Spider-Man 2 Swings Onto Steam With Forgiving PC Specs

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 swings onto PC today, January 30th, bringing with it a highly anticipated PC port. Developer Nixxes Software has meticulously crafted the port for optimal performance and visual fidelity across a wide range of hardware.

The PlayStation Blog details the impressive PC features, including the removal of the PSN requirement and the addition of advanced ray tracing capabilities such as DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction. According to Nixxes graphics programmer Menno Bil, this enhancement 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 highlighted.

Further boosting visual quality are DLSS 3 and FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation technologies, with Intel XeSS also supported. While DLSS 4's Multi-Frame Generation isn't natively supported, users can potentially leverage the Nvidia app to utilize the newer transformer model for enhanced DLSS 3 Frame Generation image quality.

Ultrawide monitor support extends to an impressive 48:9 aspect ratio, with cinematics viewable up to 32:9.

The system requirements are categorized into ray-traced and non-ray-traced configurations. For those prioritizing playability over high-end visuals, 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" demand an RTX 4090, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and 32GB of RAM.

Steam Deck compatibility remains uncertain. While possible, the high RAM requirements and need for a modern graphics card suggest Steam Deck verification is unlikely. 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 accessible system requirements. The potential for strong performance has also generated considerable positive anticipation.