Are Ultrawide 21:9 Monitors the Future of PC Gaming?

Living the 21:9 Life!

Ultrawide is all about immersion, and that’s even more true with the X34 monitor because 1) it’s freaking massive, and 2) it’s slightly curved design helps fill your peripheral vision. Of course, the increased resolution and screen space is going to be awesome for productivity. With such a wide screen you can very easily side-by-side multiple browser windows, and that’s great for those who spend a lot of time working at their computer. However, I stick my tongue out and blow a big raspberry, because I’m all about the games with this monitor today.

There’s already a lot of games that offer native 21:9 support, and for those that don’t, there are a growing number of fan-made fixes and tools cropping up to enable it where possible. Some games are completely locked down however, so do your reserach with a quick google. One prime example is Resident Evil 7, you’ll be playing with black bars on the left and right side of the screen, as the gameplay is reliant on a narrow FOV.

So many new games work perfectly right off the bad though, such as Mass Effect Andromeda. When flying through space or exploring planets, the increase width really brings the world alive, allowing you to explore more easily, see more enemies around you, and just get lost in the scenery.

This is one I wasn’t expecting to have native support, but Stardew Valley has become one of my favourite games in general, and even more so in ultrawide. On 16:9 I could only just see the side of the red roof hut on the left, but with ultrawide, I can see my right past my greenhouse, almost to the far left edge of the map! It’s clear that 21:9 is well suited to top-down games, and with League of Legends working, and a few other RTS style games too, you get a big advantage.

No Man’s sky is another great example, and when flying over planets looking for resources, the extra width is most welcome. Personally, I find that having more stars around me in the space scenes gives a far greater sense of scale to the game. If you’re a fan of space games, you’ll be happy to know that Star Citizen also supports this format, as does Elite: Dangerous.

FPS gaming gets a nice perk too, as you get a much better view of the environment. This could be very handy in competitive games such as Battlefield 1, as with 16:9 you might not see the enemy in a building off to the side, with this, you will!