanenab8744]

@@RayzaNC not everyone has cash for extra expensive gpu.

[@samson7294]

@@nanenab8744 true. so they should buy a console

[@steel5897]

​@@nanenab8744then lower your settings and resolution. It's not rocket science.

[@Dionyzos]

@@nanenab8744 PC Gaming always was expensive and required young people to make some money somehow to afford the upgrades they wanted. I don't like to be the guy that says "get a job then" but it's true in this case.

[@BlindTrustProject]

I really like that despite crazy hardware demand, the low settings + no RT are still beautiful and run great at 1080p on midrange gpu. You don't miss that much while people with powerful gpu can still push graphics to match their configuration.

[@J0rdan912]

Mid-range GPU at this point is RTX 2060 and RTX 3060, and no they are not running this game great at 1080p, which is actually 540p with DLSS.

[@nikhilabi2230]

​@@J0rdan912what are you talking about. I have a Rx 6600 and I run it natively at 1080p. It runs great.

[@VladBagrus]

at 40fps 😁@@nikhilabi2230

[@HunterTracks]

​@@nikhilabi2230It runs great, as long as you consider 30 FPS "running great". Personally, I do not.

[@completelytransparent6320]

@@J0rdan912 not true based off the benchmarks from those cards

[@ShinySolus]

I appreciate the effort you put it in to show literally side by side the comparison of quality, makes it easier for me to spot differences too! Also the added humour and other stuff you did in the video (example at the beginning with the Board) was very funny. Well done!

[@piewars12345]

Just wanted to post this somewhere. I noticed there isn't much, if any, touch bending/interaction with foliage with the player character(still only played as saga at this point). Seems to happen with other characters though. I'm sure Alex will notice this and say something about it, but figured I'd mention it as DF seems to be the only good place for visual bugs to go if we want them to be solved by devs lol

[@NothingHereForYou]

They really need a settings mode called console or something, like how Horizon had an original settings mode matching the ps4. Honestly i would just hit that and benefit with just getting the higher fps or resolution.

[@speedracer2please]

I think the Medium preset was closest to the console graphics on HZD, that might be most games these days! Or low-ish, in this case.

[@JohnnyOrgan]

I'm sorry man but the amount of aliasing going in the distance on the console versions melts my eyeballs more than occasional frame pacing or screen tearing issues do. And this is from an RX 580 gamer who can't even play this game and has to go to his friend who has a 3060Ti just to watch the game in motion. There's a few glaring issues in this game DF seem quite happy to forgive compared to other games. This is running at terrible internal resolutions on the consoles with weird artifacting in hair and other objects when spinning the camera. But DF seems to ignore these issues on this particular game whereas critically analysed in other games such as Spider-Man 2. I'm not claiming bias or anything. Just a few things I've noticed in the past two days playing around my mate's house on a 3060Ti (running the game at 1440p with mostly mid settings and some form of DLSS (I'm an AMD guy, I don't know the difference between quality/high/balanced/whatever) on at 30fps Vsync on) and 4K TV. The ALIASING on FSR is horrible. DLSS rules in this game.

[@TheGameLecturer]

Developers should just include a "Playstation 5 / Xbox Series X match" preset. That would make life much simpler for people to understand what their PC can and cannot push. So THANK YOU for doing this! This is one of the most cleaver things DF does.

[@HelloImCrimson]

Why? Any PC with a 2060 blows away all the consoles. If you play on a real potato, you probably wont touch this game, or shouldnt. Consoles should just stay with their mixed low/ultra low settings

[@GabrieloTomorrow]

I personally disagree with this. I have an RTX 3070 and I’m having issues to play at 60fps even with those settings recommended here. To me, this game has proven to be an absolute pain in the ass when it comes to performance.

[@ironeleven]

I'm glad you pointed out the post-processing settings, I had written this game off completely because of poor experiences with FSR in the past but it sounds like Remedy's found a way to make aggressive upscaling more bearable.

[@mlgcactus1035]

So are you setting it at high or low? Because high will cause a big performance drop off

[@ironeleven]

@@mlgcactus1035 I'd see what high with heavy upscaling would get on my machine, but it's gonna be a hot minute until I get the chance to try it. We love timed exclusives.

[@mlgcactus1035]

@ironeleven at least epic did fund the development of this game, so they have a valid excuse this time.

[@GamingTech-YouTube]

This is such a great Video! Thanks for that!

[@N0N0111]

What I see is that we need to get rid of the low - medium - high - ultra sets for shadows. We need a slide bar with shadow intensity rate, simply because the brackets are set wrongly.

[@LordShrub]

Hate that DLSS/FSR can't be turned off. It looks so blurry. The only way I got to make it look good on my 1440p monitor without completely tanking the FPS was to set output resolution to 4k upscaled from 1440p with DLSS Quality (preset C) + frame generation. Ray tracing is out of the question as it can barely maintain 60 fps without it anyway. This is on a 4070 Ti.

[@seaofrage]

What do you mean it can't be turned off?.. never seen a single game where that was the case.

[@LordShrub]

​​​@@seaofrageThis is the first game where I've seen this. There is a toggle with only DLSS/DLAA or FSR, with no option to turn off. See 14:25.

[@seaofrage]

@@LordShrub DLAA is native res

[@socks2441]

not dlaa is native with dlaa. where is just native with NO aa?@@seaofrage

[@LordShrub]

@@seaofrage It doesn't matter. DLAA can't be turned off and makes it look blurry.

[@Terminatar98]

Don't think we didn't notice the Perfect Dark music in the background Alex. Love it!

[@loganwolv3393]

That software ray tracing for reflections dosen't look much better than actual cube maps. Like i had no idea it had software RT when u turn RT off.

[@socks2441]

yeah its pretty frustrating. when i turn rt off, its not just for visuals. i want to regain performance. thats not going to happen if rt off = rt software renderer. which sounds like even worse performance.

[@Afterthought_]

This and Cyberpunk are really just showcasing how far we have come. Fucking awesome.

[@Lock2002ful]

I’d really love for DF to offer vids in HDR.

[@davemeredith6964]

I won't lie. Not blown away so far. Stiff animation, rough facial movement etc etc... clumsy controls and I don't give a toss what anyone says but this game should not be this intensive on PC hardware. Even with RT and PT taken off it still runs rough at native 4K and I am on a 4080 set up... I also would say that Lords Of The Fallen has better detail within the objects...funny but this game has not been covered? Remedy seem to get cut some slack for being AA?. There is no denying there is quality here but at what cost and why?... About four hours in and it's quite tedious, the NPC's are pretty poor with regards to routines within bright falls...feels dates on this aspect and breaks the mood of the world.. also, quite small areas to explore with hidden walls and linear design...I don't mind this but I've read other games getting slated for this .. I do admire that Remedy use their own tech though...but DLSS and FSR and Frame Gen should not be an excuse to cut back on optimisations. In three months it will run great on mid range GPUs...

[@tripnils7535]

I'm glad we have DF bringing some sense into the smoothbrain discussions about game performance on Reddit.

[@OscarRiba]

Love how the video uses the Quantum Break soundtrack :D

[@raudelravelo1169]

Awesome video! This is what PC gamers need to look at before making decisions based on a system requirements table. Keep it up!

[@TheCrazedEB]

Alex kinda sounding like Handsome Squidward out of nowhere lol. At first I thought Alex handed the coverage to another DF member.

[@MatthewSanthos]

This video might have sold this game to me. I have an 3070 and was planning on buying it but when I saw that I was only going to be able to play on medium settings, I gave up. But seeing the differences really helped.

[@Kasper0822]

Playing on a 3070 right now. Getting around 60 fps on 1080p medium DLSS quality. Had to turn on vsync because the frames were jumping all over the place between 30ish to 90 at times. Truly a shit a experience without a freesync display. But it's fine now.

[@etienne1062]

​@@Kasper0822I have recently discovered that you can use a plugin in rivatuner (the utility that comes with MSI afterburner to cap fps) to map hotkeys that lets you change the frame cap. This way when the game struggles too much you cap at 30, when it's running better you cap at 60 ! The plugin is called hotkeyhandler and is included with rivatuner 7.3.4.

[@Bulsara777]

Most modern games, lower settings are not bad at all. It's what most consoles use as their settings. I think we just grew with this notion that we need to max out everything, even when it don't need to be, and low settings = bad, even tho AW2 on low settings is prettier to look at than most AAA games on High. I think AW2 justifies its PC requirements by having a really next gen experience, unlike some UE5 games that are also really demanding, even tho the game isn't even impressive.

[@jose131991]

@@Kasper0822I’m not playing at 1080p on my 4K TV! Gonna look blurry regardless of how good the game looks.

[@Kasper0822]

@@jose131991 doesn't look that bad. I'll pick that over bad framerates anyway.

[@iamadiduzz]

I appreciate all the hard work that went into creating this video. I understand that this type of content might be niche and may not appeal to everyone, but thank you for making it. I’m deciding whether to get this on the PS5 or PC. I’ll choose the PS5 because, according to your charts, quality mode runs on medium to high settings, which is sufficient graphical quality for me. Plus, I want to enjoy this kind of game on the couch. Thanks again! Please keep making videos like this.

[@bradh6057]

I love that you put the effort into making these videos so I can see all of this before I dive into the game settings menu for the first time... but I would really love it if you would please make an effort to be more consistent in the terminology - specifically the names of the settings as they appear in the game menu - and the order in which you present things between the game menu, the video, and the list at/near the end of the video. I find it can be very difficult to follow, needing to start and stop often and scroll through looking for certain settings while the video isn't timestamped in such a way. If it would just be - "Here's the settings menu", "Here's the settings info, in the same order as it appears in the menu", "Here's our breakdown, again in the same order" - all the while making sure to consistently match the terminology/naming conventions used in the settings menu throughout? I think that would make this channel absolute perfection. Either way I love y'all, keep it up!

[@mintparfait]

I just think we've long since hit diminishing returns. This entire channel is about zooming in 300% to admire next gen features, which is great. But to the average consumer, ray tracing is always exponentially harder to run, it doesnt matter how much you explain path this, traced that, they will think RE games look and ran fine, why not this. Anothwr thing modern games are doing is massively boosting geometry detail on things that people arent going to be staring at. Like those bins and bin bags you got excited about. I dont think thats a positive. For anyone playing normally you wont stop and stare at a bin bag. Yet its becoming the standard. Meanwhile shadows have been sacrificed @5:42, the entire image throughout the video has a blurry sheen to it @7:29, and are we honestly saying this super noisy reflections @7:53 are worth the massive hit to avoid screenspace reflection bugs? Again the average consumer isnt playing zoomed in 300% staring. Another example of blur and flicker @10:04 that looks awful, and would probably not be necessary if we didnt have to make insane concessions for rt. So what's my point to this whole rant? Idk maybe im just an old boomer. But I really miss older rendering methods. We got to a point where everything was really sharp, had no blur, shadows were clean, and it feels like we are slowly throwing that all away to try and render everything in rt before GPUs are ready to do so without ruining something else. I just really lament that this is the direction "next gen" is headed.

[@ScyrousFX]

5:03 anyone else notice the voice change? Alex sounds different throughout the rest of the video past this point. Anyway, thanks for putting the loud minority in its place. Those threads on reddit in particular are full of nonsense.

[@The_MEMEphis]

I wish developers would just include a console equivalent graphics present kinda like the steam deck setting in some games it would make comparison so much easier

[@pav1u]

The forest first scenes are so blurry with or without dlss ...i already disabled vignette, blur and dept of field and still blurry idk why

[@johnmullins1154]

My 4080 and my 65"C1 Oled tv are Ready for this Masterpiece

[@vae7009]

it's the price of components that's the issue

[@jordongee2347]

I'll be honest. This game doesnt at all look like theres any justification for it to be a "demanding" pc title. Although i havent played it, all the footage ive seen, isnt overly impressive.

[@morissonmarcel9144]

Incredible analysis! Happy that Remedy has handled such cutting edge technologies with reasonable accessibility for all supported cards, and incredible graphics! The only downfall is not releasing at Steam! 😅

[@azmc4940]

We can be grateful that Epic Store customers will beta-test the game for us before we buy it discounted and patched up next year.

[@MrVoland44]

​@@azmc4940like fortnite, yeah? they are publisher this time

[@CorbettK42]

@@azmc4940 Alan Wake remastered was released on the Epic store 2 years ago and still no steam release, so it's not looking good for a steam release for Alan Wake 2 ever unfortunately.

[@w21aaaaa]

​@@azmc4940i mean unlike Control, this game is fully funded by Epic so it may not ever see Steam

[@nikitos3558]

​@@azmc4940I dont think it will ever hit Steam tbh. Without Epic, this game wouldnt exist. I doubt that they will let go of it easily.

[@irecordwithaphone1856]

Love the Control reference at the start

[@IronBanana]

Love the Perfect Dark music in the background.

[@jruple09]

Hey Alex! You mentioned the Series X console supports mesh shaders, is there any noticeable improvement on Xbox vs PlayStation?

[@InnuendoXP]

Think he just said they were comparable

[@XgamerdaveX]

PlayStation has its own custom built alternative.

[@hacob2004]

This game getting sub 50fps with max settings and DLSS quality on a 4090 is wild.

[@ray_6677]

Thanks for a really good video! I didnt know the game had ray tracing on all the time even it was turned off, until i reached the town with Alan for the first time, it’s insane! This game is so next level that even at 1440p medium/high it really shine.

[@Doug-mu2ev]

Excellent optimization video! Looking forward to the RT video, what a visual treat!

[@speedtree]

Who is the person from 5:01 on? The "auf wiedersehen" in the end is pronounced completely different than usual.

[@sEaNoYeAh]

The point about PC + Xbox using a different shader system to PS5 is interesting. I don't have the technical knowledge to understand but I was under the impression console versions were largely identical these days in construction and output, save for relatively minor performance fluctuations.

[@GFSCN69]

I am disappointed with how blurry the game looks. I play at 1440p (27" screen) with "Quality" DLSS. This is a simulator of what you see if you need glasses but refuse to wear them. This is how other games would look if you play them at 720p but use FXAA, MSAA and TAA at the same time. Jagged edges? None. Vasiline? Thick layer.

[@bud11_2]

Will you do a video on the MGS master collection? Im really curious as to whats going on technically there, things like why slowdown happens on MODERN PCS, why mgs2 is capped to 30fps on switch, etc. What the hell did they do?

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

Laziness. basically, Konami always been lazy

[@bud11_2]

@@matthewjuarbe5826 Sure - lets say maximum laziness and lack of care. Even then, whats the bottleneck? I'm talking from the perspective of a casual hobbyist developer. I genuinely can't fathom why these games would run so relatively badly, unless theres some reallllly bizarre stuff going on internally, something like partial emulation in the way that some of the mario 3D all stars collection works. ..But Ive heard, apparently very conclusively, that that isnt the case, from dataminers.

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

Metal Gear Solid 1 is Emulation. that's for sure. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are based off of the Xbox 360 HD Collection. i honestly don't know maybe CPU or Memory Bandwidth. Memory Bandwidth Seems to be the main issue for Switch. since on CFW you can overclock the CPU GPU and Memory and we see improvements more in memory overclock then CPU and gpu overclock. but it's also possible given the Switch is primary a mobile console. they were concern with battery life. since going to 60fps would require more CPU power which would use more battery life. but why not make a performance mode for dock mode to target 60fps like in Darksiders@@bud11_2

[@bud11_2]

​@@matthewjuarbe5826 I initially heard it was 360 emulation too, but Ive asked around a little in modding circles and it seems like its not? Either way Id like to know for sure. If it really is 360 emulation then I guess I can excuse them a little, on switch at least edit, misread your comment as 360 emulation. eh whatever

[@matthewjuarbe5826]

i dont think its 360 emulation its most likely a port of the Xbox 360 HD Collection with Metal Gear Solid 1 being emulated with a custom PS1 emulator. and then a custom UI launcher on top@@bud11_2

[@GhostDust97]

this was awesome ! i recently moved to PC from console and i’ve been curious on how the console games compare to PC so this was PERFECT. it also lets me really know how much more i’m getting from PC and it makes it so much more worth it for me. thanks a lot! i really did not know i was going from those low settings on PS5.

[@kapt980]

That intro was sleek. Loved it

[@timothypatch5080]

Okay so maybe it’s just me but I have a 4090 with a 13900k and I have ddr5 7000mhz ram to be fair it’s only running at 6400MHZ and the graphics settings are maxed and it does not run well

[@Maggpieify]

Not going to lie, I am one of the people upset about the performance chart. But I dont think I am upset due to the game being demanding, I am upset due to the gpu price skyrocketing and upscalers being relied on instead to uplift performance when I genuinly cant stand the artifacts caused by any upscalers as image stability is my number 1 thing affecting enjoyment. If the gpus released had better raytracing performance (as in less performance impact turning it on) or baseline performance I wouldnt feel as upset I think.

[@JohnJohn-pm9wq]

I found a culprit in Alan Wake 2 graphics settings So I was averaging 70-80 FPS with RT Off at high settings with textures on Ultra and I didn't even try turning RT on but having the temptation to try it once i turned it on and now after turning it off again my FPS was permanently stuck at 60 and FPS would drop below 60 FPS as you move. Weirdly, turning on and turning off RT does not completely turn off all RT features so RT ambient occlusion stays on permanently. To fix this you need to manually set all the graphics settings back to low settings and then click the quality preset to high to reset ambient occlusion back to normal to regain your original FPS

[@residentevil999]

the only channel who try to figure it out the console setting with pc setting, thx alot

[@noodles9345]

Really liked the Perfect Dark theme music in the background lol. One of my favorite games ever still.

[@lukemoonwalker8444]

Can we expect an Xbox comparison aswell? the game had a meaningful file size difference and people seem to be having different issues on the two consoles.

[@z.k.5259]

This video is nice campaign for NVIDA 4090... How much was paid i want to hear.

[@m.heyatzadeh]

Such a great explanation. I also was wondering how this game is optimized for PS5 versus PC. Now after this explanation I don't feel so bad playing it on medium preset with balanced DLSS. 😅

[@OmnicientWolfGaming]

The Perfect Dark background music, great choice!

[@mlgcactus1035]

Damm, just noticed it now!

[@OmnicientWolfGaming]

@@mlgcactus1035 It was a nice touch!

[@sinaolaei]

Even though I switched to consoles, I still watch Alex's videos because they are just so well done.

[@garyb7193]

Excellent analysis, explanation and recommendations.

[@BoYangTang]

I think the reactions surrounding the system requirements is indicative of a communication issue. Remedy knows that the game scales nicely and can comfortably run at 1440p60 balanced upscaling on an RTX 3070 and look good. Remedy should also know that recommending 1080p performance upscaling to hit 60 fps using "medium" graphics is likely to be perceived poorly by a sizable part of the PC audience. It's true that "medium" is a name and not standardized, but it's also fair to say that "medium" is not a great name for the preset if it doesn't match what people associate with that word and causes this confusion. It's fine to blame the public for reacting too quickly and not being logical, but it's also mostly unproductive if we want to avoid this type of issue in the future.

[@pobbityboppity1110]

Gamers will freak out at literally anything, there's no communicating with them.

[@mataleao]

I feel like there would be a lot less complaining if the settings were labeled as "normal" or "standard". We are well past the days of low settings being significantly below console quality and in many cases consoles are using settings at or even below pc minimums and in most cases consoles versions of games are much better than they were even just 2 generations ago.

[@sylwesterpastuszka5593]

@@mataleao Nah mate, even using those suggested names wouldn't change anything. That's the harsh reality dealing with humans...I was in customer service department in the past and boy oh boy, most people are bloody dumb, jump quickly to wrong conclusions, don't listen, etc.

[@xBINARYGODx]

sorry, but if we understand how a group will act, psuedo logical or not, than you, the communicator are the problem when things go wrong, not the group.

[@BoYangTang]

@@xBINARYGODx Yep I consider it a matter of practicality for public communication. It's much easier to change your message to accommodate the group than to change the group.

[@OverJumpRally]

Speaking of seeing the changes in the game from the menu settings: I'll have my game enter Photo Mode so you'll be able to see exactly each change at the angle you prefer. I think this should be the standard.

[@jusifer3445]

I love the perfect dark music in the background, it oddly fits so well.

[@PlayJasch]

But why do we get rid of cube maps? I was playing Alan Wake remastered yesterday and the reflections are far far above the PS5 Alan Wake 2 reflection or the optimized settings for pc. This game looks like shit when you see the messy noisy reflection.

[@judgejudy72]

DF doing more PR than graphical analysis lol

[@RockyRacoon5]

So low settings are pretty much PS5 settings, and the game still looks absolutely amazing.

[@Dd-fb2tj]

ps5 PERFORMANCE settings...ps5 QUALITY notches the level up on several areas as the table in the video shows

[@sasharudyy3587]

Quality even fixes some of the issues Alex pointed out, like the grainy screen space reflections and the fog line in the distance. You have to play at 30fps, tho newer games feel relatively smooth at 30, I have noticed. Callisto Protocol at 30fps felt pretty good to play for example, probably thanks to the good motion blur

[@GameslordXY]

a mixture of low and Medium . PS5 Quality is probably Medium to High , but I am just speculating here

[@Nessmith11]

Honestly, not acceptable for a console that is barely 3 years old. Seems like they should have just skipped the console release altogether.

[@RockyRacoon5]

@@Nessmith11 But did you see the video? Low settings in this game look like ultra in other games.

[@babble1975]

So basically they all look the same from your sofa playing on a tv.

[@Jaylw901]

The Perfect Dark soundtrack in the background at around 2:25. Mannn massive nostalgia moment

[@slimbaron704]

Thank you very much for the video It will be very cool if you upload similar videos for every major game - this will greatly simplify the setup process from a psychological point of view You are best! Because you decrease from better to worse - it's psychologically painful But when you go up, it's a completely different effect.

[@Shockload]

This type of analysis would be 100% required when GTA 6 releases

[@twocityfoodies8476]

I don't even own a PC but find Alex's video damn entertaining...🤣🤣🤣

[@XgamerdaveX]

I don’t own a pc as well. Never will. It’s got nothing to do with cost. I just simply don’t want one. But I still watch nearly all of Alex’s videos too.

[@BeersYourFriend]

I totally feel ya. When you buy a console, you are buying games that have been thoroughly tested by the devs, who have picked the absolute most optimal and stable settings, without having to juggle with 20 setting on a PC. You just download the game on PS5, you hit play, and it just works. PC devs need to do a better job for optimized settings, without requiring videos like these. Alex should not have to be the middle-man here, when Remedy, or Nvidia should be doing this too. I'll bet the Game Ready Drivers have all settings set to low, when in fact, after seeing Alex's analysis here, not all settings need to be low. It's strange, and a pain in the ass. lol@@XgamerdaveX

[@sidewinder86ify]

@@BeersYourFriend This game is not good on the Ps5 either.. Also you don't need to ''juggle'' with 20 settings on PC, click auto.. done. Consoles are just locked down PC at lower end tier.

[@AL2009man]

2:22 I love how Remedy causally added an ""secret"" Software-based Ray Tracing (Signed Distance Field Ray Tracing) solution to Alan Wake 2 and doesn't tell anyone about it.

[@matheuswerly5320]

Finally the games are using the DX Ultimate features. Now it is worth buying cards thinking about it. People who bought RTX2000 series were just early adopters in my opinion. That's why I avoided upgrading.

[@lordfunkatron9732]

Cheaper 20 series cards have rather poor performance in this game anyways, so its no biggie if they were the same people considering the 5700xt, especially since it took 4 years lol

[@offspringfan89]

RX 5000 owners were lucky that only now the first game to require DX12 Ultimate was released.

[@corey2232]

DLSS has been great though, so RTX 2000 series cards served their users well (and they released just prior to the HUGE GPU price spikes that came during the pandemic & the 3000 series).

[@jessicaw7563]

I run this on a 2080ti at medium settings and it runs incredibly smooth. Low looks amazing so medium looks insanely good. Can’t imagine highest settings in person

[@skeletino420]

the voice change at around the 5 min mark REALLY tripped me out lol, i had to rewatch it like 20 times