Digital Foundry continues its quintessential breakdown of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a video dedicated to determining whether the next-gen update delivers an experience worthy of the name on Xbox Series S. A long-awaited update for The Witcher 3 arrived earlier this month and while PC players seemingly received the short end of the stick, those on consoles had a much smoother experience.
Microsoft's more affordable option for the latest generation of console gaming has attracted mixed responses. When it was announced that Gotham Knights would be capped at 30 frames per second, a developer from another studio not involved in its development blamed the Xbox Series S GPU, claiming the entire generation to be "hamstrung by that potato." Indie developer Ian Maclure then backed up the accusation, describing the Series S as "an albatross around the neck of production," and explained that many developers had sought "to get Series S launch requirements dropped." Nonetheless, the Xbox Series S is here to stay, and it does provide a significantly cheaper way for prospective gamers to enjoy the offerings of the latest generation.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's next-gen update is the latest trial for the Xbox Series S, and the results are lukewarm. Although ray-tracing is absent, players can still choose between a Performance and Quality mode, which offer 60 FPS or a higher resolution respectively. Quality mode on the Series S is locked to 30 FPS, and it is as tight of a lock yet seen when analyzing The Witcher 3 following the next-gen update, passing all the stress tests conducted by Digital Foundry. A caveat to this is when auto-saving occurs, which often causes a momentary but significant frame drop. However, the Quality mode for Xbox Series S is much better optimized than the Ray-Tracing option for both Xbox Series X and PS5.
That superior optimization, of course, comes with a lower resolution and a lack of ray-tracing for the Continent. Quality mode for Xbox Series S targets 1440p and, just like with the FPS lock, maintains its intended resolution throughout. When compared to the alternative Performance mode, virtually everything is identical except for two noteworthy differences; a drop to 1080p and a lower preset for foliage draw distance, meaning that pop-in occurs closer to the player when using Performance mode. Unfortunately, the lower resolution mode does not boast a consistent 60 FPS, and traditionally intense moments/locations will see the frame rate fall into the mid-50s.
However, after considering everything, Digital Foundry finds itself reluctantly recommending to play in Performance due to an issue that Quality shares with the Ray-Tracing choice for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Input latency is so noticeable that the benefits introduced are effectively made redundant, and the game just feels bad to play. Regardless, Digital Foundry advise waiting for a few patches, likely to arrive in the new year, as there exists a worthwhile version of The Witcher 3 to play on Xbox Series S, especially with drastically improved load times, but more refinement is needed.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now for PC, PS4, PS5 Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.