Alan Wake 2 stands out visually on both PC and consoles, so it was disappointing to find that the PS5 Pro update made the game look and run less favorably in some areas than it did on the standard PS5. Still, Remedy has lived up to its track record with a clear fix: a fresh PS5 Pro patch that adds a switch for the problematic PSSR upscaling, plus a handful of other welcome tweaks and improvements.
As highlighted in this week’s DF Direct show, embedded below, the newest update is surprisingly comprehensive. Alongside the PSSR option, it brings a newly added “balanced” graphics profile for players using 120Hz displays, targeting a 40fps frame-rate on the PS5 Pro. This balanced preset is an interesting blend—pairing the higher settings (including ray tracing) from the quality option with the lower-resolution approach typical of performance mode. The patch also states it refines settings across every mode to curb noise, though—spoiler alert—it doesn’t appear to be working the way it should right now. In our tests, the newly added modes offer a worthwhile improvement for PS5 Pro owners, elevating the overall presentation, even if a few elements still need additional attention.
Oliver serves as our on-the-ground specialist for this assessment, and he reports that the suggested changes to performance mode don’t seem to have been applied. When comparing the earlier version against the current build side by side, we don’t see any visible differences in foliage, shadow fidelity, draw distance, or comparable details. The image quality also looks steady, so if any tweaks were made, they’re either extremely subtle or focused on aspects outside our evaluation. Performance, however, has improved—by roughly 10% in the tougher scenes we measured—helping the game come closer to a 60fps experience.
- 0:00:00 Introduction
- 0:01:09 News 1: Switch 2 leaks discuss dock, magnetic connection
- 0:17:40 News 2: Fresh Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro patch evaluated!
- 0:28:14 News 3: Indiana Jones lighting enhanced on Xbox
- 0:35:32 News 4: New Legion Go utilizes SteamOS
- 0:49:50 News 5: RTX 50 series leaks persist
- 1:01:35 News 6: DF Supporter Game of the Year awards!
- 1:18:01 News 7: “Monkey Kong” debuts on Nintendo eShop
- 1:25:36 Supporter Q1: After the Mark Cerny interview, how do you think Sony will handle PS6?
- 1:33:47 Supporter Q2: How will Project Amethyst influence Microsoft’s relationship with AMD?
- 1:39:00 Supporter Q3: How does today’s high-performance PC hardware compare to next-gen consoles?
- 1:45:01 Supporter Q4: Why was game performance on PS3/360 frequently subpar?
- 1:55:02 Supporter Q5: What are your thoughts on the PC lighting improvements in FF7 Rebirth?
- 1:58:54 Supporter Q6: Which last-gen game do you consider the most visually impressive?
Beyond that, the update adds several meaningful improvements. For example, reflections show less noise—or none at all—suggesting changes to the denoiser technique used for them. It also appears the reflections roughness threshold may have been adjusted: certain rough surfaces, such as unpolished wood, no longer show noticeable reflections in the same way they did previously.
The biggest change, though, is the introduction of the PSSR toggle, which is showing up more and more in PS5 Pro patch releases. With PSSR enabled, upscaling often looked a touch better while moving, but it could suffer from some instability and seemed less sharp in still frames—hence the option to use FSR2 upscaling instead if you prefer. While Alan Wake 2 wasn’t among the weakest-looking titles when using PSSR, the underlying resolution is fairly low (864p) and gets expanded to 4K, making the upscaler choice particularly impactful.
Overall, if your top priority is crisp image quality in still images, we’d recommend choosing FSR rather than PSSR. On the other hand, PSSR may provide a slight edge during motion. The gap between the two narrows as internal resolutions rise—such as in quality mode—where either choice is a completely acceptable option.
In our side-by-side checks between the original and current PS5 Pro versions of Alan Wake 2—specifically in performance mode—we couldn’t find evidence of the changes Remedy said were included.
In the end, the new 40fps balanced mode is a valuable addition. It delivers the hardware ray tracing from the quality mode at a clearly improved frame-rate—especially since 40fps sits exactly halfway between 30fps and 60fps when you compare frame time in milliseconds—and it held up well in our testing, maintaining a steady 40fps update rate. If you want the more realistic, ray-traced look of the quality mode without giving up smoothness and input responsiveness, this option is well worth trying.
To sum it up, the newest patch improves Alan Wake 2 quite noticeably on PS5 Pro, adding three modes that all work as legitimate choices; if you’re unsure where to start, we suggest beginning with performance mode and judging what feels best to you. For sharper image quality, the quality mode is there, while the balanced mode is the stronger pick when you want hardware ray tracing.
Also on DF Direct, we dug into the latest Switch 2 leaks—which cover magnetically attached controllers and an updated dock—along with updates to lighting quality in Indiana Jones on Xbox consoles, among other items.
As 2024 draws nearer, I want to highlight a few of the questions we received from supporters during our last DF Direct this year, including
A significant number of people got in touch to ask about what comes next for console hardware after our interview with Mark Cerny went live, along with Sony’s Amethyst partnership with AMD.
Supporter Someguyperson was interested in whether Cerny’s remarks “added more weight to the case for including 3D V-Cache in the PS6,” while another DF Discord contributor, DudleyTheGentleman, asked whether Sony has the real capacity to reshape AMD’s hardware designs, given their lengthy development schedules—and whether Sony’s “standard approach to backward compatibility” might end up limiting the PS6 APU’s more ambitious direction.
Both lines of inquiry are genuinely engaging and deserve a closer look. In our opinion, 3D V-Cache would almost certainly strengthen the case for a future PlayStation 6, yet it may come with costs that are hard to justify once you factor in manufacturing expenses, die footprint, and the added complexity. Historically, consoles are built to hit a broadly accessible price tier, so introducing a new APU architecture would only make sense if it delivers major gains and helps streamline or lower costs somewhere else.
Likewise, up to this point we’ve typically seen only modest changes to AMD APUs in PlayStation systems. For example, the PS5 Pro uses existing shader capabilities for PSSR rather than bringing in new, dedicated silicon. Sony will also have to ensure backward compatibility with any PS6 hardware, particularly as digital storefronts keep growing more valuable and expansive—especially now that disc drives have become optional on the most recent consoles. The PS6’s approach may lean on similar thinking, building fresh features from existing components. Still, AMD’s UDNA architecture announcements and the various rumors circulating hint that there could be plenty of surprises down the road.
That’s where we’ll leave things for now, but from everyone here at Digital Foundry, thank you for reading, watching, and supporting us throughout 2024. We’ve got new videos lined up to release during the festive period, so keep an eye out—and we can’t wait to reconnect in 2025, when we’ll be back with what looks set to be a truly thrilling CES!