Capcom's latest release has been making waves by securing the 6th spot in Steam's most-played titles list. However, the game's success is overshadowed by widespread criticism from users and technical experts alike, focusing on its substandard performance on the PC platform. Digital Foundry's comprehensive analysis has shed light on the game's numerous technical shortcomings, drawing attention to its dire state.
One of the most glaring issues is the shader pre-compilation process, which can take up to 9 minutes on a system equipped with a 9800X3D processor and over 30 minutes on a Ryzen 3600. This lengthy wait time is just the beginning of the game's problems. Even when set to "High" graphics settings, the texture quality remains disappointingly low. For instance, on a PC with an RTX 4060 running at 1440p resolution with balanced DLSS settings, significant frame time spikes disrupt the gameplay experience. The situation doesn't improve much with more powerful hardware like the RTX 4070 with 12 GB of memory, as textures still appear subpar.
For users with GPUs limited to 8 GB of memory, Digital Foundry recommends dropping the texture quality to "Medium" to reduce stuttering and frame time spikes. Yet, this compromise does little to improve the visual quality, which remains unsatisfactory. Rapid camera movements exacerbate the frame time issues, though slower movements mitigate the problem to some extent. Unfortunately, even with low-quality textures, the frame time problems persist.
Alex Battaglia of Digital Foundry points out that the core issue stems from inefficient data streaming, which places an undue burden on the GPU during decompression. This is particularly problematic for budget graphics cards, resulting in severe frame time spikes. Battaglia advises against purchasing the game for those with 8 GB GPUs and expresses reservations about its suitability even for users with more powerful setups like the RTX 4070.
The game's performance is particularly dismal on Intel GPUs. The Arc 770, for example, struggles to maintain a playable frame rate, averaging only 15–20 frames per second, and is plagued by missing textures and other visual artifacts. While high-performance systems can partially alleviate these issues, smooth gameplay remains elusive. At present, finding an optimized settings configuration is nearly impossible without sacrificing significant visual quality.
In summary, despite its popularity on Steam, Capcom's new release is marred by severe technical issues that detract from the overall gaming experience. Players are advised to approach with caution, particularly those with less powerful hardware.
