Alan Wake for PC arriving next month

It has just been confirmed that Alan Wake on PC is to be released on February. Beforehand, the game was supposed to be just for PC and Xbox 360, but unfortunately, since then it has become a console exclusive.

However, that has now changed. Last month, the game was announced to be coming to the PC platform. DLC add-ons The Signal and The Writer are also to be featured in the game – both DLCs were released for Xbox 360.

Remedy’s community manager confirmed the launch timing for the game on PC in an updated Question and Answer page on Alan Wake forums. This conversation is shown below:

What is the release date?
Alan Wake will be released on Steam during February 2012.

How much will Alan Wake on PC cost?
Pricing will be announced soon, a bit closer to release.

What bundle deals will be available?
Specifics about the bundle deals are still being worked out and will be announced closer to release.

What are the minimum specs for the game?
We are still finalising the optimisations and graphics scalability, so some details can still change.
This is our current view:
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
PROCESSOR: A dual core processor is required:
AMD: Athlon X2 2.8GHz
Intel: Core 2 Duo 2GHz
MEMORY: 2 GB
HARD DRIVE: 8 GB
VIDEO CARD: DirectX 10 compatible or later with 512MB RAM
AMD: ATI Radeon 3650, 4450, 5550, 6450 or higher (per series)
NVIDIA: GeForce 8600GT, 9500GT, GT120, GT430, GT520 (per series)
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Mouse and keyboard, Xbox360 controller also supported

What do I need to run with max settings?
For a solid performance Remedy recommends a modern quad-core CPU and a graphics card with around 2000 in 3DMark Graphics Score as seen in here: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu
For max settings and high resolutions, a top of the line graphics card and CPU is needed.

Will the game be released on the Mac?
Unfortunately, the game will not be available for Mac users.

Will it support Windows XP?
Yes. We have finished our testing and are satisfied the game works well, assuming the users’ systems are configured correctly (we detected some audio configuration problems during testing but nothing that can’t be worked around easily).

Is Alan Wake going to use Games for Windows Live?
Games for Windows Live will not be used; we will be fully supporting the Steam platform.

Who is the publisher?
Alan Wake PC is a Remedy self-published title.

Is Remedy developing the PC game?
The PC version is being developed together with a small team from Remedy as well as a talented team at Finnish independent developer, Nitro Games, who have previous and recent experience of releasing games on Steam.
Will there be a demo version?
Unfortunately, there won’t be a demo version of Alan Wake PC.

What control options will there be?
The PC version will support keyboard and mouse (fully configurable) and the Xbox 360 controller.
What features will be available on Steam?
The game will run using Steamworks, allowing for syncing of settings and save games to the Steam Cloud platform. Steam achievements will also be featured in the game.
Will the DLC Episodes be included in the game?
Both The Signal and The Writer DLCs will be available on Steam and are included in all copies of the game.

Is this release developed from the former PC version that was showcased a few years ago?
No. Any early material evolved into what ended up shipping on the 360. This PC release will be derived from what was released on the 360.
How large is the Steam download for the game?
Around 7.5GB.

What graphical customisations will the player be able to make?
We are still finalising the options, but the players can naturally adjust resolution, run in full screen or windowed and change numerous graphics quality settings such as anti-aliasing, FXAA, shadow quality, draw distance and so on.
The players can also turn off the HUD if they wish. This was a feature many of our fans wanted for Alan Wake Xbox360.
How will the save game system work?
The save games will work as they did on Xbox360, with automatic checkpoints. We know some of our PC fans would love a “save anywhere” system, but unfortunately we can’t easily change how the saves work as there are certain restrictions where you can save in the tech so adding a free save anywhere would likely expose a lot of new bugs.

What languages is the game localised to?
It is localised to same languages as Alan Wake Xbox360 with full voiceover and text localisations for English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. Text localisation (Subtitle support and menu translations) will be provided in Traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish and Russian.
Are you going to release the mod tools for Alan Wake PC?
Unfortunately Remedy is not planning to release the mod tools. The tools are a lot more complex than they were with the Max Payne games, and are based on many 3rd party commercial tools like Autodesk 3d studio max. Additionally they have been integrated to work with our Perforce asset repository and other internal services, and removing and re-implementing these features would be a lot of work.

Will Alan Wake PC support Stereoscopic 3D?
We have internally tested that the game works with NVISION 3D very nicely. It is fairly performance heavy though so a high end GPU such as the GeForce 580GTX and moderate graphics settings are recommended.
Remedy has not been able to test AMD HD3D (we spent some time trying), but AMD has access to the build and we are hoping they can confirm whether it works or not.

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