Summary
Despite the excitement that’s steadily building aroundAvowed,Xbox Series X players won’t be pleased to hear about how the game plays on the console. Despite the sheer power inside Microsoft’s box, developers creating for the Xbox Series X often struggle to reach a stable 60fps, an issue that’s caused some frustration in the community. Many had hoped that the first few games to miss the 60fps window were largely impacted by studios still warming up to the new hardware but four years in, that seems more and more unlikely.
PerIGN,Obsidian Entertainment confirmed thatAvowedwill run at a baseline of 30 frames-a-second on both the Xbox Series X and Series S. The studio explained that it elected to aim for a lower frame rate to enable the creative team to build a more visually impressive game, further noting that since it’s a single-player RPG, players “don’t necessarily need that 60 frames.” Running at 30fps on Series X|S allowsAvowedto sport “juicer” VFX and lighting, with art director Matt Hansen reassuring consumers that it runs “pretty smooth for how visually dense it is.”
“We Want Players To Experiment”: Avowed Developers Explain How Combat Is All Up To You
Avowed’s game director Carrie Patel and art director Matthew Hansen explain how the combat and skill system was built for every type of playstyle.
Is The Xbox Series S To Blame?
It’s Difficult To Know For Sure…
Obsidian does clarify thatit opted to work with a lower baseline FPS to better facilitate the creation of a massive, detailed world, but that hasn’t stopped fans from raising a few eyebrows. Given how common it is for first-party Xbox exclusives to ship with a standard 30fps target, many have begun to suspect whether catering for both the Series X and the weaker Series S is to blame. The smaller console is great for running less demanding games, but it’s not capable of hitting the benchmarks set by its bigger sibling.
While it may be the case that the Series S can’t handle a visually dense game likeAvowedrunning at 60fps, it’s still frustrating that developers aren’t including an option to allow users to select how they want to run their games. Having the ability to choose between Visuals and Performance isn’t a new idea, solaunching without the functionality is odd, especially when many of PlayStation’s first-party titles include the setting. Fortunately, it’s usually added with a post-launch update;Starfieldrecently includedVisual and Performance mode settings for the Series S.
Despite not hitting a baseline 60fps,Avowedis stillshaping up to be an incredible RPG.Tailored by a studio with a reputation for delivering smarty, well-written adventures in complicated universes,Obsidian’s talent will hopefully be on full display. The game is set to launch in February 2025, which is just long enough to play through some of thedeveloper’s classics likePillars of EternityandFallout: New Vegas.
