Nvidia is making Far Cry 4 extra pretty

Most major PC games that make it to shelves are supported by Nvidia’s Gameworks technology. This allows the one side of PC gaming to spruce things up in-game, offering all sorts of tricks to make a game that much better on a certain set of hardware. Far Cry 4 is no different, so here’s how it’ll be better on Nvidia’s cards.

As always, it’s really small, subtle changes that enrich an already great looking game. Nvidia’s HBAO+ is able to drastically improve regular HBAO, while not incurring a massive performance knock. The same goes for Nvidia’s in-house anti-aliasing technique TXAA, which gets rid of more jagged areas without bringing your PC to its knees like MSAA.

Those aren’t new features but rather common weapons Nvidia has in their arsenal. What is new, however, is the inclusion of Hairworks, which will start cropping up in more and more titles. As the name suggests, the technology focuses purely on making hair look more natural and realistic. More so than AMD’s TressFX has done in the past.

The result is a little jarring. That tiger in the video above certainly looks better, but he also looks like he’s had his fur washed daily by some of the finest shampoo Kyrat has to offer. I don’t know whether I want to kill him or hug his soft pelt, regardless of whether my arm is currently being chewed off or not.

Will it make a massive difference if you’re on AMD? Well, without a direct comparison next to you, probably not. But with more and more games falling under the Gameworks banner, along with their new 900 series range, Nvidia is making a compelling argument to jump ship.

Last Updated: November 7, 2014