Alan Wake 2 Xbox Tech Review - Excellent On Series X, But What About Series S?

Delayed a touch, owing to lack of review code and Xbox patches lagging behind other formats by a couple of days, we're happy to present our findings for the Xbox versions of Alan Wake 2, while also going into much more depth on what separates quality and performance modes, aside from resolution and frame-rate targets. Xbox Series code does have some bugs and issues, but in performance terms, Series X runs smoother than PS5. Meanwhile, Series S has resolution and quality cutbacks, but still seems to deliver a decent experience bearing in mind the reduced power available.

00:00 Overview
00:55 Series X and PS5 settings
06:12 Series X and PS5 performance
08:35 Series S
11:31 Analysis and conclusion

[MarcoAurelio-hnys]

Seeing as Remedy did stated that the low RAM memory of the Series S proved a challenge in developing the game on the console, the Series S version turned out very well. They acknowledged the difficulty and yet worked to overcome it.

[InJeffable]

Other developers should take note: THIS is how you do a Series S version of a current gen game. The fact that it looks pretty much the same as the Series X performance mode (just at 30 fps instead of 60) is impressive.

[selohcin]

It's good to see devs finally using the Series X's more powerful GPU to noticeable effect. It's been horribly underutilized for nearly three years now.

[x]

A 40FPS mode in 120Hz displays for this type of game would be perfect.

[steveco]

The Series S optimisations are what enabled the performance mode on Series X, according to an interview with the developer on IGN. So hopefully the Series S helps keep 60fps modes going for Series X as the generation continues.

[NlneLives]

Finally devs are starting to use the series x tool set

[ninjashrimpgaming]

Maybe developers are finally using the extra horsepower and API features the Series X has?

[BROOKLYNBORN]

This game looks damn awesome on the series X . Literally the most realistic looking game I’ve ever played the story is damn good too

[kolo]

Suddenly Series S is not a problem in a one of the best looking games ever made.

[gooddempsey]

You could tell this would be a game where Xbox outperformed PS5 just from seeing how it took five days more to show the Xbox version. Had to wait until no one cares anymore to quietly sneak out the PS5 version performs worse.

[vasylenk]

This is the first game that I’ve decided to keep at 30 fps on Series X. It looks amazing most of the time and you get used to a lower frame rate pretty quickly

[Alcatraz]

I'm guessing since Remedy probably focused on the PC version first, since the Xbox has the exact same API features, like mesh shaders, they probably got it running better on Xbox.

[wssayer]

Other developers NEED to take note if Remedy can make a game look this good on the Series S.

[pascal]

That's exactly what i was expecting when buying this tiny little machine. I'm fine without a performance mode runnig 60FPS.

[dutchguy]

Very pleased with the graphical quality of the Series S version. Remedy did a great job. Its up there with some of the best i have seen on Series S. Shame there is no performance mode but ah well. Enjoying it anyways.

[Soullessrun]

for the price os Series S i'm really impressed that Remedy was able to do this port at all. for similarlly priced PC you would have hard time to even start the game

[julioherrera]

Probably an unpopular opinion but after playing Starfield I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d rather play in 30fps. Turned on Cyberpunk last night and going from 30fps to the 60fps mode felt like going back a generation in graphics. Excited to play Alan Wake 2 in quality mode!

[GraceLifeMinistries]

I remember when they said the extra horsepower of series X wouldn’t give it an advantage over ps5. Well here we are.

[mattmas]

I played on the Series S last night after playing on the X all week. It ran surprisingly well on XSX even if it is at 30 fps

[Sheen]

Oliver, why do you keep on saying it's surprising when Series X is out performing the PS5?

It's not surprising at all, in fact. This is how much better the Series X should be performing over the PS5 consistently. What is surprising is that it's not doing it by this margin in other games. Not the other way round.

Also, every other analysis video on Youtube shows XB loading quicker than PS in every area of this game. Yet somehow, DF has it the other way round? Absolute joke!

Seriously, your bias is pathetic.