Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the latest release in the long-running franchise, and it’s proven more interesting for PC gamers than we’d expected. Though most gamers will probably buy the game for a console, it seems rather stable on PC – and it’s gorgeous at maximum settings. The years that’ve passed since its predecessor, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, have been kind to the franchise’s unique artistic vision.

But the eye-popping visuals aren’t without their demands. According to our testing, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the more demanding than any PC game we regularly use for testing – and that includes Crysis 3. Even a brand-new gaming laptop, with a cutting-edge GTX 1070 mobile GPU, was just short of reaching an average of 60 FPS in the game’s benchmark.

That’s surprising. A few years ago, when the latest console generation launched, it was rare for a cross-platform game to tax the latest PC graphics card – unless it was poorly coded. Crysis 3 was demanding, but also the exception to the rule, and it’s remanded one of the most demanding and beautiful cross-platform games despite the fact it was release over three years ago.

Does this mean that PC gamers are going to soon find themselves forced to buy an expensive, cutting-edge graphics card? Or is the selection of more demanding PC ports an example of how scalability has improved, thanks to better driver software, and better development tools? We’ll tackle that question, and more, in this episode.

This podcast features Matt Smith, Brad Bourque, and Greg Nibler.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that focuses on the geekier side of life. It tackles the topics PC enthusiasts argue over in language everyone can understand. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to [email protected]. We broadcast the show live on YouTube every Wednesday at 1pm EST/10am PST.