'Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart' Could Be First PC Game With DirectStorage GPU Decompression
According to a Steam forum post that was deleted yesterday, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart could be the first game to feature GPU decompression when it arrives later this month on PC. But that's not all, according to the developers, the game will be completely dependent on DirectStorage 1.2 and its associated GPU decompression technology to enable instant transitions between dimensions, which is a critical element of the game's mechanics.
GPU decompression was introduced in 2022 as part of Microsoft's 1.1 update for the DirectStorage SDK. The advantage GPU decompression offers is substantially greater loading times compared to traditional methods, by re-routing decompression duties from the CPU to the GPU directly. Benchmarks have proven that GPU decompression can mean the difference between waiting for a loading screen or seeing gameplay changes occur in real time.
However, it has taken almost a year for any game to take advantage of GPU decompression. Technically Forespoken features Microsoft DirectStorage support, however, the game does not have GPU decompression support. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, will likely be the first game to support GPU compression if no other game beats it first.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is arguably one of the best games to start off the field running with GPU decompression support. The game was one of the first titles to take full advantage of the PlayStation 5's high-speed NVMe SSD and is intrinsically demanding on system storage in ways most other games are not. The game's inter-dimensional gameplay mechanics require the game engine to switch between game worlds extremely quickly — within the blink of an eye, which requires critical game assets to be streamed in within that same period of time to prevent stuttering.
Once the PC port arrives later this month, it'll be one of the best applications to test GPU decompression with on various hardware solutions. We'll also finally get a taste of what GPU decompression can truly offer in a real game, instead of seeing the technology's potential in GPU decompression benchmarks alone.
Beefy System Requirements
GPU decompression is just one of many new features making its way to the PC version of the game. The game will also be arriving with a plethora of new graphical updates, including ultra-wide 21:9 and 32:9 monitor support, an unlocked frame rate, ray-traced reflections, and shadows. The game will also support all three upscaling technologies from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel including DLSS 3, FSR 2, and XeSS.
Due to the additional graphics features added to the PC port, on top of the game's already great visuals, the game's system requirements are quite beefy. The game requires up to a RTX 4080 if you want to max out the game's visuals at 4K.
The minimum requirements start off with an older-generation Core i3 or Ryzen 3 CPU and a GTX 960 or RX 470 to play the game at 720P with very low settings. Jumping up to 1080P medium settings, the requirements shift to an i5-8400/Ryzen 5 3600 and an RTX 2060/RX-5700. For 1440P high, an RTX 3060 Ti/RX 6800 is required plus a Core i5-11400/or Ryzen 5 5600.
For ray-traced 1440p gameplay at high settings, the demands shift another notch up to an RTX 3070/RX 6800 XT and an i5-11600K/Ryzen 5 5600X. Then for users who want to crank all the visuals to the max at 4K resolution, the system requirements jump up to an RTX 4080/RX 7900 XTX and a Core i7-12700K/Ryzen 9 5900X.
Surprisingly, the storage requirements are quite decent for a game featuring GPU decompression support. The minimum requirement doesn't even demand an SSD (though the developers do recommend one), requiring just 75GB of hard drive space if you have it. But if you want to play the game at anything higher than low-quality settings, the system requirements suggest that you upgrade to an SSD to do so.
We suspect the hard drive requirement specifically comes from DirectStorage 1.2, which added GPU decompression support for hard drives. Hard drives are still much slower than SSDs, but according to the team porting Ratchet and Clank to PC, apparently, it is enough for a playable experience.
