Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD2) promises strong performance across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, showcasing adaptability across various settings. This article delves into KCD2's performance capabilities on each platform and its customizable settings.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: Cross-Platform Performance Analysis
CryEngine's Photorealistic Visuals
Testing and reports indicate impressive performance for KCD2. PlayStation and Xbox consoles deliver smooth gameplay at both 30fps and 60fps, with the PS5 Pro leveraging its capabilities for enhanced visuals. KCD2's photorealism is noteworthy, a testament to the use of CryTek's CryEngine, a less common choice in modern game development.
Warhorse Studios' continued use of CryEngine, following its success with KCD1, allows for familiar engine optimization and feature expansion. PC Gamer highlights CryEngine's unique approach, prioritizing performance through older rendering techniques (limited shaders, basic lighting), yet achieving photorealism via physically based materials. Eurogamer points to CryEngine's Sparse Voxel Octree Global Illumination (SVOGI) as a key contributor to realistic indirect lighting, enhancing effects like torchlight and metallic reflections.
Console Performance Modes: Fidelity vs. Performance
PS5 and Xbox Series X offer two modes: a 30fps fidelity mode at 1440p and a 60fps performance mode at 1080p. Xbox Series S exclusively supports the fidelity mode. Conversely, the PS5 Pro offers a single 60fps mode at 1296p, upscaled to 4K using PSSR.
Fidelity mode enhances visuals on PS5 and Xbox Series X with increased foliage detail and improved shadow casting, particularly benefiting outdoor scenes and ambient occlusion. The PS5 Pro further refines these enhancements, adding sharper visuals, superior ambient occlusion, improved object quality, and overall image quality.
PC: Customizable Upscaling and Graphics Presets
PC players enjoy full control over upscaling, with options limited to FSR and DLSS (no XeSS, sharpening, or frame generation). While CryEngine's focus on performance is advantageous, 4K gameplay at maximum settings will still demand significant GPU power. To address this, five quality presets (low, medium, high, ultra, experimental) allow players to optimize settings for their hardware.
KCD2 provides a comprehensive system check guide, detailing CPU, RAM, GPU, and storage requirements to ensure optimal gameplay.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launches February 4, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Visit our Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 page for more details.
