The key difference between the generations is very simple - frame-rate. It’s worth pointing out here that Outriders isn’t a straight ‘back compat plus’ upgrade as far as we can tell, it is definitely a native PlayStation 5 application, but the overall effect looks pretty similar in that a 30fps experience on the last-gen machines has the frame-rate limiter removed, allowing what is effectively the same game to run at up to 60 frames per second. Xbox One X is the most powerful machine of the prior era, and Outriders is certainly an impressive looking experience: Unreal Engine 4’s temporal upscaler delivers a 4K output, but native resolution rendering is dynamic - 1728p at the minimum, 1944p on the maximum. 30fps is indeed the target for the last-gen machines, but the action is not as smooth as it should be: improper frame-pacing sees new frames delivered at 16ms, 33ms and 50ms intervals for the most part, so there is a consistency problem there. On top of that are genuine performance drops, one to two second stutters at points and obvious texture pop-in. However, the scope and quality of the visuals looks very close to what the new wave of consoles are delivering. Doubling frame-rate is the way forward for the new hardware then and for a shooter like this, it’s definitely the right call with tighter and crisper response and a smoother appearance overall - but the extent to which 60fps is delivered varies by the platform, and there are some curious choices here. Kicking off with Xbox Series S, the new entry-level Microsoft machine operates with dynamic resolution scaling with a 900p to 1440p range, but still seems to use TAA upscaling to 4K. Performance is the lowest of the bunch here, bottoming out at 45fps and generally losing a fair amount of consistency in the process. We also noted that some aspects of draw distance and foliage density were pared back, but while noticeable, it’s not a deal breaker. The head-to-head between PS5 and Xbox Series X is interesting in that two machines that have thus far shown similar capabilities are utilised in different ways in this title. Again, both use dynamic resolution scaling and temporal upsampling, with a 1440p to 2088p window on the premium Microsoft machine, dropping to a 1260p to 1800p range on PlayStation 5. The results of this are pretty much as you would expect based on what we’ve seen from these machines - the Xbox is not as stable, running in a 50-60fps range, while PlayStation 5 only has minor drops from its target 60 frames per second. Ultimately, as Outriders leans heavily into the post-process heavy aesthetic often delivered by Unreal Engine 4 titles, resolution isn’t as important to the gameplay experience as frame-rate, so there is the sense that the DRS range chosen for the PlayStation 5 version of the game is possibly the better fit - and we do wonder whether tweaking the lower bounds on Series X and indeed Series S could bring those versions closer into line in terms of a smoother overall experience. It looks like improper frame-pacing at 30fps is an issue on all systems - on the new machines, cutscenes still run at this frame-rate and uneven frame delivery is still an issue, something we’d hope to see resolved. There’s still time to tweak the game and the action is certainly compelling. There’s a great game at the core here, and there’s the sense that on the latest consoles at least, it’s just a case of smoothing out some of the technical issues - and we’re certainly looking forward to checking out the full game in due course.
