Forspoken has become the launch title for AMD’s frame-boosting FSR 3 technology which is made to counter NVIDIA’s DLSS 3 with a more open-ended approach. Today, we will be testing Forspoken, the launch title for FSR 3, and see if it holds up to its competitor in terms of performance & visuals.
AMD FSR 3 In Forspoken Undoubtedly Delivers Massive Performance Boost But The Radeon Team’s Work Has Only Just Begun
With the latest Patch which is a rather small one with a download size of just 30.5 MB, you will be able to take advantage of AMD’s latest FSR 3 solution in Forspoken. The game already has DLSS 2 so that gives a nice baseline of what to expect from FSR 3 in terms of performance and visuals.
In terms of presets, Forspoken’s FSR 3 modes include:
- Frame Generation
- FSR 3 AA (Native-Res Anti-Aliasing)
- Quality Mode
- Balanced Mode
- Performance Mode
- Ultra-Performance Mode
You can take advantage of FSR 3’s native AA model using the FSR 3 AA mode which runs with both Frame Generation and Without it. This preset is similar to NVIDIA’s DLAA which doesn’t upscale the image but instead uses the AA algorithm and applies it to the native image for much better quality. Then there are the standard Quality/Balanced/Performance/Ultra-Performance modes which come with different visual fidelities and performance implications. The Performance modes will get you a higher FPS and smoother experience while the quality mode will get you the best image render at a slight performance hit which would still be an increase over the native solution.
Frame Generation works as intended by adding interpolated frames which can offer over 2x the increase in performance. Currently, Frame Generation only works when FSR 3 is enabled & does not work with any other upscaling technologies such as DLSS 2. Following is the performance we got using NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090.
As you can tell, the performance of AMD’s FSR 3 more or less matches NVIDIA’s DLSS 2 in each mode but the 1% lows seem to take a bigger hit with FSR 3 enabled. That is not the issue with NVIDIA’s DLSS 3. You will also see that FSR 3 AA takes around 15-20% hit on performance when enabled but results in much better visual fidelity. If you have a high-end card, then FSR 3 AA is going to get you the best 60 FPS+ experience in Forspoken. Following is how the game looks in different upscaling modes versus native resolution:
Forspoken Native Image Quality (4K):
Forspoken FSR 3 AA (4K):
Forspoken FSR 3 Quality Mode:
Forspoken DLSS 2 Quality Mode:
Forspoken FSR 3 Performance Mode:
Forspoken DLSS 2 Performance Mode:
Do note that we did indeed notice segments where the stutter was more than usual with FSR 3 Frame Generation enabled and while the images look clean and about on par with NVIDIA’s DLSS 2.0, the actual gameplay in motion still needs work.
Forspoken Native Image Quality (4K):
Forspoken FSR 3 AA (4K):
Forspoken FSR 3 AA (4K) FG:
Forspoken FSR 3 Quality Mode:
Forspoken FSR 3 Quality Mode FG:
Forspoken DLSS 2 Quality Mode:
Forspoken FSR 3 Performance Mode:
Forspoken FSR 3 Performance Mode: FG:
Forspoken DLSS 2 Performance Mode:
It’s a good start for FSR 3 and we can expect more updates down the line as AMD and the Radeon team optimize it further. The best part once again for FSR 3 is that it works across all GPUs and that should be a good enough reason to have it integrated within games while also supporting upscaling technologies like DLSS and XeSS.
