{"id":302,"date":"2021-10-20T14:54:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T14:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engadget.vip\/?p=302"},"modified":"2021-10-20T14:54:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T14:54:49","slug":"nier-replicant-tech-review-a-little-better-but-not-quite-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/?p=302","title":{"rendered":"NieR Replicant tech review \u2014 A little better, but not quite there"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'><\/div><p>Much has been made of the poor quality of\u00a0<em>NieR Automata<\/em>\u2018s port. Then there was a second port that didn\u2019t actually fix most of the issues of the first one. As such, we\u2019ve all been fairly skeptical regarding the PC port of\u00a0<em>NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139<\/em>. Oh, I am <em>not<\/em> including that number again.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s better than its sequel\u2019s port, it still has some questionable issues, such as optimization, framerate, and some missing features. Let\u2019s take a look at the minimum and recommended specs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>MINIMUM<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"bb_ul\">\n<li><strong>CPU:<\/strong> AMD Ryzen 3 1300X; Intel\u00ae Core i5-6400<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAM:<\/strong>\u00a08 GB RAM<\/li>\n<li><strong>GPU:<\/strong> AMD Radeon R9 270X; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"bb_ul\">\n<li><strong>CPU:<\/strong> AMD Ryzen 3 1300X; Intel\u00ae Core i5-6400<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAM:<\/strong>\u00a016 GB RAM<\/li>\n<li><strong>GPU:<\/strong> AMD Radeon RX Vega 56; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>REVIEWER<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"bb_ul\">\n<li><strong>CPU:<\/strong> AMD Ryzen 2 2600x<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAM:<\/strong>\u00a016 GB RAM<\/li>\n<li><strong>GPU:<\/strong> AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not the highest specs around, but\u00a0<em>NieR Replicant<\/em> is, at its core, an 11-year-old game. The optimization for this PC port is truly underwhelming. I put time into the game in both 1440p and 4K and found the FPS to be surprisingly similar. The FPS rapidly fluctuates regardless of resolution or settings. Sometimes I can maintain around 60 FPS for a bit. Other times it\u2019ll be in the range of 45-50. Having the game in 4K only makes a slight difference in regard to this, as it still tends to hang out in the low 40s no matter what I do.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NieR-Replicant-tech-review-2-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant Tech Review 2\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Of course, if the game can do 4K at around 45 FPS a lot of the time, there\u2019s no reason I should continue to get such subpar performance at 1440p.\u00a0<em>NieR Replicant<\/em>\u2018s framerate is uncapped, and the FPS does briefly go up to the high 60s, but there\u2019s so much fluctuation that I simply can\u2019t maintain any sort of framerate. There\u2019s no Vsync or frame-limiting either, which is odd since others are saying that FPS above 60 can have gameplay ramifications, meaning that the game logic is tied to 60 FPS. If that\u2019s the case, why is the framerate uncapped? I noticed a fair amount of screen-tearing as well. Our EIC is playing the game on a PS4 Pro and hasn\u2019t noticed any, so it might have Vsync there, but not here.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also an issue with the mouse pointer being visible on screen. It can be moved to the side, but doing certain things will cause it to go right back to the center. Every time I took a screenshot, the cursor would be staring back at me from the middle of my screen. Bearing all this in mind, the port is at least better than <em>NieR Automata<\/em>\u2018s. The resolution works fine, at least. And they included borderless this time! I didn\u2019t notice any other major issues either. Others have mentioned a problem with their controller cutting out, but I\u2019ve had none of that whatsoever on my end. It\u2019s worth mentioning that, yes, Denuvo is included. But it always is with Square Enix games, isn\u2019t it? Next up, let\u2019s look at the graphics options.<\/p>\n<h2>On the menu<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210423162728_1-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/20210423162740_1-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already talked about the resolution. Swapping between resolutions and modes is easy and comes without any hitches. That seems like a weak thing to praise a game for, but that\u2019s where the bar is. There are three graphics presets, or you can use custom settings. There are five levels of texturing filtering, from off to 16. Three levels of shadows are available, as well as anti-aliasing, ambient occlusion, and reflections. There\u2019s a \u201cperformance mode\u201d that appears to be a renamed dynamic resolution setting, as it just changes the resolution based on demand.\u00a0 The level of detail on distant geometry has three levels as well.<\/p>\n<p>The included anti-aliasing doesn\u2019t get the job done all that well. At 1440p, distant objects and foliage are quite jaggy. At 4K, of course, you might as well not have AA on at all. The settings here are far from impressive and, as I said earlier, they don\u2019t seem to make a particularly noticeable difference in regard to <em>NieR Replicant<\/em>\u2018s framerate. If you\u2019re not using a great card, expect the FPS to be poor is what I\u2019m getting at. Or maybe it\u2019s just AMD cards.<\/p>\n<p>At least the game itself is a huge improvement from the original release. Major characters have new hair and faces, and environments have been overhauled, with new geometry to be seen. Practically everything has new textures on top of that, too, making this a much better looking game than the original. Let\u2019s take a look at some comparison images showing the different settings. I took all of these in the starting town. You can see Devola in some! Everybody say \u201chi\u201d to Devola!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/AA-on-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263371\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anti-aliasing on<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/AA-off-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263370\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anti-aliasing off<\/p>\n<p>Super great AA as you can see. Truly outstanding work, people. I\u2019m being sarcastic, by the way. Kind of hard to tell without the pictures full-screened, though.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/AO-on-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263373\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ambient Occlusion on<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/AO-off-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant tech review\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263372\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ambient occlusion off<\/p>\n<p>The AO is very clear in the top picture\u2019s grass. And it\u2019s obviously off in the second one. Also, pigs!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Texture-filtering-x16-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Texture Filtering X16\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texture filtering x16<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Texture-filtering-x8-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Texture Filtering X8\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texture Filtering X8<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Texture-filtering-x4-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Texture Filtering X4\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texture Filtering X4<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Texture-filtering-x2-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Texture Filtering X2\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texture Filtering X2<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Texture-filtering-off-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Texture Filtering Off\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263365\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texture Filtering Off<\/p>\n<p>See, five shots with Devola. Just like I said. The texture filtering really isn\u2019t much to look at here, huh? Moving on.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Shadows-high-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Shadows High\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263362\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shadows High<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Shadows-medium-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Shadows Medium\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shadows Medium<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d30xqvs6b65d10.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Shadows-low-1-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Shadows Low\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-263363\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shadows Low<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, an annoying child wandered into the frame while I was taking pictures. Thanks, kid. You made everything easier. And certainly not the exact opposite.<\/p>\n<h2>In my hands again<\/h2>\n<p><em>NieR Replicant<\/em> has a suite of control options available. There are three presets each for single-handed play: three for right-handed users, and three for left.\u00a0 Then there are custom modes for both gamepads and keyboards. These work exactly like they sound. You can go in and rebind whatever you want. But you can\u2019t rebind \u201cold man\u201d to young NieR. Sorry.<\/p>\n<p>There you have it. The port is overall better than when <em>NieR Automata<\/em> showed up years ago. But between the eyebrow-raising optimization issues, surprising lack of vsync, and ever-present mouse pointer, there are things to improve upon. If you\u2019re using a powerful GPU and getting well over 60 FPS, you\u2019re going to want to use Dxtory or something similar to keep the framerate down at certain times. But at least the resolutions actually work this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much has been made of the poor quality of\u00a0NieR Automata\u2018s port. Then there was a second port that didn\u2019t actually fix most of the issues of the first one. As such, we\u2019ve all been fairly skeptical regarding the PC port of\u00a0NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139. Oh, I am not including that number again. While it\u2019s better than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[450,39,451],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}