Wired Productions has released its latest horror game, KARMA: The Dark World, on PC. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, it’s time to benchmark it and examine its performance on the PC.
For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, RX 9070XT, as well as NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, the GeForce 572.83, and the Radeon Adrenalin Edition 25.3.2 drivers.
POLLARD STUDIO has added a few graphics settings to tweak. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Textures, Shading, Shadows, View Distance, and more. The game also supports NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.0, and Intel XeSS 2. Plus, it uses both Lumen and Nanite.
KARMA: The Dark World does not have a built-in benchmark tool. So, for our benchmarks, we used the second in-game cut-scene (it’s the one you look in the mirror). This appeared to be the most GPU-heavy cut-scene we could find. So, consider our benchmarks as the worst-case scenario. For the most part, the game runs way better than that cut-scene.
Before continuing, I should mention a really weird issue that occurs in this game. For whatever reason, the game uses dynamic resolution by default, even if you’ve disabled it. This issue occurs on both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. NVIDIA users will have to enable and then disable DLSS in order to get a real native resolution. Take a look at the following screenshots. On the left, we have a screenshot at 4K without applying the above fix, and on the right, we have a shot with the fix. Notice the aliased shadows on the left screenshot. Not only that, but in motion, there are major Lumen artifacts without applying the fix.
As said, the same thing happens with AMD GPUs. To get a native resolution on AMD GPUs, you’ll have to enable and disable Intel XeSS. For whatever reason, AMD FSR 3.0 will not fix this issue. To prove that this actually works, here is a comparison. On the left we have the bugged version and on the right we have the game with the fix. Notice the better aliasing we have on the right (on all the items that are on the table). Plus, the image on the right is sharper than the one on the left.
I really don’t know how the devs have messed up something like that. For what it’s worth, I was able to replicate this multiple times. So, this is a real issue that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
KARMA: The Dark World is a GPU-bound title. At 1080p/Max Settings, all of our GPUs were able to run it with over 60FPS at all times. Yes, even the NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti was able to offer a smooth gaming experience.
At 1440p/Max Settings, you’ll need at least an NVIDIA RTX 3080 or an AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX for framerates over 60FPS. As you can see, these two GPUs perform similarly in this title. That’s to be expected as Lumen is a form of Ray Tracing. And, as we all know, the RDNA3 GPUs are not that good at running games with RT. And, that’s where RDNA4 comes in. So, in this title, the AMD Radeon RX 9070XT is 19-29% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX.
As for Native 4K/Max Settings, the latest NVIDIA GPUs had no trouble at all running it with 60FPS. This means that you can get a smooth experience on the NVIDIA RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090.
Graphics-wise, KARMA: The Dark World looks great. At least for a game created by a small studio. The devs have created small environments that are, for the most part, pleasing to the eye. This right here shows why a lot of devs have started utilizing UE5. This engine allows small teams to create games that, visually, can punch above their weight.
Sadly, KARMA: The Dark World suffers from some traversal stutters. As I’ve said before, these stutters have nothing to do with UE5. We’ve seen traversal stutters in A LOT of games using different engines. The good news here is that the traversal stutters in KARMA are not as bad as those we saw in Jedi Survivor or Dead Space Remake. So, this is at least good. Still, they were quite noticeable (at least to me).
All in all, KARMA: The Dark World can run on a wide range of PC systems at native resolutions. Since there is support for all upscalers, you can also use them to further improve your gaming experience. That’s entirely up to you. However, the game does suffer from a couple of minor issues. For instance, it will by default use dynamic res. It also has some traversal stutters. Other than these issues, though, it appears to be running great on PC.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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UE5 version?
It uses UE 5.4.4.0
John knows more about UE than any AI in existance,i'am sure he even knows more than the devs who created UE
What?
Dont worry,John Knows (just making fun of john and his obsession for UE)
Is this game one of those tr4nny games where you walk around and listen to a bunch of f4gs yap about the most mundane sh*t they've done throught the day or whatever?
Christ walking sim enjoyers are mentally ill.
No, I played it and it's a fairly deep story that makes you think for several days after you finished it. Top tier execution, AAA-tier storytelling, excellent sound design, horror elements were refreshing, no token minorities or feminism, no leftard yapping and lenghty conversations. I can't wait for the sequel. But if you're not into walking simulators, it's not for you.
I WANT GAMES TO GIVE ME NIGHTMARES ! Not sad stories about life struggle!
Watch Gaza war !!!! Innocents of civilians = children & women killed by jews butchers cowards pigs zionists ……….. that's gonna give you REAL Nightmares !!!
Go spread that fake bs somewhere else ok It was bidden who gave money to the terrorists LOTS of it , that war would have never happen! all because people like you! you gave money to terrorists!??? IF PALESTINE IS SO LOVED WHY DO ALL COUNTRIES SURROUNDING THEM HATE THEM SO MUCH???????
take your brainwash to another planet manipulator , it won’t work with me
The Terrorists are = The F*king JEWS Zionists and the moth###fkerz Americans and West European leaders who gives them Drones and weapons to kill innocent peopole who used to live in palestine since the beginning of time ………….. British exterminated the Native americans ………… now the muther###g jews want to do so to Arab Countries but they can’t ………….. nor the british nor the french …… nor the romans nor the byzants could exterminate Arab or islam
so much anger … why don’t you stop ..make a space ship and move to another planet? ho wait yes religion took that freedom from you ” science ” only in what matters for the “religious “… you know why n@zi hated jews so much …its one of the reasons , this was told by person who lives close to hitler’s home in austria, ho! you didn’t knew he was Austrian” the more you know”!
One of the reasons he hated them was due to blaming the jews for the enslavement and public murder of Jesus christ… see? religion always behind all wars
* Who is spreading LGBT woke culture in USA & Europe !! = The Evil Jewz !!!
* Who owns the biggest major cinema studios ( Paramount – Universal – 20th Century Fox …. ) = The bloody Jewz
* Who owns the largest banks all over the world ( Goldman Sachs – JPMorgan – Barclays -UPS – Société Générale – ……….. etc ) = the Jewz
* Who owns the biggest food comapnies ( Nestlé – CocaCola – Unilever …. ) = the jewz
* Do u know Blackrock & Vanguard those two Huge mystic occult Monster corporations = who owns & manage them = without Surprise = The Evil JEWZ !!
————————————————————————————————->
Wake up because they will – soon- begin their major paln = induce a civil war in USA , and Hit EU with Russia ( with the motherf*king jew Zelensky!!!!! no surprise at all!!!! ) , in middle east they will try to strike iran , make more pression on Egypt and further invade Yemen !!!! for arabic gulf-countries they'll continue to milk these f*gs and extort them like always ( oil – gas – buying trash US weapons ……… etc )
You’re so filled with hate and sadness, your mental state is bad. I hope you get the help you need in the future before you go full radical and start shooting
Go F*k yourself ………… f*king zionist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i f udon’t know re**rd , The F*king Jewz are already ruining USA & Europe …… the 5 satanic jew families ( Rothschild – Rockefeller – Morgan – Dupont – … ) will withdraw all their money from banks and get USA bunkrupt then civil war will break out
for someone calling me a n@zi , you are showing more than enough you the actual zionist n@zi? why ? as someone who lives close to Germany and has some knowledge about what you are calling me , they used to be like you …. exactly like you
You degenerates literally worship Satan, you’re gross and most likely also a kiddie diddler