Returnal review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

A field day for tinkerers and analysts. Nearly two years after Returnal made its debut on consoles, the third-person shooter has now also arrived on PC. The dark sci-fi game feels like a mix of Dead Space, Deathloop and Dark Souls. Its extensive graphics menu is particularly impressive.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Zhiwei Zhuang), Published 03/10/2023 🇩🇪 🇸🇪 ...

Technical aspects

In terms of visuals and gameplay, Returnal is a rather unusual game that certainly won't appeal to every action fan. Despite the game's environments being mostly very dark, the graphics quality is exceptional for an Unreal Engine 4 title. Players will often find themselves in very gloomy and barren landscapes and indoor areas, but Returnal will blast the screen with a flurry of visual effects once combat begins.

Both the player character's projectiles and the enemies' energy weapons give Returnal a very unique quality as well as variety. As a result, the game offers an interesting combination of a dark atmosphere and a "disco" feel. It also has excellent game physics as well as pretty fast and fluid controls.

That said, Returnal is not completely free of technical hiccups. During our testing, we encountered some occasional crashes. The game also ran at the wrong resolution sometimes, but we were able to resolve this issue by selecting another resolution and then switching back to the one we wanted. Returnal has to compile its shaders during initial boot-up. This is something that we have seen in various games by now, such as the recently reviewed Hogwarts Legacy.

An absolute highlight in Returnal is its terrific graphics menu, which is unparallel in PC gaming. The video menu itself has four tabs: display options, colourblind mode, HUD customisation and performance UI (this allows users to turn on several in-game performance stats). Those who like to tinker can spend a long time in this menu alone. The graphics menu is just as fantastic. Besides a few convenient presets, there are over 20 detail settings and sliders to let you customise the games visuals to your exact liking.

We especially want to applaud the fact that many of the settings are explained using not only words but also comparison images. Sure, some Ubisoft games, for example, already do this, but Returnal takes it one step further and tells you how each setting affects the CPU, GPU and VRAM. The cherry on the cake: all changes can be made without having to restart the game. Ray-tracing diehards will also get their money's worth. Ray-traced shadows and reflections can be enabled in Returnal. Their impact on performance is quite manageable if you have a newer GPU.

Benchmark

Apart from the graphics menu, the built-in benchmark also deserves much appreciation because it is so detailed that it is worthy of being used as a reference. During the almost two-minute benchmark, the game will show the frame rate as well as CPU, GPU and (V)RAM usage. The benchmark even tells you which aspects of graphics are being tested in particular at a given moment (e.g. "Destructibles & Volumetric Fog").

The benchmark culminates in the results at the end: there are many graphs and data to help you perform highly detailed analysis (see screenshots and video). Some of them are even available for the individual zones.

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Returnal's hardware requirements are moderate for a modern shooter. Although even powerful iGPUs such as the Radeon 680M are unable to hit 40 fps at 1,280 x 720 and the lowest settings (the game generally crashes on the Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7), it is possible to achieve 60 fps at Full HD with a mid-range GPU along the lines of a Radeon RX 6600M or GeForce RTX 3060.

Returnal
1920x1080 Low Preset 1920x1080 Medium Preset 1920x1080 High Preset 1920x1080 Epic Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	242 (115^min) fps ∼56% 219 (101^min) fps ∼58% 193 (97^min) fps ∼56%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	220 (103^min) fps ∼51% 199 (98^min) fps ∼53% 170 (101^min) fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	161 (78^min) fps ∼37% 145 (88^min) fps ∼39% 128 (59^min) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	127 (65^min) fps ∼30% 117 (56^min) fps ∼31% 102 (53^min) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	127 (65^min) fps ∼30% 114 (57^min) fps ∼30% 100 (53^min) fps ∼29%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	107 (54^min) fps ∼25% 100 (66^min) fps ∼27% 83 (37^min) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	93 (47^min) fps ∼22% 85 (46^min) fps ∼23% 72 (35^min) fps ∼21%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	85 (41^min) fps ∼20% 76 (51^min) fps ∼20% 63 (34^min) fps ∼18%
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	23 (11^min) fps ∼6% 19 (9^min) fps ∼4% 17 (7^min) fps ∼5% 14 (6^min) fps ∼4%
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7 Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

For those who own a QHD display, we would recommend using a high-end GPU. You'll need a Radeon RX 6800M or better to get more than 60 fps at 2,560 x 1,440 and on the Epic preset.

Returnal
2560x1440 Epic Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	153 (72^min) fps ∼47%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	131 (80^min) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	103 (58^min) fps ∼32%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	78 (40^min) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	76 (42^min) fps ∼23%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	63 (35^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	52 (29^min) fps ∼16%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	44 (27^min) fps ∼14%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

As expected, the game becomes really demanding at 4K. Turning the settings all the way up will push even top-of-the-line laptop GPUs (such as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti) to their limit. That said, anything over 40 fps is still considered playable in our opinion.

Returnal
3840x2160 Epic Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	92 (61^min) fps ∼43%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	77 (37^min) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	63 (40^min) fps ∼29%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	46 (29^min) fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	46 (27^min) fps ∼21%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	35 (21^min) fps ∼16%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	30 (14^min) fps ∼14%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	24 (10^min) fps ∼11%

Ray tracing

Needless to say, enabling ray tracing will make Returnal even more demanding. Whilst a high-end GPU is generally enough to run the game at Full HD with ray tracing enabled, you'll need an absolute top-end GPU like the Radeon RX 7900 XTX to use the Epic preset and Epic RT.

Returnal
1920x1080 Epic Preset + Epic Ray-Tracing 3840x2160 Epic Preset + Epic Ray-Tracing
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	124 (75^min) fps ∼40% 55 (32^min) fps ∼32%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	109 (66^min) fps ∼35% 47 (16^min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	106 (59^min) fps ∼34% 46 (31^min) fps ∼27%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	81 (19^min) fps ∼26% 32 (18^min) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	80 (52^min) fps ∼26% 33 (15^min) fps ∼19%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	53 (32^min) fps ∼17% 20 (9^min) fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	39 (8^min) fps ∼12% 17 (7^min) fps ∼10%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	35 (12^min) fps ∼11% 11 (3^min) fps ∼6%

Note

Because gaming tests are very time-consuming and are often constrained by installation or activation limits, we are only able to provide you with part of the benchmark results at the time of publishing this article. We will be adding more graphics cards over the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test systems

Device	Graphics card	Processor	RAM	Operating system
Notebooks
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @140 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-12700H	2 x 8 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Asus ROG Strix G15	AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5	AMD Radeon RX 6600M (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 7 5800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	AMD Radeon 680M	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Tower PCs
Custom I	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X) MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900K	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Custom II	Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (16 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6800 (16 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Custom III	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super FE	Intel Core i9-11900K	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Mini-PCs
Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 CUs)	Intel Core i7-1165G7	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Morefine S500+	AMD Radeon RX Vega 8	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum NUCXi7	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @125 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum HX99G	AMD Radeon RX 6600M @100 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11

4K monitors	Nvidia driver	AMD driver
Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Gigabyte M32U	ForceWare 528.49	Adrenalin 23.2.2

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Zhiwei Zhuang - Translator - 147 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, I moved from Singapore to Cologne in 2014 and began pursuing a career as a freelance translator. Much of my translation work focuses on science, engineering and technology. My fascination with computers and mobile electronics began when I was young. And I have fond memories reading countless tech and gaming magazines. Working with Notebookcheck gives me the opportunity to incorporate my personal interests into my professional work.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Returnal review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2023-03-10 (Update: 2023-03-15)

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.