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Start with the newest Acts of Blood demo/build, confirm where your PC sits against the official hardware tiers, and test the two shadow controls before lowering the entire preset. A 2026 Steam Community report found that Shadow Quality set to Normal together with Virtual Shadow Maps disabled reduced GPU usage by up to 30% on that user’s system. That is an anecdotal lead, not a guaranteed FPS increase, so measure frame time on your own hardware.
The quickest route to smoother Acts of Blood performance
Use this order rather than immediately selecting Low or Medium:
- Install the latest available demo/build. Developer updates mention improved lighting optimization and later improved asset optimization and performance.
- Choose a frame-rate target that matches your monitor and the type of consistency you want. There is no official universal FPS target for Acts of Blood.
- Test Shadow Quality: Normal.
- Disable Virtual Shadow Maps and retest.
- Compare measured frame time, GPU use and image quality. Do not assume a lower preset is faster on every GPU.
- Only after the shadow test, reduce other image-quality controls or resolution one change at a time.
This sequence isolates the only specific game-setting combination identified in a performance report. It also protects image quality: if a later change makes the game look worse without improving frame-time consistency, you can undo that single change.
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Check the build and your hardware first
Acts of Blood is a third-person action/beat-’em-up from Eksil Team, published by Big Fan. Steam currently lists the full PC release as planned for December 2026, while a demo is available. The store page explicitly says that system requirements are subject to change, so treat the figures below as the current baseline for the listed build rather than a permanent guarantee.
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| Tier | Operating system | Processor | Memory | Graphics card | API | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Windows 10 | Intel Core i5-10400F or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | 8 GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 | DirectX 11 | 7 GB |
| Recommended | Windows 10 | Intel Core i5-12400F or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | 16 GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT | DirectX 12 | 7 GB |
The minimum tier is a compatibility and starting-performance reference, not a promise of a particular frame rate. A GTX 1060 or RX 580 may need conservative settings, and performance can vary with resolution, background workload and the specific demo build. The recommended tier gives more headroom, but it still does not establish a guaranteed FPS number.
Update before you judge performance
Performance advice can become stale when the game changes. Install the newest demo/build available to you before changing settings. Developer notes describe improved lighting optimization and a later update with improved asset optimization and performance. If a newer build behaves differently, record that build when comparing results instead of assuming an older report still applies.
Establish a repeatable baseline
Before tuning, create a short test that you can repeat after every change. Use the same scene, camera movement and combat intensity where possible. A busy fight is more useful than an empty room because it exposes shadow and asset-loading costs, but keep the route consistent so one run is comparable with the next.
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Set a target appropriate to your monitor and priorities. A stable lower target is usually preferable to a high average interrupted by severe frame-time spikes. No cited Acts of Blood source supplies an official target or a controlled FPS table, so the target is a personal decision rather than a game requirement.
Record more than the FPS counter
For each run, note:
- Resolution and display mode.
- Preset, Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps state.
- Average FPS if your overlay provides it.
- Whether frame time feels even or arrives in visible bursts.
- GPU utilization and VRAM pressure, when your monitoring overlay exposes them.
- Visible shadow changes, flicker or other distracting artifacts.
Average FPS alone can hide stutter. A setting that produces a slightly lower average but steadier frame time may feel better during combat.
Test Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps first
The most specific Acts of Blood performance report located is a Steam Community user report from 2026. The user paired Shadow Quality: Normal with Virtual Shadow Maps disabled and reported up to 30% lower GPU usage on that particular PC. The report is not a controlled benchmark, does not provide a repeatable test methodology, and does not establish a universal FPS gain. Use it as the first experiment, not as a promise.
Apply the test
- Open the game’s graphics settings.
- Change Shadow Quality to Normal. Leave the other options unchanged.
- Apply the settings, return to the same test scene and record your frame-time behavior and GPU utilization.
- Enable the change again if it helped, then disable Virtual Shadow Maps.
- Apply, repeat the same scene and compare both runs with your baseline.
- Keep the combination only if the improvement is visible in your measurements and the resulting shadows are acceptable.
Test the controls separately as well as together. The report concerns the pair, but separating them tells you whether one option is responsible for most of the change on your system. Restart the current build and repeat once more before treating the result as reliable; a setting that helps only on the first run may be affected by asset streaming or shader preparation.
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Inspect contact shadows around characters, edges of environmental shadows and transitions as the camera moves. Disabling Virtual Shadow Maps can change shadow detail or introduce artifacts; the right choice is the one that meets your visual tolerance while keeping frame time consistent. Do not trade a brief utilization improvement for distracting flicker if you notice it throughout play.
Why Low or Medium can perform worse on some PCs
The same Steam Community discussion reports that Low or Medium presets could reduce performance for some weaker GPUs. That counterintuitive result means the preset label is not a benchmark. A preset may alter several systems at once, and a weaker card can react differently from a faster one. The available evidence does not identify the exact engine mechanism or quantify the loss.
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Therefore, compare the preset on your machine rather than assuming the order is Low, Medium, High and Ultra from fastest to slowest. If Low or Medium gives worse frame time than your current configuration, restore the faster configuration and continue with individual settings. Keep Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps as explicit entries in your notes so a preset change does not silently undo the useful combination.
A complete, one-change-at-a-time tuning workflow
- Update the build. Install the newest demo/build and launch it once so any first-run processing completes before you measure.
- Set the baseline. Use your current resolution and preset, run the same scene and record frame time, GPU utilization and visual quality.
- Test Normal shadows. Change only Shadow Quality to Normal, apply and repeat the scene.
- Test Virtual Shadow Maps. Disable the option, apply and repeat. Also test the two changes individually if you need to identify the larger contributor.
- Check restart persistence. Close and relaunch the current build, then repeat the test. Keep the change only if it remains effective after restarting.
- Test the preset cautiously. Compare Low or Medium with your measured baseline; revert if frame time worsens or image quality falls more than the gain justifies.
- Reduce another heavy-looking control. Select one remaining image-quality option, change it, and repeat the same scene. The available Acts of Blood evidence does not quantify the cost of textures, effects, post-processing or any other individual control, so do not assign a fixed performance ranking without your own measurement.
- Lower resolution only when necessary. If the GPU remains saturated after the shadow tests, try a small resolution reduction and compare clarity at your normal viewing distance.
- Stop when the target is stable. Once frame time meets your target without unacceptable artifacts, save the settings and keep the notes for future builds.
Diagnose whether the limit is the GPU, CPU or frame-time spikes
GPU-bound behavior
If GPU utilization stays high while the frame rate misses your target, start with Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps, then test resolution or another image-quality control. Watch VRAM pressure if your overlay reports it. A resolution reduction generally changes the number of pixels the GPU must process, but the available data contains no measured Acts of Blood result that lets you predict a specific FPS gain.
CPU-bound behavior
If GPU utilization is well below its ceiling while frame time remains poor, lowering resolution may do little. Observe whether the problem appears during crowds, combat or other busy moments. Close unnecessary background workloads, keep the operating system current and compare a consistent scene after each change. The official processor tiers are useful context: the minimum lists an i5-10400F or Ryzen 5 3600, while the recommended tier lists an i5-12400F or Ryzen 5 5600X.
Frame-time spikes rather than a low average
Short stalls can make a nominally high average feel uneven. Repeat the same route after a restart and note whether the spikes happen at the same location. If they disappear on a second pass, asset or shader preparation may have influenced the first run; do not treat that first pass as a setting benchmark. Developer notes about asset optimization are another reason to retest after a major build update.
How to approach resolution and other image-quality controls
Once the shadow experiment is complete, change only one remaining control at a time. Compare five things for every change:
- Average FPS and frame-time stability.
- GPU utilization and VRAM pressure.
- Shadow quality and distracting artifacts.
- Image clarity at your display’s native resolution.
- Whether the result survives a restart of the current build.
Textures, effects, post-processing and resolution may have different costs on different hardware, and no cited source supplies a complete setting-by-setting performance table. It is therefore more accurate to say “this setting helped on this PC in this scene” than to publish a universal ranking. If native-resolution clarity matters, try the shadow changes before reducing resolution; if the GPU is still the limiting component, test resolution in small steps and stop when text or distant geometry becomes uncomfortably soft.
When an upgrade is more sensible than further tweaking
Compare your system with both official tiers. A machine below the GTX 1060/RX 580 minimum GPU class, below the listed processor tier or with less than 8 GB of RAM may have limited room for settings changes. If your hardware is around the recommended RTX 3060/RX 6600 XT class, persistent problems should first be checked against build version, frame-time behavior and the shadow settings before assuming an upgrade is required.
An upgrade is a hardware decision, not a guaranteed fix based on the available evidence: there are no controlled FPS results by GPU, resolution or preset. If your current card remains saturated after the shadow tests and modest image-quality reductions, a faster GPU is the direct way to add graphics headroom. If the GPU is not busy but the processor is limiting busy scenes, a CPU or platform change may matter more. Confirm the bottleneck with monitoring rather than buying from an FPS number that has not been established.
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“I changed the preset and performance got worse.”
Restore the previous preset, then test Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps individually. The reported behavior on weaker GPUs shows why preset names cannot substitute for measurement.
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“Disabling Virtual Shadow Maps did not help.”
Keep it enabled if the visual result is preferable or your measurements show no benefit. The reported up-to-30% reduction applied to one user’s PC, not every configuration. Check that the setting remains disabled after applying it and after restarting the game.
“The game looks better but still stutters.”
Look at frame-time consistency rather than average FPS. Repeat the same scene after a restart, note whether spikes recur in the same places and check GPU versus CPU utilization. A lower target with steadier frame time may be preferable to a higher but erratic average.
“The demo ran differently after an update.”
Record the new build and repeat your baseline. Developer updates have mentioned lighting and asset-performance improvements, and Steam warns that requirements can change. Do not assume a setting that helped an earlier demo remains optimal.
“My PC is below the minimum.”
Try the shadow sequence only if you can run the demo reliably enough to compare results, but set expectations appropriately. The listed minimum is GTX 1060 or RX 580 graphics, an i5-10400F or Ryzen 5 3600, 8 GB of RAM, DirectX 11 and 7 GB of storage. If your hardware is below that tier, a hardware upgrade may be the next practical step rather than progressively disabling every visual feature.
Keep a small settings record
A short record prevents you from losing a good configuration when a preset or update changes several options at once. Use a note like this for each test:
Build: [demo/build identifier]
Scene: [repeatable location or route]
Resolution: [width x height]
Preset: [name shown in game]
Shadow Quality: [value]
Virtual Shadow Maps: [enabled/disabled]
Target: [your chosen FPS or frame-time goal]
Observed: [average FPS, frame-time behavior, GPU use]
Image notes: [clarity, shadow artifacts]
Restart retest: [same result/different result]Keep the values in <code> only as a template; replace them with your own observations. This is more useful than copying a universal “best settings” list because the available evidence does not provide controlled results for every GPU or resolution.
What the evidence can and cannot promise
The official hardware tiers establish a current minimum and recommended starting point, not a guaranteed frame rate. The only specific game-setting performance report identified is an anecdotal 2026 user report pairing Normal Shadow Quality with disabled Virtual Shadow Maps and observing up to 30% lower GPU usage on that system. No controlled benchmark, official frame-rate target, complete setting-by-setting table or reproducible test methodology establishes universal FPS numbers for Acts of Blood.
Use the shadow pair as your first test, validate every change on the latest build, and make later reductions according to measured frame time and acceptable image quality. Revisit the process after major updates, especially while the store listing still describes the December 2026 full release as planned and warns that requirements may change.
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