Spider-Man 2 Swings Onto Steam With Forgiving PC Specs

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 swings onto PC today, January 30th, and its PC port specifications have finally been revealed, showcasing impressive optimization across a wide range of hardware.

Nixxes Software, the port developer, detailed the enhanced PC features on the PlayStation Blog, highlighting a focus on "finetuning performance and fidelity across a broad range of hardware configurations." A new trailer accompanies the announcement. Importantly, the PC version removes the PlayStation Network (PSN) requirement previously associated with the game.

The PC port boasts advanced ray tracing features, including DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, as explained by Nixxes graphics programmer Menno Bil: "In Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PC with ray reconstruction enabled, we see more detailed ray-traced reflections and better-defined ray-traced shadows, especially when viewing raytracing effects at steep angles. We also see improvements in the ray-traced interiors and less ghosting and noise in the ray-traced ambient occlusion.”

Further enhancing visual fidelity are DLSS 3 and FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation technologies, along with Intel XeSS upscaler support. While DLSS 4's Multi-Frame Generation isn't directly supported, users can potentially leverage the Nvidia app to utilize the newer transformer model for improved DLSS 3 Frame Generation image quality.

Ultrawide monitor support extends to an impressive 48:9 aspect ratio, with cinematics viewable up to 32:9.

System requirements are categorized into ray-traced and non-ray-traced configurations. For players prioritizing performance over ray tracing, a modest setup—Nvidia GTX 1650, Intel Core i3 8100, and 16GB RAM—can achieve 720p at 30 FPS. High-end configurations targeting 4K 60 FPS with "Ray Tracing Ultimate" require an RTX 4090, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and 32GB RAM.

Steam Deck compatibility remains uncertain due to the relatively high RAM requirements and need for a modern GPU. Unlike the previous Spider-Man titles which had PS4 ports, Spider-Man 2's PS5 origins might present greater hardware demands.

Despite this, the broad range of supported configurations has been met with positive online feedback, with Reddit users praising the comprehensive system requirements as "the best...so far." The overall anticipation for the game's PC performance is high.