Much has been said about the enhancements the Xbox Series X will boast on the hardware side of things, such as vastly-improved load times, the ability to play games at 4K and 60fps, and a framerate cap of 120fps. But when it comes to actual features, few scream “next-gen” quite like the console’s Quick Resume for a number of reasons, including one key detail that makes it all the more useful for players.
As a refresher, Quick Resume allows Xbox users to suspend a game and resume it without having to boot up the entire game again, thus enabling them to jump back where they left off in mere seconds. The Xbox One has a feature like this, but unlike the Xbox One, which can only suspend one game at a time, the Xbox Series X is capable of holding multiple games in a save-state simultaneously. This makes it perfect for players who like to swap between games over the course of a play session.
The best part, though, is that players won’t have to keep the console on indefinitely to maintain their save-states, as Quick Resume works even after being unplugged. This was first discovered a few weeks ago, but now that multiple publications have been testing out the XSX ahead of next week’s launch, the full extent of this feature is starting to become known. From the look of it, players will be able to keep games suspended for several days, during which they’ll likely turn the console off at least a few times. There have been a few reported instances of games losing their save-states after an unplugging, however, but odds are this is the result of pre-launch bugs that will be addressed before long.
According to Microsoft, the Quick Resume feature is capable of suspending a minimum of three games at the same time. The company hasn’t revealed the maximum number of titles, as it likely varies depending on which games are being suspended, but early reviews suggest that the Xbox Series X is capable of holding around five games on average. As for load times, it looks players will be able to resume a suspended game in roughly five seconds, a huge step up from the time it usually takes to start one up again from scratch.
Game ZXC’s pre-launch review of the Xbox Series X called Quick Resume one of the console’s greatest strengths, and it’s easy to argue that it might be the biggest technological leap forward for the XSX. With all of the ways Microsoft has been working to make Xbox a more convenient platform, like a streamlined UI, Xbox Game Pass’ growing library of titles, and cloud streaming on mobile devices, it’s nice to see it putting the XSX’s next-gen technology to good use on that front.
The Xbox Series X launches on November 10.