Digital Foundry Direct: Gamescom 2021 Tech & Updates

Gamescom 2021 Overview

This episode of Digital Foundry Direct focuses on the major graphical and technological presentations from Gamescom 2021. The team analyzes several key titles and emerging hardware trends within the gaming industry.

Featured Titles

• DokeV: Described as the "game of the show," this title features stunning, cutting-edge visuals. While the frame rate in the trailer was low, the developers showed confidence in their technological base by prioritizing visual fidelity and complex particle effects over smooth performance, reminiscent of early PC tech showcases like Crysis.

• Forza Horizon 5: The team highlights the game’s photogrammetry-based environment rendering, specifically its realistic interpretation of Mexico and sophisticated sky-rendering techniques that allow for seamless weather transitions such as dust storms.

• Call of Duty: Vanguard: Discussed with a sense of cross-gen fatigue. While the Infinity Ward engine remains a strong foundation, the gameplay slice shown failed to offer revolutionary visual leaps over its predecessors, hampered by the requirement to support older hardware.

• Dying Light 2: The focus here is on the heavy utilization of modern ray tracing features (reflections, global illumination, and ambient occlusion), drawing comparisons to the "kitchen sink" approach seen in Cyberpunk 2077.

• Halo Infinite: Despite announcing a release date, the lack of campaign footage remains a concern. The team notes their apprehension regarding the game's presentation after the initial negative reception, emphasizing that developers are under immense pressure to deliver.

Hardware and Industry Trends

GPU Market and Intel Arc

"I really think they should go after the lower end bracket market that AMD and NVIDIA have just kind of abandoned."

• The discussion shifts to NVIDIA's ongoing push for DLSS and ray tracing as the industry standard, while examining leaks of an RTX 3090 Super refresh.
• The team analyzes Intel's leap into the discrete graphics market with Alchemist. They express optimism regarding its feature parity but note concerns about the XESS ecosystem, particularly that its initial implementation may not fully leverage the Tensor Cores found on NVIDIA hardware.

Technical Deep-Dives and Updates

• Sony's 60 FPS patches: The team discusses the technical engineering required to bring titles like Horizon Zero Dawn to 60 FPS on PlayStation 5, given they were originally architected for 30 FPS.
• AI Upscaling: A humorous discussion ensues regarding the use of AI upscaling and interpolation to improve low-quality video conference feeds (the "deepfake Tom Peterson" situation).
• FPS Boost: Discussion on the inconsistent release schedule of Microsoft's FPS Boost program, noting that bespoke fixes are often required for specific game engines (e.g., Dark Souls 3).