There’s only one topic we could plausibly choose to kick off the latest edition of DF Direct Weekly – the decision from Bethesda to launch Arkane Studios’ Redfall with the game locked to 30 frames per second, with a 60fps performance mode to follow at some point in the future. It’s fair to say that the announcement went down like a cup of cold sick with a range of Xbox fans online, with industry commentators suggesting that Microsoft really should be doing better.
In this week’s Direct, we discuss the news to the limited extent that we’re able to. Bethesda’s tweet didn’t provide any real context for why the game isn’t going to launch in a state that reflects every single piece of marketing video we’ve seen to date. Every trailer and gameplay showcase appeared to run at a locked 60 frames per second and up until recently, the Xbox store page for Redfall indicated that this would run at 60fps or higher. So, the sobering fact is that the launch experience is not going to be the game as it was presented to date – and that’s a problem.
Putting aside the marketing for a moment, there’s the question of why 60fps is so important – and that’s owing to the nature of the game. A shooter thrives on faster frame-rates for two reasons: firstly, more visual feedback on a fast-paced experience greatly aids the experience. Secondly, the higher the frame-rate, the lower the input lag – again, crucial for a first-person shooter and why the likes of Call of Duty and Fortnite offer 120fps options. For a game like this, 60fps looks better and feels better.
