Alan Wake 2 is the latest game from Remedy Entertainment, a developer whose prestigious output includes Control (2019) and the first two Max Payne titles on PC and PS2. As covered by Compusemble in the benchmarking tests embedded below, Alan Wake 2 boasts incredibly high NVMe storage use, peaking at 2.74 GB/s of throughput, particularly during the game's trippy Mind Palace sequences.
Like Control, Alan Wake 2 has become notorious as a test for modern real-time ray tracing-capable GPUs but takes it even further by requiring mesh shaders across the board, adding support for path tracing, and targeting an even higher degree of realism as a result.
Alan Wake 2's high-fidelity assets can clearly put a lot of stress on a storage drive, resulting in the Gen 5 NVMe drive used in testing consistently being on the higher end of its optimal temperatures, though fortunately not within range of proper thermal throttling. That's an unavoidable side effect of the 2.74 GB/s of read throughput peak during a scene transition. The game also consistently stresses the SSD with around 1.6 GB/s of throughput.
Truthfully, Alan Wake isn't the only game of its kind to more-or-less require an NVMe SSD for a smooth experience. DirectStorage and RTX I/O titles are similarly built on top of next-generation storage as an expectation, not an afterthought. Recent major titles using these technologies include Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Portal Prelude RTX.
Fortunately for non-NVMe and especially non-SSD users, most titles don't require SSDs at all. However, even if the game isn't optimized for SSDs, using one will improve your load times significantly.
And if a game does come with DirectStorage support and recommends an SSD as a requirement...you most likely want to follow that advice. Below, I've embedded a Rift Apart benchmarking run from ShadowRomeo1784 on YouTube, demonstrating how severely an HDD can ruin the intended experience of these NVMe-intended titles.
In any case, those itching to find a proper use for their NVMe SSDs don't have to look much longer! Ratchet & Clank and Alan Wake 2 alike both go to show that we've properly entered the era of SSD gaming on PC, and judging by the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, titles like these will only become more common over time.
