Alan Wake 2 PC Requirements Lowered in Latest Update

After Alan Wake 2 launched last year with a demanding set of PC requirements, the team at Remedy Entertainment have put some work into optimizing the title so more computers will be able to run it. The new requirements are in effect now, as of Alan Wake 2’s latest update 1.0.16.1.

Running Alan Wake 2 on minimum settings, which will run the game on the low graphics preset at 1080p and 30fps now only require a Geforce GTX 1070, Radeon RX 5600 XT, or better card. The patch notes for the update note that the lowered GPU requirements come from “optimized rendering for GPUs that don’t support mesh shaders,” meaning the other system requirements remain unchanged. Minimum settings will still require an Intel i5-7600K equivalent CPU and 16GB of RAM.

Improved Performance Without Sacrificing Graphics Quality

The new update has changed only Alan Wake 2’s minimum PC requirements, so any players who want to run ray tracing or higher graphics presets and frame rates likely won’t notice any difference from the update.

Optimizing Games for Accessibility

It’s an unusual move for games to have their minimum PC requirements lowered after release, with many instead having requirements raised as updates add content and make the systems more demanding. Disco Elysium is another game that notably lowered its minimum PC requirements with the release of the Working Class update in 2020, the same year as Fortnite opened up to less powerful PCs with the addition of Performance Mode.

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