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[Draugoth]

Raucous, brilliant fun - Helldivers 2 is an extraction shooter that's well worth checking out. The PC version is a touch demanding on the higher settings but it's a solid, scalable port without stuttering issues. Meanwhile, PlayStation 5's quality mode needs some frame-pacing work, but the 60fps performance mode - while soft - generally tends to get the job done. Oliver Mackenzie has the full story.

00:00 Overview
00:53 Visual features
05:27 PS5 visual options and performance
09:06 PC analysis
13:21 Gameplay and conclusion

• lity Mode runs at 1728p/30fps. Performance mode 1080p/60fps. No dynamic res in place
• The flickering, dithering finer details and aliasing suggest FSR1
• Performance Mode mostly locks to 60 but can dip to the mid 50s in intense scenes
• Quality Mode locks to 30 but suffers from bad frame pacing every 20 seconds or so that see intrusive frame rate spikes
• AA seems to be broken on PS5. Turning it on or off does nothing
• PC at Ultra settings does not look dramatically different from PS5 Quality Mode besides the higher resolution shadows and volumetrics
• Low to Medium offers a huge performance boost but Medium to Ultra are not too far apart in performance
• No DLSS, XeSS, or FSR toggle
• An RTX 2070S paired with a 3600 gets above 60fps at 1080p/Medium settings
• Equivalent AMD GPUs are seemingly lagging behind
• The game uses Auto Desk Stingray
• Shader pre-compiliation prevent stutters once it has been completed. Skipping it results in stutters

 

[Gaiff]

Nothing very interesting there.

• Two modes on PS5: Quality and Performance
• Quality Mode runs at 1728p/30fps. Performance mode 1080p/60fps. No dynamic res in place
• The difference in image quality between the two modes is quite large
• The flickering, dithering finer details and aliasing suggest FSR1
• Performance Mode mostly locks to 60 but can dip to the low-50s in intense scenes
• Quality Mode locks to 30 but suffers from bad frame pacing every 20 seconds or so that see intrusive frame rate spikes
• AA seems to be broken on PS5. Turning it on or off does nothing
• PC at Ultra settings does not look dramatically different from PS5 Quality Mode besides the higher resolution shadows and volumetrics
• Low to Medium offers a huge performance boost but Medium to Ultra are not too far apart in performance
• No DLSS, XeSS, or FSR toggle
• An RTX 2070S paired with a 3600 gets above 60fps at 1080p/Medium settings
• An RTX 4090 paired with a 13700K gets 90fps+ at 4K/Ultra settings
• Equivalent AMD GPUs are seemingly lagging behind
• The game uses the Auto Desk Stingray Engine
• Shader pre-compiliation prevent stutters once it has been completed. Skipping it results in stutters

 

[FoxMcChief]

The hit to resolution/IQ was far too bad imo, in performance mode. I’m sticking with quality.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Nothing very interesting there.

• Quality Mode runs at 1728p/30fps. Performance mode 1080p/60fps. No dynamic res in place
• The flickering, dithering finer details and aliasing suggest FSR1

Consoles need Nvidia

 

[Sanepar]

This game is gorgeous on PC, climate change is just incredible.

 

[MikeM]

Leaning more towards PC for this. Wonder why FSR1 and not FSR2?

 

[//DEVIL//]

What a shit port.

FSR1. No DLSS. What the fuck is this joke of a game ?

Will buy when it's 5$ and everything is patched. I don't reward devs for shit development.

 

[Bojji]

Consoles need Nvidia

This game doesn't have any good IQ options even on nvidia gpus (besides native res of course).

 

[Gaiff]

Leaning more towards PC for this. Wonder why FSR1 and not FSR2?

PC seems to be the way to go if you have the capable hardware. A 7900 XTX with a decent CPU should be able to do 1800p/Max settings/60fps+ quite easily

What a shit port.

FSR1. No dlss. What the fuck is this joke of a game ?

He's not sure. The artifacting and flickering fine details hint at it but he didn't say it's absolutely there. Could be some other parts of the rendering screwing up the image.

 

[squarealex]

Consoles need Nvidia

2070S (Nvidia BTW) run with the same settings, what's your point? Just a AW message? Like usual?

 

[a multicultural team of v]

I dunno if AA is really broken on PS5, I toggled it on/off and there was a definite difference in picture (I just left it off though).

 

[MikeM]

PC seems to be the way to go if you have the capable hardware. A 7900 XTX with a decent CPU should be able to do 1800p/Max settings/60fps+ quite easily

He's not sure. The artifacting and flickering fine details hint at it but he didn't say it's absolutely there. Could be some other parts of the rendering screwing up the image.

7600x and a 7900xt here. Should have a good experience.

 

[TVexperto]

flickering is awful..why are they using FSR1? makes no sense, just use fsr2 on console

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Game hums on my hot rod.

 

[Gaiff]

7600x and a 7900xt here. Should have a good experience.

Yeah, I knew you had a 7900 XT, just didn't know what CPU but the PC port seems competent without dreaded shader compilation stutters provided you don't skip the pre-compilation stage.

AMD does lag behind NVIDIA but if a 4090+7800X3D are hitting 90fps+ in GPU-bound scenarios, then a 7900 XT should breeze past 60 at 1800p. It's 5/6th of the pixel count and 2/3 of the frame rate for a GPU that's generally about 30% slower I believe. Maybe it's 50% in this game but that would still be more than enough.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Barebones pc support. Should have dlss+fg.

 

[MikeM]

Yeah, I knew you had a 7900 XT, just didn't know what CPU but the PC port seems competent without dreaded shader compilation stutters provided you don't skip the pre-compilation stage.

AMD does lag behind NVIDIA but if a 4090+7800X3D are hitting 90fps+ in GPU-bound scenarios, then a 7900 XT should breeze past 60 at 1800p. It's 5/6th of the pixel count and 2/3 of the frame rate for a GPU that's generally about 30% slower I believe. Maybe it's 50% in this game but that would still be more than enough.

Training level at max settings except for volumetric clouds and fog at 4k with quality upscaled is getting me between 80-95fps.

 

[Luipadre]

The use of FSR1 is really disappointing. Like whats the point using it when you can use FSR 2? Also PC version needs DLSS asap

 

[SlimySnake]

The use of FSR1 is really disappointing. Like whats the point using it when you can use FSR 2? Also PC version needs DLSS asap

FSR2 has a cost of its own. Like 30% of the GPU is used to upscale from 1440p to 4k where as FSR1is much cheaper.

For a game struggling to stay at 1080p 60 fps during large scale firefights, you dont want to take 30% of the GPU just to get rid of some flickering.

 

[mckmas8808]

Barebones pc support. Should have dlss+fg.

It's day one on PC. You gotta expect trade offs.

 

[Fabieter]

It looks really bad in ps5 imo. Had to buy rebuy it on oc

 

[M1chl]

FSR2 has a cost of its own. Like 30% of the GPU is used to upscale from 1440p to 4k where as FSR1is much cheaper.

For a game struggling to stay at 1080p 60 fps during large scale firefights, you dont want to take 30% of the GPU just to get rid of some flickering.

Using nothing all in general has better quality than FSR 1.0, fucking lancosz would probably be better. Its shit way to ruin your picture

 

[XXL]

I bought it on PS5. I love it, I'll probably end up buying it on Steam as well down the road.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

00:00 Overview
00:53 Visual features
05:27 PS5 visual options and performance
09:06 PC analysis
13:21 Gameplay and conclusion

We got RTX 4000 series gpu's available at the retail, use the damn hardware. This game looks terrible.

 

[Luipadre]

It looks really bad in ps5 imo. Had to buy rebuy it on oc

I did the same, but i hope this game gets ps5 pro support day 1 and cross progressions aswell

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

But people keep telling me we haven't pushed these consoles yet and no need for a Pro

 

[T4keD0wN]

We got RTX 4000 series gpu's available at the retail, use the damn hardware. This game looks terrible.

Theyve done so in the video though?

 

[Fabieter]

I did the same, but i hope this game gets ps5 pro support day 1 and cross progressions aswell

I kinda think the day one games are hurting the visuals because they have to hyperfocus on pc. If they do really bad techwise day one on pc it's done if its a shitshow on consoles it will still sell.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Native 4k and usually hangs around 90 fps for me. Game actually looks quite nice at times. I just need to stop playing Tekken long enough to spend more time with it.

 

[SlimySnake]

Using nothing all in general has better quality than FSR 1.0, fucking lancosz would probably be better. Its shit way to ruin your picture

i have played 1080p games on my 4k tv with no upscaling and they look atrocious. You have no idea how much jaggies and shimmering is introduced in these 1080p games.

If you have Batman AK on PS4, try it on a 4k tv. especially a large one. One of the worst looking games you will ever see. Indoors it looks better because there isnt that much detail to cause shimmering but outside with all those buildings and gothic architecture mixed in with rain? Shimmering mess. Driveclub is the same. In some cases like rain and cloudy weather it looks fine because those details are hidden. But race during the day and its a jaggied mess. Goes from the best looking racer to the worst due to upscaling artifacts. Both games look fine on 1080p screens, even large ones.

FF16 is one of my few experiences with FSR1 and honestly its fine. Its not as clean as FSR2 let alone DLSS but its not atrocious like those other games. I once tried playing Anthem at 1080p instead of DLSS1 back in 2019 because i was like it couldnt be worse. And even DLSS1 which is basically FSR1 was leagues ahead of the shimmery jaggied mess that was native 1080p.

 

[Heisenberg007]

What a shit port.

FSR1. No DLSS. What the fuck is this joke of a game ?

Will buy when it's 5$ and everything is patched. I don't reward devs for shit development.

It's a 10/10 fantastic game, made by a small team -- in fact, their first such attempt. Such issues are not unsurprising. Plenty of $70 games launch in worse conditions nowadays. This is just $40.

But the fun factor is simply unmatched.

 

[Urban]

But people keep telling me we haven't pushed these consoles yet and no need for a Pro

i dont think u can count this game as a reference for power usage or utilizing the generation.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I kinda think the day one games are hurting the visuals because they have to hyperfocus on pc. If they do really bad techwise day one on pc it's done if its a shitshow on consoles it will still sell.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the PC version outsold PS. I haven’t seen anyone complain about the PS version on twitter either.There is a lot going on in this game, the fact they were able to lock down a stable 60 fps is commendable. If they’re really using FSR1 that is dumb tho.

 

[ReBurn]

But people keep telling me we haven't pushed these consoles yet and no need for a Pro

That's all copium. We're in the 4th year of these consoles and we're still doing performance/fidelity mode toggles and FSR 1. This is probably as good as it gets.

 

[Fabieter]

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the PC version outsold PS. I haven’t seen anyone complain about the PS version on twitter either.There is a lot going on in this game, the fact they were able to lock down a stable 60 fps is commendable. If they’re really using FSR1 that is dumb tho.

It's looks like a gen apart from pc without extensive raytracing use.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Theyve done so in the video though?

I'm looking at the video and I'm seeing scenes where the character looks like he's floating because of no shadows. Even the light bounces is very low quality in the environments. Just look at the visual effects like the explosions, that is not good at all.

I literally have to play Fortnite just to get decent tech in my games, terrible.

 

[//DEVIL//]

It's a 10/10 fantastic game, made by a small team -- in fact, their first such attempt. Such issues are not unsurprising. Plenty of $70 games launch in worse conditions nowadays. This is just $40.

But the fun factor is simply unmatched.

Adding a DLSS and proper fsr is just a toggle in some of these development environment.

Sorry but this is just lazy and not give a fuck from the devs. And it will be not a give fuck from my side too.

The fact it's 60 fps on full HD with the ps5 tells me they are not good devs in the first place. ... Or maybe the correct word to use is probably not efficient? Still a no from me till they get it sorted.

And I do not care about other devs. It's not like the other devs get a different treatment from me anyway. A shit port will not get my money. Regardless who are the devs behind it. More so when they are big devs name.

Also.. first attempt ? Wasn't there a helldivers 1 at one point ?

 

[Sleepwalker]

The hit to resolution/IQ was far too bad imo, in performance mode. I’m sticking with quality.

Wow bro you must have great tolerance, I thought I did too but quality mode looks choppy as fuck on my TV. I take the res hit on performance any day.

 

[CrustyBritches]

It's day one on PC. You gotta expect trade offs.

Fair enough. Most Sony PC games are feature rich, so it’s a bit of a bummer.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Yeah, I knew you had a 7900 XT, just didn't know what CPU but the PC port seems competent without dreaded shader compilation stutters provided you don't skip the pre-compilation stage.

AMD does lag behind NVIDIA but if a 4090+7800X3D are hitting 90fps+ in GPU-bound scenarios, then a 7900 XT should breeze past 60 at 1800p. It's 5/6th of the pixel count and 2/3 of the frame rate for a GPU that's generally about 30% slower I believe. Maybe it's 50% in this game but that would still be more than enough.

4080 + 7800x3d here, 3440x1440 I didn't really mess with settings but I was able to mantain around 120-140 FPS during gameplay on PC. buttery smooth. I think I can probably get it to lock to the max 165fps my monitor allows with some tweaking.

 

[JaksGhost]

Adding a DLSS and proper fsr is just a toggle in some of these development environment.

Sorry but this is just lazy and not give a fuck from the devs. And it will be not a give fuck from my side too.

The fact it's 60 fps on full HD with the ps5 tells me they are not good devs in the first place. ... Or maybe the correct word to use is probably not efficient? Still a no from me till they get it sorted.

And I do not care about other devs. It's not like the other devs get a different treatment from me anyway. A shit port will not get my money. Regardless who are the devs behind it. More so when they are big devs name.

Also.. first attempt ? Wasn't there a helldivers 1 at one point ?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, fucking blah.

 

[Imtjnotu]

Not gonna lie the game is ugly as hell.

But I'm too damn busy fighting off robots and not trying to be destroyed by my teammates orbitals to care lol

 

[Bojji]

Adding a DLSS and proper fsr is just a toggle in some of these development environment.

Sorry but this is just lazy and not give a fuck from the devs. And it will be not a give fuck from my side too.

The fact it's 60 fps on full HD with the ps5 tells me they are not good devs in the first place. ... Or maybe the correct word to use is probably not efficient? Still a no from me till they get it sorted.

And I do not care about other devs. It's not like the other devs get a different treatment from me anyway. A shit port will not get my money. Regardless who are the devs behind it. More so when they are big devs name.

Also.. first attempt ? Wasn't there a helldivers 1 at one point ?

It drops to 50 fps in some scenes so 1080p may be correct target here. It stays in VRR windows at least.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

The author missed out noting on one of the most important options which is a fov slider, this game does have it.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

But people keep telling me we haven't pushed these consoles yet and no need for a Pro

Naw, HFW still look better then a lot of games after it, and it was cross gen. I think devs still have room to improve.

 

[TheShocker]

Hopefully the devs will work on performance and iq issues in the future. Great game. Looks like shit on PS5.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Wow bro you must have great tolerance, I thought I did too but quality mode looks choppy as fuck on my TV. I take the res hit on performance any day.

I’ll take higher resolution than higher frame rate, any day. Especially if the IQ in performance is much worse. This game has one of the worst I’ve seen on either console. But on quality mode, it looks crisp and clean. I had zero issue with the frame rate.

 

[Fake]

Looks pretty bad imo.

 

[FoxMcChief]

But people keep telling me we haven't pushed these consoles yet and no need for a Pro

I don’t think the game is nearly as optimized as it could have been. And that could be because it’s a small studio.

 

[Gaiff]

I’ll take higher resolution than higher frame rate, any day. Especially if the IQ in performance is much worse. This game has one of the worst I’ve seen on either console. But on quality mode, it looks crisp and clean. I had zero issue with the frame rate.

Oliver says the frame pacing at 30fps is also pretty bad with spikes every 20 seconds or so. Has to be annoying playing a fast-paced multiplayer game like this.