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From Software has come a long way since its first Dark Souls port to PC. Back then, it was a timid dipping of the toe for the studio, and one that drew ire for its sub-720p, 30fps delivery. Fast track to 2016 and it's quite a different story. Dark Souls 3 is replete with options on PC that gives players far more wiggle room than ever before - plus the ability to run at 1080p and beyond. Barring its peak cap of 60fps that's at odds with higher-refresh monitors, the out-of-the-box experience is strong, and lends itself well to a testing across a range of PC set-ups.We've GPU tests aplenty below, but our first question is simple: what does PC add over console? Having spent the last two weeks jumping between it, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases, the most tangible upgrade is the ability to run at 60fps. From Software's engine is at last unshackled from a rickety 30fps cap, where uneven frame-pacing continues to impact the console editions with unwanted stuttering. With the right hardware, Dark Souls 3 animates beautifully at a full 60Hz refresh on PC. It alleviates the issue, and though infrequent stutters are visible even on a top-end Titan X, it makes it very difficult going back to the console set-up.
Visually, the advantages on PC are less pronounced, but there are a few small wins. At its max setting, the motion blur effect is improved over console for example, with a higher-grade blending pass on each sampled frame that produces a cleaner look. By comparison, PS4 runs at the equivalent to the medium setting, and the drop in quality here translates to more artefacts during camera whip-pans - notably on foliage which receives less coverage. Meanwhile, Xbox One matches the low motion blur setting, in this case causing more banding behind objects, and a coarser blending between frames.
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