Alan Wake 2 Thinks It'll Beat Spider-Man to PS5's Best Graphics of 2023 Crown

Horizon Burning Shores already has that title and won't be surpassed

really, really, ridiculously good-looking

What's wrong with you...?
It looked good, nothing special whatsoever?
(Spiderman too)

I didn't care too much for the original but I'll definitely still try this. Remedy have fabulous technical chops. Control on PC is a ray tracing benchmark.

Tbh I just think there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking.

Spiderman didn't even look that impressive, looked just like the original imo (talking just graphics!). I'm confident in saying it won't look as good as HFW or Burning shores.

Obviously were talking just graphics here and nothing else! Still haven't played the original Alan Wake but part 2 has a tough battle with Burning Shores in being the prettiest game if that's all they are going for 🤷

wont be buying it as wont be supporting digital only AAA games

Good for them but hopefully it has it where it really counts as Spider-Man 2 looks like a lot of fun to play and will be available as a physical product as well

There’s over half a year to go and a LOT of games coming out that we have yet to see much of. I like their confidence but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

It's not even contestable. Spiderman 2 looked like a Ps4 game. I have no doubt Alan wake will look better. Hell, that Warhammer space marine 2 trailer had better visuals than Spiderman 2.

Didi hear right this is a digital only release geez game preservation much!? I hope this is released on gog I can back up the installer pack. I don't trust your severs I trust a retail disc geez. What ever happened to buying the physical copy. Graphics I don't care about graphics game plot , lore is a bonus and playability that's the main thing for me.

Somewhat ridiculous to compare when this seems to have narrow pathways and indoor locations. Try to get this running at the speed Spidey swings through a whole metropolis and I’m sure it’ll look very different.

It’s also just so subjective though. For me, you can’t judge a game’s visual appeal by counting polygons, or by its texture’s resolution, it’s lighting, etc.

Yesterday, I was on Triton. Standing on this bleak rock, I craned my neck to look up at Neptune, blue to my vision, delicate clouds dancing with wonderful coordination across a deep blue surface. Her rings providing an awe inspiring level of perspective and scale.

I stood there just looking for 5 minutes before continuing with Red Matter 2.

Will I stop and look at Alan Wake 2 or Spider-Man 2 just for the sheer joy? I doubt it.

So, to me, they will not be the most impressive games graphically on PlayStation. Nor will Burning Shore or anything else others are likely to say. And that is fine. That is great. Why do we insist on ranking and competing anyway.

Lol too bad it will flop hard being digital only.

It may slightly look better than spiderman 2 but it won't be selling more than spiderman 2, that's what counts.

Spider-Man looked a gen behind that matrix demo and inferior to cross gen forbidden west.

Graphics aside, I'd take Alan Wake over Spider-Man any day.

@Juanalf there's a side by side comparison video of Spiderman and they seemed to do little tweaks rather than a full graphical upgrade.

Graphics don't mean much if the gameplay isn't up to scratch. They also mention Assassin's Creed so they're comparing a linear game to two, big open world games which never look as good as a linear game.

@Mad001 That what happens when you don’t go with a traditional publisher.

I didn't think the Alan Wake trailer looked that good

They Could of said the story is going to be amazing and get people hooked, or how good the gameplay is that it will immerse people with its atmosphere and tense moments. But no, instead it's.....

The graphics are good 🙃

If all a dev has to boast about their game is graphics then you know its a bad sign.

@Grimwood It's Zoolander, you philistine! 😂

Phantom blade:)

Tbh I've been smashing through Zelda, and that quite literally shows me graphics doesn't matter. Because that game is a don. Still looks good, but the gameplay is king.

likely both boring anyway :yawn:
I did like the hair of the new main character, it was well executed imo

@Mad001 have you watched the trailer alan wake will not be the main character.

Lol, Horizon DLC already has that title.

Still not really moved by this Spiderman franchise. Maybe some day.

I mean if we’re totally being honest SM2 doesn’t look a hellava lot better than SM Remastered. I was expecting to be blown away by SM2 visuals and wasn’t.

Alan Wake will be held back by the limitations of the Xbox Series S While Spiderman 2 won't have to deal with that problem.

Besides, Insomniac won't have the task of optimizing a game on too many platforms. So they will push the PS5 to its absolute maximum.

First of all Assassins Creed isn't even in this discussion with its samey graphics. But I definitely think Alan Wake will give Spiderman a run for its money.

Edit: @SirMarshmallow I agree. Not that Spiderman 1 looked bad but 2 looked about the exact same and it's exclusive to just PS5.

Literally just had a work colleague send me this tweet about Spidey 2's "poor water rendering".
https://twitter.com/Dream_WaIker/status/1661876053386616832?s=19

He's totally jumped on the bandwagon, feeling that the game should be delayed as a result! Total eye roll from me... Mental.
First "Puddlegate" in 2018 and now what..... "Rivergate"?!

In total agreement with @EquiinoxGII about gameplay over graphics and Zelda ToTK is proof of that (got 50hrs clocked in so far).
If Spidey 2 has amazing gameplay, with those super fast traversal speeds, instant switching between Miles and Peter etc and a fantastic story to go alongside it... all for it.
I can survive the way the water looks.

As for Alan Wake 2... Does look real nice, but I am presuming it's far more contained? And you're walking at human speeds, not flying halfway through Manhattan in seconds.

Bold statement. Who knows what other games will be announced for 2023 in the coming months. Besides that you can't compare big open world games with a linear experience. If i were a developer i would aim for the best game of the Year award instead the best graphics award.

If anything beats Burning Shores ill be surprised. SM2 looks identical to the last one

@Perryg92 looking at the # that tweet uses it's definitely a troll just stirring things up. I'm sure the graphics will improve as the game is still months away from release. Just shows how the internet has become one giant floodgate of negativity.

@Mad001 I mean if you're really for game preservation you should be all for digital releases since it's much easier to preserve and back up data that isn't locked to a physical object with copy protection.

See Panzer Dragon Saga which is now locked to extremely rare and rotting 30 year old Sega Saturn discs since the source code was lost. Preventing a future digital release from Sega.

@Martijn87 Yh, I just noticed the MS and Xbox hashtags.
So glad I got rid of twitter years ago to avoid this troll/hate baiting.
But sad to see my colleague getting all caught up in it.

@trev666 My man!

Well, Spiderman 1&2 have that plastic clean look which has it's charm, but the characters definitely fall into the uncanny valley. I do like a little more grime in the looks.

@UltimateOtaku91 more people buy digital now though, I prefer physical myself ,but I have found myself buying digital more often than I use too.

@Juanalf hfw world is relatively empty ,there really isn't much goin on.

Alan wake 2 will stomped over spiderman 2 in gfx, it looked like a ps4 and I think miles morales looked better.
It will take alot to surpass burning shores just looks so incredible
Maybe last of us 3 right at the end of ps5 cycle will beat it 👀

@Uromastryx and Spiderman 2 will crush Alan Wake 2 in being the better game, you know the thing that actually matters.

@KaijuKaiser I don't disagree, even though I'll enjoy Alan wake 2 much more,.
But this discussion here is about gfx not gameplay

@Uromastryx I'm going to wait until both are out to make a judgement. I think it's absurd to make such a bold statement before people get to see how they look on the TV sets. YouTube compression is awful.

Both and alan wake 2 and spiderman 2 looks looks amazing.its gonna be fun.video games graphics have come a long way.word up son

Cool but why is the console version more than the pc version where people will pirate anyway in droves. Bo disc should be like $40 starting

@BlueBeemer that's true , back up the disc or file in to a rar archive. We have the means to rip our own ps3 discs just hoping the same can be done for PS4 and ps5. No point if the digital game is locked up on a server that might go down or the this purchase has expired mess we have seen lol
Have a nice weekend buddy

Ehm. Hellblade 2?

@The_ghostmen LoL I'm all for the game it's a continuation. I've no interest in trailers or anything I just want to play through the story and hang out with Barry again 😂 he cracks me up have a good one

I think it would be challenging to beat Horizon BS. But we’ll see! (And for graphics of the year? So far it seems like Cyberpunk RT has that title)

Spiderman 2 looked amazing. I don’t know if I want it, but the graphics even in the livestream were imo more faster, more fluid, and higher quality than MM.

I look forward to the DF review of both.

@themightyant I think it helps it more when it's on a screen like the switch, while I'm ok with it on my big TV, I do seem to play handheld more, which definitely helps. But yeah, I don't think graphics are everything and this just proves it.

@themightyant haha yeah that's fair, I bought one of those switch cases which makes essentially handles for the joycons. Prior to that I was the same.

Games such as Order 1886 have proved that graphics are not everything. It is literally why Zelda TOTK is doing so well because its GAMEPLAY is what matters the most.

Yes it looks good and might end up looking better than Spiderman 2 but if they made Alan Wake a huge open world with no loading times would it look as good then? I think not.

Yes it is linear, level based design. Open worlds will always sacrifice a little beauty for a big world,

I dunno why people say Spider-man 2 doesn’t look good.

I noticed a number of improvements over Miles Morales. Namely the Ray tracing is of higher resolution. The water effects were better. The Symbiote suit’s “breathing” effects looked very good.

Plus the world geometry seems more complicated.

Nice Zoolander reference.

That's all I wanted to say.

@BlueBeemer It can help, but delisting poses serious challenges to your theory. Digital only can cause a game to require it having been bought or you can never play it again without piracy. While physical means you can always grab a copy.

Tbf, I didn’t think expect that graphics to be crazy good on Spider man 2, and with how fast the movement is in this game compared to the original I can see why. If you have graphics like Horizon with the speed of what we’ve just seen I think it’ll definitely tank performance! Still excited for both Spiderman and Alan Wake!

Think they’re a little delusional

After Horizon Burning Shores I am so excited to see what comes out. It really shows what is possible.

Digital Artist can show off more of their talent now - and we get to come along for the ride.

Art and technology have always gone hand in hand, especially the ones stuck on the specs of a 3rd party Digital Canvas.

This is why the argument that awful stagnant hardware does not matter never holds water.

@Jaz007 It's not a theory it's a fact. Once a digital game hits the internet it'll be on the web for eternity thanks to pirates and emulators.

If game preservation is all you care about legality isn't going to bother you. Since it's well known at this point that the big 3 don't care for it since it flies in the face of how they make money.

I can guarantee you game preservationists would rather crack a digital file that's readily available than pay 200$ to take a gamble on whether a 30 year old cd hasn't had its data corrupted by age and have to fiddle with whatever bs copy protection Sega used for the Saturn.

For everyone else paying 200$ for a 30 year old game is insane.

Only hardcore collectors do that because we are insane.

We're also only a tiny part of the market which is why companies like Limited Run are able to fleece us.

@Agramonte Hardware doesn't matter outside of enthusiasts which are a minority of video game consumers.

Normies are satisfied as long as there's some improvement over the previous hardware to justify upgrading.

@BlueBeemer Depends on the platform. We don’t have a good 360 emulator or OG Xbox emulator last I checked. I think PS3 is better, but not perfect. I agree it helps, but how many of those games aren’t just ripped from the disc too? Being physical hasn’t hampered PS1 games being available online at all.
But it makes PS4 preservation on a simpler level harder.
And legality is a spirit of the law issue (copyrights expire eventually for a reason). If you can reasonably buy a game, it’s wrong to pirate it.

@Jaz007 Games are ripped precisely because digital is easier to preserve and keep in circulation once it's on the net.

Once a game's data is cracked and extracted it can be copied infinitely and easily stored on multiple servers and backed up locally on multiple hard drives to preserve it in case of storage failure.

Discs won't be printed forever and there will only be so many copies of a given game on the used market.

The older the game and the longer it's been out of print the rarer and more expensive it'll become.

This affects even mainstream and popular consoles and franchises as seen by the absurd prices Pokémon and Capcom PS1 games command on the used market.

This becomes even worse if the media it's stored on degrades as it ages like is happening with Saturn and Gameboy games.

Obviously, this is a pro to people who hoard games to resale for profit as less copies overall makes yours more valuable but a massive con for a game's availability in the future.

It's also why right to resale is the only real argument against digital because in every other way it's objectively superior as a way to transfer, obtain and use media.

Physical only has an appeal to collectors like us who like to display boxes on their shelves.

@BlueBeemer what are your opinions on streaming, the supposed evolution of the digital future? Games will not be able to be cracked then.

@Balosi
If movies are any indication digital downloads will coexist with streaming services for the foreseeable future

Plus, people still illegally download and rip Disney+ and Netflix content so I don't see games being any different.

So as far as I see it's a non issue.

@BlueBeemer But why not both? That seems like the best solution. It also ensures many physical sources to rip from. I’m not advocating for a physical only preservation scheme.

@Jaz007 Because to put it bluntly physical is not needed for preservation now that digital versions of games are released making the data far easier to obtain.

And modern physical games are largely useless for ripping because it's become common practice to not put all the game data on disc.

This second point is also relevant to people who think physical will preserve their own personal collections better than digital because they'll still have a disc copy if their hard drive fails.

If a game takes away the option for me to own it physically. It will make totally skip the game so good luck with your graphics.

@BlueBeemer That is why games get delisted and vanish. Preservation has nothing to do with it total control of the market does.

@Flaming_Kaiser Yes, I think I've already covered that if you really want to preserve games you'll have to pirate because the big companies do not want to preserve old software to keep it in circulation forever.

I've also said this is not just a digital thing and in actuality is worse with physical mediums like discs and carts.

Physical games are not printed forever and the older a game is the harder it will be to obtain as less functional copies will remain in the used market.

Pirated digital games will not have this problem, as they can be copied easily and infinitely and backed up on both physical and digital storage across the globe forever to be continually reuploaded every time a pirate server inevitably gets DMCA'd.

Insuring they will always be in circulation and readily available on the internet.

And even physical media die-hards rip their games and back them up digitally because there's no guarantee it won't be damaged in the future. Ethier by wear and tear due to age or accident.

@BlueBeemer Still can find physical games from decades old games on almost all platforms. Just bought Parasite Eve 1 new in near mint edition from ebay. Digitally lost is lost forever and yes big corp doesn't care. Nintendo goes so far to lock up digital versions of games to inflate the price. I tell you I rather get it second hand or even pirate then reward such tricks. And I don't own any pirated games, movies or music. I will go out if my way to get it legally.

@Flaming_Kaiser Okay first, I just need to point out the irony of complaining about arbitrarily priced digital games while happily paying vastly inflated prices for near 30-year-old CDs from resellers.

Now that that's out of the way time to address your arguments:

And I can still find Power Stone 2 for the Dreamcast but I'll be paying 200$ for a 30-year-old CD on an obsolete format that only one failed console that didn't even last two years used.

But of course, that's a failed console and a short-lived obscure franchise so prices should high right?

Ok let's take a look at old games from a very popular franchise.
and very successful console like Pokemon games from Nintendo on its handhelds.

Those should be dirt cheap since there were so many copies sold right?

...Right?

...Dear God.

^ This is why everdrives are so popular in retro gaming. And it's essentially just plugging a hard drive loaded with digital games into a cartridge console. ^

A console that already has a very high failure rate for its proprietary GD-Rom drive that they stopped making over 20 years ago.

Of course, I could keep buying Dreamcasts to replace them as they break but well remember what I said about limited production runs and sky rocketing price due to less functioning units in the market?

Eventually it will no longer be viable to replace it.

^ This is why there are kits to replace a CD console's drive with an sd card reader to play its games off an SD card. Ironically turning them into Digital-only consoles like the Series S or PS5 Digital. ^

Or by some miracle my drive keeps going but it can't play the game because the decades old disc has started to degrade, and its data can't be read anymore.

^ This is why even digital hating physical game hoarders back up their games digitally. ^

Digital is just overall superior. But even with digital licenses will expire and storefronts can be shut down but that's where piracy comes in.

In short real game preservation is impossible legally. Ethier because companies don't want to preserve their old software or because they can't thanks to expired licenses.

If you truly want to keep every game available and in circulation aka "preserve" them for others to potentially play piracy is not an option but a necessity.