While running at a higher resolution, too
Even though Bandai Namco would really prefer that people didn’t, plenty of folks went ahead and downloaded Dark Souls III weeks ahead of time via the Japanese Xbox One store. This allowed that version of the game to get performance tested ahead of schedule. The results weren’t ideal.
Dark Souls III on Xbox One has a few shortcomings. For one, the game runs at a native 900p resolution that’s upscaled to 1080p. Second, it suffers frame rate drops from its baseline of 30fps, sometimes down to around 20fps during boss fights.
As it turns out, the Dark Souls III on PlayStation 4 doesn’t have these same problems. In the above-embedded video, Digital Foundry does a side-by-side comparison and finds that the game mostly runs at a rock-solid 30fps on PS4.
However, an issue common to both versions of the game is that the Bloodborne engine has difficulties with its frame-pacing. The frames aren’t always ordered evenly, and the result is a stuttering sensation. It seems as if the game’s dropping frames, even though that’s not the case.
With all this in mind, the PS4 version of Dark Souls III is definitely the superior console choice. Still, Digital Foundry plays down the differences between the two, noting that Dark Souls III on Xbox One is “perfectly enjoyable.”
