Crystal Dynamics’ excellent Rise of the Tomb Raider is available on PC today – bringing one of the very best games released last year to the world’s largest gaming platform. When a game is ported to PC, there’s usually some rightful cause for concern; the port is either broken, poorly done, or lacking the sorts of tweaks and options a PC gamer might like to mess around with.
Apparently, that’s not the case with Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the perpetually excellent port-factory Nixxes has knocked it out of the par again.
The port brings with it a wealth of post-processing options either not seen, or far superior to what’s in the Xbox One original – like tessellation, Ambient occlusion, and better digital hair. And the best thing? You can change ll of these settings “on the fly” watching them change in real-time.
Says Eurogamer:
“One hallmark of a great PC port pertains to the number of settings available and how quickly they can be modified. In the case of Tomb Raider, we were satisfied to discover that all settings are dynamically adjustable in-game, meaning no lengthy reloads as you tweak. You can see changes happening behind the menu in real-time giving you immediately feedback and enabling easy resource monitoring. This makes adjusting the experience an absolute breeze, encouraging experimentation on the part of the users”
So if you love tinkering, trying to eke out the best performance, this is the game for you.
One of the most important factors in the PC port though, is a marked improvement in input lag. On the Xbox One, there is a very slight delay in Lara’s movement that’s not enough to hamper enjoyment, but is sometimes noticeable. That lag is missing on the PC.
Digital Foundry does note that the game is pretty resource intensive though – and you’re going to need a pretty powerful system to make the most of Rise of the Tomb Raider.
“Ultimately, the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is a great product – albeit one with higher system requirements than one might expect. It’s a beautiful game with plenty of built-in flexibility, but those planning to max out settings on anything other than the latest generation hardware are likely to run into performance issuess. The Xbox One version of the game was clearly optimised to operate at its best on a closed platform and as such, it’s not actually possible to fuly (sic) duplicate console settings here. The closest match requires a meaty system to get the job done – an i5 quad with something along the lines of a GTX 960 to hit 1080p30 on high settings.
When running on faster hardware, the results are certainly more in line with expectations and it becomes possible to produce visuals that greatly exceed the already beautiful Xbox One version of the game. That’s not to say there aren’t still issues here – for instance, the icy tree branches used throughout the game suffer from shimmering that has proven almost impossible to eliminate, but it still feels like a solid port.
Overall, Rise of the Tomb Raider is an excellent game with a greater focus on exploration punctuated with well-designed battles – battles which play even better on the PC due to faster input response and higher frame-rates. Nixxes has produced a solid version of the game that takes great advantage of the PC platform – just make sure your hardware is ready to be pushed.”
Here’s a comparison video betwixt the two versions. The PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is out today. It’ll hit the PS4 in November this year.
It’s an amazing game. Play it.
Last Updated: January 28, 2016
PoisonedBelial
January 28, 2016 at 10:34
I need this game in my life.
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
January 28, 2016 at 10:34
Good, I approve of this
Kromas untamed
January 28, 2016 at 10:38
My game says it is not available yet. I may need to reboot steam when I have a chance.
Edit: Store page says game will unlock in hours. 🙂
VampyreSquirrel
January 28, 2016 at 10:41
My Steam says it’s available in approximately 9 hours.
PoisonedBelial
January 28, 2016 at 10:41
Cap says no
Kromas untamed
January 28, 2016 at 10:41
Yeah just found out. 🙂
miaau
January 28, 2016 at 10:44
Friend of mine has been checking Steam everyday for a week to see if can pre-download, super excited to get it.
Kromas untamed
January 28, 2016 at 10:45
I am excited for this but I am more excited for X-Com2.
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
January 28, 2016 at 10:52
^THIS!
Hammersteyn
January 28, 2016 at 10:40
hehe nice header
VampyreSquirrel
January 28, 2016 at 10:40
I shall get this game… at some stage when I have money to get it and time to put into it XD
Kromas untamed
January 28, 2016 at 10:42
On this topic. Does anyone wants Tomb Raider as I got a free copy with my Rise pre-purchase.
PoisonedBelial
January 28, 2016 at 10:43
PLEASE! 😛
Kromas untamed
January 28, 2016 at 10:44
Sure. Are you in the lagz community group on steam?
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
January 28, 2016 at 11:04
If he doesn’t reply, I’ll take it off your hands…
Milesh Bhana
January 28, 2016 at 11:11
*waits for PS4 version.
Pieter Kruger
January 28, 2016 at 12:31
And waits….and waits…..and waits…….????
Hammersteyn
January 28, 2016 at 13:09
Ours will be the GOTY edition with all the DLC, mark my words
HvR
January 28, 2016 at 13:10
or the 10th anniversary edition
Milesh Bhana
January 28, 2016 at 13:14
GOTY gives them an excuse to charge full price.
i’d happily take a discounted vanilla version.
Hammersteyn
January 28, 2016 at 13:26
I Think we’ll get a good price. They know they pissed a lot of people of when the snubbed us and they will want to get back into our good graces
RinceThis
January 28, 2016 at 15:32
all good things come to those who wait!
Hammersteyn
January 28, 2016 at 15:36
Lara will be 60 by then
Darren Peach
January 28, 2016 at 12:06
Good game, But I preferred the first one. Still, Worthy. To all of you PS4 folks, You are not missing out on anything as profound a change as the previous title. I played this on the Xbox one.
oVg
January 28, 2016 at 12:13
So no Tress FX chip required this time? and its great that the Bone got to 1080p like the PS4 did with the re-boot not to mention the lovely 60fps. So no excuses for the PS4 to drop down to 30fps.
Does not matter as Im off this gravy train. Lara can get in the sea.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
January 28, 2016 at 12:26
As far as I understand, the bone still manages 30fps, I’m sure the PS4 will kill it detail wise though, still, you need quite the PC to get this running well…
RinceThis
January 28, 2016 at 15:32
I am tired of her too. Boring. Move on.
Nigel Alan Smith
January 28, 2016 at 12:18
I can only laugh at this like I laughed at Bruce jenner winning woman of the year.
It proves that the only thing that can run an xbone game better than the xbox 1, is a pc
LOL
ElimiNathan
January 28, 2016 at 12:20
I think for once us PC master racers can keep quiet, this article said everything we needed to say
Thami Afurika-Jin HD
January 28, 2016 at 12:39
This looks damn good!! (also, Leo for Oscar)
ZA Ludomusicologist
January 28, 2016 at 15:09
WAITING… WAITING… WAITING… I will probably play it tonight!
RinceThis
January 28, 2016 at 15:31
Header win!
Krypto
January 28, 2016 at 16:32
I’d like to know the real system requirements once it’s out. No MSAA, just FXAA or SMAA, at 1440p I can run most games at 30fps or greater with my 7970. High and Ultra in games like Witcher 3 and GTA V. Even tried some console ports and older games like Witcher 2 and Lighting Returns on my mother’s 4kTV also runs 25-30fps.
ZA Ludomusicologist
January 29, 2016 at 07:36
Astounding! Lovely lovely lovely!