God of War: Optimize PC graphics settings

The God of War series is known for a lot: epic staging, lots of blood, beautiful graphics, and until now only ever released exclusively for PlayStation. This changes with the latest God of War, which is the fourth part of the series - and which is now also available for PC.

In order to enjoy the graphics splendor, your system should offer some hardware. If the epic jerks too much for you, you can find out here:

  • The system requirements for God of War
  • How to improve the performance
  • Which settings you should do without

God of War has these system requirements

At first glance, God of War seems to be less hardware-hungry than the current Battlefield 2042. But don't be mistaken, because in hardly any other game is it so important to get a smooth as well as beautiful gaming experience. Fortunately, you get a relatively high level of detail even with the lowest graphics settings .

However, since this is a console port, you'll have to sacrifice other features at the most minimal settings: resolution and framerate. Because you only get 720p at 30 frames per second under the graphics point "Low". That is on par with a Nintendo Switch.

However, your system also needs less up-to-date hardware. Besides the 64-bit version of Windows 10, your computer should have the following:

  • Processor: Intel i5-2500k (4 core 3.3 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4 core 3.1 GHz)
  • RAM: 8 GB DDR
  • Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 960 (4 GB) or AMD R9 290X (4 GB)

On low, more details are missing and the picture generally looks paler

On ultra, God of War is a true feast for the eyes

The recommended system settings describe the hardware needed to play God of War at the graphics level it was once released at on the PlayStation 4.

It doesn't need any big jumps compared to the minimum requirements, as the processor and graphics card only need to be one generation better.

Here's what hardware you'll need:

  • Processor: Intel i5-6600k (4 core 3.5 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 2400 G (4 core 3.6 GHz)
  • RAM: 8 GB DDR
  • NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6 GB) or AMD RX 570 (4 GB)

You can see that a pretty and smooth experience for God of War is not witchcraft for now. But compared to the console version, Sony Montreal has some graphical improvements up its sleeve for the PC port. Besides 4K and an unlimited frame rate, you can also choose between "High" and "Ultra".

So, if you have a powerful system, you'll also want to play on these settings. And here the system requirements already look different.

For "High" you need the following components:

  • Processor: Intel i7-7700k (4 core 4.2 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 7 3700x (8 core 3.6 GHz)
  • RAM: 16 GB DDR
  • NVIDIA RTX 2070 (8 GB) or AMD RX 5700 XT (8 GB)

On the other hand, if you don' t want to miss any detail, select "Ultra" in the graphics settings. However, the requirements expect current top hardware:

  • Processor: Intel i9-9900k (8 core 3.6 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 9 3950x (16 core 3.5 GHz)
  • RAM: 16 GB DDR
  • NVIDIA RTX 3080 (10 GB) or AMD RX 6800 XT (16 GB)

I myself play God of War on a Razer Blade 17 Pro with a built-in NVIDIA RTX 3070, 16 GB RAM and "only" an Intel i7-10875H (8 cores 2.30 GHz). Nevertheless, I did not notice any performance problems with the "Ultra" setting. Therefore, you should always use higher settings for God of War. Your system might manage that.

The shadows of the trees are clearly visible in Ultra mode.

On Low, the shadows are muddy and the textures are very pale

Is it juddering? You should adjust these settings

Does your system meet all requirements, but you still get a slide show? Well, then you should change some settings. These are details that do not so much improve the graphics in the whole picture.

First you should adjust the motion blur. You can find it in the menu under "Display". Whether you personally like this "Motion Blur" is another question. However, the blurring effect during movements can have a negative impact on performance. Therefore, set the slider completely to zero and see if anything changes in the frame rate.

Next, you can do more fine-tuning under the menu item "Graphics". You can already see that compared to other PC titles, the selection is very limited. However, this gives you enough room to experiment without having to take a picture of every setting you use.

Start by setting everything to "low" and then check the performance in the game. If everything runs smoothly, you can start to increase the individual graphic elements.

You should start with the textures and the quality of the models. These elements can dampen the gameplay a bit, even if God of War still looks very good.

Shadows, reflections, and atmospheric effects can take a toll on your performance. Especially when several of these elements are displayed in one scene (for example during the canoe trip). You might notice a significant drop in your frame rate. Leave these settings on "low" and only if the game really runs absolutely without problems, gradually increase them.

The anisotropic filtering ensures a sharp representation of distant objects. It hardly affects the performance of your graphics card. You can directly start with "Original" or even "High" in these settings. The same is true for the ambient occlusion. Here, too, you have little to worry about.

Once you've discovered your optimal settings, there's nothing standing in your way as the God of War to give the Norse gods a good scare.

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