Our approach for the Pro
We shipped Alan Wake 2 on October 27th 2023. The PlayStation 5 and Series X versions offer players the choice between a Quality mode at 30fps and a Performance mode targeting 60fps. We wanted to retain and improve these modes when considering upgrading Alan Wake 2 for the Pro.
When considering potential options to improve the image quality, increasing the rendering resolution is among the easiest routes to go if you have enough GPU power.
We did multiple experiments, including upgrading the 60fps Performance mode output from 1440p to 4k and adding PSSR (Sony’s AI-based upscaling method), which positively impacted image crispness and stability under motion.
Increasing the internal rendering resolution consumes a lot of processing power, no matter how powerful your hardware is. However, in our experiments, even putting all the added power to increased rendering resolution provided a barely noticeable difference in the output image or its quality. Adding more pixels to gain visual quality is not straightforward with the new AI-based upscaling methods.
That being said, there still is a threshold on what resolution image you can feed to modern upscalers and expect good quality reconstruction results. Many different parameters affect the upscaling quality, ranging from the style of content to the choice of rendering algorithms that are used to produce the image. Every engine and artistic direction works in different ways.
When it comes to Alan Wake 2, it seemed a better idea to improve the signal that we feed into the denoising network rather than trying just to add more data. This led us to improve the rendering quality settings of the Pro Performance mode which is closer to what the base PlayStation 5 version’s Quality mode uses.
These upgraded settings provide the Pro version of Alan Wake 2 with a fast response rate combined with a sharper and better-quality image than was previously possible.
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