In a recent video from Digital Foundry demonstrating an in-depth tech review of the newly released Atomic Heart, glaring performance differences were showcased between the Xbox Series X/S and the PS5, with the latter performing better overall. The futuristic Soviet-themed title has some clear issues when running on next-gen Xbox consoles that help fuel Atomic Heart's lukewarm reception.
Despite the game having a great amount of hype in the past few years, Atomic Heart is unfortunately experiencing some issues. Between several controversies, like Atomic Heart not launching with promised ray tracing, the release of the highly anticipated first-person shooter has not received the most positive feedback. Although praised for its incredibly beautiful world and artistic style, some players can't get over performance issues and bad writing. When it comes to performance issues, however, Xbox players have more to be concerned about than their PS5 counterparts.
A video posted by Digital Foundry to its official YouTube channel revealed an in-depth look at the differences between Atomic Heart on the Xbox Series X/S and the PS5, with the game clearly running worse on the Xbox consoles. Although the image quality is nearly identical between the two competing consoles, the biggest issue lies in the Xbox's performance, with a higher instance of frame rate drops and even some significant stuttering that can be jarring while playing. In addition to frame rate issues, Digital Foundry experienced annoying bugs, like projector screens not loading and periodically being unable to pause the game.
Digital Foundry made sure to state that some of these issues have already been improved with patches, but it ultimately concluded that the Xbox versions still need some significant work compared to the PS5 version. Even though the game has some bothersome performance issues, Digital Foundry praised Atomic Heart for its incredible visuals and world despite bad writing, stating the game still had some good moments.
Hopefully, the majority of these bugs and performance issues will be fixed in the coming days so Xbox players can experience a better overall game. Even though patches will be able to fix the game's performance, they, unfortunately, might not be able to save Atomic Heart from its divisive reviews. The alternate history title might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's no doubt that it's a beautiful-looking game with a unique concept that has a lot of potential. For those who enjoy the game, patches and bug fixes will be a welcome improvement.
Atomic Heart is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
