The PC version of God of War (2018) went on sale a few days ago. In order to experience the freshness of "old wine for new bottles", and in order to see what the PC version can do, I have also run around various computers in the past few days - and almost dismantled the chairman's bow tiger's computer.
Rave reviews
For the quality of the game itself, after the launch of the PS4 version, Santa Monica won the prize and got it softly, the player played with a smile, and various review articles are really too many, and there is no need to repeat it here. From my personal point of view, it is a "god work", and it is one of the very few works that can support me to grit my teeth and win platinum on PS4 (the Valkyrie trial is really too torturous).
And how the performance of this PC version is, please listen to my back chatter.
The picture performance is quite good
First of all, let's look at the requirements of the PC version: at the minimum configuration, the graphics card only needs gtx960 or R9 290X to bring up, and the recommended configuration is GTX 1060 (6 GB) or AMD RX 570 (4 GB). From the configuration point of view, the optimization of "God of War" is not bad. The game size is about 70G or less, and currently only supports the win10 system, but there are already mods that can make the game run on the win 7 system, and the speed is still quite fast.
Since it is a PC version, support 4K resolution, turn off the frame limit, support ultra-widescreen display, support DLSS and Fidelity FX, the game options also add Nvidia Reflex low-latency technology, but I always feel that this technology is better used in FPS or FTG, "God of War" This KIND of ACT game to open this function, it seems that the significance is not very large.
From the conclusion, when I used the home RTX 3080 graphics card with 32G memory computer test, to ensure that the 2K resolution, open DLSS at the same time the picture quality is full, stable about 120 frames is no problem - in the game provided quality options, the "original" option is equivalent to the mid-range, after turning on the ultra-high option, the detail effect on the screen has indeed improved more conspicuously.
Although the PS5's God of War also supports 4K output, the PC version is certainly much more selective in terms of screen than the PS5. At ultra-high quality, the resolution of shadows becomes higher, and the new GTAO can still be pulled apart several notches in terms of model fineness, ambient light, and shadow levels at the same resolution as SSDO and other settings like PC and PS5.
In fact, I would like to re-talk about the performance of God of War on the company's 1660Ti computer with 6G video memory. Although the performance of this "sweet grade" graphics card from four years ago is insufficient, it is still more than enough. After opening the "ultra-high" image quality option, the game remains at an average of about 40FPS, and it will fluctuate to about 30 when fighting, but it will not fall to within 30, although the graphics card looks a bit difficult, the game can still stabilize the output screen. I have to say that Santa Monica's technical strength should indeed put a lot of effort into it.
However, under the custom options, some options for shadows and reflections can be pulled higher. But the game is very memory-eating, in the state of memory, after a while will directly pop the box prompt "there is not enough memory space" after the error exit, so don't force your own machine too hard.
Then again, since it's a GTX graphics card, natural DLSS can't be used, so I tried to turn on Su Ma's Fidelity FX to try the effect. In balanced mode, the game's graphics have been significantly downgraded, and it can be seen that through the algorithm, the vegetation and the character's body become a little blurred, but the frame count has increased to 50. Interestingly, whether I adjusted the options to "Performance" or "Quality", there was no more obvious fluctuation in the number of frames, and there was only a 5-frame difference up and down.
Fidelity FX is not open
Turn on Fidelity FX
Ryoma and I studied in front of the screen for half a day, and finally found that as long as the image quality option in the system was adjusted from "super high" to "high", the picture could be stabilized by 60 frames. Therefore, Fidelity FX does not seem to have a significant improvement in the number of frames in the mid-range graphics card, and the screen will drop to a certain extent according to the algorithm after opening. For machines with 960 performance peer-to-peer graphics cards, this technology should perform better.
The ultra-wide screen is cool
Originally, I didn't expect the "ultra-widescreen display", but Ryoma told me that I must try the unique features of this PC version. I searched around the office and found that the chairman bow tiger workstation had a Samsung 34-inch Dragon Knight (34G55TWWC) on it, and when he didn't come to the company today, we moved the screen on his workstation three times and five divided by two (I was mainly responsible for disassembling and moving, and he was responsible for coming up with ideas).
After connecting it, I found that the display with the fish screen was indeed very unusual. The visual range of the whole picture is stretched, and the overall appearance is more transparent. I took a closer look and found that God of War's "ultra-widescreen mode" is not the fake 21:9 of "violent cropping", but a fine adjustment to this particular resolution, with some trimming and some increases. The widened screen shows more content that does not appear on the console version, coupled with the original one-shot game design, when playing the game, it even makes me feel more like "watching a movie", which is really refreshing.
The ultra-wide display is indeed the most distinctive part of PC's God of War. However, because it is an ACT game, the fight is intense, too long a screen will make the eyes can not take care of it, and it will indeed feel tired after a long time, and finally you still have to pull away a little distance to feel comfortable. Therefore, everyone who wants to experience "God of War" with a fish screen should also pay attention to it, and ensure a certain visual distance to have a more comfortable game experience.
Keyboard and mouse control is ok
Another feature of the PC version is that it can be controlled with keyboard and mouse. As expected, WSAD controls the direction and the mouse controls the orientation and attack. I have to say that in the design of controlling atelus to shoot enemy weaknesses, the mouse is really much more comfortable than the joystick. However, the game itself is designed based on the operation of the controller, from the operation of various QTE and the "fist to flesh" feeling when attacking, in fact, the controller is more popular.
But then again, using an XBOX controller to play the PS4 monopoly of the past is really subtle... Backstabbing...
There are also some default keys to pay attention to, such as the default key of Spartan Fury is left Shift plus the middle mouse button, which is a bit laborious and can be replaced by the number key 5.
However, the game seems to have a bug on the display in the button changes at present - in the game's button settings, only part of the key allocation is displayed, and the other part is hidden without knowing what the reason is. For example, the number key 2, after you change to another key, he will prompt that the key you have is not bound, but you can't find the specific reason where it comes from, which is really strange.
epilogue
The PC version of "God of War" has officially landed on the Steam and Epic platforms on January 15, and the main body is priced at 279 yuan. As TGA's 2018 Game of the Year, I personally feel that it is indeed a good thing to be able to release it again on the PC platform before the new game is launched, so that new players can try it, and old players can feel the progress of the times while reminiscing.
If you have not been in contact with this work, then at the end of the article I still have to tearfully recommend this veritable masterpiece, if you think more than 200 pieces are a bit expensive, you can also keep waiting and seeing a G fat discount. But in the final analysis, chairman Bow Tiger said to me in the same tone as usual when he knew that I had dismantled his computer because of God of War:
"Again, good games have nothing to do with the graphics, classic for a sticker, or classic."
And this sentence
However, if you are on pc, you can't play which character you want to play...