DS2 Guide
Death Stranding 2 PC
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Death Stranding 2 PC Settings Guide

Optimized graphics settings for every hardware tier. Includes upscaler comparison and ray tracing recommendations.

Not sure what settings to use?

Use our interactive tool — select your GPU and get instant recommendations.

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Recommended Presets by GPU Tier

GPU Examples Preset Resolution Upscaler
RTX 4080+, RX 7900 XTX Ultra 4K DLSS 4 / FSR 4
RTX 4070 Ti, RX 7800 XT High 1440p DLSS 4 / FSR 4
RTX 3070, RX 6800 High 1440p DLSS 3 / FSR 4
RTX 3060, RX 6700 XT Medium 1080p DLSS 3 / FSR 4
RTX 4060, Arc A770 Medium 1080p DLSS 4 / XeSS 2
GTX 1660, RX 5500 XT Low 1080p None

DLSS 4 vs FSR 4 vs XeSS 2

DS2 supports all three major upscaling technologies. Here's how to choose:

DLSS 4

Best Quality

NVIDIA only (RTX series)

Best overall image quality. Supports Frame Generation on RTX 40-series. Use this if you have an RTX GPU.

FSR 4

Most Compatible

AMD RX 7000+ (best), works on all GPUs

Works on any GPU. Best quality on AMD RX 7000 series. A solid choice if you have an AMD GPU or want cross-vendor support.

XeSS 2

Intel Optimized

Intel Arc (best), works on all GPUs

Best on Intel Arc GPUs. Supports Frame Generation on Arc. Decent fallback on other hardware.

Ray Tracing

Ray tracing in DS2 enhances lighting, shadows, and reflections — particularly noticeable in the game's vast outdoor environments and rain effects.

✓

Enable if: You have an RTX 3070 or better (NVIDIA), RX 6800 or better (AMD). Expect 15–25% performance hit.

✗

Disable if: You're targeting 60fps on a mid-range GPU. The performance cost isn't worth it below RTX 3070 class.

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Tip: Enable ray tracing + DLSS Quality mode for the best visual/performance balance on RTX 40-series.

Ultrawide Setup (21:9 / 32:9)

DS2 natively supports ultrawide resolutions. To enable:

  1. Go to Settings → Display
  2. Set Resolution to your monitor's native ultrawide resolution (e.g. 3440×1440)
  3. Set Aspect Ratio to Auto or manually select 21:9 / 32:9
  4. Cutscenes are pillarboxed by default — this is expected behavior

Key Settings to Tweak

Motion Blur — Personal preference — most PC players disable this.
Off
Depth of Field — Reduces visual noise during gameplay. Keep On for cinematic feel.
Off
Chromatic Aberration — Reduces edge fringing. No performance impact.
Off
Film Grain — Cleaner image without it.
Off
V-Sync — Use your monitor's variable refresh rate instead.
Off (use G-Sync/FreeSync)
Texture Quality — Biggest visual impact. Requires 8GB+ VRAM for Ultra.
High
Shadow Quality — High performance cost at Ultra. Medium is a good balance.
Medium–High