Analysis of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's performance on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X has been one of the most controversial topics of the next-gen console launch. Assassin's Creed Valhalla saw a smoother performance on PS5, while the Xbox Series X saw bigger frame rate drops and screen tearing. A new update from Ubisoft specifically targeted toward next-gen consoles, patch 1.04, has now been analyzed. The Xbox Series X specifically has seen improvements, but it also had to sacrifice something in the process.
According to a new analysis of Assassin's Creed Valhalla post-patch 1.04 from Digital Foundry, the frame drops and screen tearing on Xbox Series X have been dramatically improved. Key sequences where the frame rate would not only drop below 60fps, but would drop dramatically, are now seeing 60 or near-60fps. Scenes where screen tearing would be dramatic, often coinciding with large frame drops, now have little screen tearing. Xbox Series X users should have a much smoother experience.
But the improvements to Assassin's Creed Valhalla's frame rate on Xbox Series X didn't come via simple optimizations, it seems. Ubisoft appears to have made a trade. First, it should be clarified that Assassin's Creed Valhalla uses a dynamic resolution scaler. That means that in order to preserve its 60fps frame rate, the resolution of the game can adjust on the fly. This scaling has a top and a bottom, however. It peaks at 4K resolution and it bottoms out at 1440p. To fix the Xbox Series X frame rate, it dropped this lower resolution threshold.
The analysis of Assassin's Creed Valhalla on Xbox Series X found that the game's resolution can drop to as low as 1188p, a significant potential difference. The Xbox Series X will only hit that resolution during the most graphically intense moments of the game, of course, but it's all in an effort to maintain a buttery smooth 60fps or nearer.
Given the nature of dynamic resolution scaling, it seems unlikely that most Assassin's Creed Valhalla players will notice these drops as they're happening. While the bottom is lower, it's constantly shifting so any resolution is unlikely to be used for an extended period of time.
It's also worth acknowledging that Assassin's Creed Valhalla now features two different game modes. The 60fps mode is for those that are comfortable trading resolution for frames. There's now also a quality mode targeting 30fps with what appears to be a locked native 4K resolution on both PS5 and Xbox Series X. Hopefully, Assassin's Creed Valhalla players on both platforms will be happy with their options now.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
