As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I must say that God of War Ragnarok has left me utterly spellbound. Having played through the original on PlayStation 2 and the reboot on PS4, I can confidently assert that this sequel surpasses both in every way.
Following its massive success on PlayStation, winning numerous accolades including Game of the Year awards, Santa Monica Studio’s God of War Ragnarok has now made its debut on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. As a cross-generational title launched in 2022, the tale of Kratos and Atreus leading up to the prophesied battle of Ragnarok remains compelling, offering top-notch gameplay and graphics that continue to impress. In fact, it’s hard not to consider this one of the most visually stunning titles available on PS5, a quality that shines just as brightly in its PC iteration.
Instead of many other PS5 games adapted for PC by Nixxes Software, known for its work on titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and others, God of War Ragnarok is being handled by Jetpack Interactive. They did a commendable job porting the original God of War to PC, but how will their adaptation of Ragnarok turn out?
Graphical Options and Settings
The setup for our test included an AMD Radeon 5950x graphics card, a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32 GB of memory, and an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. You can select from four visual settings – Low, Medium, High, and Ultra – each offering adjustable quality for Model detail, Texture resolution, Lighting effects, Anisotropic filtering, Shadows, Reflections, Atmospheric effects, Tessellation, and Ambient Occlusion.
While Latency Reduction, higher frame rates, and Frame Generation remain key aspects, the emphasis on Temporal Anti-Aliasing may be a concern for some as it reappears. You can customize these features using Native, Balanced, and Quality modes, and additional scaling options such as AMD FSR 3.1, Intel XeSS, and Nvidia DLSS with DLAA are also provided for your adjustment.
For our test, we went with Ultra settings, AMD FSR Frame Generation enabled and DLAA at 4K resolution. To say that it looks stunning would be an understatement. Just from the opening alone, the skin texture quality of Kratos and how it’s illuminated, both from light entering the cave and the campfire inside, is incredibly realistic.
PC Performance
Absolutely, when it comes to an action-adventure game that emphasizes combat, how well it performs is just as crucial. Fortunately, the performance of God of War Ragnarok on PC is quite impressive right out of the gate. Shader compilation takes only 15 seconds, and the opening sequence demonstrates excellent far-reaching graphics (likely enhanced by the fog) and destructible elements without any slowdown.
Navigating through Midgard’s wintry landscape, engaging foes while watching the snow convincingly crunch beneath your steps, the game maintains a steady frame rate. During the intense clashes between Kratos and Thor, as well as during transitions from combat to cinematics with their immersive effects and lighting, everything remains visually impressive.
The challenge becomes apparent when journeying to Svartalfheim. As you step out of the Realm Between Realms, the surroundings initially appear in a low-resolution format – even the clouds momentarily disappear for a few moments on screen. Though both issues are fleeting and swiftly rectified, it takes a bit longer for the foreground vegetation to fully load, approximately one second. Additionally, some objects further away seem to pop up intermittently, but they quickly vanish soon after.
The issue isn’t major, but it’s strange that this problem isn’t present on PS5 yet appears on PC. We observed a slight drop in frame rate during combat in certain areas, even though the fight wasn’t especially intense. However, the frame rate remained steady while exploring waterways by boat or climbing decaying structures. These drops might be due to the area’s large size and high graphical detail, including environmental textures, water effects, distant details, and background elements. Although it requires some optimization, the PC version still offers an incredibly beautiful visual experience and generally performs well overall.
PS5 vs. PC
On the PlayStation 5, God of War Ragnarok presents two playstyles: Quality and Performance. The Quality setting provides a native 4K resolution, while the Performance mode focuses on achieving 60 frames per second, maintaining a steady performance overall. However, it’s important to note that the Performance mode adjusts its resolution dynamically, typically averaging around 1872p. In terms of visual quality and details, both modes are quite similar, with the Quality Mode offering better level of detail (LOD) and lighting effects. If you choose the Quality Mode at 40 FPS or the Ultra-High Performance Mode, the resolution and frame rate may differ even more.
On a PC equipped with appropriate hardware, you can enjoy an optimal gaming experience – running in native 4K resolution and at 60 frames per second (or even more). This dual advantage is particularly recommended for the sequel, and the extra options to fine-tune image quality or boost clarity beyond the PS5 version are commendable. To add to that, features like Ultra wide-screen support are intriguing. It’s worth mentioning that we encountered one crash during gameplay, which was probably due to a glitch as our session otherwise ran smoothly without any problems or lag.
Loading Times
In God of War Ragnarok, it’s quite challenging to come across conventional loading screens on either PS5 or PC. Instead, the game seamlessly transitions from the main menu into cinematic scenes and gameplay with no pauses in between. This continuous flow maintains the high-quality cinematography and presentation similar to its earlier versions. If anything, the “loading” process is cleverly disguised through moments like when Kratos needs to squeeze through narrow passages or even while navigating the Realm Between Realms.
When traveling quickly between dimensions, there’s a brief (2 seconds) flash as you enter the Dimension Between Dimensions and a shorter (1 second) transition into Svartalfheim on PS5. The “loading” times for these instances are similar on PC, but you might notice a slight difference of a few milliseconds. Regardless, it’s still quite impressive, despite some imperfections that are noticeable in the PC version.
Conclusion
Many discussions revolve around God of War Ragnarok, particularly about how it wraps up the Norse narrative. Opinions range from debates over different endings to alternative plot directions. Nevertheless, there’s general agreement that the game excels in terms of its technical prowess and artistic quality. There’s little dispute about the game’s stunning visuals or its effective use of PlayStation 5 hardware to create a visually impressive experience.
Experiencing this game on a computer brings back the same enchantment as initially playing it on consoles, and the optimization, featuring special features and extra options, is commendable. However, there are certain aspects that could be refined, particularly in Svartalfheim, such as smoother transitions when entering portals to new realms. Despite these minor flaws and the game’s larger scale compared to the 2018 reboot, Jet Pack Interactive has admirably adapted the entire experience for PC.
If you’re aiming for top-tier visuals in 4K, the PC version of “God of War Ragnarok” takes the lead due to its high fidelity and extensive options. Regardless of whether you choose PS5 or PC, “God of War Ragnarok” offers an extraordinary experience that remains one of the finest action-adventure games in gaming history.
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2024-09-24 14:11