Forspoken reportedly can't run on older AMD GPUs, while it can on Nvidia GPUs 

According to a report published on Wccftech on January 27, older AMD GPUs based on the Polaris architecture can't run Forspoken, the latest AAA title in the market. In contrast, much older Nvidia cards support the game.

The main reason for this compatibility issue is due to the lack of DirectX 12_1 support in the AMD video cards. While Nvidia GPUs dating back to 2014 are compatible with this API, many more recent AMD graphics cards are not.

Forspoken, in particular, needs at least the DirectX 12_1 feature level to run. This should not be confused with the DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is a more recent version of the API.

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More details on the Forspoken GPU-support fiasco

As per the Wccftech report, the AMD GPUs that do not support Forspoken include the company's Polaris lineup and GPUs pre-dating it. They were launched in 2017, so there is nothing new per se.

AMD used the Polaris architecture for two generations of graphics cards. The list includes the Radeon RX 400 series and the RX 500 lineup. With the new architecture, the company moved away from its aging Graphics Core Next (GCN) formula. Polaris delivers much better value propositions and performance levels.

However, among the fundamental issues of the Polaris GPUs were bugged drivers and API readiness. The GPUs came with support for DirectX 12, but it could only run up to the 12_0 feature list. Back in the day, this wasn't a big deal as games were not built to run on the latest APIs either.

Fast forward several years, games are being upgraded to utilize the maximum of the latest software technologies, and the RX 400 and RX 500 series of graphics cards are thus left behind.

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Older Nvidia GPUs can easily run the title

It’s worth noting, however, that Nvidia has included support for the DirectX 12_1 feature set since 2014. The Maxwell lineup of GPUs, or the GTX 900 series, supports the API and can run Forspoken.

Even if AMD had baked in support for the DirectX 12_1, the Polaris video cards would have been practically useless because Forspoken is not a well-optimized title. Some of the latest GPUs in the market, including the RDNA 3-based RX 7000 series models, are having a hard time with it.

In addition, the game has not garnered a lot of attention from gamers either. In our review of the title, we found it to be incredibly easy, the world felt empty, and the title has some of the worst dialog options. Thus, it is unlikely that the lack of support for certain older AMD GPUs will bother many gamers.