In 2023, we played a lot of cool games - not only with addictive gameplay but also with impressive graphics. But not all of them worked stably and quickly at the start while pleasing the picture. It’s scary to say: that finding releases that produce 60 FPS on completely new hardware is like finding a needle in a haystack. Let's take a look at those rare gems that meet this criterion while still being great games.
Diablo 4
Let's start our TOP right away with the unofficial first place. Diablo 4 just works. Almost perfectly scales on any computer and in any resolution, while demonstrating the proper level of graphics and effects. Moreover, you don’t need to think about adjusting graphics settings, since the engine will automatically select the optimal preset for your equipment, be it a ten-year-old “calculator” or a fancy PC. If this is not enough for, say, an ultrawide monitor, you can connect NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS. On the downside, we note that Diablo 4 requires a constant connection to the network to work. And, all other things being equal, it works better on systems with a large amount of video memory.
Formula 1 (2023)
Codemasters has released perhaps the best-optimized racing simulator this year. PC players have access to a variety of graphics settings - from textures and geometry to shadows, lighting, particles, and much more. Not only that, the developers have added many ray tracing effects such as RTGI, RTAO, RT Reflections, and RT Shadows. But even without NVIDIA technologies, the game runs smoothly on a PC, continuing to look good on a wide range of gaming hardware, adequately scaling performance to the selected resolution. The catch is that the graphical improvements of F1 23, compared to F1 22, are not so noticeable with ray tracing technologies turned off. It’s still worth turning on RT - the game is transformed, and you don’t have to look at the screenshots with a magnifying glass to notice it! Everything is visible to the eye.
Against the Storm
It is possible to return to 2010 in terms of system requirements with Against the Storm, although 2013 hardware is better suited for its reliable operation. Yes, this game cannot boast of photorealistic graphics, but stylistically it is done correctly and captivates with a creative approach to design. Against the Storm scales well, mainly due to the frame rate - by cranking the frame rate above 120, you can load even relatively new video cards. But this city-planning simulator in a dark fantasy setting also offers exciting gameplay! In general, if you were disappointed with the optimization of Cities: Skylines 2, then Against the Storm is quite capable of replacing it in all directions.
System Shock Remake
Another project that feels great on 2013 hardware. Yes, System Shock Remake cannot boast of outrageous graphics, which means it does not claim the title of “RTX 4080 killer.” But its graphics are good in the context of the obligatory preservation of the style of the original System Shock. If Nightdive Studios had gotten carried away with the race for textures and technologies, a significant part of the ambiance would have faded away - modern games don’t do that, so they look different. And so we got a remake that demonstrates excellent scalability, primarily on computers from 2010-2015, and high FPS in a variety of resolutions, and even has NVIDIA DLSS 2 to improve the image.
Alan Wake 2
Despite criticism from some of the community, Alan Wake 2 scales well, showing decent graphics on five-year-old computers with minimal settings and incredible quality on modern builds, while leaving untapped potential for the next generation of graphics accelerators. Remedy has made enough tweaks to rock every PC. However, the game has a minimum entry threshold, and this is the RTX 2070 for mode without ray tracing. That is, this is not a port of such a curve, but the requirements have really grown, which was inevitable after the last few stagnant years when the GTX 1080 was enough for everything.
Armored Core 6
In terms of visual quality or styling, Armored Core 6 doesn't offer anything special. This is a “strong average” of the current generation of consoles - good textures and colorful effects, fairly well-developed models of combat robots, but against the backdrop of simple detailing of the game environment and closed levels. However, FromSoftware made sure that the game runs smoothly and efficiently on PC, even on 8-year-old computers, and also added all the standard settings to adjust performance on the user's side. It's also the first FromSoftware game to support 120 FPS and ultra-wide monitors. In our difficult times, this is already enough to enter the TOP of the most optimized games.
Baldur's Gate 3
2023 was pleased with the release of one of the most highly-rated games in history. And if for some reason you cannot run Baldur's Gate 3, then your computer is truly outdated. This RPG demonstrates unprecedented lightness in terms of hardware requirements, providing 60 FPS in 1080p resolution with Ultra graphics settings on 6-year-old components. At the same time, providing 4K and 60FPS on the latest generation video cards. The visually picky reader retorts that Baldur's Gate 3 is far from a masterpiece of animation and graphics. This is true. But, regardless of the selected settings, the graphics level will not drop catastrophically, and the detail of models and the quality of textures will be reduced only on cards with 3-4 gigabytes of memory, leaving the PC resource to “play without lags”.
Lies of P
With the high-profile releases of the past year, it was easy to miss the indie Soulsbourne project Lies of P. But this is one of the best games in terms of optimization, running smoothly on a wide variety of configurations! Visually it looks great, with captivating environments and quite detailed characters whose style is clearly inspired by Bloodborne. As for the rest of the visuals, we can say that this is just a good implementation of the capabilities of Unreal Engine 4. A 7-year-old computer is suitable for running, but it is better to get hardware from the last three generations from AMD and NVIDIA/Intel. In the case of a widescreen monitor, AMD FSR 2.0 and NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 will come in handy.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
“Excellent performance that demonstrates the potential of the PS5 when used by skilled PC port developers,” is how the Western press described Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. And we tend to agree - a GTX 960 or RX 470 is enough to run it, but the graphics quality will not be detrimental. Rift Apart supports many settings and all existing image enhancement technologies - DLSS 2/3, FSR 2, and XeSS. It also has ray-tracing effects and support for ultra-wide screens. The guys from Nixxes quickly fixed most of the problems identified at the launch of the project, and today Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart looks and works without any complaints.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
The remake of Resident Evil 4 is an impressive game in every way, achieving visual splendor thanks not so much to cutting-edge technology as to the mastery of Capcom's artists in style and art design. The RE Engine is not as well known as some other engines but is used to its fullest to create highly detailed characters and carefully crafted environments. Even users with 8-year-old hardware like the GTX 1070 or RX 5700 can enjoy the game at high settings. While more powerful systems allow you to enable ray tracing and other advanced effects. This made Resident Evil 4 accessible to a wide range of gamers, which is one of the strengths of the remake.
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It seems like we're getting used to the fact that well-optimized games at release are a rarity. With the growing ambitions and scale of modern projects, developers have less and less time to prepare PC builds. But we still hope for the best - enjoying games without performance problems will one day become the norm again.
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