Hello CMDRs,
As a games journalist / blogger I had the privilege to participate in Microsoft's Xbox Series X review process, thus I had the chance to play Elite Dangerous on the new console (which I do almost every day anyway). Now that the review embargo has lifted I'd like to post a short summary here. Yes, Elite Dangerous is fully playable on Series X|S, and everything works just like on Xbox One consoles. But the game gets a huge performance boost thanks to the new console.
Load times
Know that black screen with the four rectangles in the lower left corner that first appears when you start the game? On Series X it stays on for 3-4 seconds at most. The rectangles basically "light up" only once and disappear before the startup logos appear.
Load times on Series X (from the game menu into the game):
- When in space or docked at a space station: ~8 seconds
- When docked at a surface settlement: ~13 seconds
Performance
This is where it gets interesting. Elite gets a huge performance boost. The framerate of the game is unlocked (60 fps max) but we know how much it struggles on Xbox One, even the X model, especially in 4K modes. Now, on Series X it's finally possible to play the game at a near locked 60 fps in 4K/Quality mode, and basically a full, locked 60 fps in all circumstances in 4K/Performance mode.
In 4K/Quality, I encountered some stuttering while entering the mail slot (probably due to the lots of alpha effects), and more struggle at and around surface settlements. Otherwise the game is more or less smooth, definitely smoother than any graphics mode or resolution on the Xbox One X.
In this video the game is running in
4K/Quality mode. This is how it looks arriving at a space station. (Note: The video is a 1080p capture only but the game is running at 4K/Quality setting.)
In this second video the game is running in
4K/Performance mode, and I went to a surface station to see how much performance drops. It doesn't. (Again, the video capture is 1080p only.)
I basically couldn't make the game drop frames visibly while playing in 4K/Performance mode. Driving an SRV near settlements, Quality mode struggles but Performance doesn't. I haven't even tried the 1080p modes because I guess the Series X is an overkill for those.
In short, Elite Dangerous works like a charm on Series X and even in 4K it runs incomparably better than on the previous generation of consoles. All this without the developers having to do anything. I can imagine further optimization could be done, but as it is, it's still utterly fantastic. I've never seen Elite being so smooth on console and it's a joy to play like this.
