Xbox Recreation Pass Title Atomfall Looks ‘Distractingly Closing-Gen’, Says Tech Review

With Atomfall now available in Early Access, we are starting to see gameplay clips emerging online – and indeed, the team at Digital Foundry has conducted a detailed examination of the game on current-gen consoles and PC.

However, even though the team’s technical analysis focused on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in terms of consoles, DF does go so far as to state that Atomfall appears “distractioningly last-gen” on any platform it runs on. Here’s some context for that bold statement:

Texture fidelity is noticeably lacking on most current-gen systems, to begin with, as low-resolution assets are used for a vast number of surfaces. Screen space reflections (SSR) are also a distraction, with the method used on consoles causing large bodies of water to flicker with player movement. Finally, image quality leaves much to be desired, mainly due to the game’s anti-aliasing method struggling to manage glare and noise during camera motion.

The issue of image quality is where Atomfall continues to let players down, regardless of the platform you choose.

The analysis further notes that the Xbox Series S version is “difficult to endorse” due to the game’s target of 30FPS, with this performance level introducing “a significant increase in input latency” compared to playing at higher frame rates on other systems.

To be fair to developer Stand Up, the fact that Atomfall may appear ‘last-gen’ can in part be attributed to the reality that the game is indeed a last-gen release as well. Yes, this Game Pass RPG is also available on Xbox One in addition to Xbox Series X|S – and while you might come across some footage of the last-gen version, you can check out a brief XB1 gameplay video from The Xbox Tester.

Which version of Atomfall will you be playing? Let us know in the comments section below!