Buyer Beware: Despite Latest Patch, Arkham Knight PC Version Still A Disappointment

The PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight, rereleased back onto Steam two days ago, still suffers from poor optimization, despite the latest patches. Those updates, which make the PC version support all add-on content that has been released thus far for console, also include some technical fixes. Developer Iron Galaxies has been releasing updates throughout the summer to make the game playable.

There are some caveats included with the latest patch notes:

• A hard drive paging issue with some GPUs on Windows 7 may occur after long gameplay sessions. Re-launching the game should resolve this issue.
• It’s best for Windows 10 users to have at least 12 GB of system RAM, so that there’s a smoother gameplay experience and no hard drive paging.
• The developer is still working with NVIDIA and AMD to add full support for SLI and Crossfire, along with stability concerns for the latest drivers.

Despite the months of slow updates and the game’s rerelease, there are still significant issues with the PC version. As noted in this analysis, a GPU with at least 3 GB of VRAM is needed to enjoy the game at high settings with normal quality textures. Otherwise, players will have to suffer through brutal stutter. If users want to play the game with high texture details, they will need a 4 GB card. If players own a 2GB card, which is more mainstream than cards with higher GB options, they must play the game with the low texture quality levels to achieve smooth gameplay. This means that players with mid-tier modern GPUs will receive a graphically sub-par experience on PC when compared to consoles. These issues, while now nowhere near the disaster discovered at launch, haven’t improved the game’s scalability to an acceptable level.

Batman: Arkham Knight rereleased on Steam two days ago, although considering these issues, you probably want to grab it on Xbox One or PlayStation 4.