Alan Wake 2 Was Built as a 30 FPS Experience, but It Will Still Come With Performance Mode on Consoles

wccftech.com:

Alan Wake 2 will come with a 60 FPS Performance Mode on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, despite the game having been built as a 30 FPS experience.

Today, Remedy Entertainment Communications Director Thomas Puha confirmed that those playing the highly-anticipated next entry in the series can enjoy 60 frames per second gameplay on consoles despite the experience being built as a 30 FPS experience focusing on visuals and ambiance.

I’m glad to say that Alan Wake 2 will have a Performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X. The game has been built from the beginning as a 30fps experience focusing on visuals and ambiance, but somehow we have managed to include a solid Performance mode. We’ll talk details later.

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) September 27, 2023

Even though Alan Wake 2's Performance Mode will obviously have lower resolution than Quality Mode, it seems like this won't impact the game's visual quality significantly. According to Thomas Puha, the game's Northlight engine scales well, and the game looks amazing even at lower resolution.

I'll try to find time to write a post about this, including the resolutions, etc. Its a complex topic to say the very least. Our Northlight engine scales well in this case though, lower resolution yet the game looks amazing.

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) September 27, 2023

Elaborating further on Alan Wake 2 having been built as a 30 frames per second experience, Thomas Puha provided an interesting development tidbit, saying that it is not simply a matter of optimization but also of projects' goals. Everything is a choice in game development, he added, and it is impossible to do everything.

The word optimizing is being thrown around a bit carelessly these days. You have to think of your frame-rate target