Performance Insights on RTX GPUs
The flagship experience of path tracing is most vividly realized on the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. However, users of the RTX 5070 can still enjoy a commendable experience by leveraging optimized settings alongside the path-tracing feature. For those looking to enhance their visual experience, utilizing Nvidia Inspector—a third-party application—allows users to activate the DLSS ray reconstruction preset E, which significantly improves visuals compared to the default Preset D employed by the game. Given that the RTX 5070 is the most prevalent Blackwell GPU according to the Steam Hardware Survey, it appears that path tracing is steadily making its way into the mainstream gaming landscape.
Conversely, achieving optimal performance in Pragmata on an 8GB GPU necessitates some adjustments. It is advisable to select the lowest texture quality setting, as the low setting is currently bugged, leading to visual discrepancies, while the medium setting can introduce hitching and stuttering during extended gameplay sessions. Additionally, mesh quality presents its own challenges; it functions correctly on GPUs with more than 8GB of memory, but higher settings may inadvertently reduce geometry on 8GB cards, which is far from ideal.
Optimized Settings Overview
| Optimised Settings | PS5 Frame-Rate Mode | PS5 Resolution Mode | |
| Ray Tracing | On | Off | On |
| Path Tracing | Off | Off | Off |
| Global Illumination Quality | N/A or High if RT is disabled | High | N/A |
| Upscaling | User Preference | 2160p, AMD FSR 1 Performance | 2160p, AMD FSR 1 Performance |
| Hair Quality | High or Medium | Medium | High |
| Texture Quality | High/Medium (8 GB+ GPUs) or Lowest for 8GB GPUs | High or Medium | High or Medium |
| Texture Filtering | High (aniso x16) | High (aniso x2) | High (aniso x2) |
| Mesh Quality | High or Medium (8GB GPUs) | High | High |
| Shadow Quality | High | High | High |
| Shadow Cache | On | On | On |
| Contact Shadows | On | On | On |
| Effects Quality | High | Medium | High |
| Video Quality | 4K | 4K | 4K |
| Ambient Occlusion | SSAO | SSAO | SSAO |
| Volumetric Lighting | Medium | Medium | High or Medium |
| Bloom | On | On | On |
| Screen-Space Reflections | N/A or On if RT is Disabled | On | N/A |
| Subsurface Scattering | On | On | On |
| Lens Flare | On | On | On |
It is perhaps unsurprising that the optimized settings closely mirror the configurations chosen by developers for running Pragmata on current-generation consoles, indicating limited upward scalability. While path tracing undeniably enhances the game’s visual fidelity, it is a resource-intensive option that comes with its own set of demands. The high-impact features such as ray tracing and hair quality are integral to the game’s aesthetic, as evidenced by Capcom’s decision to exclude custom hair strand technology and ray tracing from the Switch 2 and Xbox Series S versions.
One notable revelation from our exploration was the significant performance boost gained from enabling the shadow cache option. This feature allows the game to reuse existing shadow data rather than recalculating it continuously, resulting in substantial frame-rate improvements, even on the powerful RTX 5090.
Our experience with Pragmata on PC was thoroughly enjoyable, reaffirming our belief in Capcom’s exceptional quality, diversity, and output in today’s gaming landscape. Despite lingering questions regarding the company’s PC DRM strategy, the overall quality of their ports has shown marked improvement. Pragmata on PC certainly merits consideration for any gaming enthusiast.
