Back in 2019, Plague Tale: Innocence was a surprise hit. Fast-forward to its sequel, Plague Tale: Requiem, and Asobo Studio has clearly pushed its in-house Zouna engine to new visual heights—with lush foliage, detailed lighting, and stunning presentation. However, these improvements come with a cost: Requiem is extremely demanding. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the game’s graphics settings to help you strike the perfect balance between visuals and performance.

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Upscaling: DLSS and Missing Options

• DLSS: Supported (including DLAA).
• FSR/XeSS: Not officially supported. However, you can add FSR 2.1 manually (link not included here).
• TAA vs DLAA: DLAA offers better detail resolution and less shimmer but causes bright spots near water. If you can spare ~4% performance, DLAA is a solid pick.

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Key Graphics Settings Breakdown

1. Draw Distance (Most Demanding)

• Affects object geometry and pop-in.
• Low to Medium: ~7% drop.
• High: ~14% drop.
• Ultra: ~22% drop.
• Recommendation: Medium — noticeable improvement over low, moderate cost.

2. Shadow Map

• Controls resolution and quality of shadows.
• Low to Medium: ~2% hit.
• High: ~3.5%.
• Ultra: ~7%.
• Recommendation: Medium or High — good balance.

3. Volumetric Lighting

• No clear visual change; impacts performance.
• Recommendation: Low — save FPS.

4. Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

• Adds depth to lighting.
• Low to Medium: ~1%.
• High: ~3%.
• Ultra: ~4.5%.
• Recommendation: Medium or High — avoid low.

5. Depth of Field

• Mostly affects cutscenes.
• Minimal performance impact.
• Recommendation: Low.

6. Contact Shadows

• Adds detail to small elements like grass.
• Off to Ultra: ~3%.
• Recommendation: Low to Ultra — even Low is impactful. Do not disable.

7. Light Shafts

• Volumetric lighting quality.
• Low flickers, Ultra smoother.
• Performance hit minor.
• Recommendation: Low or Medium.

8. Reflections (SSR)

• Major visual weak spot.
• Off to Low: ~8% hit.
• Ultra: ~13%.
• Recommendation: Low or Medium — High/Ultra not worth it.

9. Texture Quality

• VRAM usage: ~6.5GB @1440p.
• Recommendation: 4GB VRAM users at 1080p are fine.

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Ray Tracing?

• Currently unavailable, despite NVIDIA’s pre-launch video.
• Config file has a line for RT shadows, but setting it to “1” has no effect.
• Expect future updates to enable ray-traced shadows or reflections.

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Optimized Settings vs Ultra Preset

• Up to 30% performance boost when using optimized settings over Ultra.
• Key savings: Drop Draw Distance, lower SSR, use Low Volumetrics.

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Final Recommendations

Most Demanding Settings:

• Draw Distance
• Screen Space Reflections (SSR)

Biggest Visual Gains for Low Cost:

• Contact Shadows
• Shadow Map (Medium/High)

Settings That Do Little But Cost Performance:

• Volumetric Lighting
• Depth of Field

The game is one of the most beautiful of the year, but performance needs fine-tuning. Asobo’s AA studio status makes the achievement even more impressive, but a patch is sorely needed—especially to fix DLSS/DLAA water reflection bugs.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for more performance guides, and stay tuned for a breakdown of Uncharted‘s PC port.