Whereas 007 First Light is the primary really good James Bond recreation in fairly a while, developer IO Interactive has been making well-optimized PC video games for years. It’s not shocking, then, that 007 First Light runs extraordinarily effectively, at the least when you clear its considerably steep system necessities.
The sport requires simply an AMD Radeon RX 5700 or a GeForce GTX 1660 to run, however its advisable spec is an RTX 3060 Ti or a 6700 XT. That’s fairly a distinction, however I’ll say that after testing the 3060 Ti at 1080p, it runs extremely effectively, though the low VRAM means you’ll in all probability wish to flip down the feel high quality a bit, even at that decrease decision.
In reality, the textures on this recreation are like a bit sponge for video reminiscence, and if you wish to max it out at any decision, you’re going to wish to ensure you’re packing a GPU with at the least 12GB of the stuff. And, at greater resolutions, you’re in all probability going to wish to bump that requirement as much as 16GB for those who actually wish to keep away from any stuttering.
No Presets
In contrast to quite a lot of PC video games lately, 007 First Light doesn’t have graphics presets. There’s a button within the settings menu that’ll set every thing to default, however at the least on the pre-release construct I used to be testing, this simply set every thing right down to its minimal setting.
Whereas this isn’t an enormous deal for anybody that’s going to be tinkering with the settings anyhow, it does imply you’ll be able to’t simply choose an possibility and begin enjoying proper out of the gate. Or at the least you’ll be able to’t for those who don’t wish to be watching aliased handrails for 20 hours (or however long this game is, I didn’t end it but).
There actually aren’t that many particular person settings to tweak, although, so discovering the candy spot to your PC shouldn’t take too a lot time. And, for most individuals who meet the advisable setting, it principally comes right down to setting most issues to excessive after which simply deciding if you wish to prioritize body price or the next base decision.
The Settings
Similar to with Forza Horizon 6’s PC settings, I got down to make 007 First Light run as shortly as potential on the RTX 5070 at 4K. In contrast to Forza, although, attending to 60 fps at a local 4K in First Light with the RTX 5070 is principally unattainable. Even with every thing set to low, I bought round 40-45 fps. That could be sufficient for some individuals, however that is a kind of video games the place I’d advocate upscaling for just about everybody. The sport appears unbelievable with greater high quality settings, and so long as you’ve got some type of upscaling, a GPU just like the RTX 5070 or the Radeon 9070 can simply run at 60-70 fps.
Even the much-weaker RTX 3060 Ti can simply hit a excessive body price at 1080p, simply so long as you utilize DLSS on the High quality preset. The 3060 Ti may even stretch as much as 1440p, however will probably be a lot tougher to keep up 60 fps. Simply prepare to show issues down a bit if you wish to transfer as much as the next decision.
007 First LIght will run on the Steam Deck, too, however I wouldn’t actually advocate it. You will get the sport operating at round 30 fps more often than not, but it surely comes with some fairly extreme stuttering issues, particularly whenever you’re enjoying it on battery energy. Extra highly effective handhelds just like the Xbox Ally X will fare a bit higher, however it is a recreation that’s positively meant extra for fully-fledged gaming PCs than handhelds.
Whereas 007 First Light does run effectively on trendy {hardware}, you’re going to wish to dial within the settings to seek out the right stability between picture high quality and efficiency. And, effectively, I went forward and located that candy spot for each the RTX 5070 and the RTX 3060 Ti.
Switch Perform: This simply impacts how picture knowledge is encoded to your monitor. For most individuals, I’d advocate setting it to 2.2 and forgetting about it. Should you run into visible glitches, you’ll be able to set it to sRGB to troubleshoot, however you’ll get lighter blacks. And since it is a stealth recreation, you’ll be darkish scenes rather a lot. Mid-Vary PC and Handheld: 2.2
Decision Scaling: These are simply upscaling strategies. As of proper now solely two are chosen, DLSS and FSR. For Nvidia customers, use DLSS, everybody else ought to use FSR. Hopefully IO Interactive provides XeSS someday quickly.
DLSS Tremendous Decision and AMD FSR Upscaling decision: That is merely the upscaling issue for whichever methodology you’re utilizing. As a basic rule of thumb, I’d advocate Efficiency for 4K, Balanced for 1440p and High quality for 1080p. Nonetheless, if in case you have sufficient respiratory room, you’ll be able to flip it as much as make the sport look a bit nicer.
DLSS Body Era: It looks like the one sort of body gen that’s supported right here is Nvidia’s model of the tech. Whether or not or not you utilize it’s totally as much as you, however it could possibly unlock extraordinarily excessive body charges at the price of latency and a few minor visible artifacts. Fortunately, 007 First Light helps Dynamic Multi Body Era proper out of the field, so that you gained’t even must mess with the Nvidia app to make use of it.
Texture High quality: Texture High quality adjustments the decision of all of the textures within the recreation. In my testing, that is by far the largest influence on VRAM. Should you’re operating up towards the restrict, and fortunately there’s a useful little bar within the decrease proper nook of the display that’ll let you know that, I’d decrease this setting first. However for essentially the most half, you’re in all probability going to be GPU restricted earlier than you’re VRAM restricted. Mid-Vary PC: Extremely, Handheld: Low
Texture Filter: It doesn’t matter what recreation I’m enjoying, texture filtering is likely one of the final issues I contact. Even maxing this out gained’t have an effect on efficiency that a lot, and the sport will begin trying very flat when you begin turning it down. Mid-Vary PC: 16x, Handheld: 4x
Degree of Element: This impacts mannequin decision, and in 007 First Light IO Interactive has labored some type of magic to make this setting barely have an effect on efficiency. Going from Low to Extremely barely touches the VRAM meter, and solely made for a distinction of two fps on the RTX 5070. Mid-Vary PC: Extremely, Handheld: Medium
Terrain High quality: 007 First Light is filled with stunning environments, and this setting principally impacts how good the bottom appears at any time. It will have an effect on some scenes greater than others, however I’ll say that there are many driving scenes on this recreation the place having this setting cranked up actually improves how the sport appears. And since it barely impacts VRAM or your GPU efficiency, simply depart this cranked till you’re operating into efficiency points. Mid-Vary PC: Extremely Handheld: Low
Shadow High quality: The lighting engine in 007 First Light is the place most individuals are going to run into efficiency points. Shadows are ray traced, and maxing them out could have a big impact on each your efficiency and your VRAM consumption. I’d depart this at excessive for essentially the most half, however for those who’re on a weaker GPU, this (together with the subsequent few settings) are the primary issues I’d lower. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive Handheld: Low
Volumetric Fog High quality: This makes fog thicker and extra lifelike, however it could possibly influence efficiency fairly a bit in notably foggy scenes – just like the opening mission. Volumetric Fog makes sure scenes look unbelievable, however this must be one of many first belongings you lower for those who’re falling wanting 60 fps, particularly if there are quite a lot of atmospheric results happening when your fps drops. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive Handheld: Low
Volumetric Results High quality: You’d assume that Volumetric Fog can be a Volumetric Impact, but it surely’s separate for some purpose. As an alternative, this principally impacts volumetric lighting and smoke. This does look nice maxed out, what with all of the explosions within the recreation, but it surely does include a reasonably excessive efficiency price. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive, Handheld: Low
Reflection High quality: That is simply me, however one among my favourite ray traced results is reflections. Even 7 years after I first noticed the noisy reflections in Battlefield 5, I’m nonetheless blown away by very nice reflections. And 007 First Light has some completely beautiful reflections. This is likely one of the final lighting results I’d flip down from a purely aesthetic perspective, but it surely does include a excessive sufficient efficiency price that I’d advocate turning it down a bit anyhow. Mid-Vary PC: Excessive (Extremely for those who’re adventurous) Handheld: Low
What follows all of those is a bunch of toggles for post-processing results, and none of them actually influence efficiency all that a lot. Within the descriptions for a few of them, developer IO Interactive warns that turning off fullscreen blur results and radial blur results will make sure gameplay states tougher to differentiate. I’ve spent about 8 hours with this recreation, and all this implies is that it’ll be tougher to inform whenever you’re low on life. That’s sufficient for me to maintain these settings on however for those who actually hate the impact, you’ll be able to at the least flip it off.
Out of all of the video games I’ve examined to date this yr, 007 First Light might be essentially the most demanding. That’s to not say that it’s not effectively optimised, although. Even on the RTX 5070, you will get a median of round 63-70 fps all through a lot of the recreation following these settings, and that quantity will solely go up for those who use body era – although that can include a little bit of a bump to latency.
So long as you’ve got a latest graphics card, you should not have any drawback operating at excessive settings with an honest body price. However in contrast to video games like Crimson Desert and Resident Evil Requiem, upscaling is a necessity for 4K, except you’re packing one thing like an RTX 5080 or a Radeon RX 9070 XT.