Digital Foundry has given some initial thoughts on the recent FPS Boost for Dishonored: Definitive Edition and Prey on Xbox Series X even going as far to say as the latter is hitting "remaster territory."
Starting off with Prey, they mentioned about troubles that plagued the last-gen release of the game on consoles, citing issues such as "performance problems, input lag issues and some extended loading times". But with FPS Boost, many of these issues are said to have been resolved, including snappy loading times.
"With FPS Boost enabled, all performance issues are resolved, both next-gen machines delivering a nigh-on perfect 60 frames per second, punctuated only by some checkpoint stutter. But the performance boost is just one part of the equation - there's a similar improvement in input lag, comprehensively addressing one of the last-gen version's biggest issues."
Speaking about Dishonored: Definitive Edition, the change isn't quite as impressive, but still extremely noteworthy. Again, the game aims to hit 60 frames per second, but unlike Prey, doesn't manage to capture it as easily, causing UI elements on screen to stutter. That said, Digital Foundry was still impressed with the results.
"What really caught my eye here was the gigantic improvement to loading times. In my tests, extended waits are reduced to just a couple of seconds - talk about a night and day improvement!
Quite how the Xbox Compatibility Team has pulled this off remains to be seen, but it's easily the biggest boost to loading times I've seen yet - and I wouldn't be surprised if key data is cached into memory to facilitate these massive reductions in loading times. Again, the change is transformative.
It seems the biggest takeaway from Digital Foundry's thoughts is not only the increased frame rates, but how they actively affect the way the game is played. It's said they basically transform some of these titles into next-gen experiences and elevate them above their original versions. Hopefully this is a good sign going forward that more games will be given FPS Boosts which essentially work out as free next-gen updates.
Are you happy with FPS Boost so far? Let us know in the comments below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 14
8 hours into this so far and loving it.
Looks great with the One X enhancements, the 60FPS is like butter and the load times next to none existent.
I've had to lower the difficulty to easy though because I'm rubbish at these ammo management style games! LOL
Fantastic news! I've only just finished downloading Prey and can't wait to give it a go
Now Ryse, please. Pretty please.
And Sonic
Xbox is the home of freemasters!!!
First Dishonored is one of my favorite games. I'm tempted to replay it.
Never played Prey might give it a bash with this update. Any good?
Of course its transformed these games and the way they feel to play. When both originally released, these were both capped to 30fps but rarely hit 30fps.
60fps isn't 'just' about making the image 'look' smoother in motion as many seem to think its just purely a 'visual' benefit, the fact the game is 'updating' at 60 times a second means that controller input is updated 60x a second too. If the game is checking for your input every 16.6ms to see what action needs to be implemented for that frame, its going to reduce input lag and 120fps reduces that further too. Its not about smoothing out the image, its about speeding up the responsiveness.
I don't know if that alone is responsible for the improvement as MS also added Dynamic Latency Input (DLI) to the Series consoles. They devised a solution in which the new controller samples and transmits the most up-to-date input just before the game asks for it. The result is “just in time” delivery and the system now precisely keeps the controller in sync with the game for both analog and digital inputs. The most update-to-date input arrives at the console just before it’s needed by the game. The result: significantly lower controller latency but whether this takes advantage of that too, I don't know.
Given the choice of a unlocked, 20-30fps game with sluggish response (although was improved later) and exceptionally intrusive loading or a minimum 60fps with much better responsive input and near instantaneous loading, of course its going to be transformative.
This has been one of my main arguments with people who don't see the point in upgrading to better hardware whilst their current hardware will let them access these games. Why buy an XB1X when the XB1S has all the same games? Why buy a Series S/X at the moment when you can play all the games on XB1 currently (apart from Medium of course). Why? because they offer more games that play at 60fps (for improved responsiveness) as well as 'look' better - even on a HD TV as the XB1S struggled to deliver 1:1 pixel mapping so you have much more upscale blur. Even if the XB1X was capped at 30, generally it held 30 a lot better than XB1S but having 60fps options transformed how those games felt to play.
Now the Series S/X can offer more 60fps experiences and whilst some games perhaps doesn't make as much of a difference in, but in most, it does. Let alone any other advantages these consoles offer - like Loading Times, Quick Resume, Auto HDR, Higher quality, more immersive visuals etc.
As DF said, you would need a pretty decent high end PC to run these games at 60fps and we can do this on a £450 console!
This is incredible news. I've held off playing Prey for ages after playing about an hour on a couple of occasions. This will definitely get me back in for the third attempt. Really enjoyed the first hour too, just never stayed with it for some reason.
Xbox is absolutely killing it with these updates.. Feels like the 360 era again..
@Jaxx420 Prey’s absolutely brilliant! Too nay people slept on it.
Did you like Bioshock or Dishonored? It’s sorta an extension of those two with a little more freedom.
@themightyant wasnt a fan of Infinite as much as first two Bioshocks but love the series. Same with Dishonored just playing through Dishonored 2 at the mo.
@Jaxx420 I felt the same with Infinite, good game but not quite as good as 1. 2 was mixed bag. Prey is closer to Bioshock (1) and Dishonored with a little Thief/System Shock in there as well with a Sci-Fi flavour.
If you enjoyed those I am 99.9% confident you will LOVE, or at the very least really enjoy, Prey.
It's a real shame they used a completely separate IP as the name (it has no relation)... and it was marketed so poorly... and it launched/reviewed with bugs as honestly it's a really great game without the audience it deserves.
My biggest hype for Bethesda + Xbox is that Arkane can hopefully now just keep on making the really great games they have been doing without the sword over their heads.
@themightyant would love a third Dishonored
Dang, I just finished Prey before the FPS boost. It was still smooth even before so I cannot imagine it with the boost! I may check it out soon - my anxiety had just returned to normal after finally completing it. LOL
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