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Digital Foundry Direct 'Special': Worst PC Ports of 2023

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?


The trend of disappointing PC ports was problematic in 2022 and it's with a profound sense of disappointment that 2023 wasn't that much better. Looking to highlight the issues, John Linneman and Alex Battaglia compare notes on the worst three PC ports of the year - but before that, they share a few examples of PC titles that shipped in a pretty poor state... but did actually improve significantly across the months after their release.


00:00 Introduction
02:58 The Last of Us Part 1
08:05 Forspoken
14:24 Redfall
20:22 Dead Space
27:52 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
34:50 Wild Hearts
41:27 Closing discussion
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
No, it was a bad port too. The thing is, it was also broken on Xbox so the port wasn't so bad so much as the game itself. You're both right lol.

Did you just "you're both right" and include yourself in it ? :p

starfield should be there as well
in before todd howard "upgrade your pc"

Just 2 posts to bring in Starfield in an unrelated topic.

Simon Cowell Wow GIF by America's Got Talent
 
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Zathalus

Member
starfield should be there as well
in before todd howard "upgrade your pc"
It was heavy on the system requirements but that was about it. Certainly no major issues with stuttering or the graphical issues seen in the video. It wasn't a great PC version but I wouldn't even include it in the ten worse PC versions of the year. Hogwarts Legacy and Ratchet were worse at launch for example (to name some not in the video).
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Oh yeah that's what I wanted today.
30 minutes of Bugaga crying "shader compilation" :messenger_loudly_crying: :messenger_loudly_crying: :messenger_loudly_crying: :messenger_loudly_crying: :messenger_loudly_crying: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

edit: Ok I am watching this and WTF. They are not going to talk about games that released less than 3 months ago because they are giving "fair" 3 months for patches? Wtf is that.
And bugaga is already doing prolonged squinting. He is already malfunctioning.
Edit: and then despite giving "3 months" they go attacking forspoken... but it was patched 2 months after release with better graphics, ao and so on (edit ok they acknowledge it)
 
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Senua

Member
I'd actually put Forza Motorsport in this list. The constant memory leaks, DLSS being completely broken until recently, shite-tier CPU scaling. Missing graphical features from the XSX quality mode (extra scenery detail). Also a 30+ gig hi res texture pack that does NOTHING, it has worse textures than Forza Motorsport 7. It's slowly getting better but jeez what an unfinished product.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Don't be so petty. I didn't check when the patch came out. it barely matters.

giphy.gif


It's not in the list...

They talk about it in the Redfall segment, they say it wasn't one of the worst PC ports at launch anyway and BGS were quick to fix most of the issues in the first few weeks, unlike the games where it took months or in cases like Dead Space, Wild Hearts, Jedi Survivor where the PC versions are still not fixed.

It doesn't come anywhere near the 'worst PC ports of 2023'.


The minor improvements didn't come till late Nov not a couple weeks later like you claimed.

I'm not claiming it, they talk about it pretty openly in the video.

Also, Starfield's issues at launch were relatively smaller things like missing official DLSS plugin and FoV slider. The games in this list are straight up broken with persistent stuttering and such.

It's apples to oranges.
 
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T4keD0wN

Member
As sad as it is they are being way too lenient towards Wild Hearts.

I miss when EA wasnt on steam.
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
giphy.gif








They talk about it in the Redfall segment, they say it wasn't one of the worst PC ports at launch anyway and BGS were quick to fix most of the issues in the first few weeks, unlike the games where it took months or in cases like Dead Space, Wild Hearts, Jedi Survivor where the PC versions are still not fixed.

It doesn't come anywhere near the 'worst PC ports of 2023'.
The minor improvements didn't come till late Nov not a couple weeks later like you claimed.
Also meme worthy bugs still exist.
It won't make these damage controllers list to no ones surprise.
 

Zathalus

Member
You can't be serious 🙄
Ratchet and Clank had broken RT and texture streaming issues with plenty of graphical issues (especially with water) on the later planets. It was also rather prone to crashing and ran (still does) quite badly when enabling RT. Hogwarts Legacy had severe stuttering issues at launch that required a few patches to clear up.

Starfield by comparison had no DLSS and had a performance overhead that was later patched. No stuttering issues, extensive shader compilation, or outright broken graphical effects or texture issues. It has in-game bugs of course, but this video is obviously talking about the technical portion of the game. If in-game bugs were to be included them BG3 had far more severe issues, but it is obviously not included because the game wasn't a technical mess.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Ratchet and Clank had broken RT and texture streaming issues with plenty of graphical issues (especially with water) on the later planets. It was also rather prone to crashing and ran (still does) quite badly when enabling RT. Hogwarts Legacy had severe stuttering issues at launch that required a few patches to clear up.

Starfield by comparison had no DLSS and had a performance overhead that was later patched. No stuttering issues, extensive shader compilation, or outright broken graphical effects or texture issues. It has in-game bugs of course, but this video is obviously talking about the technical portion of the game. If in-game bugs were to be included them BG3 had far more severe issues, but it is obviously not included because the game wasn't a technical mess.
DLSS wasn't*officially*added till a couple months later 🙄
Bugs are still there and are apart of tech/performance especially when freezing and crashing from them.
 

skneogaf

Member
2023 was the first time I considered dropping pc gaming. I have a 4090 and should not be seeing issues that won't be fixed.

I play dead space remake pc every week and I always feel so let down by the traversal stutter! 😭
 
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Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
I'd actually put Forza Motorsport in this list. The constant memory leaks, DLSS being completely broken until recently, shite-tier CPU scaling. Missing graphical features from the XSX quality mode (extra scenery detail). Also a 30+ gig hi res texture pack that does NOTHING, it has worse textures than Forza Motorsport 7. It's slowly getting better but jeez what an unfinished product.
Yeah, how have they not put Forza on that list is beyond me. The launch version on pc was just a broken mess. Constant stutter, DLSS not working or even detecting, memory leak, Shit cpu utilisation, brokenRT effects that didn't work, broken graphics settings and missing track details. One of the worst pc ports ever tbh. Its alot better now but still far from perfect.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
2023 was the first time I considered dropping pc gaming. I have a 4090 and should not be seeing issues that won't be fixed.

I play dead space remake pc every week and I always feel so let down by the traversal stutter! 😭
yeah.... Dead Space demo was a good warning for me to better get ps5 version :p
That damn thing stuttered so much on shuttle explosion that whole cutscene went by in the background :p

IXz9fkb.jpg

You two make me want to get it on PC so my beast could slay it.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
The fact that they didn't include FM23 but included games that were fixed much quicker than it tells me everything I need to know about their list.
Good call. I completely forgot about that one. It should definitely be there.
 

poodaddy

Member
Didn’t buy a single one of these games. Get fucked. 👍
This is the fuckin right attitude and the post barely got any attention.

Stop rewarding shit ports with your money people. You want this to change? Don't ever spend money on lackluster PC ports. If publishers can't be bothered to put funding and effort towards PC ports then they shouldn't receive sales. If they fix the games later, reward them with a purchase during a sale, but one should never spend full price on a lackluster port. Just don't do it.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Worse that i played was wild hearts by far, the others could be at least bruteforced into working more than fine.

Fallen order and starfield in second and third place.
 
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rsouzadk

Member
I did play Dead Space Remake recently (bought it on epic with the discount coupons) and for me it is playing rly well (13600k + rtx 3080, installed on a ssd and 32gbram ddr5). I was a bit of surprised to see it there on the list.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
They start the video off by absolving the devs of any blame and put the blame squarely on the publisher. What? Microsoft gave Turn 10 6 fucking years to make one game and they blew it. this is not on Phil Spencer. Sony gave ND 7 months after launching the PS5 version to port TLOU Part 1. They didnt force day one releases like EA does. So who is at fault there?

Alex was like we didnt bother reviewing TLOU at launch because it was so bad. Id argue that they MUST review these broken ports and give them a 0/10 for being unfuckingplayable. People do watch these videos from DF. they total several hundred thousand views despite them not being a PC focused channel. They owe it to their audience to review these games and be harsh. It is literally their job. Making a funny podcast style video isnt enough. It needs to be a review and it needs to rip Naughty Dog a new one.

Respawn made the game and decided not to fix it. The immortal devs are still fixing it. Game published by the same EA that published Dead Space and Respawn. We need to stop putting devs on a pedestal. This is on the dev who knew that the shader stutter in Star Wars and Dead Space rendered them unplayable in some levels, and didnt bother telling his bosses. If he told his managers then its on them. If the managers told their studio exec leadership then its on them. I highly doubt Jim Ryan or Phil Spencer even know about shader struggle. I am going to blame the devs who ship games with bugs.

Lastly, EA let Respawn delay the game OUT of their Fiscal Year. It wasnt forced to release during the holiday period. They were willing to take a hit on their fiscal year earnings. They literally told Respawn to delay it by 3 months but Stig said 1 month is fine. This is on DEVS.
I'd actually put Forza Motorsport in this list. The constant memory leaks, DLSS being completely broken until recently, shite-tier CPU scaling. Missing graphical features from the XSX quality mode (extra scenery detail). Also a 30+ gig hi res texture pack that does NOTHING, it has worse textures than Forza Motorsport 7. It's slowly getting better but jeez what an unfinished product.
they didnt include anything after september because they think there should be a grace period of 3 months to allow devs to FIX the game.

Absolutely fucking retarded I say.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
They start the video off by absolving the devs of any blame and put the blame squarely on the publisher. What? Microsoft gave Turn 10 6 fucking years to make one game and they blew it. this is not on Phil Spencer. Sony gave ND 7 months after launching the PS5 version to port TLOU Part 1. They didnt force day one releases like EA does. So who is at fault there?

Alex was like we didnt bother reviewing TLOU at launch because it was so bad. Id argue that they MUST review these broken ports and give them a 0/10 for being unfuckingplayable. People do watch these videos from DF. they total several hundred thousand views despite them not being a PC focused channel. They owe it to their audience to review these games and be harsh. It is literally their job. Making a funny podcast style video isnt enough. It needs to be a review and it needs to rip Naughty Dog a new one.

Respawn made the game and decided not to fix it. The immortal devs are still fixing it. Game published by the same EA that published Dead Space and Respawn. We need to stop putting devs on a pedestal. This is on the dev who knew that the shader stutter in Star Wars and Dead Space rendered them unplayable in some levels, and didnt bother telling his bosses. If he told his managers then its on them. If the managers told their studio exec leadership then its on them. I highly doubt Jim Ryan or Phil Spencer even know about shader struggle. I am going to blame the devs who ship games with bugs.

they didnt include anything after september because they think there should be a grace period of 3 months to allow devs to FIX the game.

Absolutely fucking retarded I say.
They're painfully bad at this.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I did play Dead Space Remake recently (bought it on epic with the discount coupons) and for me it is playing rly well (13600k + rtx 3080, installed on a ssd and 32gbram ddr5). I was a bit of surprised to see it there on the list.
i also play it on a 3080 on a 7.5GBps ssd and 32GB of ram. The only difference is that my CPU is a 11700k and i am using ddr4 3600 ram.

It is stuttering hell. Every new area i enter has massive stutters that last 5 seconds. and because its not shader compilation, it continues to happen as its traversal related stutter so all backtracking means i continue to encounter these stutters. In a game that has you enter and leave rooms every couple of minutes, it is virtually unplayable.
 

Calverz

Member
By time I played dead space (around 6 months after launch) it was generally fine. The stutters were there but not shockingly bad on a 4090. The game was so good I was able to put up with it. I agree fm23 should be there as the game launched unfinished. Tlou at launch was a nightmare. So many issues and at one point ran my cpu to like 98 degrees c. In fact, it’s what encouraged me to upgrade my case to allow more air flow. But after a couple of patches it improved a lot and I really enjoyed playing through at ultrawide.
 
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