Wuchang: Fallen Feathers' surprise PC performance problems call for emergency settings treatment

I committedness this isn’t a "gAmErS aRe MaD" communicative – there’s existent investigating and proposal and worldly here, honorable – but it indispensable statesman that way, arsenic I wouldn’t person guessed that birdlike soulslike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers would motorboat with PC show issues without a cacophony of (currently 'Mostly Negative') Steam reviews saying so. Not aft those easygoing strategy requirements, surely?

Surely yes, it turns out, though possibly not to the grade that a leafage of 7,000 thumbs-down symbols mightiness suggest. It’s not good. It runs dilatory connected max settings. There’s stuttering. DLSS 4 framework procreation is either broken, oregon implemented successful a uniquely vexing way. But you tin creaseless things retired considerably with a fewer prime settings adjustments, including connected lower-end graphics cards.

On that note, the minimum strategy requirements inactive beryllium rather trustworthy. Even accounting for the RPS Test Rig’s top-end CPU and RAM, fitting it with 6GB GTX 1060 was capable to mean a precise playable 44fps connected Wuchang’s Low preset astatine 1080p – albeit with a batch of assistance from TSR upscaling. From the recommended specs, meanwhile, Intel’s Arc A750 averaged 51fps connected High, again with TSR. Although you’d typically privation 60fps from a "recommended" GPU, it's encouraging that cheaper and older components don’t strictly request to slum it astatine 30fps.

Still, FPS averages archer but fractional the story. Traversal stutter – the benignant that occurs erstwhile physically moving into new, antecedently unloaded areas – is simply a regular occurrence, disrupting the consciousness of smoothness that mightiness person different enabled much pleasurable sword-swishing. TSR besides simply looks worse present than it does successful different Unreal Engine 5 games, with precise noticeable ghosting and aliasing adjacent connected its higher prime settings. And, unless you person an RTX graphics paper that volition fto you regenerate it with DLSS, it’s efficaciously required to support show up, including astatine 1080p.

I besides wouldn’t beryllium amazed if galore of those show complaints arose from attempts to tally Wuchang connected its highest presets, Extreme and Ultra. Judging from the RTX 4060, 1 of the most-used GPUs among Steam players, there’s a honking large spread betwixt however these tally versus the little prime presets: sticking to 1080p, with TSR connected 67 (Quality mode, basically), Extreme averaged 52fps and Ultra 55fps, earlier rising sharply to 64fps connected High, 72fps astatine Mid, and 124fps astatine Low. It’s not unheard of for a game’s murphy settings to outpace the fanciest ones by this degree, though it does suggest that those of america who expected buttery framerates connected newer cogwheel by virtuousness of Wuchang’s debased minimum specs whitethorn person indulged successful wishful thinking.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/505 Games

The bully quality is that astir of the Low preset’s show vantage is concentrated into a number of its idiosyncratic settings, meaning you tin support astir prime toggles astatine their champion portion claiming a large FPS bounty from a fewer reductions. I recovered that, by far, the astir performance-intensive settings are Shadow quality, Vegetation prime – determination are a batch of awfully large trees 'round these parts – and Global Illumination, truthful lowering these from their Extreme oregon Ultra levels should carnivore delicious framerate fruits.

I’d besides heartily urge replacing TSR with DLSS, if your GPU allows it, and successful spite of the information that – undermining everything I’ve conscionable said astir gaining frames – Nvidia’s tech works retired slower. About 8% slower connected my RTX 4060, to beryllium specific. Nonetheless, it looks much, overmuch sharper and cleaner than TSR does, with much effectual AA and less ocular artifacts. That 8% mightiness not marque for a night-and-day difference, but DLSS’s wide prime does.

Thus, I re-ran my benchmark with Shadow prime connected Mid (Low exists but isn’t immoderate faster), Vegetation connected Low, Global Illumination disabled entirely, and DLSS acceptable to 67, yet scored a tangibly faster 80fps. Did it hole the stuttering? No, but did astatine slightest partially soften its jittery blows, with wide show landing betwixt the Mid and Low presets contempt the bulk of idiosyncratic settings sticking to their Extreme levels.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/505 Games

Getting good supra 60fps besides makes Wuchang much of a viable framework procreation candidate, with some modular 2x FG disposable to RTX 40 GPUs and up to 4x MFG (Multi Frame Generation) for the RTX 50 series. There is, however, a genuinely bizarre quirk to however this crippled handles framework gen: it’s disabled by ambient dialogue. You mightiness beryllium pootling on done a bamboo forest, happily counting the 120fps-plus numbers successful Steam’s show monitor, but upon gathering an NPC with immoderate soulslike-standard "Ah, who’s this?" chatter, framework gen volition abruptly power itself off. Then, erstwhile the dialog is exhausted, it pops backmost on, announcing its instrumentality with yet different stutter. I’ve ne'er seen thing similar this earlier and, honestly, americium astatine a spot of a nonaccomplishment to explicate it – I wondered if it’s thing to bash with the frames-per-second of cinematic animations, but past astir of these speaking characters hardly determination from their spot.

More likely, it’s conscionable a random bug, but still, don’t trust connected interpolation trickery to soothe Wuchang’s PC pains. Sacrifice immoderate settings instead, and spot if that helps get Fallen Feathers backmost skywards.