After an 11-year wait, Diablo 4 is finally here. Fond recollections of complex class trees and crunchy combat have turned into renewed excitement, particularly as advances in modern graphics technology are now able to show us the world of Sanctuary in finer detail than ever. The five regions of the game – Scosglen, Fractured Peaks, Dry Steppes, Hawezar, and Kehjistan – along with the world’s many and varied enemy types, have been lovingly reshaped to bring the series up to date.
As you dive back into the land of Sanctuary and meet its horrifying denizens, you’ll want to see the new game in all its glory, which is why playing on a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU is the ultimate Diablo 4 experience. The game supports DLSS 3 and sports rich low-light areas along with brilliant colors in their well-lit counterparts. So let’s get to grips with DLSS 3, and why experiencing Diablo 4 with this tech is the absolute best way to play. Demon slaying never looked so good.
Dialing up DLSS
DLSS is a technology that has revolutionized graphics by using AI to boost frame rates with little sacrifice in visual quality. Gamers using DLSS 3, the latest iteration of this incredible technology, can double their frame rate in Diablo 4 in 4K.
We’re not going to get too deep into the nitty-gritty of the AI system, but suffice to say that DLSS 3 promises exciting things for the future of videogame graphics. It builds on the power of its predecessor, DLSS 2 (or DLSS Super Resolution, if you prefer), which has been adopted by over 200 games and offers high FPS counts at 4K, even in demanding games often played at lower resolutions.
DLSS 3 takes this one step further thanks to the hardware capabilities of GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, using that clever AI to max out frame rates by creating entirely new frames with Optical Multi Frame Generation, and also turns on NVIDIA Reflex low latency technology automatically to ensure your gameplay is as responsive and smooth as possible. Other GeForce RTX users can still accelerate performance with DLSS 2. All DLSS 3 games are backwards compatible with DLSS 2 technology, so any game that integrates DLSS 3 will have DLSS 2 supported by default.
When games make themselves actively compatible with the latest DLSS 3 technology, as over 50 released and upcoming games (including Diablo 4) have, it means these features can be enabled to do even more, creating gorgeous results using real-time rendering and frame reconstruction.
Devil’s in the details
Now the technical stuff is out of the way, we can go back to being excited about Diablo 4, and look at how DLSS 3 will help us thrive in battle. You’ll shortly be booting up the game and exploring the lands of Sanctuary, taking in the incredible detail of the world and characters that Blizzard has created. We’ve all seen that gorgeous story trailer with Lilith and Inarius, their dark-vs-light dynamic introducing all manner of eye-catching minions and soldiers into the mix. Diablo 4’s plot and combat are simply sensational, but for the first time, we can really experience the developers’ vision of Hell as it was meant to be seen.
First, you’ll choose a character from the five classes available – Rogue, Druid, Necromancer, Sorcerer, or Barbarian. This is your first introduction to Diablo 4’s stunning character design, giving you a moment to marvel at the aesthetic detail Blizzard has poured in.
Speed demons
The combat in the Diablo series has inspired countless other games, giving players crunchy, satisfying feedback as they hack demons to bits. Diablo 4 reworks combat, making room for more tactical choices, but leaving enough of that visceral hacking and slashing to satisfy your bloodlust.
Those glorious moments in Diablo 4, where you’re whirling through enemies, flanked on all sides but somehow still commanding the room, are where DLSS 3 is at its best. The game has no shortage of satisfying animations, bloody deaths, and gnarled demons, but with this technology enabled you can max out frame rates and settings while making everything run as smooth as silk. Well, everything aside from the demons.
Rather than just adding in pixels here and there, which improves visual quality somewhat, DLSS 3 Frame Generation creates entire new frames in-between existing ones. This creates a flawless flow of video as you throw yourself deep into battle, while lower latency means that with each swish of a blade to swift dashes across the map, your actions will occur faster than ever, giving you the edge in PvP matches. Strike before they even hear you coming.
You can also supercharge image quality with AI-based anti-aliasing mode NVIDIA DLAA, which uses a native resolution image to maximize image quality, rather than boosting performance, though in Diablo 4, DLAA can be combined with DLSS Frame Generation for the highest possible image quality.
How to enable DLSS 3 and NVIDIA Reflex
To enable the DLSS 3 features in Diablo 4, boot up the game and head to the options menu. Select the graphics tab, scroll down to ‘performance’, from here you can toggle Frame Generation and choose your desired Super Resolution quality settings. Turning on Frame Generation will automatically enable Nvidia Reflex, but you can do it manually from the graphics tab, by toggling Nvidia Reflex Low Latency.
More to come
Excitingly, in a post-launch update, Diablo 4 will also support ray-traced reflections, boosted by using GeForce RTX and DLSS. Sanctuary itself will open up before your eyes, allowing the gloominess of deep dungeons to form a rich, moody atmosphere; and bloody battles to become even more vibrant and immersive. Take care not to get distracted by the beauty of your surroundings when exploring those dangerous dungeons.