New Alan Wake II Update Is Great For Scaredy-Cats Like Me [Corrected]

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. Importantly, it may also render the game more playable for those with certain sensitivities to flashing lights.

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 were very scary and were used to effectively keep players on their toes. And for some players sensitive to flashing lights, the effect may have been a serious problem, so it’s great that this option has been added. 

Luckily, I don’t have a sensitivity to flashing lights. And as for the horror aspect, I can totally handle the unsettling effects of these jump scares. They don’t frighten me one bit. 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. Still, uhh…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.

Correction, 2/1/24, 9:40 a.m. ET: This post previously disregarded the accessibility implications of this update. It has been updated to acknowledge those implications. Kotaku regrets the error.