Whereas 2026 has to date been full of unimaginable PC video games, The Blood of Dawnwalker was the one which I used to be wanting ahead to essentially the most. Not solely does it come from a recreation director with an unimaginable pedigree, however ever since system necessities had been first revealed in February, I knew that this recreation would completely punish my PC – and I’m into that.
Fortunately, Insurgent Wolves has since lightened the system necessities a bit, now solely recommending an RTX 4070 Ti for 4K 60 fps gameplay, slightly than the RTX 5090 I believed it was going to require at the start of the yr. And now that I’ve had an opportunity to play it, I’m pleasantly shocked at its efficiency, even when the visuals are slightly combined.
Identical to a variety of RPGs of this scope, a lot of what makes The Blood of Dawnwalker so stunning is its environments. Simply strolling by means of the city and the forest within the opening chapter is jaw-dropping, with practical foliage and water. The character fashions don’t fairly attain the identical constancy, however I’m pleased with that when simply strolling by means of the world seems pretty much as good because it does.
The Blood of Dawnwalker PC Settings Defined
Whereas The Blood of Dawnwalker is offered on Xbox Collection X and PlayStation 5, PC is the place it actually shines. This recreation has just about each graphics possibility I’d like in a contemporary recreation, and avoids clumping a bunch of graphics methods into one banner. The sport is kind of heavy to run maxed out, however there’s genuinely sufficient room to dial it in for higher efficiency, just about whichever {hardware} you’re taking part in it on.
Have in mind, although, that The Blood of Dawnwalker is operating on Unreal Engine 5. The sport handily avoids the sorts of issues which have plagued Star Wars Zero Firm and Halo: Marketing campaign Advanced, however it’s fairly heavy, particularly in your CPU. The sport will nonetheless run on a handheld, technically, however not notably nicely. I performed it a bit on the Lenovo Legion Go 2 on the lowest settings at 900p, and bought round 24 fps indoors. So, I’d keep on with your principal tower for this one.
However even on a tower, Blood of Dawnwalker will be very demanding. At 4K with DLSS set to High quality and on the Extremely preset, the RTX 5090 will get wherever from 70–90 fps earlier than body technology. It’s extremely clean, however that’s the kind of efficiency you’d count on from an RTX 5090.
This is my listing of advisable graphics settings, so you possibly can spend much less time questioning what every possibility does and extra time dwelling your greatest vampiric life.
Shadow High quality: This one’s fairly easy and simply modifications the decision and accuracy of shadows. This recreation has a variety of dynamic lighting, although, and that is in all probability one of many first settings I’d flip down to enhance efficiency. However, it’s a recreation the place shadows do add rather a lot to the ambiance, so that you’ll need to weigh the significance there. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive; Handheld: Low
Mild High quality: It’s exhausting to inform from this recreation’s attractive lighting, particularly within the mornings and evenings, however there isn’t a ray tracing on supply right here. Nonetheless, this setting will change how detailed lights are, and the depth of results like international illumination and diffuse lighting. Flip it down in case your efficiency is struggling. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive; Handheld: Low
Reflections High quality: I’ll admit that I’m solely a few hours into this positively large RPG, however at the least in my time with it, there aren’t that many reflective surfaces. Nonetheless, this setting will change how detailed display house reflections are, so flip it down if you happen to begin getting efficiency drops round water or different reflective surfaces. Mid-Vary PC: Medium; Handheld: Low
Publish-Processing High quality: You’ll be capable to toggle particular person post-processing options on or off additional down within the settings, so this modifications how good all of these results look. I’d preserve this up on increased settings if you happen to like a cinematic aesthetic, however you possibly can successfully flip it off if you happen to don’t actually care about bloom or movement blur. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive; Handheld: Low
Texture High quality: This largely impacts how a lot VRAM the sport goes to eat up. I’ve spent most of my time on this recreation with this maxed out, and the sport ate up about 10–12GB of VRAM. So I’d keep on with Extremely on 16GB plus, Excessive on something from 8–12GB and medium or low when you have lower than 8GB of VRAM. This ought to be one of many first stuff you flip down if you happen to begin operating into stuttering.
Results High quality: This largely impacts particle results, and there are surprisingly a variety of them on this recreation. That is going to be heavier in your CPU than something, so I’d flip this down if you happen to’re getting bottlenecked there. Mid-Vary PC: Extremely; Handheld: Low
Shading High quality: That is simply one other option to scale the lighting in Blood of Dawnwalker. I’d flip this down early if you happen to’re struggling to hit 60 fps. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive; Handheld: Low
Foliage High quality: Merely put, foliage on this recreation is attractive, nearly on the identical stage as one thing like Murderer’s Creed Shadows. However, if you happen to discover your efficiency begin to tank whenever you’re operating round within the wilderness, you must in all probability drop this to a decrease setting. However, actually you must at the least attempt operating it the next setting simply to see what it seems like. Mid-Vary PC: Medium or Excessive; Handheld: Low
Element High quality: Possibly it’s simply me, however having the choice to tweak “Element High quality” feels slightly like altering “Element Particulars.” Regardless, this modifications a variety of volumetric results like fog, together with destructible objects. I’d flip this down if you happen to’re operating into CPU points. Mid-Vary PC: Medium; Handheld: Low
Volumetric High quality: This setting additionally modifications volumetrics, however focuses extra on their decision. I’ll all the time flip volumetrics down earlier than the rest, and that doesn’t change in Blood of Dawnwalker. Mid-Vary PC: Medium; Handheld: Low
Upscaling Know-how: In contrast to a variety of different Unreal Engine 5 video games, Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t try to shove TSR down your throat. As a substitute, Blood of Dawnwalker helps all three main upscalers from GPU producers and the one you must select relies on which graphics card you’re utilizing. Nvidia customers ought to use DLSS, AMD customers ought to use FSR and Intel customers ought to use XeSS.
Upscaling Mode: As a result of this recreation is difficult to run, I’d go along with upscaling on efficiency mode if you happen to’re struggling to hit 60 fps. Nevertheless, remember that efficiency mode will look fairly tough on decrease resolutions, so that you may wish to decrease lighting settings first.
Body Era: This makes use of AI to insert interpolated frames in between rendered frames. It will almost double your body fee, however will enhance latency by slightly bit. However as a result of this isn’t a aggressive recreation, and isn’t even that fast-paced, I’d advocate simply turning this on, particularly when you have a high-refresh fee gaming monitor.
Movement Blur: That is only a toggle to both allow or disable movement blur. I hate movement blur, you may like it. It’s actually as much as you. It received’t have an effect on efficiency all that a lot both approach.
Bloom: That is one other toggle, however this time for Bloom. These are the little rays of sunshine that you just typically see coming off of the solar or one thing. It will have an effect on efficiency a bit, so I’d flip it off if you happen to’re taking part in on a low-end GPU. However for most individuals on a contemporary gaming PC, it in all probability received’t make that a lot of an influence.
Chromatic Aberration: That is an impact that tries to imitate a digicam lens. I don’t discover a lot of a distinction whether or not its enabled or not, so I’d attempt it every approach and see what you favor. This received’t have an effect on efficiency a lot if in any respect.
Depth of Discipline: It will blur distant objects, particularly in cutscenes. This can be a good impact, and I often depart it on, however flip it off in order for you every little thing to be crystal clear.
Jackie Thomas is the {Hardware} and Shopping for Guides Editor at IGN and the PC parts queen. You may comply with her @Jackiecobra
