Frogwares has recently unveiled a remastered edition of The Sinking City, now available for free to existing owners. This new version, built on the advanced Unreal Engine 5 and enhanced with Lumen technology, invites players to explore its performance capabilities on PC.
Benchmark Insights
To gauge the performance of this remastered title, we employed a robust setup featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, complemented by 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at 6000MHz. Our graphics card lineup included AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, and RX 9070XT, alongside NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090. The tests were conducted on a Windows 10 64-bit system using the latest drivers from both manufacturers.
Frogwares has maintained the original settings from the game, with the addition of options for Upscaling and Ray Tracing. Notably, the remaster supports NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.0. However, it’s important to note that while the Frame Generation feature for DLSS is currently non-functional due to a missing DLL file, FSR Frame Gen operates but is restricted to AMD FSR Upscaling, preventing the use of DLSS Super Resolution in conjunction with it. Ray Tracing has been utilized to enhance reflections within the game, adding depth to the visual experience.
As there is no built-in benchmark tool, our testing focused on a demanding area from the starting level, providing a reliable indicator of overall performance.
Performance Metrics
The Sinking City Remastered is notably GPU-bound. At 1080p with maximum settings and no Ray Tracing, players will require at least an NVIDIA RTX 4080 or an AMD Radeon RX 9070XT to achieve framerates exceeding 60FPS. This aligns with expectations, given the game’s reliance on Lumen technology, which is a form of Ray Tracing. Consequently, employing upscaling techniques becomes essential for optimizing performance.
Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 6900XT underperformed compared to the NVIDIA RTX 3080 at 1080p. In contrast, the AMD Radeon RX 9070XT demonstrated performance parity with the RX 7900XTX. For those seeking consistent framerates above 60FPS at 1440p with maximum settings and no Ray Tracing, only the NVIDIA RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 managed to deliver.
When it comes to native 4K resolution with maximum settings and no Ray Tracing, no GPU currently provides a smooth experience. Even the NVIDIA RTX 5090 occasionally dips below 55FPS, while the NVIDIA RTX 3080 struggles significantly, likely due to its limited 10GB of VRAM. The AMD Radeon RX 9070XT also showed a noticeable performance lag at 4K compared to the RX 7900XTX.
On a positive note, players can enhance performance by adjusting in-game settings. By switching to High settings, we observed a consistent framerate exceeding 83FPS on the NVIDIA RTX 5090, marking a 62% performance improvement. Medium settings pushed the framerate to 120FPS, while Low settings achieved an impressive average of 157FPS. Thus, while Ultra Settings demand significant resources, the game demonstrates commendable scalability on less powerful GPUs when utilizing High or Medium settings.
Visual Enhancements
Graphically, The Sinking City Remastered surpasses its original 2019 iteration. Frogwares has incorporated higher-quality textures and revamped lighting through Lumen technology. While it may not rival graphical powerhouses like Hellblade 2, the game’s visual fidelity is commendable, especially considering the size of the development team. However, it’s worth noting that traversal stutters persist, an issue carried over from the original version, indicating that these performance hiccups are inherent to the game’s design rather than a fault of the Unreal Engine 5.
In summary, The Sinking City Remastered presents a demanding experience at Ultra Settings, necessitating the use of NVIDIA DLSS or AMD FSR for optimal performance. While the current limitations of DLSS Frame Gen and the restrictions on FSR Frame Gen may pose challenges, players can achieve significant performance gains by adjusting to High Settings, which offer an appealing balance of visuals and performance for those aiming to maintain native resolutions.
