TOP 10 most optimized games on PC in 2023

In 2023 we played a lot of cool games – not only with addictive gameplay, but also with impressive graphics. But not all of them worked stably and quickly at first, while they were satisfied with the picture. Scary to say: finding releases that produce 60 FPS on completely new hardware is like finding a needle in a haystack. Let’s take a look at the rare gems that meet this criterion and still make great games.

Let’s start our TOP right away with the unofficial first place. Diablo 4 just works. Almost perfectly scalable on any computer and in any resolution, while showcasing the right level of graphics and effects. In addition, you do not have to think about adjusting the graphics settings, since the engine automatically selects the optimal preset for your equipment, whether it is a ten-year-old “calculator” or a nice PC. If this is not enough for an ultrawide monitor, for example, you can connect NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR or Intel XeSS. On the other hand, we note that Diablo 4 requires a constant connection to the network to work. And all other things being equal, it runs better on systems with a large amount of video memory.

Codemasters may have released the best optimized racing simulator this year. PC players have access to a variety of graphics settings – from textures and geometry to shadows, lighting, particles and much more. Not only that, the developers have added many ray tracing effects such as RTGI, RTAO, RT Reflections and RT Shadows. But even without NVIDIA technologies, the game runs smoothly on a PC and continues to look good on a wide range of gaming hardware, with performance scaling adequately to the selected resolution. The catch is that there are graphical improvements F1 23, compared to F1 22 are not as noticeable when ray tracing technologies are disabled. It’s still worth turning on RT – the game has transformed and you don’t have to look at the screenshots with a magnifying glass to notice it! Everything is visible to the eye.

It is possible to return to 2010 in terms of system requirements Against the storm, although 2013 hardware is better suited for its reliable operation. Yes, this game cannot boast of photorealistic graphics, but stylistically it is done correctly and captivates with a creative approach to design. Against the Storm it scales well, especially thanks to the frame rate: pushing the frame rate above 120 allows you to load even relatively new video cards. But this city planning simulator in a dark fantasy setting also offers exciting gameplay! In general, if you are disappointed with the optimization Cities: Skylines 2 and Against the Storm are quite capable of replacing it in all directions.

Another project that feels great on 2013 hardware. Yes, System Shock Remake doesn’t boast incredible graphics, which means it doesn’t claim the title of ‘RTX 4080 killer’. But the graphics are good in the context of the mandatory retention of the style of the original System Shock. If Nightdive Studios had gotten caught up in the race for textures and technologies, a significant part of the atmosphere would have faded – modern games don’t do that, so they look different. And so we got a remake that demonstrates excellent scalability, mainly on computers from 2010-2015, and high FPS in various resolutions, and even has NVIDIA DLSS 2 to improve the image.

Despite criticism from part of the community, Alan Wake 2 scales well and displays decent graphics on five-year-old computers with minimal settings and incredible quality on modern builds, while leaving untapped potential for next-generation graphics accelerators. Remedy has made enough tweaks to make any PC rock. However, the game has a minimum barrier to entry, and this is the RTX 2070 for mode without ray tracing. That is, this is not a port with such a curve, but the requirements have really grown, which was inevitable after the last few stagnant years, when the GTX 1080 was enough for everything.

In terms of visual quality or stylistics, Armored Core 6 offers nothing special. This is a “strong average” of the current generation of consoles – good textures and colorful effects, fairly well-developed models of combat robots, but against the background of simple detailing of the game environment and closed levels. However, FromSoftware made sure that the game runs smoothly and efficiently on PC, even on 8-year-old computers, and also added all the default settings to customize the performance on the user’s side. It is also the first FromSoftware game to support 120 FPS and ultra-wide monitors. In our difficult times, this is enough to get into the TOP of the most optimized games.

2023 was happy with the release of one of the highest rated games in history. And if for some reason you can’t run Baldur’s Gate 3, then your computer is truly outdated. This RPG demonstrates unprecedented lightness in terms of hardware requirements, offering 60 FPS in 1080p resolution with Ultra graphics settings on 6 year old components. At the same time, it offers 4K and 60FPS on the latest generation of video cards. The visually discerning reader responds that Baldur’s Gate 3 is far from a masterpiece of animation and graphics. This is true. But regardless of the selected settings, the graphics level will not drop catastrophically, and the details of models and the quality of textures will be reduced only on cards with 3-4 gigabytes of memory, allowing the PC resource to “play without delays” .

With the past year’s high-profile releases, it was easy to miss the indie soulsbourne project Lies of P. But this is one of the best games in terms of optimization and runs smoothly on a wide range of configurations! Visually it looks great, with compelling environments and quite detailed characters whose style is clearly inspired by Bloodborne. As for the rest of the picture, we can say that this is just a good implementation of the capabilities of Unreal Engine 4. A 7-year-old computer is suitable for running, but it is better to get hardware of the last three generations from AMD and NVIDIA/Intel. In the case of a widescreen monitor, AMD FSR 2.0 and NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 come in handy.

“Excellent performance that demonstrates the potential of the PS5 when used by experienced PC port developers,” is how the Western press described it Ratchet & Clank: Rift apart. And we tend to agree: a GTX 960 or RX 470 is enough to run it, but the graphics quality won’t be detrimental. Rift Apart supports many settings and all existing image enhancement technologies – DLSS 2/3, FSR 2 and XeSS. It also has ray tracing effects and ultra-wide screen support. The guys at Nixxes quickly resolved most of the issues identified at the launch of the project, and today Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart looks and runs without any complaints.

Remake of the fourth part Resident Evil is an all-around impressive game that achieves visual splendor thanks less to its cutting-edge technology than to Capcom’s masterful stylistic and artful design. The RE Engine is not as well known as some other engines, but is used to its full potential to create highly detailed characters and carefully designed environments. Even users with 8-year-old hardware such as the GTX 1070 or RX 5700 can enjoy the game at high settings. While more powerful systems allow you to enable ray tracing and other advanced effects. And this happened Resident Evil 4 is accessible to a wide range of gamers, which is one of the remake’s strengths.

It seems like we’re getting used to well-optimized games being a rarity upon release. With the growing ambitions and scale of modern projects, developers have less and less time to prepare PC builds. But we still hope for the best: enjoying games without performance issues will one day become the norm again.