I think it really depends on how optimised JAW plan on making it. I hate to bring up Sonic Generations again, but it really does an astounding job of creating detailed level landscape with depth and volume.
You can see in
this selection of screenshots exactly how good it looks.
Here’s videos of it in action:
Rooftop Run
Chemical Plant
Green Hill
Now, this isn’t a perfect comparison. Generations obviously goes for a cartoon-ish style over realism. But the principles remain the same – it utilises detailed backgrounds in a 2.5D realm to produce spectacular levels. It’s a lot more fast-paced than any Oddworld game, too, which I would say counts in Abe HD’s favor – Generations has to render its backgrounds at a much faster rate than Abe HD likely will, which means Abe would likely be able to up its background quality and still retain a similar performance.
One last thing about Generations: it’s fairly demanding in terms of PC specs.
:
Minimum:
OS: Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2x2.0GHz) or AMD equivalent
Memory: 2GB RAM (XP)/3GB RAM (Windows 7 / Vista)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 (512MB) / ATI Radeon HD 2900 (512MB)
DirectX®:
Hard Drive: 11 GB free hard drive space
Sound:
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That brings me back to my original point. The quality of Abe HD’s graphics likely depends on how far they are planning to go with optimisation. If the team decide they want Abe HD to be playable on shitty computers, there’s simply no way full-3D graphics would hold up to the level people would want. So I think JAW are going to have to think very carefully about who their PC offering will be aimed at.
Personally, I think they shouldn’t be too concerned about the PC specs – at the end of the day, the people who buy a game on Steam either have a capable PC (or intend to have one), or don’t check the minimum requirements first.
And if they can’t run it? Consoles are still around.