Introduction

Forspoken is out now on PC, with plenty of additional visual enhancements over its PlayStation 5 release, such as higher quality ray traced shadows, ray traced ambient occlusion, full support for ultra-wide screens, and this version on PC is the first game with support for DirectStorage. Forspoken also has support for NVIDIA's DLSS Super Resolution (DLSS 2.5), and AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.1 (FSR 2.1) from day one. In order to run this game at maximum graphics settings and reasonable framerates at native resolution, quite a powerful GPU is required, which is why upscaling solutions are so important. But depending on the game, there are subtle differences in the implementation of NVIDIA's DLSS Super Resolution (DLSS 2.5), and AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.1 (FSR 2.1), so we are keen to have a look at these temporal upscalers in this game.



Below, you will find comparison screenshots at 4K, 1440p, 1080p, and in different DLSS and FSR 2.1 quality modes. For those who want to see how DLSS and FSR 2.1 perform in motion, watch our side-by-side comparison video. The video can help uncover issues like shimmering or temporal instability, which are not visible in the screenshots.

All tests were made using a GeForce RTX 4080 GPU at Ultra High graphics settings with ray tracing enabled; motion blur and depth of field were disabled for better image viewing. DLSS was manually updated to version 2.5.1 by swapping the DLL file.

Screenshots

Side-by-Side Comparison Video

Conclusion

In Forspoken, the in-game TAA solution, DLSS 2.5 and FSR 2.1 implementations all use a sharpening filter in the render path, and the game has the ability to tweak the sharpening values through a sharpening slider. By default, the game sets the sharpening values at 80 for each upscaling solution, which will look oversharpened even at 4K resolution. That's why we used a setting of 0 for all sharpening filter values in our testing. The inclusion of a separate sharpening filter for each upscaling and temporal anti-aliasing solution is a great option to have, especially when it is properly implemented, and in Forspoken, the sharpening filter does not cause any negative side effects when using upscaling solutions.

Forspoken is a fast paced action game with a lot of small particle effects on screen during combat, so when using any temporal upscaling solutions, the stability of the image is key to enjoyable gameplay. When using DLSS, the image was stable in motion in Quality modes, the level of detail rendered in vegetation and tree leaves is improved in comparison to the in-game TAA solution, and small details in the distance, such as thin steel objects, are rendered more correctly and completely. The FSR 2.1 implementation comes with a few compromises in image quality—in favor of performance in most sequences of the game. We spotted excessive shimmering and flickering on thin steel objects; they are shimmering even when standing still. This is the same level of shimmering issues we've previously seen in the Spider-Man Remastered FSR 2.1 implementation. To be fair, DLSS also has these shimmering problems, but only in motion at extreme angles, and with DLSS you have the ability to minimize these issues by applying the newer DLSS 2.5.1 version. Also, the FSR 2.1 image has some visible pixelation and ghosting artifacts around the main character and it can be distracting in motion, as it is especially visible during fast parkour movement, and the lower internal resolution, the more these issues are visible.

Speaking of performance, Forspoken is a very GPU intensive game on PC, we've posted our Forspoken Performance Analysis last week. Even a high-powered GPU such as the GeForce RTX 4080 cannot hold a stable 60 FPS at 4K without the use of upscaling technologies, on a mid-range GPU such as the GeForce RTX 3060 the game is simply unplayable at 1080p without upscaling. In a such a poorly optimized game, upscaling technologies are crucial to achieve a somewhat playable experience. With DLSS 2.5 or FSR 2.1 enabled, you can expect around 30% more performance in 4K "Quality" mode. Going down to 1440p resolution, the DLSS and FSR 2.1 performance increase is not so impressive, as it will boost performance by around 20% in "Quality" mode.