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[TxKnight7]

Digital Foundry's PC tech showcases for 2024

These are Digital Foundry's top PC powerhouses of 2024, chosen by the team for their technical achievements.

www.eurogamer.net

2024 has been both a fun and maddening year to cover PC games, with some fantastic releases that push graphics tech and gameplay systems in exciting and often unexpected directions, as well as some truly disappointing efforts blighted with major technical failings. Today we're focusing on the highlights though, with a roundup of eight technically accomplished titles

These eight games are our choices for the year's PC gaming releases that have gone above and beyond in terms of their tech. The trick is balancing ambition and execution to deliver something that's commendable - even if not every element is perfect.

For each game, we'll describe their technical strengths, any failings, and what sort of PC hardware you'll need to take advantage of their more advanced features - including graphics cards and CPUs where relevant. These are also some of the titles we'd most recommend trying to get a sense of the direction of travel in the industry at large. Enjoy!

List not in order

In my opinion if i am going to rank the top 3 will be

1 - Hellblade 2
2 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
3 - Stalker 2

From the article
"HB2"

Despite its limitations though, the game remains unlike another released this year and a showcase for what a clear, focused vision can achieve."

one of the undisputed graphics champions of the year, delivering its narrative with extremely realistic visuals - to the extent that its designers even performed drone-based photogrammetry in Iceland to perfectly replicate the terrain they wanted. Character rendering is some of the most impressive we've ever seen.

 

[TVexperto]

Dragon Age???? Looks like a 360 game with the bloom

 

[Gaiff]

Dragon Age and Star Wars. Both look like junk even maxed out on PC.

 

[Wolzard]

Dragon Age???? Looks like a 360 game with the bloom

 

[Denton]

I am playing Indiana and it looks good, but in some places (like village in Thailand) there are fairly unpleasant stutters (unrelated to GPU usage) and the pop-in in that thai open area is ridiculously bad on vegetation.

STALKER 2 also has pretty bad pop-in on vegetation.

Hellblade 2 solves that by not having any vegetation.

 

[Hookshot]

From the brief bits I saw of it Dragon Age seemed to have good hair tech.

 

[rofif]

I am playing Indiana and it looks good, but in some places (like village in Thailand) there are fairly unpleasant stutters (unrelated to GPU usage) and the pop-in in that thai open area is ridiculously bad on vegetation.

STALKER 2 also has pretty bad pop-in on vegetation.

Hellblade 2 solves that by not having any vegetation.

my indiana stutters lasted 5-15 seconds each lol but that's because of my low vram.
Strangely enough, even at 1440p with some vram to spare, I still have these... so game is doing something that needs more vram in spare I suppose

 

[intbal]

Dragon Age???? Looks like a 360 game with the bloom

Don't make me tap the sign...

Spoiler: Syndicate

 

[analog_future]

Indiana Jones has it's moments where it's lighting is incredible but it can look absolutely god awful at times as well, even maxed out with path tracing.


The section where you're navigating the river on the long-tail boat looks shockingly bad.

 

[Imtjnotu]

I really do feel like games looked better 5 years ago.....

 

[Gaiff]

I really do feel like games looked better 5 years ago.....

They didn’t.

 

[proandrad]

Dragonage VG, bad game but great pc port. Well optimized, plenty of settings to ticker with, no forced EA login, and no DRM. Wish the actual game was good.

 

[analog_future]

Dragonage VG, bad game but great pc port. Well optimized, plenty of settings to ticker with, no forced EA login, and no DRM. Wish the actual game was good.

Eh, I enjoyed it. It's not GOTY material but I had a fun time with it.

 

[Imtjnotu]

They didn’t.

That uncharted 4 vs Indy video showed alot....

 

[analog_future]

That uncharted 4 vs Indy video showed alot....

They're completely different games from completely different genres with completely different priorities.

 

[Gaiff]

That uncharted 4 vs Indy video showed alot....

That Uncharted 4 looks woefully outdated by today’s standards and that Indiana Jones has some glaring visual shortcomings. Indiana Jones isn’t the best looking game on the market or even top 5 no matter how much Alex fellates the ray tracing.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I really do feel like games looked better 5 years ago.....

They did in many cases. Imo there was more talent back then, and Unreal wasn't as much of a blight as it is nowadays.

 

[Bojji]

That uncharted 4 vs Indy video showed alot....

I didn't saw that video but I have uncharted installed - it looks like a last gen game (because it is), there are obvious problems with ao, lighting, shadow quality, SSR/cube maps (and more). Compare that to avatar or Alan wake, both look much better. Same is true for HB2. I'm talking about pc versions obviously.

Indiana can look great or crap depending on place, even with PT.

 

[Fake]

Trash list.

 

[SlimySnake]

This is sponsored content guys.

with a roundup of eight technically accomplished titles, sponsored by Asus and their range of RTX 40-series graphics cards.

There are 8 games on this list and Asus is mentioned 22 times. It's an ad.

 

[TxKnight7]

I am playing Indiana and it looks good, but in some places (like village in Thailand) there are fairly unpleasant stutters (unrelated to GPU usage) and the pop-in in that thai open area is ridiculously bad on vegetation.

STALKER 2 also has pretty bad pop-in on vegetation.

Hellblade 2 solves that by not having any vegetation.

What are those O :

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

 

[rodrigolfp]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

It's past time your meds, no?

 

[adamsapple]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

 

[TxKnight7]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

Title says " PC "

 

[Gaiff]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

Maybe next year when they come to PC.

 

[OverHeat]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

If you can’t read get the FUCK OUT

 

[Mr Moose]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

Is this a joke post?

 

[OverHeat]

Is this a joke post?

If it’s not…we have hit a new low lol

 

[kruis]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

You didn't even read the title of the thread, did you?

 

[rsouzadk]

You didn't even read the title of the thread, did you?

I dont think he knows how to read.

 

[OverHeat]

You didn't even read the title of the thread, did you?

 

[HogIsland]

Dragon Age???? Looks like a 360 game with the bloom

Actually looks great, plus is a good game

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Folks…relax. It’s a joke

 

[Fess]

Indiana Jones with full path tracing is insane, the design is top notch as well, whole thing has made me spam F12 like I’m obsessed, I have over 600 screenshots right now

But where is Hellblade 2? Looks pre-rendered most of the time. No RT though and it’s very linear so they kinda cheat to get there. Edit, oh #8.

 

[Topher]

Feature by "Sponsored"? Edit: oh......Asus paid for this. lol

 

[mansoor1980]

Folks…relax. It’s a joke

you sure know how to trigger the haters

 

[mckmas8808]

I finally agree with Alex on something. WOW!

 

[Mr Moose]

This is sponsored content guys.



There are 8 games on this list and Asus is mentioned 22 times. It's an ad.

Feature by "Sponsored"?

Some of the list makes sense now.

 

[Sentenza]

Actually looks great, plus is a good game

It really isn't.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Great list. PC has been a serious tech showcase this year. Feels like pc gaming is having a resurgence back to when pc games were considerably far ahead of console games.

Raytracing etc seems to be hitting its stride.

Going to be great to see what gets announced in a couple of weeks.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Where the fuck is Astro Bot or FF7R or Stellar Blade? These games look way better than slop like DA or SWO

PC

Right in the title

Here comes James to save Sony!

 

[rodrigolfp]

Dragon Age and Star Wars. Both look like junk even maxed out on PC.

Sure:

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Indiana Jones number 1?


DF getting paid like a mfer.