GamingFan4Lyf

Having a PC with a 165Hz monitor, I finally appreciate high frame rate.

Visually, I couldn't tell you if a game was running at 60 or 120fps, but the near-instant input response is wonderful - especially for games where timing is critical.

No one should be surprised or upset by this. Ensuring the game works great on your platform(s) first should be the priority before porting games to other platforms (where applicable).

Why should he even have to explain himself about the gap in release?! It's a game made by a Microsoft studio being prioritized for Microsoft platforms.

@Medic_alert It’s taken me a little bit to get used to the gameplay as well.

The nice thing, though, is that, if you are only facing one person in area, there is no penalty for running up and dishing out the pain if you want a little more action.

It’s not like alerting an isolated person suddenly brings down every enemy on top of you.

I got tired of sneaking around at times and just ran up and beat an enemy or two down with whip, bottles, and punches.

But, I also haven’t seemed to fight any enemies with guns, yet.

@Medic_alert You don't have to come out of a crouch for a Stealth Kill.

That being said, I do feel like there should be an option to enable some kind of a cursor change indicating that a Stealth Kill will happen.

I can understand those who want to use Indy's hand motion as an indicator for immersive purposes (he draws back the weapon in his hand if you didn't notice), but I can see where that may not be enough of an indicator (especially in dark rooms)

A few things I noticed with the Game Pass version on PC:

No Exclusive Fullscreen option. Seriously? I believe the Steam version does have the option. This doesn't seem like a huge deal, but Exclusive Fullscreen boosts performance over Borderless Window.

Frame Gen is broken. It literally does nothing.

This game does really, really weird stuff if you don't have the proper settings and you are trying to test out Path Tracing.

I don't mean in the "Hey I have this cranked up too high I better turn it down", I mean in a "Wow the game was just running at 53fps, but I switch to 1080p from 1440p to see how much of an impact it has and now it's running at 23fps."

Or turning off Vsync suddenly causes the game to drop frames and stutter because VRAM allocation suddenly spiked.

Or leaving the framerate limiter to 1000fps causes performance issues because, VRAM allocation spiked.

I was finally able to get this game running using full Path Tracing using a 4070 Super at around 60+fps (sometimes dips to like 53, but I have a G-Sync display, so it feels fine), but I had to do some incredibly weird stuff in order to get to it:

I had to leave V-sync set to Adaptive (I have V-sync already set at the driver level, so this is incredibly redundant)

I had to lower the Frame Limiter from 1000fps down to 165 (to match my monitors display).

I have to keep Frame Generation off (because even though it does nothing, VRAM still gets a slight bump). Having this enabled, though, also turns off VSync...which...seems to be required to be enabled for good performance for some weird reason.

The game also does weird thing with VRAM where I have had the same settings fluctuate depending on if I restart the game or not. Made it difficult to profile the game. EDIT: This may be due to the DLSS bug that's been noted.

The only setting that actually "made sense" was turning down Texture Cache one notch from Supreme to "Very Ultra" (what a name!) because enabling Path Tracing in Supreme Texture Cache at 1440p is just slightly over VRAM budget.

Granted, none of this is an issue if I didn't want to use Path Tracing. Game just runs well above 60 at Supreme settings. It's just that when you start tinkering with Path Tracing that all the weird anomalies were spotted since the settings actually matter in this case.

Other than the weird settings menu behavior, this game is solid! I am loving it!

UPDATE: Turns out all these configuring problems I was having were all related to the DLSS bug that is noted in the patch notes. I have now been able to play game at Supreme Settings, Vsync Off, and Full Path tracing at 1440p output with DLSS Set to Balanced (a little over 800p native). Frame Gen is, however, broken. The game still runs above 60fps even in "taxing" areas, so I am not too fussed if it doesn't work.

@Bigmanfan If you haven’t seen, here is what DF recommends for your setup at 1080p on 8GB:

Medium Texture Cache (Medium Shadow quality and Low Hair quality are also recommended to maintain optimal performance).

Everything else is Max settings.

@Bigmanfan According to Digital Foundry, VRAM. If you crank the game's Texture Cache too high for your GPU you can really mess up the game. I think Shadows also ramps up the VRAM usage too.

Otherwise, the rest of the game's settings can be cranked as high as they can go without penalty.

Since the Series S already uses pretty low textures compared to other platforms, it's light on VRAM.

If you have at least a 12GB GPU, you can crank the game to it's highest at 1440p, but need to drop Texture Cache down a notch if you want 4K.

8GB you will need to drop both Texture Cache and Shadows and 1080p seems to be the sweet spot.

NOTE: These settings may change dramatically when Path Tracing is introduced to the game on release day.

@smoreon Completely agree! I mean, I have never heard of the last 2 games Nightdive did, but I have them on a wishlist now and keep visibility on them.

They would have been completely lost to time had Nightdive not stepped in.

661 hours for the year?! Wow, Phil really loves his gaming!

I don't even know if I have had close to 661 hours of gaming this year across Xbox, PC, Switch, and PlayStation.

I just checked my Year in Review, and I can definitely tell that my Xbox gaming habits shrunk significantly in 2024.

It was a pretty PS5-heavy year for me, and I got rid of my Series X a couple months ago when I got a PC.

When a game that dropped on Game Pass only a few days ago shows up in the Top 5 (Nine Sols), you know it's been a light year on Xbox!

I had 152 hours for Xbox (71 hours on console and 81 hours on PC).

I am in Top 20% for time played
Top 3% for Gamescore
Top 2% for Achievements Earned

Top 10 games for me:
Vampire Survivors
Resident Evil 4
Lords of the Fallen
Alone in the Dark
Nine Sols
Hellblade II
Final Fantasy XIV (sheesh, really?)
Still Wakes the Deep
Alan Wake II
Doom 3

2025 probably won't be anything to note because I only use the Xbox App for Game Pass games, and I use Steam, GOG, and Epic for everything else.

Nightdive really just found it's niche bringing back old games because someone at the studio liked the game - rather than worrying so much about review scores.

I mean, it's done some pretty...obscure titles...yet, NIghtdive carries on!

I am sure getting things like getting Doom 1 & 2, Star Wars Dark Forces Remastered, and System Shock offsets the "questionable" games it chooses to modernize.

I am glad Nightdive exists, even if some of its output is more of a curio than a masterpiece.

"Let's put Nintendo aside for a second, because they live in their Own Private Idaho, where the laws of physics apply in different sorts of ways."

LOL! Spot on!

@oopsiezz Well, you are in the Zone after all. Anomalies everywhere. It's called Immersive Features - not bugs!

@LogicStrikesAgain Such is always the case as these executives actually have respect for each other despite being competitors professionally.

If any lesson is to be learned from this, it's to ensure the game is solid out of the gate rather than continue this trend of release now and patch later.

Now, I will give this developer a little leeway. It's had to deal with tanks and bombs outside their homes, move studio operations to a whole new country, lose teammates to war, etc.

It's essentially had a troubled development for reasons outside of its control.

I'd say they did the best they could under the circumstances and perhaps couldn't afford to delay the game any longer after already delaying the game multiple times.

Perhaps the developer felt that it would have the day 0 patch ready before review time, but missed the mark.

It does seem like the community is also more forgiving than the reviewers because they got to play a game that, while still "rough around the edges" was much more playable than what reviewers had access to - it was enough to get the game 1 million sales in 2 days.

The good thing is, the game isn't going anywhere. On PC it can be played indefinitely. And as long as consoles makers continue to support backwards compatibility from here on out, it can be played indefinitely there, too.

[Cue Indiana Jones theme]

@Banjo- It doesn't matter if Nintendo is considered competition or not, what matters is whether Sony put wording in the contract that says "anything but Xbox" or not. Are Switch ports on the table (despite being incredibly unlikely)?

Sony could very well have had a blanket "home console exclusive" agreement excluding any and all closed ecosystem home consoles that may exist out there - no matter who made it (are there any other closed system consoles beyond PlayStation out there other than Switch and Xbox??).

The wording is the important part we don't know.

There are plenty of games out there that release on PC, Switch, and PlayStation that don't get released on Xbox. So, if there are these exclusionary practices going on to directly target Microsoft, they need to be brought to light - with actual documentation stating as such.

Just because Phil feels like Sony is discriminating against Xbox by paying for console exclusivity, doesn't mean the contract actually states that only Xbox is being discriminated against - Nintendo could also be excluded in that contract.

That changes the term from "Exclusion Deal" to "Console Exclusive Deal" in my book.

@Banjo- Without seeing the documents, though, do we really know if it's written in the language to single out Xbox?

I mean, sure, we know they are only on Sony's console and can release on PC. But are Switch ports on the table (assuming the companies want to try to port the game to the console)?

The problem with these articles is that there is no link to the evidence pointing to that exact language saying where Xbox itself is excluded. I would think these documents are public record.

If it's just language that says the games are to only be released on Sony console and mobile/PC, then, while it sucks, is more of a normal exclusivity deal.

Phil Spencer can claim that Xbox is getting unfair treatment, but what we don't know is if Nintendo is also getting the unfair treatment.

I'm not saying you are wrong and the others are right. I just want to see the actual evidence, not just Phil's interpretation of the evidence.

This game has been a total mess. It's a shame because I really like the first game. I guess they got too ambitious with this one.

And anyone saying "Series S holding it back", this game hasn't been right for PC since it released, either.

@MeanBeanEgg @TeiGekiLord @Banjo-

I think the issue is that we actually don't know if Xbox is specifically singled out of the deals Sony made.

What we do know is that there are games Sony has made deals with that also released on PC, but not Xbox. But what we don't know is if Xbox is specifically mentioned in the language or if it's just other consoles all together.

It's possible that Nintendo is excluded as well, and Sony proposed a "console exclusivity" deal.

But if Xbox is specifically named in these deals, that isn't normal - and, honestly, I have no idea how that's something that would even fly with regulatory committees.

It's one thing to pay a third-party to make a game for your console and only your console or to have a set window where said game is available everywhere after the agreed amount of exclusivity time expires.

It's a whole other thing to pay to have a timed exclusive to your console and allow all but your direct competitor to get the game when that window expires.

Humor is a dangerous game these days.

It's sad when I have to put "NOTE: joke" if I ever make a joke about something some may disagree with just to get my point across that I am just being silly before having my head ripped off.

Maybe these studios like being COD factories, but I am kind of sad that the Microsoft acquisition didn't open up opportunities for these studios to work on something new and different.

I honestly don't expect Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy to be on Xbox until after at least 1 year after the final game is released.

Something tells me that, while FF7R trilogy can be released on PC, Sony put a deal in place that none of the games in the series can release on another console until after the trilogy is complete on PlayStation.

@NEStalgia I do wonder why a lot of publishers skip Microsoft Store on PC. I get why GOG would be skipped as games 100% have to be DRM-free (and some publishers probably don't want that for modern games).

But I would think Microsoft Store would be a publishers dream since games are so tightly controlled on that side.

Maybe a Game Pass requirement as most modern games that release on Microsoft Store also released on Game Pass at one point?
Maybe Microsoft takes more of a cut than the other store fronts?
Maybe a more strict certification check on Microsoft Store?
I can't imagine the API for Achievements and stuff would be anymore more or less difficult than the Xbox version of a game, so I can't imagine that would be an issue - or maybe it is?

@Dalamar73 I have debated using GOG more than Steam, but the DRM-free requirement seems like a deterrent for a lot of publishers and the games I want aren't listed there.

The only games I have actually bought on GOG are some classic point-and-click adventure games, Warcraft 1 & 2, Diablo, The Witcher 2, and Cyberpunk 2077. I get a ton of free games for GOG off Prime Gaming and other various giveaways (I got The Witcher and the Witcher 3 for free somehow, but don't remember the specifics).

I really should consider GOG more, though, as it really is the only platform where you have some semblance of "full ownership" of your games (assuming you want to store the offline installers somewhere, that is).

@Wisegamer It makes sense if you are a hybrid Xbox/PC gamer. But for the PC purists, anywhere else is a better option than the Microsoft Store.

I personally have no problems with it.

I am glad I have some of the digital library I had on Xbox carried over to PC - saves me money now that I don't have a Series X anymore.

Plus, I have GPU until at least 2026, so I am enjoying the benefits on PC as well.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner "Because if PC are buying it, they haven’t moved over to PC gamepass, why?"

Because PC gamers hate Windows Store versions of games - plain and simple. They would rather be able to buy it on Steam than use the Microsoft Store version that is essentially a completely locked up version of the game (i.e. unless the game has official Mod support built into the game, you can't touch any of the game files).

Now, if Microsoft were able to cut a deal with Steam where users could link Game Pass subscriptions and download Steam versions, I bet that would boost GP subs on PC - but it would also cannibalize Steam sales (so the deal would need to be massive).

I uninstalled this. I mostly just wanted to see how it ran on my PC. It ran pretty good (almost always above 75fps) barring the instant dip in performance in cities.

I didn't encounter any bugs (but I only played for an hour). I do agree that the invisible enemies are a giant pain in the butt. Not only are they hard to hit, but they are also bullet sponges.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games just aren't for me, though. It's a pretty hardcore style game that I don't have the patience to play.

I had the original way back when via a service that no longer exists (Direct2Drive) and my account is long gone - so I don't have access to it anymore. It didn't click with me then, either, so I don't even bother rebuying it.

I do hope that it can button up the rough edges, though, as I know there is an audience out there for it - I'm just not that audience.

I dunno, looks like a typical third-person mode for a game that is meant to be played in first-person.

I think it's mostly the way the camera moves that detracts from it having that third-person feel.

After an hour of playing on PC, I didn't notice any bugs or performance issues (aside from framerate taking a hit when in a city).

Now, I know this game is probably huge, so an hour doesn't mean much. But, so far, not a buggy mess, yet!

@Balaam_ Well, that's 100K sales right there. Not a bad start, right?!

@Fishmasterflex96 Microsoft has no control over this game. It is not the publisher. It only had a Game Pass and time exclusivity agreement (and I assume a marketing agreement).

Sure, Microsoft has been a cheerleader for the developer, but the decision to release is up to the publisher...who is also the developer. If the game passes all the proper certification checks for release on Xbox, then there is nothing it can really do to force a delay.

For all we know, the game is already fixed and these reviews aren't based on the patched product. Both this site and Eurogamer are withholding reviews to see if this latest patch irons out a lot the issues - there could be more but these are the only sites I frequent.

A game that was developed with literal war outside their windows and then essentially having to live like refugees in other countries just to have the some semblance of a playable game has some bugs?! Who would have thought?!

I get it, people are tired of games releasing in buggy states. In this case, I think we need to give a little grace and I hope people support the game regardless as the developers went through literal hell to get this out - especially since, judging by the actual text of the lower-scored reviews, the game is fantastic...just buggy.

One could say "delay", but I think the developer probably reached a breaking point to delay even further after delaying...how many times now?

@FraserG Oooooh...I guess I missed that part (probably helps to read the whole article and not just the chart). These Tiers are going to be confusing going forward.

Little Kitty, Big City

I had no idea this left Game Pass.

It was a cute game to play with my daughter.

@Ilyn Of course they would, and it would probably force Sony to change its strategy and we'd probably be having this same conversation with the name's reversed.

Neither one are angels.

All of this, though, is going to crumble and the "age of exclusivity" will end. Either because gaming is just too expensive to hoard to one platform (as Square Enix are now seeing) or because a platform exclusivity is getting too big and regulatory boards start to dig in (like we are seeing with Apple).

If Sony acquires FromSoftware, you can bet the games will never reach Xbox ever again. PC, sure. Switch 2 if it's a viable platform to run whatever future games FS makes. But Sony will definitely single out Xbox from releases because that's Sony's strategy.

Bungie was a very different acquisition because Sony's hope was to continue milking that live service cow across all platforms.

The biggest problem is that people praise Sony for putting its platform first - but people need to be careful what they wish for when Sony chokes competition out completely and runs circles around its customers because it can.

Microsoft may be one of the biggest publishers in the world now, but it's not restricting others to be the only publisher in the world.

@Ilyn I'd play WoW again if it was part of my GPU subscription.

Sometimes good help is all people need.

I put in a report once for The Darkness having red pixels all over the screen when running on my Series X. I used the e-mail option for sending a bug report to engineers.

Nothing. Not a thing. No reply, nothing. I checked up on the bug report myself to find out they couldn't reproduce it and closed the bug.

No response telling me I may need to send my Series X in for repairs. No further investigation. Nothing.

I am sure The Darkness running on Series X isn't a high priority effort, but a follow-up would have been nice.

It was the only game that did this strange "red pixel" thing. So I am not exactly sure what was happening. I got rid of my Series X, so it's a non-issue now.

@Ilyn That's interesting that you can do that. I haven't played WoW since like 2007.

@MeanBeanEgg I know I prefer it - though I have a ton of free games spread across Epic and GOG as well.

I also bought a few oldies off GOG.

Steam gets the most attention.
Epic Games takes second because I have a TON of free games from them
GOG is 3rd.

I have GPU until like 2026 or so, so I will definitely be using it for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Indiana Jones, and Avowed in the near future.

@MeanBeanEgg People don't like Microsoft Store versions of games on PC.

Perhaps it's another alternative that isn't Microsoft Store, but one where Microsoft still gets 100% of the revenue.

@gollumb82 I'm not saying Microsoft doesn't have a future in cloud gaming or taking this route, I'm just saying Microsoft really needs to step up its cloud gaming technologically if it really wants to put xCloud at the forefront - because it's lagging behind in both image quality and input latency (when one would think Microsoft, of all the companies, would be the leader in Cloud as much as Microsoft has invested).

@gollumb82 Perhaps in overall infrastructure (Microsoft has Azure servers everywhere these days), but Sony seems to have the better streaming tech as it can do 4K/HDR while xCloud still seems to be stuck at 1080p.

Nvidia is killing it in the streaming department, though. GeForce Now is darn-near "local" at this point. It can 4K HDR/240 with incredibly low input lag.

Microsoft is supposed to be the leader in cloud, but, the way I see it, it's 3rd in the Cloud gaming department from a technical perspective.

Hopefully this new marketing will help push Microsoft's cloud tech further than the others because it's a pretty big gamble to do this and not have the more advanced tech to back it up!

@OldGamer999 I have such a love-hate relationship with this game.

At times it feels really epic and special, but then the time in between those special moments isn’t nearly as satisfying and I just lose interest and move on to something else for a while.

I am glad it was a freebie with the Nvidia card that came in my prebuilt gaming PC.

@Fiendish-Beaver Gosh, if only there was a studio under Microsoft's umbrella that also knows how to make Fallout games.... 🤔

Looking forward to playing this!

Nice that the developers are providing the option to remove the stop-motion during gameplay for those who are bothered by it. I will be keeping it on.

@themightyant "It feels so wrong, like a bad b-movie clone."

LOL!

I kind of agree with you. The default character kind of feels like the "canon" character the developers wanted you to play.

I am with you on the whole YouTube video weirdness. I'll get Soulsborne videos pop up on my Facebook feed with this crazy purple...something...with weird makeup and funny shape. Drives me nuts!

I go with the default.

I mean, how much does it really matter what the avatar looks like when it's loaded up with armor and is seen from behind 95% of the time (or is first person and you don't see the character at all)?!

I don't care about in-game cosmetic/design features, either.

It's going to be extremely AI driven. Plain and simple.

Chasing native resolutions and native framerates is becoming a pointless effort thanks to advances in AI technology.

The RTX series of GPUs have been a game-changer for PCs. And switching from console-only to an RTX-driven PC is like entering an entirely different generation of gaming.

I play Cyberpunk 2077 completely maxed out with full path-tracing enabled at 1440p output resolution and get anywhere from 75 - 90fps with amazing controller response using a 4070 Super.

However, the native resolution is like 800p (I think I am using DLSS Balanced) and the native framerate is probably in 40s/50s (frame gen doesn't necessarily double framerate, by the way). I am sure I could get very similar results at 4K output (but I'd have to use a more aggressive DLSS setting if I wanted to keep things maxed out).

Thanks to Reflex, the game also feels like I am playing at a higher framerate. Now, I play PC games with a controller, so perhaps keyboard/mouse doesn't feel as responsive, but that doesn't matter much for a console.

Sure, I could turn off path tracing and RT if I wanted and get much higher FPS, but if I can get the best visuals running comfortably over 60fps (even if I have to rely on AI to achieve it), that's the choice I'll make.

Bottom line, AI can make even modest hardware punch well above its weight. So even if Microsoft were to double the power of the Series X, having powerful AI capabilities could "triple" the power of the next console.

But Microsoft's problem isn't power. It needs to do something new to differentiate itself from Sony. Simply playing the power game isn't enough, anymore.

People are pretty much locked into Sony's ecosystem now - they've built up way too much to "start over" on another console. So whatever Microsoft is trying to do, it needs to be able to stand alone as a great secondary machine as well as a primary machine.

The one thing that I really loved about the Series X was the significantly improved load times - even for X1 games.

I think I was in the middle of a playthrough of the last-gen version of Control at the time I got the console (Series X|S upgrade hadn't released yet), and it was like a whole new game as the load times upon load, fast travel, death, etc. just felt so long on X1X but were mere seconds on the new hardware.

When you only have a short window of time to play games, spending 1/4 of that in load screens really kills the mood. So, it was fantastic getting those fast load times.

The other fond memory I had was booting up the console some days to find a game got a Series X|S upgrade thanks to Smart Delivery - even without warning.

The Series X was my primary console with the PS5 and Switch being for exclusives-only, so Smart Delivery was fantastic for ensuring I had the best version of the game possible when I booted up my console.

Good times!

Judas for me. The rest I have zero interest in buying.