The consoles mostly deliver but something’s gone very wrong on PC.
The expectation surrounding the game is outsized, simply because of the pedigree of the developer.
WhenBatman: Arkham Knightwas released in 2015, Rocksteady delivered a new high watermark for visual design.
It was a genuine visual tour de force.
The question is, does lightning strike twice with Suicide Squad?
Well, there’s little doubt that Suicide Squad is a very different looking game.
Without a doubt, the game’s most striking visual feature lies in its character rendering.
I was genuinely surprised by this.
The range of expressions used throughout really do a great job in selling the characters.
As over the top as the Squad may be, their rendering is meticulous.
The post-processing is also well handled.
Bokeh depth of field in cutscenes, for instance, is handled with care producing beautifully filmic sequences.
Motion blur shutter speed is kept on the low side, but it still works effectively when needed.
The costumes are also well done, with excellent handling of various material types.
Once you jump into the game, though, things are a little different.
There’s plenty of verticality mixed with criss-crossing structures designed to encourage platforming.
In a sense, it reminds me of the Crackdown games - it’s all about scale and traversal.
It also often lacks contrast and just feels a little flat.
The VFX work is quality too.
It looks a lot nicer ‘in person’.
In terms of the console comparisons, these are easily covered.
Everything else seems the same.
It is missing some things, however.
In comparison, PS5 is more often in the 1440p range.
Series X is visible sharper in person as a result.
Series S seems to average roughly in the 900p range but actually looks worse.
The result is a barrage of fizzling and disocclusion artefacts.
The game is bright and busy resulting in an unstable, noisy image.
This even manifests on PC, where there is no option to tweak it.
The number of pixels is simply too low and these techniques cannot handle it.
Alas, the game has noticeable and frustrating stuttering issues.
As you move through the world or engage in combat, the game regularly exhibits 33 and 50ms pauses.
Hopefully this can be improved in time but we’ll see.
Proceedings kick off with a shader compilation screen, which is typically a good sign.
The graphics options menu has a fair few things available for adjustment including optional ray tracing.
This makes little sense.
Then we get in-game.
The tutorial areas make a decent first-impression - provided your frame-rate is capped at one of the available options.
There are several key issues to discuss.
Disabling RT is the way forward then, but this does not solve the stuttering problems.
It also highlights another annoying problem - jerky camera motion.
It’s similar to what we see with the cutscenes yet even worse in gameplay.
So, moving from one extreme to the other, I then tested on my new Steam Deck OLED.
To get a playable experience, I recommend dropping all configs to low.
Anything above this and performance issues become magnified.
Then use the Deck’s own frame-rate cap to lock at 30fps.
The problem is that no matter how low you go, the game has major hiccups and stutters.
When it happens, it can be severe, causing the game to seize up for hundreds of milliseconds.
It’s not technically unplayable or anything but it definitely doesn’t feel good.
You’ll also likely have to contend with dips below 30fps when things get busy.
You cannot power your way through the issues.
I want to quickly finish here by mentioning my thoughts on the game itself.
I went in not expecting to enjoy the game but I came out having had some fun.
The core gameplay basically winds up feeling a lot like Crackdown, especially when playing as King Shark.
This is mixed with a surprisingly engaging story and some great moments.
This is when the game is at its worst.
That said, I have to commend the art and technical teams for their work.
Ultimately, this isn’t the complete package - but I did enjoy spending time with it.
