God of War - Kratos VS Apple Silicon M1 - Performance test in GPTK

"Are you ready to witness the  epic saga of God of War unfold on the sleek performance of an Apple M1? In this video, we're diving deep into the heart of Midgard, pushing the limits  of Apple's revolutionary silicon. Join me as we explore how Kratos and Atreus'  journey fares across various settings on the M1. From the serene forests to the  thunderous battles against the Gods. Will the Apple Silicon hold its ground in the  face of divine wrath? Let's find out together and see if this mythic que

st is as breathtaking  on the M1 as it is on traditional platforms. Or maybe is not? Let's find out in this video..." God of War emerged as the victor  in a recent poll I put on Youtube, thanks to all who participated in the voting.  You can definitely expct more polls like this in the future. While we might not have a poll for  every single video, we'll definitely sprinkle them in from time to time, giving you the  chance to decide what content comes next. To run the game we need Whisky or Cros

sover  application. If you don't know how to install those application, there is a link to a video in  description that will help you with installation. The game runs in both apps, so  if you don't have crossover, you can still play it. To run the game turn DXVK  off in Whisky and Enable D3DMetal in Crossover. The game have 4 presents in graphical  settings, Low, Original, High and Ultra. In Display menu we have options for resolution, and FSR 2.0 Upscaling with Quality, Balanced,  Performance a

nd Ultra Performance presets. God of War on Mac have three main  issues. First is a visual glitch, it shows some random patterns on characters.  It is not visible all the time, actually, it is always there, but in some cases is it really  visible and annoying. Especialy in some darker areas and with Kratos near camera. Unfortunately,  I didn't find any working solution for this, tried changing different settings and it is  always there, so... no luck with that I'm afraid. The second main issue i

s occasional frame  drops. Unfortunatelly, this one is really annoying and noticable and it disturbs  the experience of otherwise great game. It seems it occurs when new location must  be loaded, but I don't think it is related to disk speed or amount of memory. Even  with this issue I had no luck to fix this. And last thing I've noticed during the gameplay,  compared to PS5 version. The colors and overal image quality is just not right, the colors are  dull and washed out, it is missing shadows

and highlights. Here you can see the difference  compared with PS5. I'm not sure if it is related to PC version or if it is thanks to the  transition layer, but the difference is quite big. Now what app should You use to play the game,  is there any difference in Whisky or Crossover? Actually there is. And a huge difference. Here  we have one scene recorded in Crossover. Notice the FPS here... Now let's look at Whisky... 37  vs 65 FPS with the same graphical settings... and that's quite a diffe

rence. So for the  rest of this video, I'm gonna do all tests in Whisky from obvious reasons. And yes, it is  the recently release version 24 of Crossover. While testing different settings during the game,  I've found out, that FSR Upscaling is pretty much unusable here. Better option that I found is  to turn upscalling off, and set Render Scale to 50%. And it applies to every resolution. The  FSR Upscaling is not good enough in this case. Here is one example. This scene is 1440p,  Original Pres

et with upscaling off and Render Scale to 50% and we have around 67 or 68 FPS. If  we compare that to same Settings with FSR2 set to Ultra Performance, we have about 10 FPS  more, but the visuals are much much worse. Now lets switch upscaling to Performance.  Visuals are almost the same, but we have around 61 FPS compared to 68,  which is already a difference. With Balanced upscaling we are on 55 FPS  already and with Quality it goes down again to 50. So from my point of view, using 50%  Scale R

ender in native is best option I believe. Let's dive into how the game performs at  1080p across various settings. Starting with the Low Settings at 50% native resolution,  the frame rate hovers around a playable level, though the graphics leave much to be desired.  Bumping up the render scale to 100% sharpens the visuals significantly with minimal impact  on performance, maintaining playability. Shifting gears to the Original  Preset with a 50% render scale, we see FPS consistently above 60, a 

stark contrast to full native resolution, which sees dips below 50 FPS in more  demanding scenes. Yet, in both scenarios, the game delivers a solid gameplay experience,  but better stick with 50% render scale. Now, exploring the High Preset at 50% render  scale, frame rates range between 48-55 FPS, offering a relatively smooth  gameplay experience. However, pushing the render scale to 100% sees FPS dropping  to around 40, marking a noticeable slowdown, though the game remains on the edge of  pl

ayability at the 50% render scale. Lastly, under Ultra Settings with a 50%  render scale, FPS plunges below 30 and with 100% scale it is hitting the 22 FPS mark. From  a modern gaming standpoint, this performance is starting to fall outside the realm of acceptable  standards. Definitely avoid that even on 1080p. Venturing into the realm of 1440p resolution. At the Low Preset with a 50% render  scale, we're greeted with a solid 60 FPS, making for an enjoyable playability that feels  smooth and re

sponsive. Increasing the render scale to 100% brings us to a range of 47-53  FPS. Surprisingly, gameplay remains fluid, with no noticeable slowdown unless you're  specifically watching the FPS counter. Moving to the Original Preset at 50% render  scale, FPS dances between 55-65. Playability stays enjoyable, though we encounter the  occasional slowdown in this area thanks to the issue I mentieod in previous chapter.  Pushing the render scale to 100% drops us into the 32-42 FPS bracket, where slow

ness becomes  evident, detracting from the gameplay experience. With the High Preset at 50%, we  see 55-63 FPS, occasionally higher, which is perfectly acceptable for gameplay.  However, ramping up to 100% render scale, FPS hovers around 35, signaling  a noticeable dip in smoothness. It's advisable to steer clear of these  settings to maintain a fluid experience. Finally, the Ultra Preset at 50%  render scale averages around 32 FPS, impacting gameplay significantly.  Difficulties in targeting en

emies and blocking in time suggest avoiding  this setup. At 100% render scale, FPS falls below 25, rendering the game  totaly unplayable by today's standards. And in final, lets explore  the peaks of 4k resolution. Starting with the Low Preset at 50% render scale, I'm pleasantly surprised to find the game  running smoothly at 60-65 FPS most of the time, making it quite playable and enjoyable.  However, doubling the render to 100% plunges us into the depths of below 30 FPS,  rendering this majest

ic settings unplayable. As we venture into the Original Preset at 50%, performance hovers around 43-50 FPS.  While still playable most of the time, there exist more optimized pathways for our  journey. Amplifying to 100% render scale at this setting, FPS dwindles to below 25, a sign  to steer clear of these treacherous waters. The High Preset at 50% mirrors the performance of  the Original Preset closely, with around 40 FPS, suggesting there are more harmonious settings to  explore for a smoothe

r journey. Cranking this up to 100% render scale, we witness a drastic fall to  around 20 FPS, marking the setting as unplayable. Approaching the Ultra Preset, FPS hovers around  30 at 50% render scale, a challenging territory that hampers the gameplay experience, best to  be avoided. And at 100%, we hit the bottom of possible performace with FPS dropping below 20,  firmly placing it in the realm of the unplayable. Based on the trials and tribulations we've put  the Apple M1 through, it seems th

at this time, the mighty M1 has met its match. The journey  of Kratos and Atreus, while breathtaking, proved too demanding for Apple's revolutionary  silicon in its current state of Magic known as Whisky and Crossover. For now, it might be wiser  to embark on this saga through different platforms like windows PC, or PS5, at least until the great  Gods bestow upon us the necessary fixes. Until such divine intervention occurs, it may be best  to steer clear of this path on the Apple M1. So, until

we can once again venture into  Midgard with the confidence that our hardware can withstand the wrath of the  Gods, it looks like we'll be exploring these mythic battles on different platforms. In my words, if you haven't played the game yet and have chance to play it on Windows PC or  a console, please make yourself a favor and do so. Or at least give it a time until there are  some fixes for the issues I talked about. It can really ruin the experience with such a great  game. I finished the ga

me already on PS5 and I didn't enjoy playing it on Mac most of the time. Anyway, if You liked this performance review, please give it a like and consider subscribing  to this chan nel and I will see you soon with my next video. Bye bye