New and old fans now have seven minutes of early gameplay footage to scrutinize until Alan Wake Remastered releases next week. Remedy's reworked horror classic has only been seen in short teasers and screenshots for far, but the extended time of this footage really lets fans see exactly how the remaster has changed, and just how much has stayed the same.
Originally released as an Xbox 360 console exclusive in 2010, Alan Wake Remastered will now be available to PlayStation owners for the first time. This wider availability coupled with the popularity of Remedy's most recent title, Control, means there are many more eyes on the mysterious town of Bright Falls in 2021 than there were a decade ago.
The first noticeable difference in the new Alan Wake Remastered gameplay footage is the updated 4K visuals and character model tweaks. Fans could already see this in screenshot comparisons of Alan Wake Remastered compared with the original, but the cutscenes show more subtle facial animations in real-time. However, as this is a remaster, not a remake, they haven't drastically changed. The upscaled resolution and color changes do make a noticeable difference, compared to the original, with the remaster looking a lot less blurry.
The HUD and combat are unchanged, but the environments and textures of items and structures shown in the footage are easily recognizable upgrades. Fog and lighting effects don't seem to have been altered too heavily, but these are some of the technical elements that still hold up today. The game is targeting 60 FPS on consoles, to create a smoother gameplay experience. However, It's worth noting that for Alan Wake PC owners, the graphical and performance enhancements in the remaster won't be as drastically improved as the console versions. The PC port already benefits from higher resolutions and a locked 60 FPS experience. Although, as it is a different build, it will remove product placements seen in the original, just like the console versions.
The updated character models and environmental item and structure textures will also be a big improvement to the previous PC versions, as a decent PC build actually made the low-quality textures stand out even more than when playing on consoles. Additionally, although Alan Wake Remastered won't have ray tracing, it will support Nvidia's upscaling.
Although this is a remaster, graphics alone don't make a game worth playing. These improvements are a great way to modernize the experience to entice new players into the weird Stephen King-inspired world of Bright Falls, and serves as a cherry on top of the cake for old fans looking for an excuse to revisit. With Alan Wake 2 rumored to be in early development, Alan Wake Remastered seems the perfect jumping-on point for newcomers.
Alan Wake Remastered releases October 5 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.