Tom's Hardware benchmarks the new Elder Scrolls game.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion redefined our expectations for open world fantasy RPGs, and it was brutally hard on the hardware of it's day. Is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as challenging on today's PC hardware, or can a modest rig handle it?
Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
A new Partner Spotlight Sale is now live on the Switch eShop, including Skyrim, lowest price ever for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and more.
Runs well on cheap hardware, but it appears to be held back by dual core limitations.
Performance actually in game is very very variable, i guess you might imagine this considering the huge variances in areas and load. Anyone who ran fallout New vegas, fallout 3 etc will be well familiar with that.
Typically indoors can be half as demanding as outdoors. The most demanding i have seen so far often happens when you enter a new town or village area. I suspect this may be because the streaming and memory swapping is at its most intense.
To make the most of it you do want a quad core, clocked as well as you can get it, and a GTX460 or better. This will do the game justice for PC. Saying that, even a good dual/tri core and a 5770 will get you 1080p, high settings and give the consoles a good thrashing.
The game is quite beautiful outdoors, and worth the load it puts on high end systems. There are a few dodgy texture assets, some on shields which is odd considering how they knew you were going to have them close. The shadow quality is also kinda low resolution even at ultra.
Besides this the overall effect of the game is wonderful. It isn't the greatest looking game, but its well above average and sometimes...some moments....they are just glorious.
Ultra, baby, just like BF3! (thanks to i5 2500K @4.5 Ghz & 560ti SLI)