Remedy reassures PC gamers worried about Alan Wake 2 system requirements: ‘We played real safe on those PC settings’

The full reveal of the Alan Wake 2 system requirements last week left a lot of fans unhappy. They’re steep: The minimum spec for 1080p, 30 fps gameplay at the low graphics preset is an Intel i5-7600K CPU, RTX 2060 GPU, and 16GB RAM, and a sharp ramp up from there into recommended, ultra, and ray tracing requirements. But some optimistic gamers expressed hope that Remedy was inflating the PC system requirements for Alan Wake 2 in order to ensure that it runs well on all specs, even at the low end, and that’s apparently the case.

“We played real safe on those PC settings btw,” Remedy communications director Thomas Puha tweeted earlier today. “Underpromise, overdeliver, or something Finnish like that.”

That’s good news, but I have to wonder if Puha’s tweet also injects some confusion into the matter. If the minimum requirement isn’t really the minimum, will people with underpowered PCs be tempted to roll the dice on it, and end up disappointed as a result? System requirements are all about clarity, which in the absence of console-style uniformity is very important: It sucks to be told your rig isn’t up to snuff, but it’s far better to know what to expect up front than to be surprised.