Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus released to rave reviews, but the PC version has definitely had its share of issues. If you check out Steam reviews, you’ll see a plethora of people who have been getting nothing but trouble out of the game. Luckily, we got our PC copy working well enough to record.
We’ve put together a short clip of the first mission in Wolfenstein 2 comparing the PS4 Pro version of the game with the PC version on ultra settings, so you can decide which one is right for you.
Wolfenstein 2 PS4 Pro Graphics vs. PC Ultra Settings
The New Colossus got a moderate graphical improvement from The New Order and The New Blood. Textures are a little higher resolution, particle effects are a bit better, and character models seem a little higher-poly. For the most part, though you won’t notice a massive difference between Wolfenstein 2 and its Bethesda-produced predecessors as far as graphical fidelity goes.
Also: This Vault Unlock Timer on the Wolfenstein 2 Main Menu has Fans Baffled
We compared the PlayStation 4 Pro at 1080p with a PC with all settings turned up to max (except motion blur) at 1080p with the following components:
- CPU: Delidded Intel i7-7700k clocked to 4.8 GHz
- Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 AIO liquid cooler
- Motherboard: ASUS PRIME Z270-A
- RAM: 16 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4-2400
- GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition
The first thing I noticed about the PC version was how when I set it to 4K it blew up the picture to where all I could see was the top left corner of the menu like some major overscan. This is one of those games that don’t seem to like it if you have the font settings in Windows over 100%, so beware of that.
I settled with 1080p, and when I tried to play the game I noticed the GeForce Experience dialog wouldn’t display when it first started, and the shortcut for Shadowplay didn’t do anything. Well, the solution to that issue was obtuse, and I ended up reinstalling Windows to make sure there were no conflicts between applications. When I reinstalled the NVIDIA drivers and GeForce Experience, Shadowplay still didn’t work. I toyed with the graphics settings in-game and discovered that for some reason if Motion Blur is on, the Shadowplay overlay will not work. Turning it off solved the problem, but still left me angry and empty inside.
The most significant shock of the comparison is that there’s just not that much of a difference between the PS4 Pro and PC on ultra. I’m used to playing a game on PS4 or Xbox One and then switching to the PC version and being blown away by how much better PC looks. In Wolfenstein 2, at least in 1080p, the PC only wins by a hair with slightly sharper textures, better particle effects, and a very, very slightly more steady framerate.
At 4K the differences get a little more pronounced. Since the PC version doesn’t checkerboard like the PS4 does, there’s a bit more chugging at true 4K with just a GTX 1080. However, the Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus PC settings do have an option for resolution scaling, so you can supersample or upscale the in-game resolution independently of the display.
Wolfenstein 2 Should I get the PS4 Version or PC?
Just based on graphics alone, the PC doesn’t give enough of a boost over the PS4 Pro to make it worth the trouble. Right now there’s a ton of glitches on PC, though Bethesda has patched some out (like the inability to use the Steam overlay). If you plan on waiting to purchase the game though, the PC edition will likely be discounted first, and steepest, as is the order of things.
Hopefully, MachineGames and Bethesda will continue working to improve the game’s performance on PC, but for now (at least until we get a chance to see the Xbox One X in action) the PS4 Pro is the platform of choice for Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.
