Just got a new graphics card. Cheap game to show it off?

The Game Room
1

I just upgraded from a pair of HD 5770s to an R9 380. MS Word and YouTube videos aren’t the best showcase. Took a quick look at Arkham City and couldn’t really tell the difference. I think the issue is that the 5770s (whether working alone or in Crossfire) were really powerful; I could max out all/almost all the settings for most of the games I ran. Of course, since I don’t have a lot to spend on games, I was mostly playing games from a few years ago.

What can I put on here that will show it off—kind of the modern(ish) version of Crysis that will let me know it’s not 2010 anymore?

If it helps, I tend towards FPS and RPGs (I have all the Batmans, Bioshocks, HLs, Portals, Fallouts through New Vegas). Not a sports fan at all, and GTA-IV was the closest I came to a driving game. Also, my budget games is minimal, so maybe I don’t need to see that it’s 2015 per se; if a game that’s been out for a year or two works, that’s great.

Thanks~

2

You say you own FO3 and New Vegas so I’m guessing you might own Skyrim? There has to be a zillion mods for that to jack up the graphics in the world. Metro: Last Light (Redux) could work and is often on sale. Alien: Isolation looks great on even middling PCs and would probably look fantastic jacked up.

If you don’t want to spend much money and want to do this now (rather than waiting on sales), I’d look at mods for existing games like the Bethesda RPGs or maybe running post-processing effects such as SweetFX over games you already own.

3

Ooh, Skyrim! I’ve gotten about three feet into it (I was a prisoner, a dragon came and scared the doody out everyone and I was following someone).

I’d heard that there were mods that did more than turn the main character into Thomas the Train. There are some for GTA-IV too, no? And they actually do more for overall look/feel than a basic redesign?

Is there a source, guide or other overview of which mods boost the graphics? Will be extremely interesting to see the before-before (when I loaded it on the old graphics card, the before (pre-mod) and after versions.

Also, I just figured out (not that it was rocket surgery) how to dump a list of my Steam games. I’ve played a fraction of these, so if anything stands out that I need to load NOW, let me know.



Age of Empires III: Complete Collection
Air Conflicts Pacific Carriers
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed II: Deluxe Edition
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Batman Arkham City
Batman Arkham Origins
Bioshock 2
BioShock Infinite - Columbia's Finest Package
Bioshock Infinite (WW)
Borderlands GOTY
CameraBag
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Standard Edition
Double Fine Bundle (fall 2012)
Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem Forever: The Doctor Who Cloned Me
Eidos Collector Pack
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary
F1 2011
Fallout New Vegas Honest Hearts DLC
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas - Dead Money
Far Cry
Far Cry 2
FEAR 3
FEAR Complete Pack (NA)
Ghostbusters: The Videogame
Grand Theft Auto IV (US/AU)
Gratuitous Space Battles
GTA Complete Pack (NA)
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
Lucasarts Jedi Knight Bundle
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Max Payne 3 Collection
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition
Oblivion Game of the Year Deluxe
Overlord Complete Pack
Port Royale 3
Port Royale 3: Dawn of Pirates DLC
Port Royale 3: Harbour Master DLC
Port Royale 3: New Adventures DLC
Portal + Portal 2
Portal 2
Prince of Persia Complete Pack
Race - The WTCC Game + Caterham Expansion
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (ROW)
Saints Row IV Game of the Century Edition
Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Sniper Elite Franchise Pack (Summer 2012)
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
Tomb Raider Collection
Train Simulator 2013 - Trains Vs Zombies 2
Train Simulator 2013 Deluxe
4

This would be a good place to start with Skyrim. Yeah, there’s a ton of novelty mods out there but also a ton of “legitimate” game enhancement mods.

If you play Stalker (which I recommend) you can use the Photorealistic Zone pack for additional textures.

5

Try Planet side 2 for a cheap game. I have been playing it since May and it is great fun.

6

Ark: Survival Evolved is a sandbox game (meaning you must learn crafting recipes, and can build your own home) in a land populated with dinosaurs.

I have a four year old 2Gb graphics card (and 8Gb system RAM), and it seems to choke on graphics settings somewhere on the lower midrange end in the in game menus.

I think the game is going for 29.99 on Steam, and is in “early access” status at the moment.

7

Try Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. It’s on sale for $15 from Bundlestars with lots of the DLC, and it’s a very pretty game. Though the first half of it takes place in rather dreary locales, they’re very well-renderd dreary locales.

8

That looks interesting. How does Bundlestars work?

9

It’s just a site mainly specializing in game bundles (like Humble Bundle) but also with their own store page and sometimes running a “bundle” that’s a single base game and its DLC like the Shadow of Mordor one.

They’re a legit site. I buy stuff from them on a semi-regular basis. One of the many bundle sites that popped up after Humble Bundle became popular and one of the better ones.