Series X on par with PS5
- by Ben Kerry
Roughly seven days after release, Digital Foundry has published its technical breakdown of Cronos: The New Dawn, examining both the Xbox Series X and Series S builds of the Bloober Team shooter.
We’ve embedded the DF critique up top, but if you prefer text to video, here’s a quick summary. On Series X there isn’t much to highlight—players get a choice between a 30FPS and a 60FPS preset, and the metrics largely mirror those of the PS5 release, landing right where you’d anticipate.
Yet, as usual, the Xbox Series S situation is trickier. That SKU ships with a solitary 30FPS option, and Bloober has implemented several compromises to achieve that target. Mercifully, the frame-pacing is “rock-solid” on Series S, indicating the studio has wrung solid performance out of Microsoft’s budget box.
“The concessions on Series S go beyond simply dialing back to 720p. Additional parameters are pared down—most notably, texture fidelity is reduced to fit within the console’s tighter RAM budget and narrower memory bandwidth.
Moreover […] shadow draw distance suffers a steeper drop on Series S, resulting in more shimmering, blocky silhouettes cast by your flashlight at longer range.
Lastly, volumetric fog is visibly pared back on Series S—even lower than the performance preset on the other machines—producing stark, low-resolution shafts of light from spotlamps. Everything else in the experience remains intact on Series S.”
So that’s the skinny on image quality and frame-rate, and for a summary of how the title fared with reviewers overall, check our recent Cronos: The New Dawn review roundup below.
What are your thoughts, team? Sound off on these compromises down in the comments.
[source youtu.be]
Ben serves as a News Writer for Pure Xbox, gravitating toward action, racing, and good old-fashioned shoot-outs in any Xbox outing he can grab. When he isn’t white-knuckling a gamepad like it’s life support, he fills his hours spinning vinyl that’s decades older than he is, catching football on TV, and almost certainly grabbing a bite somewhere.
