With Xbox’s recent acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Bethesda Softworks has officially become a part of the Xbox family. As Bethesda titles arrived on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft confirmed that five of them would take advantage of the Xbox Series X/S’s FPS Boost capabilities. Since the Xbox Series X/S consoles feature increased performance, the backward compatibility team at Microsoft developed FPS Boost, which would double or even quadruple the frame rate for select legacy titles.
The five Bethesda games that can use the FPS BoostareThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition,Prey,Fallout 4,Fallout 76, andDishonored: Definitive Edition. The FPS Boost will improve framerates from the original 30 frames per second to nearly 60 frames per second, and should smooth out old framerate issues in these games. Players should revisit these Bethesda titles as they will find a smoother and more consistent gameplay experience overall.
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How FPS Boost Changes Old Bethesda Titles
The addition of FPS Boost toThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition, Prey, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Dishonored: Definitive Editionwill double the framerate of these titles from 30 to nearly 60. Thankfully, this feature can be used by everyone regardless of whether players own the game themselves or through Xbox Game Pass. By default, onlyFallout 4andFallout 76do not have the FPS Boost automatically enabledsince each game’s resolution must be lowered to match the improved framerate. This is seemingly because theFalloutgames are quite taxing despite their age, and though they could run at 4K, they may not be able to maintain a consistent 60 FPS.
The new FPS Boost feature should greatly benefit these Bethesda titles, especially for the older games likeSkyrimwhich can now support 4K resolution at a steady 60 FPSon the Xbox Series X. The “nearly 60” implies there will be fluctuations during the heavier loads of the games, but should give players a smoother experience overall. With FPS Boost, this should help older titles finally catch up to standard PC benchmarks.
Why Players Should Revisit The Games With FPS Boost
Despite being games from the previous generation, these five Bethesda titles will see a large improvement in their overall experience thanks to the new FPS Boost. Not only does the framerate get doubled, but playing the games on the new-gen Xbox Series X/S hardware will reduce loading times as well. Players that return to these games may be surprised at how smooth and responsive they feel despite their age.
In particular,games likeDishonoredwill noticeably benefit from the improved consistencyas players jump between enemies or buildings quickly. For games likeSkyrim, that had notoriously long loading times and janky gameplay moments, the overall experience should feel more fluid as well.
Although the jump from 30 to 60 FPS might not seem like a massive change for players that are used to lower framerates, the difference with FPS Boost makes these titles feel like completely different games. While the visuals might be dated,gameplay is the main draw of these Bethesda titlesand players will now have the opportunity to play these games with the highest performance possible on consoles. Hopefully over time, more games will be supported by FPS Boost which incentivizes players to return to classic games and see them in a brand new light.
