Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Boasts Impressive Performance on Consoles

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD2) promises strong performance across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, showcasing impressive adaptability to various settings. This article delves into KCD2's performance across all platforms and customizable settings.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: Cross-Platform Performance Analysis

Photorealistic Visuals Powered by CryEngine

Multiple sources confirm KCD2's impressive performance across platforms. PlayStation and Xbox consoles deliver smooth gameplay at both 30fps and 60fps, with the PS5 Pro leveraging its capabilities for enhanced visuals. KCD2's photorealistic rendering, a rarity due to its use of CryTek's CryEngine, sets it apart.

Warhorse Studios' continued use of CryEngine, also employed in KCD1, allows for familiar development and enhanced feature implementation. PC Gamer highlights CryEngine's old-school rendering approach—prioritizing performance over complex shaders and lighting—as a key factor in its efficiency.

Despite this, KCD2 achieves photorealism through physically based materials. Eurogamer notes the effectiveness of CryEngine's sparse voxel octree global illumination (SVOGI) in creating realistic indirect lighting, convincingly rendering effects like torchlight and metallic reflections.

PlayStation and Xbox Console Options: Fidelity vs. Performance

PS5 and Xbox Series X offer two modes: a 30fps fidelity mode at 1440p and a 60fps performance mode at 1080p. Xbox Series S is limited to the fidelity mode. Conversely, the PS5 Pro exclusively offers a 60fps mode at 1296p, upscaled to 4K using PSSR.

Fidelity mode enhances PS5 and Xbox Series X visuals with increased foliage and improved shadow casting, particularly enhancing outdoor scenes and ambient occlusion. The PS5 Pro further elevates these features, adding sharper visuals, superior ambient occlusion, improved object detail, and overall enhanced image quality.

PC Upscaling: Player Choice Reigns Supreme

True to PC gaming tradition, KCD2's upscaling is entirely optional, providing players with extensive control over settings. PC Gamer notes the limited upscaling options: FSR and DLSS for lower-resolution rendering. XeSS, sharpening, and frame generation are absent.

Despite CryEngine's performance focus, running KCD2 at 4K with maximum settings will still demand significant GPU power. However, the game's highly scalable graphics offer five quality presets (low, medium, high, ultra, and experimental) to optimize performance for various PC configurations.

KCD2 provides a comprehensive system readiness guide, detailing CPU, RAM, GPU, and storage requirements to ensure a smooth gaming experience.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launches February 4, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Visit our Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 page for more details.