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With the January 14 release, God of War comes to PC for the first time as a standalone download and play.
The 2018 release is part of the famed series, which was a PlayStation exclusive until now. With its PC release, the game is now officially available on all major retailers, including Steam and the Epic Games Store.
God of War's 2018 release was the first installment of the Norse saga and was originally launched on PlayStation. Since then, the game has gone on to become available on more powerful hardware on the PlayStation 5 earlier.
Note: This article reflects the writer's opinion.
With its PC availability, players can choose to opt to play the game on either the next-generation console or on their gaming rigs.
There are no doubts over the fact that both PS5 and PCs run the game better than the original PS4 where the game's original release happened. But which of the two performance monsters can better run Kratos and Atreus' journey to Midgard?
God of War PC vs PS5: It's the difference of shadows
God of War 2018 came to the PlayStation before the next-generation consoles were released. Once the PlayStation 5 came out, Santa Monica Studio incorporated a host of changes to get the game up to date with the capabilities of the flagship console.
Many of these upgrades have been further improved in the PC port. Some of the amazing features on the PC port is the ability to use DLSS and FSR according to the system and the settings of the player.
It's all about shadows
There are very miniscule differences in running the game in the same settings on both PS5 and PC. The main difference comes in the projection of the shadows. The PC port shows shadows with a darker look and for many, this can be the equivalent of what realistic should look like. Once again, these are all measured at ultra settings and are hardly identifiable in real time.
There have been some reports of GPU lock in PC. This results in occasional frame drops, especially during cinematic and change of scenes. However, this is quite normal in cross-system ports and should be removed in upcoming days. It's also likely that unless the game is running maxed out, these stutters can be avoided.
So, PC or PS5?
The God of War port is almost what a perfect PC port should be and there are almost no differences on same settings between the two systems. The major decider will obviously be based on which system a player already owns.
For those players who own both and are yet to play, the console may be the better option to go for right now. Santa Monica Studio and Jetpack Interactive have done a magnificent job but there are still some issues to be sorted. The game coming to PC also means that those with systems that are not as superior will also be able to play the game by lowering the settings.
