Series S is cutback, but “retains enough of its character”
- by Ben Kerry
Silent Hill 2 finally came to Xbox last month after a year-long wait, and its release was quickly followed up with some brief Xbox Series X|S comparisons. Now though, the tech experts over at Digital Foundry have delivered their verdict – and despite the Series S version being “noticeably cut back”, both Xbox ports are present and well here.
In short, Xbox Series X is basically a match to the base PS5 version from 2024, which isn’t entirely surprising given how closely matched the two systems are. As usual, Series S presents its own challenges – and developer Bloober Team has opted to cut the 60FPS mode and par back the 30FPS quality mode to bring a decent version of the game to Microsoft’s digital-only system.
“Series X, meanwhile, appears to mostly match base PS5 in resolution and performance aspects. Its 30fps quality mode employs DRS to operate between 1224-1512p – the same range as base PS5 – and enjoys a mostly steady 30fps refresh, with the exception of certain traversal stutters and alpha-effect resolution dips while the DRS system kicks in to return the refresh to a 30fps cadence […] Its 60fps performance mode renders at a range of 864-1152p – again, identical to base PS5,
Bloober Team has opted to limit Series S to only one visual mode, which not only locks the frame-rate at 30fps but also renders natively at 1280×720 – with no noted adjustments via dynamic resolution scaling (DRS) […] More noticeable are Series S’s lower-resolution Lumen-based effects. In motion, reduced reflection resolution and poor signed distanced fields (SDF) accuracy combine to add a noticeable, constant flicker to reflections on surfaces like puddles and wooden floorboards. And while a form of global illumination (RTGI) remains enabled on Series S, its light-bounce setting is drastically reduced compared to other consoles’ 60fps performance modes. The Series S cuts continue in other settings, including significant drops to texture fidelity and geometry tessellation.”
DF ultimately sums things up by saying that going down the 30FPS-only route on Series S may have been done to preserve “Silent Hill 2’s fog-lined, Lumen-dependent aesthetic”, and that this move means the game “retains enough of its character” on Series S. Series X is as expected of course; a similar match to PS5 with two gameplay modes on offer.
What do you reckon to this latest DF analysis? Talk to us about Silent Hill 2 on Xbox down below.
[source digitalfoundry.net]
Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin’ in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he’s not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that’s far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.
