Brilliant Game Studios has released the alpha demo for The Black Masses and we’ve decided to capture some screenshots in 4K and on Ultra settings. Alongside these screenshots, we’ll be also sharing our 4K performance impressions of it. Do note that the team claims that this demo does not represent the final product.
In order to capture the following screenshots we used an Intel i9 9900K with 16GB of DDR4 at 3600Mhz. We’ve paired this machine with an NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti, and we also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 436.48 driver.
As the title suggests, the alpha demo for The Black Masses cannot maintain a 60fps experience in 4K/Ultra on the NVIDIA RTX2080Ti. As you can see in the accompanied screenshots, there were scenes in which our framerate dropped at 43fps.
Now we wouldn’t mind such a performance if the game’s visual justified those requirements. However, the game does not look that great. There are numerous low-resolution textures and the environmental effects are average at best. The enemies also lack detail and polish, though the game does indeed feature hordes of zombies. Our biggest gripe with The Black Masses’ graphics, though, is its lighting. Seriously, the lighting system is so mediocre and so old gen-ish that even Skyrim can look better than it.
Furthermore, we experienced major flickering issues, shadows popping out of nowhere, and major LOD/pop-in issues. There are also multiple collision issues and invisible walls. So yeah, this is indeed an alpha demo that shouldn’t, at least in our opinion, be available to players. And that’s because most gamers will be immediately disappointed by the game’s visuals, glitches and performance issues.
Brilliant Game Studios has not revealed yet when the game will come out. Given its alpha nature, we can safely assume that it will be releasing in 2020 (or even in 2021). And, to be honest, the team needs to overhaul and optimize its tech as soon as possible. By the time this game comes out, PC gamers will be looking forward to next-gen games. By that time, The Black Masses will feel like a “two-generations” old game, and it will be really difficult to recommend or even immerse yourselves into its world!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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