Update: It's now being reported that Fallout 4's Quality Mode on Xbox Series X|S isn't working properly at the moment, and the game is defaulting to Performance Mode without telling the player. That explains the 60 frames per-second footage you see in the video above, and hopefully the Quality Mode will provide more visual improvements as well.


Original story: The free Fallout 4 next-gen update is out now on Xbox Series X and S (along with PS5 and a special update for PC), and we've spent the past couple of hours giving it test on Series X and comparing it to the old version.

You can see our very provisional results in the video above, and to be honest, there are barely any visual differences whatsoever. The FPS is notably better in the "Quality Mode" Xbox Series X version (in fact, we think it's running at 60FPS rather than Bethesda's intended 30/40FPS), and the shadows and overall lighting seem to be a little bit better, but ultimately, viewing them side-by-side still makes it difficult to tell either version apart!

We should note that the Xbox One version you see in the video is still being played on Xbox Series X (with FPS Boost turned off), so we get the benefit of all the Xbox One X enhancements that were added to the title back in 2017. Still, the takeaway here is that Fallout 4's next-gen version isn't an extensive visual remaster compared to the original.

And that's OK, because the big focus is in the FPS and resolution department. Despite what Bethesda says, Fallout 4 appears to be running at a smooth 60FPS across all Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S modes right now, and the Quality Mode is apparently rendered in 4K on Series X with no dynamic resolution adjustments required.

How are you finding the Fallout 4 next-gen update on Xbox so far? We'd love to hear from you down below.