Best PC Settings

The best Phantom Blade Zero PC settings start at High rather than Ultra, since Very High and Ultra look nearly alike, with Motion Blur off when using Frame Generation. S-Game advises NVIDIA driver 617.42. DSOGaming measured about 26 fps on an RTX 5090 at native 4K with path tracing, and 54 to 60 with DLSS Quality.

The best Phantom Blade Zero PC settings use High rather than Ultra, since DSOGaming found little difference between Ultra and Very High, and Motion Blur off when using Frame Generation. S-Game also advises NVIDIA driver 617.42 with a clean install, because it saw unstable performance on 621.01, until NVIDIA's next driver. DSOGaming called it "one of the smoothest UE5 games", with no major stutters. Minimum and recommended hardware is on PC System Requirements.

Quick facts

Engine	Unreal Engine 5.7.4, with Denuvo (DSOGaming)
Install	About 145 GB, on an SSD (S-Game)
First launch	A long shader pre-compilation
NVIDIA driver	617.42, by S-Game on launch day
Ray tracing switch	Main menu only, not during play
Day-one patch	About 5 GB (Patches and Updates)

Settings to use

Quality preset	High; Ultra and Very High look nearly alike
Motion Blur	Off with Frame Generation, the main source of its artifacts
Upscaling	DLSS Quality at 4K; DLAA with Ray Reconstruction ran 10 fps faster than native TSR with no visual loss
Lighting	Ray tracing on cards that cannot hold path tracing; it sits between raster and path tracing
Drive	SSD

Measured frame rates

All from DSOGaming, Oct 26, 2026, in the starting area, with a Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 32 GB of RAM, before the day-one patch that S-Game says speeds up ray and path tracing:

RTX 5090	Frame rate
Path tracing, native 4K, TSR	25 to 27 fps
Path tracing, native 1440p	46 to 47 fps
Path tracing, native 1080p	Above 60 fps
Path tracing, 4K, DLSS Quality	54 to 60 fps; about 100 with 2x frame generation
Raster, 4K, High	Above 65 fps
Raster, 4K, Medium	About 10 fps more than High
Raster, 4K, Low	About 100 fps

At raster Ultra, the five strongest cards tested stayed above 60 fps at 1080p; at 1440p only the RTX 4090 and 5090 always did; at 4K only the 5090 reached 60, dipping to the mid-50s. Not every outlet agrees it runs well: IGN's preview saw occasional severe drops on a strong PC (Reception and Previews). Steam Deck is on Platforms.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best settings for Phantom Blade Zero on PC? Use High, DLSS Quality at 4K, and Motion Blur off with Frame Generation, going by DSOGaming's tests.

Which NVIDIA driver should I use for Phantom Blade Zero? S-Game recommends 617.42, installed clean, until NVIDIA's next driver.

Why can't I turn on ray tracing during play? Ray tracing and path tracing change only from the main menu, DSOGaming found.

Does Phantom Blade Zero have Denuvo? Yes, DSOGaming reports.