What’s actually slowing this PC down?
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There isn’t one documented cause of Days Gone lag for every player. The right fix depends on your platform, game edition and symptom: low FPS, uneven stutter, loading hitches and input delay are different problems. On PC, start with system requirements, drivers and your GPU; Intel has documented a specific performance issue on Arc graphics. On PS5 Remastered, check the graphics mode—Performance targets 60 FPS on base PS5, while Quality targets 30 FPS.
First, identify what “laggy” means
Before changing settings, note your platform and edition, and when the problem occurs. A low frame rate throughout gameplay is different from a brief hitch while the game loads assets, a stuttering intro movie, or controls that feel delayed. The distinction matters: official PC updates have addressed streaming performance, while the 2025 known-issues post separately listed stuttering intro movies.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Days Gone - Playstation 4 | $28.48 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Days Gone - Playstation 4 (Renewed) | $24.06 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Days Gone | $37.50 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Days Gone (PS4) | $22.96 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series - PlayStation 4 | $15.85 | Buy on Amazon |
- Low or inconsistent FPS: the game looks persistently slow or uneven during play.
- Gameplay stutter or hitching: brief pauses or judder, potentially related to asset streaming or system configuration.
- Intro-video stutter: the problem occurs in a movie before gameplay, not necessarily during play.
- Loading delay or perceived input delay: a different symptom from a sustained frame-rate drop; the official material cited here does not establish a universal cause for either.
Why Days Gone can feel laggy on PC
Check the whole system against the minimum requirements
Sony lists these minimum PC requirements: 64-bit processor and Windows 10 or equivalent; Intel Core i5-2500K at 3.3 GHz, AMD FX-6300 at 3.5 GHz, or equivalent; 8 GB RAM; and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 with 3 GB or AMD Radeon R9 290 with 4 GB, or equivalent. See Sony’s Days Gone PC support page.
Compare the processor, memory and graphics card together. Meeting minimum specifications is not a promise of a particular frame rate at every resolution or graphics setting, and the requirements alone cannot identify which component is causing a specific player’s slowdown.
#1 Best Overall
- Harsh Open World: Using the power of PlayStation 4 and unreal engine 4, days one offers an incredibly realistic and detailed open world experience. But be careful— day and night cycles, all affect gameplay and enemy behavior
- Brutal Sandbox Combat: Perfect your gameplay with an endless combination of strategy and play in every situation. Craft customized items using pieces and parts found in the field, from brutal melee weapons to traps and more
- Compelling Story: At its core, days gone is about survivors and what makes them human: desperation, loss, madness, betrayal, friendship, brotherhood, regret, love and hope. It’s about how hope never dies
- Play as Deacon St.John, a bounty hunter facing a brutal struggle for survival while searching for a reason to live
If you use Intel Arc graphics
Intel documents a Days Gone performance issue on Intel Arc GPUs under Windows 10 and Windows 11. Its support article reports performance dropping from 80–90 FPS to 45–50 FPS, with the issue more noticeable at night. Intel last reviewed the article on March 7, 2025, labels it a known issue and provides no workaround there. This is a specific Arc case—not evidence that all GPUs, or every nighttime FPS drop, share the same cause. See Intel’s Arc support article.
Look at drivers, displays, overclocking and game build
Sony’s PC troubleshooting guidance recommends installing current Windows updates and drivers for the graphics card, sound card, motherboard and processor. It also suggests testing with SLI and additional monitors disabled, returning overclocked hardware to stock settings, and reinstalling the game. These are general checks, not guaranteed fixes for every FPS or frame-pacing issue. The steps are listed on Sony’s PC support page.
Rank #2
- Harsh Open World: Using the power of PlayStation 4 and Unreal Engine 4, Days Gone offers an incredibly realistic and detailed open-world experience. But be careful— day and night cycles, all affect gameplay and enemy behavior
- Brutal Sandbox Combat: Perfect your gameplay with an endless combination of strategy and play in every situation. Craft customized items using pieces and parts found in the field, from brutal melee weapons to traps and more
- Compelling Story: At its core, Days Gone is about survivors and what makes them human: desperation, loss, madness, betrayal, friendship, brotherhood, regret, love— and hope. It’s about how hope never dies
- Play as Deacon St. John, a bounty hunter facing a brutal struggle for survival while searching for a reason to live
Check the installed game version and whether you are using a particular branch. Bend Studio’s official Steam news archive records PC patch 1.12 on June 24, 2025, with crash fixes and streaming optimizations, and patch 1.13 on July 21, 2025, with streaming performance improvements. Its April 30, 2025 known-issues post included stuttering intro movies among the issues being monitored. The archive also records a separate PC Patch 1.08 update in 2025 and a classic Patch 1.07 branch, so version context can matter. See Bend Studio’s Days Gone Steam news archive.
Why Days Gone can feel laggy on PS5 Remastered
On base PS5, the selected graphics mode changes the frame-rate target. Bend Studio described Performance mode as targeting 60 FPS at 1440p and Quality mode as targeting 30 FPS at native 4K. A game running near the Quality mode’s 30 FPS target may feel less smooth than Performance mode without indicating a fault.
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Rank #3
Bend Studio’s April 18, 2025 post listed these PS5 Pro targets as well. All the modes output at 4K; these are developer-stated targets, not a guarantee of an identical frame rate in every scene.
| PS5 Remastered mode | Base PS5 target | PS5 Pro target |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 1440p; targets 60 FPS | 1800p; targets 60 FPS |
| Quality | Native 4K; targets 30 FPS | 2880p; targets 30 FPS |
| Enhanced | Not listed for base PS5 in Bend Studio’s post | 1584p; targets 60 FPS with PSSR |
Bend Studio’s post also described a 40 FPS mode as forthcoming at the time. That announcement does not establish whether the mode is currently available, so check the game’s present settings rather than assuming it is. See Bend Studio’s April 18, 2025 Remastered and PC update post.
Rank #4
- Expansive Open World Action – Exemplifying truly free-form gameplay, Days Gone offers freedom to explore, strategize and play “your way” in the vast high-desert of the Pacific Northwest. The hazardous environments, filled with carved out ridges, mountains, caves, cliffs mines and river basins, deliver a breathtaking backdrop to an equally diverse style of gameplay.
- Emergent Gameplay – Featuring fully explorable environments and dynamic AI enemies, players will rely on their own abilities to strategize, craft weapons and tools, explore the world, and engage in combat. With almost every car, building and environment searchable, Days Gone delivers emergent gameplay possibilities, making a player’s approach to combat and discovery a vital part of the experience.
- Stunning, Dynamic Graphics – Using the power of PlayStation 4 and Unreal Engine 4, Bend Studio has developed a high volume of rendering and gameplay technology to deliver an incredibly realistic open world experience. Realistic weather effects, such as rain, wind, snow and day-night cycles impact the gameplay. The game’s lighting is all real-time and reacts dynamically, the way the human iris does, as players move from one location to the next.
A practical troubleshooting order
- Record the platform, edition and symptom. Note whether the issue is sustained low FPS, gameplay stutter, loading, intro-video stutter or perceived control delay.
- On PC, compare every major component with Sony’s minimum requirements. Check Windows, CPU, RAM and GPU, rather than treating one specification as a complete diagnosis.
- Update Windows and hardware drivers. Sony’s guidance includes graphics, sound, motherboard and processor drivers.
- Test Sony’s configuration checks. Temporarily disable SLI and extra monitors, and return overclocked hardware to stock. Change one thing at a time so you can tell whether it affected the symptom.
- Check your GPU and game build. If you use Intel Arc, account for Intel’s documented issue without assuming a workaround. On other PCs, check whether the game is up to date and whether the stutter is confined to an intro movie.
- On PS5 Remastered, inspect the graphics mode. Compare the selected mode with its stated frame-rate target before treating 30 FPS as a malfunction.
- If the game crashes or remains unusable, use official support. Sony advises submitting an in-game crash report when available and consulting its support page.
Is it my PC, or is it the game?
It could be either, and the symptom narrows the possibilities. A PC below the listed minimums, outdated drivers, an overclock or a display configuration covered by Sony’s guidance are reasonable checks. Intel Arc users have a vendor-documented, GPU-specific issue. Meanwhile, Bend Studio’s patch notes show that updates have included streaming performance improvements, and a stuttering intro movie was tracked separately from gameplay performance. None of these facts diagnoses every player; use your platform, GPU, game build and the exact moment of the slowdown to choose the relevant check.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Play the series that revolutionized storytelling in games. The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series contains all 4 Seasons, 400 Days DLC, and The Walking Dead: Michonne.
- “Graphic black” art style brings Season 4's enhanced visual style to all previous seasons of the acclaimed series.
- Exclusive looks at the making of the game from the developers, VO artists, and other team members that brought Clementine’s story to life.
- Character performances, lip syncing, and other gameplay and UI enhancements make this the definitive Telltale’s The Walking Dead experience.
- Music player that includes 140+ tracks across all seasons, art gallery, 3D model viewer with playable voice lines, & new 3D front end.
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