Spider-Man 2 Swings Onto Steam With Forgiving PC Specs

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 swings onto PC today, January 30th, offering a highly optimized port designed to perform well across a wide range of hardware. Developer Nixxes Software detailed the PC features on the PlayStation Blog, highlighting its focus on performance and fidelity.

The PC version removes the PSN requirement, a welcome change for PC gamers. It also boasts advanced ray tracing features, including DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, which, according to Nixxes graphics programmer Menno Bil, delivers "more detailed ray-traced reflections and better-defined ray-traced shadows." Improvements to ray-traced interiors, reduced ghosting, and less noise in ray-traced ambient occlusion are also noted.

Upscaling technologies are abundant, including DLSS 3, FSR 3.1, and Intel XeSS. While DLSS 4's Multi-Frame Generation isn't directly supported, users can potentially leverage the Nvidia app to utilize the newer transformer model for enhanced DLSS 3 Frame Generation quality.

Ultrawide monitor support is impressive, extending up to a 48:9 aspect ratio, with cinematic scenes viewable up to 32:9.

System requirements are categorized into ray-traced and non-ray-traced configurations. For players prioritizing performance over ray tracing, a modest system with an Nvidia GTX 1650, Intel Core i3 8100, and 16GB of RAM can achieve 720p at 30 FPS. High-end configurations targeting 4K 60 FPS with "Ray Tracing Ultimate" require significantly more powerful hardware, such as an RTX 4090, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and 32GB of RAM.

Steam Deck compatibility remains uncertain due to the relatively high RAM requirements and need for a modern graphics card. Unlike the previous Spider-Man titles which had PS4 ports, Spider-Man 2's PS5 origins may present greater hardware demands.

Despite this, the broad range of supported configurations has garnered significant online praise, with many users commending the comprehensive and well-balanced system requirements.