But what about Series S?
Deathloophas finally appeared on Xbox Series consoles.
Is this the definitive Deathloop experience?
Deathloop is a curious game.
Technically speaking, this largely resembles a last-generation title.
Asset quality is reasonably high at least, and shadowmap and volumetric lighting quality is solid across all consoles.
Most software is still mired in the cross-gen era, with little visual distinction between current-gen and last-gen versions.
But let’s move on to the console comparisons.
First up is the performance mode.
Just like on PS5, this option compromises on resolution so that target a 60fps update.
Heavy combat in dense environments plays back perfectly fine, without any issues.
The visual quality mode at first glance seems very similar to its performance equivalent.
The resolution boost does carry a substantial performance penalty.
Curiously, the game still targets 60fps, though dips beneath that are frequent.
Finally, there’s the ray-tracing mode.
Like PS5, there are two key RT features here: ray-traced sun shadows and ray-traced ambient occlusion.
However, the real star of the show is the RTAO - ray-traced ambient occlusion.
This adds additional ambient shadow detail to virtually everything in the game.
With two RT effects in play, Arkane cuts the frame-rate target to 30fps.
In practice, the two consoles don’t have much to distinguish them.
Neither mode offers frame-rates as consistent as we’d like.
PS5 and Series X also receive 1080p ultra performance modes, targeting 120fps.
Turning on any other visual mode re-enables vsync, requiring another suspension if you want to re-enable it.
Primarily this is a mode designed for VRR gameplay, I feel.
The fundamental rendering tech doesn’t exactly impress, outside of a very good implementation of RTAO.
I do think the basic visual configurations leave a bit to be desired, however.
The Xbox versions stack up basically as you’d expect, outside of those quibbles.
The Arkane magic is still there though - and that alone will be enough for many.
