We are only 10 days away from the release of Alan Wake’s remaster. An improved version of the game, originally released 11 years ago, was officially announced a few weeks ago, and we also saw the first trailer at PlayStation Showcase. But it may not have fully captured the shift in graphics that the developers have achieved, which has been reflected in the reactions of players who had mixed feelings about the show. In addition to the graphics as such, the face of Alan himself became the target of criticism, which was significantly altered from the original to be more reminiscent of actor Ilkka Villi, who served as a model.
Although comparative images were previously available on the official website, we only saw a full-fledged comparison trailer yesterday. And when the improved graphics take a full look at it – better details, higher resolution, a change in lighting and redesigned cutscenes, everything is really recognizable. After all, you can judge the result yourself.
It came out with the trailer article on the Xbox Wire website, where the creators described the process of creating an improved version of the game. The development was divided into 5 parts: code, environment, characters, animations and cutscenes. Of course, the programmers had to make sure everything ran as it should. The PC version of Alan Wake was released in 2012, and in the meantime, technologies have shifted significantly. In the remaster, functions have been added that we already take practically for granted today, such as support for modern drivers.
In addition, the developers mention that adding new options was not easy, because they had to work with the old engine on which the original game was running, and it is really very old. Remedy uses his own Northlight engine for his new games, but switching to Alan’s new engine would probably be even more difficult than trying to adapt to the old one.
In terms of graphics, textures, materials, anti-aliasing, shadows, air simulations have been improved, and the rendering distance has been increased. Cutscenes, face animations, lip-sync, environments and character models were also redesigned. It was their appearance that the developers took the most care of, even shooting new motion capture shots and creating over 600 new poses. The team, which had the task of implementing them into every scene that is in the game, then drew from these materials.
But the environment was not neglected either, the developers added new details such as ferns, moss, fallen leaves or animations of trees moving in the wind. Another team worked on other details of buildings, vehicles and other objects that you will find in the game.
It can be seen that the developers did not neglect the work on the improved version of the game and it is not one of the other remasters, which usually only increases the resolution. Fans of the original definitely have something to look forward to. If you are interested in all the details about Alan Wake Remastered, you will find them in our earlier article.
The game will be released on October 5 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series. You can pre-order it in the store Xzone.
Beware and take care! It’s easy to end up getting lost in the forest. Alan Wake Remastered is coming. #AlanWake @remedygames @alanwake @EpicGamesPub pic.twitter.com/d4yKMHvQYE
– Sam Lake (@SamLakeRMD) September 24, 2021
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