If we learned nothing else from Naughty Dog’s PC version of The Last of Us Part 1, we now know that in the year 2023 it’s still eminently possible to mess up a videogame port. We can run the global economy on a decentralised blockchain and climb mountains in photorealistic VR, but good luck getting TLOU to build its shader cache before Steam’s refund window expires.
Prior to that release, you could have been forgiven for thinking the days of borked PC ports were basically behind us. It was absolutely de rigueur throughout the ’90s and ’00s for a critically adored console game to turn up in mangled and mutilated form, and as recently as Dark Souls’ PC arrival in 2012 we were disappointed but far from surprised by a locked 720p resolution and 30fps frame rate.
But things were on the up. Console architecture was coming slightly closer in line with a PC’s componentry ecosystem by the advent of the PS4 and Xbox One, the latter using Microsoft’s DirectX API and both using an eight-core AMD Jaguar APU that bore some similarities to the Ryzen chips found in gaming PCs. And anecdotally, that seemed to be making life easier for the developers of 2013 than it was for their ancestors circa 2003 who were charged with getting the complex infrastructure of lolly sticks and elastic bands inside PS2s and Xboxes to power virtual worlds, and then translate all that over to beige boxes.
MOVING GOALPOSTS
This story is from the July 2023 edition of PC Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2023 edition of PC Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
VIVE LA RESISTANCE!
Be the deadly dagger in Nazi-occupied France in CLASSIFIED: FRANCE '44
CUTTER STAID
OUTCAST A NEW BEGINNING rekindles the original game's epic scope
OLD WORLD BLUES
The beautiful HORIZON: FORBIDDEN WEST COMPLETE EDITION struggles to move on
OFF PUTTING
Lee Carvallo's PUTTING CHALLENGE 2: another great Simpsons fan game
ALMA MATER
Horror is a family affair in FEAR
ELDEN RING REBORN
A Scholar of the First Sin-style total conversion mod for Elden Ring.
EIYUDEN CHRONICLE: HUNDRED HEROES
Spiritual successor to Suikoden promises an grand adventure
JEDI REMASTER
DARK FORCES REMASTER is the classic Star Wars FPS upgrade you've been looking for
PAWN COCKTAIL
DRAGON'S DOGMA 2 is an exceptional and sometimes infuriating RPG
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
Few online RPGs have transformed as much in the past decade as The Elder Scrolls Online. First debuting in April of 2014 as a confused, awkward thing, loved by few. Today, it proudly stands alongside its singleplayer peers. Here's how TESO escaped Oblivion's grasp and reconnected with Elder Scrolls fans.