Remnant II Best Settings: 48% More FPS on PC

Remnant II is one of the most demanding PC games of its generation, and native resolution performance is often poor even on capable mid-range GPUs. This guide breaks down the best settings for higher FPS, better frame pacing, and strong visual quality without wasting performance on settings that barely improve the image.

Why Remnant II Is So Hard to Run

Remnant II launched as one of the most hardware-demanding games of 2023. Even GPUs such as the RTX 3060 Ti can struggle without upscaling, and the game often feels far heavier than its on-screen visuals suggest at native resolutions.

A big reason is its Unreal Engine 5 implementation. The game uses Nanite for dense geometric detail and stable environments without obvious geometry pop-in, but it does not use Lumen. Even without UE5’s most famous lighting system, performance is still extremely heavy, which makes smart settings optimization more important than brute-force hardware.

The result is simple: Remnant II is not a game where you can just select Ultra and expect efficient scaling. To get better performance, you need to target the settings that do the most damage while keeping the ones that preserve image quality.

Upscaling Is Mandatory in Remnant II

The most important thing to understand is that Remnant II was clearly built around upscaling. Native resolution performance is extremely poor, and upscaling is not just a bonus feature here. For most systems, it is the baseline requirement for a smooth experience.

That changes how you should tune the game. Instead of chasing native resolution, focus on the best image reconstruction method for your hardware and then pair it with optimized settings that remove the worst performance drains.

Best Upscaler Choice by GPU

NVIDIA users should prioritize DLSS. It delivers the best overall image stability in Remnant II, although small particles can sometimes show minor trailing during motion.

If you are not using an NVIDIA GPU, XeSS is usually the better pick over FSR2. It tends to look more stable and cleaner in motion, which matters in a game with busy combat effects and dense environments.

If your GPU has extra headroom and you want the cleanest anti-aliasing possible, DLAA is the best image quality option. It offers better image stability than native TAA with only a small performance tradeoff compared to standard native rendering.

• Use DLSS on NVIDIA GPUs whenever possible
• Use XeSS instead of FSR2 on non-NVIDIA hardware for better image quality
• Use DLAA only if your system already has strong FPS headroom
• Avoid native resolution unless you are testing performance or using very high-end hardware

Remnant II Best Settings for Performance and Visual Quality

These optimized settings aim to preserve the game’s visual identity while removing the options that cost too many frames for too little image benefit. On average, this kind of setup can deliver roughly 48% more performance than the Ultra preset while looking very close in actual gameplay.

Optimized Settings Checklist

• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Detailed Shadows: Disabled
• Post Processing: Medium or High
• Motion Blur: Off
• Foliage Quality: Ultra
• Effects Quality: Medium
• View Distance Quality: Ultra

Why Detailed Shadows Should Be Disabled

Detailed Shadows is the single biggest performance killer in Remnant II. If you change only one setting, make it this one. Disabling it can raise performance dramatically with minimal visible loss during normal play.

In testing, turning Detailed Shadows off can increase frame rate from around 46 FPS to 72 FPS on some setups, which is roughly a 56% gain. That makes it one of the rare graphics options that offers a huge return with very little downside.

Shadow Quality Should Stay at Medium

Shadow Quality is unusually expensive in Remnant II because it does more than standard shadow filtering. It also affects the quality and resolution of volumetric effects, which makes it a bundled setting with a larger-than-expected GPU hit.

Moving from Low to Ultra shadows can cost around 12% to 19% performance depending on the scene. Medium is the sweet spot because it avoids the worst visual compromises of Low without taking the full hit of High or Ultra.

Keep Effects Quality at Medium

Effects Quality is another bundled setting. It controls Screen Space Reflections, particle density, water simulation, and global illumination behavior, which means lowering it too far has a larger image-quality impact than the menu suggests.

Do not set Effects Quality to Low unless you are desperate for every last frame. Low disables Screen Space Reflections entirely, which makes the game look noticeably flatter. Medium is the best balance because it keeps SSR active while cutting some of the heavier overhead.

View Distance and Foliage Explained

View Distance Quality is effectively irrelevant in Remnant II. Because the game uses Nanite, changing this setting has no meaningful impact on visuals or performance. It behaves like a legacy option rather than a useful tuning control.

That means you should just leave View Distance on Ultra. Lowering it does not buy extra FPS, so there is no reason to sacrifice anything here.

Foliage Quality is also much cheaper than you might expect. You can safely leave it on Ultra because the performance impact is low, especially compared to far more expensive settings like shadows and effects.

The Unreal Engine 5 Factor: Nanite Without Lumen

Remnant II is a good example of how Unreal Engine 5 features can affect optimization in unusual ways. Nanite allows highly detailed environments without the traditional level-of-detail transitions seen in older engines, which helps the world look dense and stable.

At the same time, the game does not use Lumen, UE5’s dynamic global illumination system. That matters because some players assume Lumen is the main reason for the game’s poor performance, but that is not the case here. The heavy GPU load comes more from the overall rendering cost, bundled graphics options, and the game’s general optimization issues.

• Nanite explains why View Distance has no real performance impact
• Lumen is not present, so it is not the source of the game’s GPU demands
• Several settings control multiple features at once, which limits fine-tuning
• Upscaling is essential because native rendering is disproportionately expensive

Best Settings for RTX 3060 Ti and Similar GPUs

If you are using an RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, or a similar mid-range card, the goal should be a stable and responsive experience rather than native-resolution purity. Remnant II is simply too demanding to justify native rendering on this class of hardware in most scenes.

Start with DLSS enabled, then apply the optimized settings in this guide. Disable Detailed Shadows immediately, keep Shadows at Medium, keep Effects at Medium, and leave View Distance and Foliage on Ultra. This setup gives you the best chance of staying near or above 60 FPS without making the game look stripped down.

1. Enable DLSS if you have an NVIDIA GPU, or XeSS if you do not
2. Set Detailed Shadows to Disabled
3. Set Shadow Quality to Medium
4. Set Effects Quality to Medium so SSR stays enabled
5. Turn Motion Blur off
6. Leave View Distance and Foliage at Ultra
7. Raise Post Processing to High only if you want better depth of field in cutscenes

Patch Changes and Why Version Matters

A post-launch update improved Remnant II’s GPU performance significantly and added the Detailed Shadows toggle used in this guide. That patch, identified as version 383.678, reportedly improved GPU performance by roughly 29% on its own.

If you do not see the Detailed Shadows option in your menu, make sure the game is fully updated. This setting is critical because it addresses one of the biggest visual-cost imbalances in the entire graphics menu.

Troubleshooting Blur, Lag, and Visual Artifacts

Some players dislike the softness or motion artifacts that can come with upscaling, but in Remnant II the alternative is usually much worse frame rate. The better strategy is to choose the cleanest upscaler for your GPU and then avoid settings that add unnecessary blur or instability.

Motion Blur should be turned off. It can create distracting artifacts around the character and makes image clarity worse during fast movement and combat.

If DLSS or XeSS introduces minor trailing on particles, that is still usually a better trade than dropping to native resolution with worse frame rate. Remnant II is one of those rare games where upscaled High can be more practical than native Low.

• Turn Motion Blur off for cleaner motion
• Prefer DLSS for NVIDIA cards and XeSS for other GPUs
• Avoid Effects Low because it removes SSR
• Do not waste time lowering View Distance for extra FPS
• Update the game so the Detailed Shadows option is available

Final Recommended Setup

The best Remnant II PC optimization strategy is not about lowering everything. It is about identifying the settings that are badly balanced and cutting those first. Detailed Shadows is the biggest example, and Shadow Quality plus Effects Quality are the next two areas where careful tuning matters most.

Once you combine those changes with the right upscaler, Remnant II becomes far more manageable on mid-range hardware. You keep most of the image quality that matters, avoid pointless sacrifices, and gain a large performance uplift compared to the Ultra preset.

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