Spyro Reignited Trilogy PC Performance Analysis

Graphical Settings Comparison Low, Medium, High and Ultra  

There are two ways that game developers can handle game settings. The first way is what we will call the Control (the game Control) way, where the developer defines a minimum selection of graphics features and ensures that their games look good when using its lowest graphical preset. 

The second way is the Spyro way, and it involves cutting back the game as far as possible to generate framerate gains. Thanks to this, Spyro looks awful when playing the game using its low preset. Textures are basically the same at all graphical settings, which makes sense as there is no texture settings options within the game. 

At low most shadows are gone, there is barely any grass, and the lack of any AA can fill the screen with jaggies. This is not how PC users should be playing Spyro. 

Moving up to medium, things make a drastic change for the better, as TAA smooths out the game’s edges and shadows are cast to create a more immersive environment. The game’s grass is also a lot denser, and draw distances are further. In short, Medium settings is the minimum that Spyro players should be using on PC. 
 

(Low VS Medium)
  

 
High settings add a lot more shadow to the world, giving the game a much more realistic look. In-game grass and other foliage is rendered to a farther distance. At high settings, Spyro’s ReignitedTriligy looks as it should. 

(Medium VS High)
  

 
Boosting things to Ultra has a relatively small impact on Spyro’s visuals, increasing the quality of the game’s Ambient Occlusion/shadows, but not to an incredible degree. The main difference here is the increase in foliage draw distance, which can be seen clearly in the hilly area above the wall. 

We would love to see a setting for larger draw distances for Spyro, as pop-in is very visible within the game on PC, even at Ultra. That said, this is limited to relatively few locations. 

(High VS Ultra)