If you are planning to play the PC version, follow these steps to manage the demanding system requirements and known performance hurdles. The game is particularly demanding on RAM and VRAM.

When you first launch the game, it will begin "Building Shaders."

Reviewers from platforms like Guided.news and community members on Steam suggest these tweaks to boost FPS:

Requires 16GB RAM and a 4GB GPU like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Go to product viewer dialog for this item.

The PC release of was originally scheduled for March 3, 2023, but was delayed by 25 days to March 28, 2023 . Naughty Dog stated the extra time was needed to ensure the game reached their quality standards and debuted in the "best shape possible". Despite the delay, the launch was heavily criticized for technical issues like long shader compilation times and frequent crashes. Essential Technical Guide

Attempting to play before this process reaches 100% is a primary cause of crashes and severe frame drops.

This process can take over an hour on some systems, which may eat into Steam's 2-hour refund window . 3. Optimized Settings for Stable Performance