Dying Light: Retouched - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We have tested Dying Light: Retouched on maximum graphics settings with video cards of the GeForce RTX 20, 30, 40 and 50 series, as well as Radeon RX 6000, 7000 and 9000. Also, during the tests we conducted, we assessed the quality of the graphic display of the game itself.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
Dying Light is a dynamic action game in an open world with elements of survival, acrobatics and close combat. The game is built on the Chrome Engine 6 and was initially optimized for systems with Windows 7 and 8, however, since 2024 the Steam client only supports Windows 10 and above. Despite its age, the project is still relevant due to large-scale mods, content and an active community. The game is supported DirectX 11, does not require an SSD, and runs even on configurations with 1 GB of video memory - although in this case the graphics quality is severely limited.
Dying Light System Requirements
Minimal:
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Operating system: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 (64-bit)
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Processor: Intel Core i5-2500 @3.3 GHz or AMD FX-8320 @3.5 GHz
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Memory: 4 GB DDR3
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Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 6870 (1 GB VRAM)
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DirectX: Version 11
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Disk space: 40 GB
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Extra charges: Notebook GPU not officially supported
Recommended:
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Operating system: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 (64-bit)
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Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K @3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @4.0 GHz
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Memory: 8 GB DDR3
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Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 or AMD Radeon R9 290 (2 GB VRAM)
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DirectX: Version 11
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Disk space: 40 GB
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Extra charges: Required from 2024 Windows 10 or higher to run on Steam
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
Update Dying Light: Retouched was a surprise move by Techland to coincide with the original game's 10th anniversary. Amid ongoing support Dying Light 2 and the gradual completion of major updates for the sequel, the studio returned to its flagship project of 2015, which once launched a new wave of zombie action games with parkour elements. But unlike the usual remasters, where it is usually a matter of deep reworking of graphics, animation or even mechanics, here it was emphasized from the very beginning: there will be no restructuring or rethinking.
Work on Retouched were made on a tight budget and with minimal interference to the original structure of the game. The main goal was not to present the old game in a new light, but to polish what was there - a kind of cosmetic repair, not a reconstruction. That's why Techland immediately declared: this is not a remaster or a remake, but a careful visual retouching.
Despite the age of the original version and the obsolescence of many technical solutions, the game engine — Chrome Engine — is still flexible enough to adapt to new conditions. The team was not made up of new employees, but of studio veterans who were responsible for implementing key graphic components and architectural solutions back in 2014–2015. They didn’t have to re-learn the engine or figure out how to make it work better — they simply applied the knowledge accumulated over the years of post-release support.
The key motivator was the community. Despite the release Dying Light 2, the first part is still active: it is played on PC, consoles and even in cloud services. Over ten years, players have collected a rich library of user content, modifications, improvements and visual patches. This became an incentive for the team: if fans themselves are able to pull the old game to a new level, why not do it officially - but without illusions and overestimation of the scale?
The update was worked on in conjunction with the quality department, so as not to disrupt compatibility with mods, old progress and multiplayer. Platform adaptation was carried out in parallel: console versions received the same visual improvements as PC, but without deep intervention in the code base. This allowed us to maintain a single build, avoid division of the community and guarantee stable operation on all current platforms.
The team also understood the risk of misunderstanding from players. After a year of rumors about a potential remake, expectations were high, and some of the community took Retouched as a half-baked response to those hopes. In an interview, Techland admitted that it would have been better to have been clear in advance what exactly not to expect: no new models, animations, or missions. Just retouching, just basic cleaning, no rewriting of the basics.
However, the very fact of releasing an update so many years after the release of the original emphasizes the studio's attitude towards its audience. This is not a marketing ploy or an attempt to increase sales - the game has long been available in subscriptions and sales. This is a gesture of respect, made without external pressure and without imposing new paid additions. For many, this is real support - honest, careful, without trying to pass off the old as new.
| GRAPHICS |
Retouched does not try to compete with modern AAA games or remakes of the level Resident Evil 4 — the update is aimed at eliminating the obvious weaknesses of the original. The main focus is on lighting, contrast, texture quality and visual perception of space. The same resources that were used ten years ago were taken as a basis — no new assets or models. However, the method of their processing and display has been reworked.
Shadows have become deeper and clearer - this is especially noticeable at night. Previously, they had a blurry structure, especially with fast camera movement, but now they are processed more accurately, thanks to a revision of the filtering and the order of their imposition. Light from sources, be it torches, fires or lanterns, interacts with the environment with greater expressiveness. There are now effects of dispersion in fog and more noticeable contours of glare on metal surfaces.
The updated sky is no less noticeable. Atmospheric phenomena have become denser: clouds are more dynamic, sunsets are richer, and the phases of the day are visually separated from each other. This applies not only to color, but also to the overall light model: when the time of day changes, the overall range changes — from warm orange tones to cold blue. Previously, the transitions were sharp and poorly detailed, now they are softer and more realistic.
Textures of walls, ground, interior objects received an updated detail mask. These are not full-fledged 4K assets, but they are noticeably higher quality compared to the original, especially at close range. Surfaces became clearer, and the relief of objects became more readable. Stone blocks, brickwork, wall paneling - everything began to look more natural, although not radically different.
The sound design has also been revised. This is not a complete rework of the audio tracks, but an adaptation of the sound stage to modern spatial reproduction. Volumetric effects for the environment have been added: echo in tunnels, sound dispersion in rooms, increased perception of footsteps and impacts. Within the same sounds that were in the original, the volume levels, directionality and frequency balance have been reworked. This made the perception of the environment more intense and immersive.
Special attention was paid to weather effects. Rain now looks more convincing - with denser drops and adequate reaction to lighting. Puddles reflect light, surfaces get wet gradually. Visually, the world has become more "alive" and mobile, even if technically it remains within the same framework.
There are no new models, weapons or blood effects added - this is a conscious decision. The developers did not strive to modernize the game visually beyond recognition. Their goal is to squeeze the maximum out of the old engine and the assets that were already there. This does not make the graphics new, but it does make them worthy of a return after ten years.
| GAME ENGINE |
Dying Light: Retouched works on the same engine version Chrome Engine, which was used in the original game, without any major changes to the core. However, the Techland team manually reworked a number of rendering subsystems to improve compatibility with modern graphics APIs and platforms. This was not a port to a new engine, nor a rewrite of the architecture from scratch - rather, it was an optimized and cleaned up version of the old technological foundation.
One of the key improvements was the reworking of the lighting system. Although the engine did not receive full ray tracing, a new method of calculating shadows, soft light sources and their interaction with the surrounding world was implemented. This is especially true for night scenes, where the old lighting looked outdated and flat. Now the light is scattered more naturally, especially when using torches, lamps and fires.
Weather effects have also been modernized. Instead of static overlays, procedural generators of precipitation, clouds, and atmospheric effects are now used. This allowed for a greater degree of diversity in visual scenes without changing the level architecture. Thanks to this, even older areas of the city are perceived a little differently: there is a sense of movement, the breathing of the world, albeit within the same framework.
The sound system has also been updated. The Chrome Engine has been adapted to modern spatial sound. This means that the effects now depend on the location of objects and obstacles. The scream of a zombie around a corner no longer sounds the same as one right in front of the player. It’s a small change, but it affects the perception of threat and immersion.
The animation scripts remain the same - no new movements, mechanics or enemy behaviors have been added to the game. However, some transitions have been sped up and bugs affecting collisions have been fixed. In particular, moving across rooftops now works a little smoother, collisions with NPCs are more predictable, and collisions with doors, boxes and fragments of destroyed architecture are less buggy.
Optimization affected level loading and texture caching. In the original, the game suffered from noticeable "loading" when transitioning between areas. In Retouched, this is minimized by preliminary buffering and smart resource distribution. At the same time, performance remained the same - the engine did not become faster, but it became more stable.
It is important to emphasize: Retouched does not introduce any changes to the artificial intelligence, combat system or physics. It is still the same game, with the same enemy behavior, parkour, and combat mechanics. It is the developers' principled position to keep the basic gameplay intact, even if it is morally outdated.
Thus, Retouched is not a technical breakthrough, but a carefully calibrated retouch. The engine remained the same, but showed that even after a decade it can be improved and brought to a decent form. This is the maximum possible without a complete rework, and at the same time an honest approach - without deception and add-ons about a "new level of quality".
| QUALITY |
At minimum settings Dying Light looks simplified and technically modest: the textures are muddy, especially on the walls of buildings, the ground and characters. Shadows are fixed and rough, some of them are completely disabled. At night, the lighting works poorly - the light zones do not change from torches or headlights, which makes movement in the dark less atmospheric. Puddles and blood on the asphalt look like flat spots without reflections, water is not animated, and rain and dust are almost invisible. Objects "float up" when approaching, and the density of zombies and details on the streets is noticeably reduced.
At maximum settings The game showcases a detailed world with a realistic atmosphere: the textures of buildings and suits are clear, with noticeable seams, scratches and traces of dirt. Lighting at night becomes a full-fledged part of the gameplay - lanterns cast soft shadows, moonlight changes depending on the cloudiness. Surfaces become reflective: the sky and lantern light are visible in the blood, water is animated and reacts to movement. Visual particle effects - dust, sparks, rain - appear in every combat scene and enhance immersion. Dozens of objects are constantly present on the screen, and the drawing range allows you to see zombies hundreds of meters away.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
Asus GeForce RTX 5070 TUF Gaming OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade 48GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
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Cases and cooling |
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| Software configuration |
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| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 576.80 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.6.1 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes 1920x1080, 2560x1440 и 3840x2160 with maximum graphics quality settings without upscales.
| TEST GPU |
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080, other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any video card positions. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (the most productive solution is selected by default). The test is carried out on the most productive in this game CPU and scales to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
- Max
When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6750 XT or GeForce RTX 4070 level.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the MSI Afterburner program. The results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at separate screen resolutions of 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with different anti-aliasing settings were taken as an indicator. By default, the most current solutions are displayed in the graph. Other video cards are added and removed from the graph at the reader's request.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 4 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 5 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 6 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 7 GB
| TEST CPU |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
- Max
When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600
- Intel Core i5-12400
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600
- Intel Core i5-11600
- Max
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 12 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 8 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The indicator was taken as all used RAM. The RAM test on the all system was conducted on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
| CONCLUSION |
At 1080p at maximum settings, the absolute leader is the RTX 5090 32 GB - 484 fps, followed by RTX 4090 with 359 fps and RTX 5080 16 GB with 318 fps. Of AMD, allx is closer RX 7900 XTX 24 GB - 290 fps, and the RX 9060 XT 16 GB shows 145 fps, being between the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB (158 fps) and the RX 6750 XT 12 GB (134 fps).
At 1440p the picture is stable: RTX 5090 - 388 fps, RX 7900 XTX — 228 fps, RX 9060 XT — 102 fps. At the same time, it is inferior to RX 6700 XT 12 GB (124 fps), but ahead of RX 6750 XT (101 fps) and RX 7700 XT (135 fps).
At 4K on ultra settings, the RTX 5090 holds the lead with 247 fps, RX 7900 XTX — 137, RX 9060 XT — 59 fps. This is slightly lower than the RX 6750 XT (61 fps) and 7700 XT (72 fps), but higher than the RX 6700 XT (56 fps) and RX 7600 XT (59 fps).
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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