"Next gen" graphics on PC

[octafish]

Agree with Metro Last Light.
And it isn't even a very taxing game. I almost maxed it out on a AMD HD7750 and core2duo.
And as much as I hate the misandrist story and the hateful writer of it, Tomb Raider looks great and is well optimized.
The fire and environments look great in particular.
Witcher 2 is more demanding and will use a Quad Core.
Skyrim scales well on old PCs and does use newer ones well.
I haven't tried Battlefield 4 yet but the shot of the large building falling and the storm effects on another map makes me want to get it but makes it looks like it will need 4 cores.

Oh yes, it does need four cores. Preferably four cores with a big clock. Performance in multiplayer is very CPU bound, it was in BF3 too. Paracel Storm is awesome, it is a very fun map to play.

Screw graphics, play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and know no-one is going to make a game like that for a console anytime soon. It can look, if not pretty, then seriously menacing with a couple of mods too.

Otherwise Trine and Trine 2, or play with fire in Far Cry 2.

 

[likalaruku]

Seeing as I still think Chrono Trigger & American McGee's Alice look awesome, I'm too easygoing with graphics to give you advice. For me, the more realistic they look, the creepier they look.

 

[Exterminas]

No, quite frankly.

At least I personally have been increasingly unable to stop the announced increase in graphics quality. I can not tell the difference between a game like XCom, which has modest graphics, and a boom-fest like battlefield. Well, at least not during gameplay. If I pause and play "spot the difference" I might be able to, but who does that?

 

[Ecster]

ARMA 3 - one of the best lighting engines in games history.

The Witcher 2, Metro series, STALKER + mods (Atmosfear 3, Complete etc.).

So many possibilities, yet very few are aware of them.

 

[The Lugz]

Itching for some next-gen graphics but I can't afford a PS4.

Any super good looking PC games to check out for now?

ARMA 3, mostly because it ubersamples and does crazy nonsensical resource hogging things like render models 2km away and light individual blades of grass, but that said it looks awesome.

the witcher 2, again it ubersamples and up-scales the game so you still need sli / xfire for this one

I frankly don't recommend metro last light.. I don't know why people flip out over it it looks ok but it's too dark and gritty to really show off anything spectacular

and if you're into mods,

GTA4 ( no, don't run away screaming.. I'm serious ) is a great platform to mod but it is one hell of a poorly optimised resource hog but well, it can look like this:



Skyrim, again the same as GTA, it's an awesome modding platform if you don't mind jumping through a few hoops.

 

[Barbas]

Try out X: Rebirth. From what I've heard, the scale and detail are something to behold. Personally, I plan to save some money by poking myself in the eyes until my vision goes so blurry that I can't tell the difference between Pac-Man and Crysis. I'll be laughing all the way to the optometrist bank then!