DF Direct Weekly #223: Cyberpunk Pro, Space Marine 2 RTAO & Switch 2 Technical Analysis

Weekly Technology and Gaming Analysis

In this edition of DF Direct Weekly, the team addresses the latest gaming performance updates, technical benchmarks, and community-driven investigations into hardware behavior.

Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.3

• Performance metrics show the PlayStation 5 Pro achieving significant gains in frame rate, often reaching 80-90 FPS compared to the base model.
• Although there is no official PS5 Pro patch, the added horsepower provides a palpable upgrade in smoothness.
• Discussion on VRR implementation: while it improves the user experience, the lack of specific ray-tracing enhancements remains a point of disappointment.

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2

• The inclusion of Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) aims to enhance visual fidelity but adds significant GPU load.
• Alex highlights how the game's heavy use of unshadowed lights makes SSAO and RTAO look inconsistent, often creating a floating effect.
• Improved shader compilation stability compared to launch, though minor hitches remain.

Nintendo Switch 2 & Donkey Kong Bonanza

• Analysis of Donkey Kong Bonanza reveals it was built with the Switch 2's power in mind, allowing for high-level destruction and performance.
• The panel discusses the nuance of VRR effectiveness on Switch 2 and why certain performance dips occur due to power-saving targets.

Hitman Performance on Switch 2

• An interesting discovery by a viewer confirms that Hitman adjusts rendering resolutions in real-time based on system display settings, impacting performance significantly.
• This reveals an unusual, likely IO Interactive-specific implementation that functions almost like an undocumented "easter egg" for graphics scaling.

"The sheer amount of community effort and technical curiosity regarding how these games run on new hardware defines the current landscape."

Other Highlights

• Doom (SNES): A remarkable community-enhanced port by Randy Linden using a virtualized Super FX chip, now running at a consistent 20 FPS with full controller rumble support.
• RDNA 4 Issues: Confirmation that Unreal Engine 4 titles using ray tracing are suffering from severe zero-FPS stutters, linked to shader compilation processes that need driver-level fixes.