How to improve FPS in God of War (PC)
The PC port of God of War (2018) arrived in January 2022 with a reputation as one of the best PlayStation exclusive adaptations, in no small part thanks to the involvement of ex-Nixxes developers. Santa Monica Studio's proprietary engine drives melee combat with the Leviathan Axe, the dynamic fog and snow of Midgard's regions, and the seamless transitions into the Realm Between Realms with remarkably flexible graphics scaling. This guide covers which settings actually move the needle and how to squeeze the most performance without giving up the game's visual fidelity.
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +29% free FPS.
Shadow Quality
Dynamic shadows in Midgard's fog and in close-quarters fights against enemies surrounding Kratos are among the heaviest loads on the GPU. Dropping from Ultra/High to Medium lowers shadow map resolution without introducing noticeable flicker in combat.
Screen Space Reflections (SSR)
Screen-space reflections mainly affect Midgard's icy puddles and the Leviathan Axe's metallic surfaces. Medium preserves the effect on the main surfaces while trimming the cost in water-heavy zones.
Vegetation Density and Volumetric Fog
Midgard's dynamic fog and snow are a visual signature of the game, but their volumetric calculation is intensive. Dropping to Medium reduces particle density without eliminating the atmospheric effect that defines the snowy areas.
Ambient Occlusion
Ambient occlusion affects the contrast of the Realm Between Realms' rocky crevices and the detail in Brok and Sindri's workshop. Medium keeps the effect in the foreground while sacrificing precision in distant areas.
Texture Quality
Unlike other settings, textures depend mainly on available VRAM rather than compute power. On GPUs with 6GB or less it's worth dropping to High to avoid slow texture streaming during fast combat.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Volumetric Fog Resolution
Controls the internal resolution at which dynamic fog is rendered before compositing it into the scene. Dropping it to Medium slightly softens fog edges in Midgard without affecting gameplay.
Depth of Field
Cinematic depth-of-field blur in cutscenes and dialogue with Atreus has a low but constant cost. Disabling it also improves overall sharpness outside of narrative sequences.
Motion Blur
Motion blur during Leviathan Axe combos and camera turns can create a sense of blurriness on 60Hz or lower displays. Disabling it improves clarity with no meaningful visual cost.
Water Quality
Affects the water simulations of the Lake of the Nine and icy surfaces. Medium reduces the complexity of wave and refraction calculations while keeping a correct look from the game's typical over-the-shoulder camera distance.
Anisotropic Filtering
Improves texture sharpness at an angle, like the dwarves' workshop floor or the stone paths of the Realm Between Realms. The cost on modern GPUs is practically nil even at its maximum value.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
NVIDIA DLSS
+38% FPSAvailable since the port's launch. In Quality mode it delivers a solid gain with no perceptible loss of definition in Midgard; in Balanced mode it's the recommended option for 1440p on mid-range RTX GPUs.
AMD FSR 2
+28% FPSA useful cross-platform alternative on AMD and Intel GPUs. Image quality is somewhat below DLSS in the fine detail of snow and fog, but in Quality/Ultra Quality mode the result is very playable.
Intel XeSS
+25% FPSAlso supported since launch, with better results on Intel Arc GPUs thanks to hardware acceleration, though it performs reasonably well on any compatible card.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable DLSS in Quality mode for mid-to-high-end RTX GPUs at 1440p/4K; it's the most efficient way to gain FPS without losing sharpness on Midgard's textures.
- •Enable NVIDIA Reflex from the options menu to reduce input latency in Leviathan Axe combos, especially noticeable in fights against several enemies.
- •On RTX cards with 6GB or less, avoid combining Ultra textures and Ultra volumetric fog at the same time to prevent saturating VRAM and causing micro-stutter.
AMD
- •FSR 2 in Quality mode is the best performance-to-image ratio on mid-range Radeon GPUs like the RX 6600 or RX 6650 XT.
- •Update to the newest Adrenalin drivers before playing; God of War received several AMD-specific optimization patches after launch.
- •If you notice punctual drops in foggy zones, lower "Volumetric Fog" first before touching shadows, it's the setting with the biggest impact on AMD GPUs according to community benchmarks.
Intel
- •On Arc GPUs, enable XeSS in its native mode (not the generic DP4a) to take advantage of hardware acceleration and get better image quality at the same performance.
- •Keep Arc drivers up to date: Intel has published stability improvements specific to God of War since the port launched.
- •On Intel CPUs from 10th generation or older, watch single-core load during open-world sequences; it can become the bottleneck before the GPU does on Ultra.
Sistema
- •Install the game on an SSD: the 70GB install includes real-time texture streaming during the game's uncut sequence shots, and an HDD can cause visible pop-in.
- •16GB of RAM is the real recommended minimum in 2026 despite the official requirements asking for 8GB; with 8GB you may see framerate drops when loading new zones.
- •Make sure the game is using the dedicated GPU and not the integrated one on laptops with hybrid graphics, a common issue reported on Steam forums after launch.
5. Known game issues
Micro-stutter on first zone load
Some users report small hitches when entering new zones for the first time due to shader compilation or asset streaming, especially on mechanical hard drives.
Estado: The day-one patch (January 2022) reduced the frequency, though it lingers slightly on hardware with slow storage
GPU selection issue on laptops with hybrid graphics
On some laptops with both integrated and dedicated GPUs, the game could launch using the integrated graphics by default, resulting in performance far below expectations until the dedicated GPU was manually forced in the control panel.
6. Frequently asked questions
Do I need a powerful GPU to play God of War on PC?▾
DLSS or FSR, which works better in God of War?▾
Why is this considered one of the best PlayStation-to-PC ports?▾
Is it worth setting everything to Ultra if I have a high-end GPU?▾
Want to know exactly how many FPS YOUR PC will get?
Enter your GPU and CPU in our calculator and measure the real impact of each setting.
Calculate FPS for God of War →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →