How Xbox Series X Makes The Falconeer Look And Perform Better

The Falconeer is one of the games that will accompany Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S when it launches on November 10, optimized for that next-gen consoles to create a more graphically rich experience. An open-world air combat game that also allows for deep exploration, The Falconeer will use Xbox Series X technology to make its ocean world of Ursee more detailed and vibrant.

"Over the last few days I've been adding more and more ships to the harbors with absolutely no impact on the game's performance, and that's the sort of thing you can do with this new generation – richer worlds, with more detail and life," developer Tomas Sala said to Xbox Wire. "The extra performance on the next-generation Xbox and a high-end PC means developers can make worlds feel more alive."

Two other aspects of The Falconeer that Sala focused on were the frame rate and resolution of the game, which runs at 4K and 60 FPS on Xbox Series X. At that frame rate and resolution, Sala said that The Falconeer achieves a level of graphical clarity akin to gazing at fine art in your living room.

"In my opinion I believe 60fps should be a foundational feature of the next generation," Sala said. "As a maker I don't accept that 30fps is sufficient for action games with high-intensity gameplay, like you experience during dogfights in The Falconeer. Achieving 60fps on previous generations required compromises and sacrifices you won't have to make next-generation – sacrifices to AI, to visuals, to background simulation, to the scale of your open world, to levels of detail. 60fps is a must, and a huge benefit to players."

"But if I run a game at 6K or 8K I can pause the game and it’s like having a piece of art in your living room. It’s so crisp! The other one is 4K… but also 6K and 8K! It’s funny, because when you look at a television, you can always tell you’re looking at a TV, because even on high-quality screens you can see pixels and jagged lines and stuff. But if I run a game at 6K or 8K I can pause the game and it’s like having a piece of art in your living room. It’s so crisp! I think that’s wonderful, and I think players will be blown away by the clarity and crispness of games at higher and higher resolutions."

The Falconeer will be one of several launch games for the Xbox Series X and the Series S. If you're curious to know more about the console, you can check out GameSpot's hands-on impressions with a preview build of the Series X.