Alan Wake 2 Best PC Settings: High FPS & Optimization

Discover the Best PC Settings for Alan Wake 2, Optimizing for High FPS and Visual Quality, Making Your Gameplay Experience Smoother.

Alan Wake 2 for PC has higher system requirements than many other recent games. If you’ve played the game on a PC, you’d know it pushes your computer’s performance to make the game look stunning.

The game offers a lot of settings to adjust the graphics, so if you have a relatively new PC close to meeting the minimum requirements, you can tweak the settings to make the game run smoothly and still look good. Follow our guide to use the best-optimized settings for best performance.

Update: After patch 1.16, the game was optimized so much that the developers lowered the minimum system requirements. 

Here are the specifications of the testing rig I’ve used to test Alan Wake 2:

  • CPU: Intel i7-11800H
  • GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
  • RAM: 16 GB
  • Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
  • OS: Windows 11 Pro
Key Takeaways

You’ll at least need an Intel i5-7600K or AMD equivalent CPU, Nvidia GTX 1070 or a Radeon RX 5600 XT, and 16 GB of RAM to run Alan Wake 2 on your PC.


Below are some of the most taxing settings for Alan Wake 2:

  • Post Processing quality
  • Volumetric Lighting
  • Volumetric Spotlight
  • Global Illumination
  • Shadow Resolution
  • Shadow Detail
  • Global Reflections
  • Screen Space Reflections

Alan Wake 2 is a demanding game on PC due to its next-gen visuals. On launch, the game’s optimization wasn’t great as I encountered FPS drops with performance averaging at 45 FPS (DLSS set to quality mode). However, due to recent performance passes, the game’s optimization has been improved significantly and you can expect better performance from it.

Alan Wake 2 Best Display Settings

Alan Wake 2 Display Settings
Alan Wake 2’s Best Display Settings – [Image captured by eXputer]
To get the best performance and visuals in Alan Wake 2, start by configuring your Display Settings according to your computer’s capabilities. Ensure that the game runs at your monitor’s native resolution. For example, if you have a 1080p monitor, set the game to 1920×1080. Here’s a detailed list of all the Display Settings for Alan Wake 2:

Summary Of AW2 Display Settings

Display Mode Fullscreen
Display Resolution Native
Render Resolution Quality
Resolution Upscaling DLSS
VSync Disabled

Alan Wake 2 Best Graphics Settings

Alan wake 2's graphic settings
Alan Wake 2 Optimized Settings For Graphics – [Image captured by eXputer]
To make Alan Wake 2 perform well and look stunning, you’ll need a high-end GPU like Nvidia’s RTX 40-series or AMD’s RX 7800 and above. Balancing performance and visuals requires thoughtful settings management. I’ve compared the game’s visuals on the PlayStation 5 with the PC version, and the PS5 looks great. This suggests that Remedy has fine-tuned settings to balance features, resolution, and performance.

Overview Of AW2 Optimized Graphics Settings

Post-processing quality Low
Texture Resolution High
Texture Filtering High
Volumetric Lighting Low
Volumetric Spotlight Low
Global Illumination Medium
Shadow Resolution Low
Shadow Filtering Medium
Shadow Detail Medium
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion Enabled
Global Reflections Low
Screen Space Reflections Low
Fog Quality Medium
Terrain Quality Medium
Far Object Detail (LOD) Medium
Scattered Object Density Medium

Post-processing quality (Low): By setting post-processing to “Low,” the game’s performance is enhanced without sacrificing too much visual quality, making it comparable to the PlayStation 5’s visuals.

Post Processing AW2
Post Processing (Image by eXputer)

Texture Resolution (High): Higher texture resolution on a PC provides crisper and more detailed textures, surpassing the PS5’s capabilities and offering a more visually immersive experience.

Texture Resolution AW2
Texture Resolution (Image by eXputer)

Texture Filtering (High): High texture filtering maintains better texture quality at oblique angles, giving PC players a visual advantage over the PS5.

Volumetric Lighting (Low): Even at “Low” settings, PC players can maintain good lighting and shadow effects, all while improving performance.

Volumetric Lighting AW2
Volumetric Lighting (Image by eXputer)

Volumetric Spotlight (Low): Lowering volumetric spotlight quality on a PC still delivers satisfying lighting effects.

Global Illumination (Medium): The “Medium” setting for global illumination allows for realistic lighting without a significant performance trade-off, offering a comparable experience to the PS5.

Global Illumination Quality AW2
Global Illumination Quality (Image by eXputer)

Shadow Resolution (Low): “Low” shadow resolution balances shadow quality and performance, offering smooth visuals.

Shadow Resolution AW2
Shadow Resolution (Image by eXputer)

Shadow Filtering (Medium): The “Medium” shadow filtering maintains acceptable shadow quality on the PC.

Shadow Detail (Medium): With “Medium” shadow detail, PC players enjoy a high level of detail without compromising performance.

Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (Enabled): Enabled ambient occlusion enhances lighting and shadows on a PC, mirroring the PS5’s visual quality without a major impact on performance.

Global Reflections (Low): Reducing global reflections to “Low” aligns PC performance with the PS5’s capabilities while preserving important reflection features.

Global Reflections AW2
Global Reflections (Image by eXputer)

Screen Space Reflections (Low): “Low” screen space reflections offer acceptable quality while ensuring a better gameplay experience.

Screen Space Reflections AW2
Screen Space Reflections (Image by eXputer)

Fog Quality (Medium): Keeping fog quality at “Medium” provides atmospheric effects without compromising performance.

Fog Quality AW2
Fog Quality (Image by eXputer)

Terrain Quality (Medium): “Medium” terrain quality on a PC offers a similar level of landscape detail to the PS5, maintaining visual fidelity.

Far Object Detail (LOD) (Medium): The “Medium” setting for far object detail on a PC ensures distant objects look good without overloading the GPU, similar to the PS5.

Scattered Object Density (Medium): A “Medium” setting for scattered object density delivers a comparable visual experience to the PS5, balancing visual density and performance.

Did You Boost The Game’s Performance?

To wrap it up, after some testing, I’ve figured out the ideal settings for playing Alan Wake 2. Considering the photorealistic quality of Alan Wake 2 visuals, I doubt even turning most settings to low would degrade it. I was consistently getting 65-70 FPS with these settings and DLSS set to quality. The game also performs great on PS5 according to our Alan Wake 2 reviewer, Huzaifa Durrani. 

It’s all about adjusting the graphics and display options to have a smooth and nice-looking gaming experience, mostly similar to PS5, and giving more FPS. If you have any helpful suggestions for improving these settings, please share them in the comments section below.

To further optimize Alan Wake 2’s performance, I recommend that you check out these guides:

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Ayyoun is a Freelance Writer for Error Fixes, and Game Settings on eXputer. He’s been passionate about games and technology since he got his hands on the PlayStation 1. He has a software engineering background and loves to play games from a technical perspective. He has a knack for uncovering solutions for the latest games and presenting them in easy-to-follow guides for his audience. You can keep up with his gaming activity on his Steam profile.

Experience: 7+ years || Worked For VeryAli Gaming and IGN || Education: B.S Software Engineering, Google IT Professional Certificate, Editing Mastery from Udemy, and Digital Journalism.

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