PC Gamer launches bracket tournament to crown gaming's worst graphical effect

PC Gamer has launched a bracket-style tournament to determine gaming's worst graphical effect, pitting common post-processing filters against each other in a series of head-to-head matchups.

The first round features three contests: depth of field versus vignette, chromatic aberration versus dirt, and motion blur versus lens flare. Only the winner of each pairing advances through three total rounds of voting.

Depth of field, which blurs the background when aiming down sights in first-person shooters, appears prominently in games like Gray Zone Warfare. Vignette darkens the edges of the screen to draw player focus toward the center of the frame, a technique visible in Cyberpunk 2077.

PC Gamer has run similar tournaments on contentious graphics settings in the past, inviting readers to vote on which effects should remain in games' settings menus and which deserve removal. The publication frames the tournament as an opportunity for players to settle long-standing debates about whether certain post-processing techniques enhance or detract from gameplay and visual clarity.

Readers can vote on the initial matchups and continue voting through the semi-finals and final round. PC Gamer plans to make the tournament "quick" despite joking about adding regional brackets and quarter-finals.