Deathloop - Graphics Settings Comparison

In today's review, we will look at the graphic settings and their impact on the quality of the picture in the game - Deathloop by Arkane Studios, known to everyone from Dishonored and Prey.

Let's move on to graphic post effects that allow you to give the picture a "cine" look.

Glare. Glare in the game helps immersion and gives a "cinema".

Depth of field. Depth of field tries to mimic human eyes. In games, the effect is used to focus the camera on an object, be it a character or an important object. In Deathloop, you often encounter these effects while on cooldown.

Amplification of light. It was hard for me to notice the difference. It exists, but the effect is minimal.

There is no place for such cinematic effects in a modern shooter. You won't see much of a performance boost when these options are disabled, and their impact is small at best.

Consider important graphic settings and their impact on the picture.

Texture quality.  Has 3 parameters. You can see a 10% difference between "Low" and "Very High" settings. When set to High, games look good and help maintain high frame rates. Below are screenshots of different locations for a more detailed comparison.

The quality of the models. The item has 6 parameters. You might think that lowering this setting would have an immediate and profound effect on the atmosphere of the game, but in fact, the surroundings and inhabitants of Blackreef still look good. A noticeable change concerns the landscape. Below are screenshots of different locations for a more detailed comparison.

 

Shadow quality. This item has 6 settings: from "Ultra" to "Very Low". The lower the value of the setting, the softer and therefore more realistic the shadows look, making it easy to lower this setting to improve the frame rate as well as the look of the game. 

Water detail. Standard 6 parameters. When "Very Low" is selected, the reflection in the water disappears, less detail. Otherwise, each time you lower this parameter, the contour of the reflection in the water will change, it will become blurry.

Landscape detail. The item has 6 parameters: from "Ultra" to "Very low". There is no huge difference between the parameters. Slightly simplifies the detailing of the ground in the distance. Doesn't do much in terms of performance. But, unfortunately, there will be fewer shadows in the distance.

diffuse shading. The default is FidelityFX CACAO with various options - "Performance", "Balance" or "Quality". On Nvidia graphics cards, you can install Nvidia HBAO+, which provides a more attractive picture. If you have serious hardware, then you can try ray-traced rendering or high-quality ray-traced rendering. It was difficult for me to notice the difference between these parameters.

Shadows from the sun. The choice is small, you are available: "Simple" and "Ray tracing". The developer claims that with "Ray Tracing" you get more accurate and realistic shadows. You won't get global changes if you care about the frame rate, but I advise you to opt for the "Simple" parameter.

Anti-aliasing post-processing. The options available here are Off, Low, High, and Temporal. Turning it off completely will give you a higher frame rate, but your game will feel like a good old pixel classic. The higher the setting, the better the game looks, but the lower the frame rate. It is difficult to notice the visual difference between "High" and "Low". With the Temporal (TAA) option selected, the picture looks much better. 

So, let's sum up. Arkane Studios uses its own engine for Deathloop, which is based on id Tech 5. In Deathloop, the old id Tech substructure is not recognizable. One of the most noticeable and eye-catching changes is the elaborate level design. Each level has a unique atmosphere, embodied in a stunning 60s aesthetic.

Arkane has optimized the game well, especially for 1080p and 1440p. When it comes to 4K, things aren't that simple. You'll have to fiddle with the settings if you want to enjoy smooth frame rates. The developer is already working on a patch and it will be coming soon.

Deathloop has been trashed on Metacritic. The PS5 version scored 4,9 out of 10, while the PC version scored 3,1 out of 10.