Best graphics settings for The First Descendant

Best graphics settings for The First Descendant

Graphics settings can make or break your experience in any game. To fully enjoy The First Descendant, this article will show you the best graphics settings, including frame rate, performance, and image quality.

This article will show you the best graphics specs for The First Descendant

First, gamers need to know how to access the settings. Press ESC on the keyboard to open the Game Menu. When you reach the first hub area, you can also access the settings menu by Hold down the Menu button in the lower left corner of the screen. If just press the Menu button, it will display the inventory.

Table of Contents

The First Descendant: Best graphics settings

The First Descendant has a fairly light graphics footprint compared to many other PC games, however, the game still has some parameters that need to be changed. The following are the best graphics settings in The First Descendant:

Graphics

Graphics: Custom
Raytracing: Off

You can turn on Raytracing later because it makes reflective surfaces and water look really nice. The downside is that Raytracing is quite heavy on hardware. If you want the best possible visual experience and your PC can handle it, turn on Raytracing.

The First Descendant is quite light in terms of graphics

Performance

Additional Performance: Off
Vsync: Off
NVIDIA Low Latency: Off
Maximum Framerate: 120

The only setting that needs to be changed here is Vsync and Maximum Framerate. You can change the frame rate if you turn off Vsync, otherwise it will be limited to 60. If you notice screen tearing, turning on Vsync is usually an immediate fix. The Additional Performance menu has some upgraded features such as NVIDIA DLSS. These are graphics card-specific features – you can ignore them, but they can help increase frame rates if you’re having problems and have an NVIDIA graphics card.

If you don't have any performance issues, you don't need to change the settings — If you don’t have any performance issues, you don’t need to change the settings

Advanced Settings

Visibility: High
Anti-aliasing: High
Post Processing: High
Shadows: Low
Global Illumination: High
Reflections: High
Textures: High
Effect: High
Vegetation: High
Shader Quality: High
Object: Medium
Physics: Medium
Motion Blur: Off

Gamers should set most of the options in this section to levels High. If you’re going to change anything, turn it off Motion Blur. You can hover over each section Advanced Settings in the game to briefly know their functions. However, the description gives “Object” and “Physics” is missing, so change it to level Medium until their function is known.

Note: If you don’t experience any performance issues, changing the graphics settings is not necessary.

Is it necessary to change the graphics settings in The First Descendant?

The First Descendant has the ability to automatically identify system configuration, which is quite good. So you can see the default settings are fine. If you are not experiencing performance problems, changing the graphics settings is not necessary.

The visuals in The First Descendant are great, but that may affect the frame rate. If you notice intermittent stuttering, reduce some of the advanced settings to see if there’s an improvement. The settings that have the biggest impact are usually image quality, post-processing, and anti-aliasing.

At the time of this writing, many players are reporting performance issues, even on high-end hardware. Hopefully these issues will be fixed with future patches.

Since The First Descendant is a sci-fi shooter with loot elements, it’s hard to avoid comparisons to Destiny 2. If your computer has trouble running The First Descendant, Destiny 2 might be an alternative worth checking out, as it works well on low-end hardware.