As we told you last month, a free update was planned to come out on PC for Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition. This patch promised to add RT to improve the game’s graphics. However, the update introduces shader compilation stutters in a game that originally did not have them. Now that’s a first.
The Deathinitive Edition of Darksiders 2 used DX9.0c. However, this update upgrades the engine to use DX12. And yes, due to that change, the game now has shader compilation stutters.
It’s also worth noting that Darksiders 2 also suffered from traversal stutters. So, it’s not like the original version was butter-smooth. Not at all. Still, thanks to this update, we now have both traversal and shader compilation stutters. Thanks devs.
The good news here is that this patch is in the beta branch. This means that the devs may improve things once it goes public. Or at least that’s my hope. Also, the beta update does not feature any RTX settings. So no, you cannot enable Ray Tracing right now.
Not only that but the game still has all the bugs that plagued its Deathinitive Edition. According to multiple reports, the devs have not made any major bug fixes.
I’m seriously amazed by this whole mess. I mean, the point of this update was to add Ray Tracing and improve the game’s graphics. And while some shadows look better, there is no RT. Oh, and there are now shader compilation stutters. So, what was the point of it?
Anyway, as I said, I really hope the devs will take the criticism to heart so that they can address all of its issues before it goes live for everyone. Because, right now, this feels like a nothing-burger. Yes, you’ll get sliiiiiiiiiiightly better visuals but there will be more stutters, so the overall gaming experience will be actually worse. I mean, you’d expect the devs to do something to reduce the traversal stutters. That would be a logical expectation. Not get the same traversal stutters AND shader compilation stutters.
TLDR: If you own Darksiders 2, don’t upgrade to the beta version. And pray to God that the devs will fix these issues!
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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