I guess you're playing on a laptop. There are some posts here from people with laptops that had problems. It seems that the game doesn't like the resolution and/or refresh rate on some of those. Since you've got integrated and discrete graphics, if you can't find settings on one that the game likes, you could try forcing the game to use the other one and see if you can find settings on that one that work. I think some people said that they had to use some third-party software to set their resolution or rate to something that would allow the game to work.

Another option might be to connect to a TV and play on that instead. I think some have said that that worked for them (or maybe just telling Steam to use "big picture" mode). Even if that's not a long term solution for you, it might be worth trying, if possible. If the game works that way, you know that the game is basically OK, and the problem is probably something about your laptop screen that the game doesn't like.

I'm not playing on a laptop and I have tried all combinations of the video settings that I could think of. And I don't trust myself to find a reliable/safe 3rd party software to fix it either. Is there anything else that you can think of?

Sorry. Just in the habit of thinking integrated graphics = laptop. It doesn't of course, but that's where my mind goes. Anyway ...

What resolution is your monitor?

Are you able to get to the settings in the game?

The resolution is 1920x1080, and yes I can get to the settings in the game.

1920x1080 should be fine. That's what I use. I asked because the game seems to have problems with some higher resolutions.

I would start by having Steam verify the game files (just a standard suggestion when someone has a problem with a Steam game, and it's easy to do).

Is V-Sync on in the game settings? Playing this game without V-Sync can cause various problems. What you described doesn't sound like the typical problem, but it's worth checking. Since some things can override the V-Sync setting in the game, you could have Steam, or something else, display the frame rate when you're in the game, to see if it matches the rate shown in the game settings.

Since you have integrated graphics and a card, you could go into the video card drivers and try to force the game to use one or the other (if one doesn't work, maybe the other one will).

Interestingly, someone else posted recently that they were using 1920x1080 and had a problem with this game. I think they may have fixed it, but I don't know how.

So. as it turns out, the issue was fixed by me connecting my headphones to my computer. I am not sure why it did so, but that's what fixed it. Thank you for your help nonetheless. If you didn't do your thing, going around the forums to help people, I don't think the community for this game would be in a very good state.

OK, that's pretty weird. Thanks for posting that. It may help someone else.