As someone who has been eagerly anticipating Black Myth: Wukong, I’m thrilled to finally get my hands on the benchmark tool for the Steam Deck. My excitement is through the roof because I’ve been following this game for a few years now, and it's great to see that it’s shaping up to be playable on the Deck.
I tested four main configurations to see how the game performs. Right off the bat, you might be able to tell which configuration uses frame generation just by the quality of the images. However, distinguishing between XeSS (Intel’s upscaling technology) and FSR (AMD’s upscaling technology) is a bit trickier. One of these configurations even uses medium settings, and the differences between them are subtle, which is actually a good thing.
Here’s a breakdown of the settings I tested:
XeSS at 80% resolution scale with some medium settings: This configuration was on the left side of the screen.
FSR at 90% resolution scale with frame generation: This was the second configuration I tested.
FSR at 80% resolution scale without frame generation: This was the third setup.
XeSS at 60% resolution scale with medium settings: This was the final configuration.
The differences in frame rates were noticeable, though the visual quality didn’t vary much. The frame generation configuration produced a higher frame rate, but it didn’t feel as smooth compared to the others. Interestingly, despite being on low to medium settings, the overall image quality was still impressive across the board.
When using the recommended settings, I got an average frame rate of around 41 FPS, with highs of 55 and lows of 27. Frame generation bumped the average up to 48 FPS, with a minimum of 40, but the smoothness suffered. Given that the game will involve a lot of timed parries, this could lead to some issues with latency, making frame generation less ideal for gameplay.
Testing the FSR configurations revealed some quirks. Despite using 80% resolution scale and matching the XeSS settings, FSR gave a lower average frame rate, which suggests there might be some processing issues with FSR. As expected, pushing the settings to medium with a 60% resolution scale didn’t maintain a stable 30 FPS. This shows that while it might be possible to play the game at 30-40 FPS with medium settings, it’s not ideal.
When comparing the XeSS 80% resolution scale at low to medium settings versus the XeSS 60% resolution scale at medium quality, it became clear that trying to push up the graphics quality isn’t worth it at this point. The lower settings with 80% resolution scale still looked fantastic and provided a smoother experience. I think it’s best to aim for a more stable 30 FPS, though 40 FPS might be more desirable given the game’s fast-paced sections.
For FSR, I started with 80% resolution scale without frame generation on low to medium settings. Turning on frame generation with the same settings but keeping the resolution scale at 90% as per the default, the results were mixed. There was little to no visible difference in graphics, but the frame pacing issues on the right side made it less smooth. Although frame generation might theoretically double the frame rate, it’s not implemented well enough in this case to be beneficial.
In the end, I’m leaning toward sticking with XeSS at 80% resolution scale and low preset settings when I dive into the full game. The visual quality is impressive, and it runs smoothly enough for me. With only a week left until release, I’m excited to finally play Black Myth: Wukong in all its glory. I can’t wait to see how it performs in the full game, and I hope others are as eager as I am to dive in, whether on the Deck or elsewhere!
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