Alan Wake II’s 1.15 update is now live on Xbox, PlayStation and PC. It fixes a ton of bugs, improves some visual issues, and also adds an option to make the game a little less scary for all you weenies out there.
Launched last November, Alan Wake II was the long-awaited, highly anticipated sequel to 2010’s Alan Wake. We here at Kotaku loved Remedy’s spooky follow-up, calling it the best game of 2023 and one of the best survival horror games ever made. The story of writer Alan Wake and his fight against the darkness and all the creepy monsters lurking inside continued in Alan Wake II, but unlike the first game which was more of an action-focused shooter, the sequel was a much scarier experience. Perhaps for some folks out there, it was too scary.
On January 31, Remedy announced the latest update for Alan Wake II–-update 1.15—was now live across all platforms. It’s a big update, bringing some welcomed performance improvements and adding some much-needed features, including a chapter select menu and an easily accessible FOV slider on PC. But the most interesting addition in this update is a new setting that might make the game a bit less “jump-scar-ey.”
- “Added option to choose between Low and Normal horror flash visual and audio intensity.”
A frequently used technique in Alan Wake II is to flash a few close-ups of disturbing-looking characters or other images on the player’s screen to scare them and make them feel uncomfortable. Often these are accompanied by a loud, unsettling noise or music cue.
The flashes weren’t like strobe lights or anything that could cause possible seizures, but they were very scary and were used to effectively keep players on their toes. For some, this was too much, and made the game hard to play. And now you can turn them down. What that actually means in practice, I’m not sure. And I’ll never know. Because I’m not a baby.
Sure, I mean, yeah, I might have dropped my controller once or twice during some really harrowing moments. And sure, yeah, I maybe had to take a break or two when things got too scary and intense. But I’m not a weenie. Not at all. But maybe I’ll check out this new setting when I go back to play Alan Wake II’s new game+ mode. Just to like, you know…check it out. Not because I’m scared or anything. Not at all. Quit asking.
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