Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin PC Performance Analysis

The folks at Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry have published the second part of their Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin performance analysis, and this time they focus their attention on the PC version of this re-release, pitting it against the original PC release in its vanilla and modded states. I’m only going to quote their conclusions, so be sure to go to the link for a full breakdown that includes comparative images and videos:

Overall, Scholar of the First Sin on PC marks a technical step forward, but its price point is a sticking point. Given that owners of the DirectX 9 original already enjoy resolutions at 1080p and beyond, extensive mod options and 60fps gameplay, the upgrade is less significant than the jump from PS3 to PS4. A £12 Steam upgrade price assuages those who already own the original plus all DLC, but it’s still a high fee for what it offers. Bearing in mind a standalone boxed copy costs £19 at present, the actual saving for a committed Dark Souls fan is pretty meagre.

On top of this, Scholar of the First Sin’s lighting, improved effects, and upgraded ambient occlusion are all features seen on PS4 and Xbox One. PC users hoping for a more radical suite of options will be disappointed the boat isn’t pushed out further – perhaps with support for monitor refreshes over 60Hz, or anti-aliasing options besides FXAA. On balance, it’s still hard to go back to the original game’s muted lighting model, even with GeDoSaTo’s slick post effects to help it along. Scholar of the First Sin on PC does look great, but it’s an update that makes more sense at a sale price.

Even with these disappointments, PC brings the definitive version of From Software’s remixed Dark Souls 2, while PS4 takes second place on the grounds of its frame-rate advantage over Xbox One. Whether or not the original version is a better balanced game is up for debate, but the technical benefits are easy to measure. The enemy increase, boost to six online players, and new lighting model each play to the strengths of PS4 and Xbox One. The PC release wraps all of this up at a perfect 60fps not achieved on console – and added to that, it’s a refresh easily achieved on most modern PC setups. Meanwhile, 4K support via Nvidia’s DSR mode is a further bonus, but only if you have the raw GPU power to service it.