Remedy is harnessing the capabilities of PSSR 2.0 on the PlayStation 5 Pro, delivering a substantial upgrade to Alan Wake 2’s visual presentation. Specialists at Digital Foundry have rigorously tested the game and report remarkable enhancements, noting that the project appears significantly better, especially when running in performance mode.
Previously, Alan Wake 2, utilizing an earlier iteration of PSSR, ran at 60 FPS with an internal resolution of 864p, which was then upscaled to 4K. This often led to issues with fine details, vegetation rendering, cable depiction, and noticeable flickering. According to Digital Foundry, it is precisely in these challenging areas that the improved PSSR version yields its most impactful benefits.
Following the update, forests and dense vegetation now appear much cleaner, the distracting “pixel crawl” effect on leaves has been eradicated, and temporal lighting exhibits greater stability. The overall consistency of the image during motion has also seen a significant boost: streets no longer exhibit shimmering, and entire scenes feel more stable. While thin lines and cables are not yet entirely flawless, the improvement is palpable, making the visual content appear more convincing and cohesive in 4K resolution.
In the 30 FPS quality mode, the effects of PSSR 2.0 are less pronounced, and the existing limitations of ray tracing technology persist. Digital Foundry emphasizes that PSSR 2.0 is not designed to replace advanced technologies like ray reconstruction; instead, it serves as a powerful image scaling tool that works to enhance the game’s native rendered output.