Earlier this month, Asobo Studio finally delivered a high performance mode for A Plague Tale: Requiem - applying to Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles at this stage. Well, as usual the team at Digital Foundry has taken a look at the new options, and while higher FPS modes are always welcome, the dev has had to make some pretty big cutbacks to make them a possibility in Requiem.
Not only has a perhaps-expected resolution drop been applied here, the team has had to pare back things like rats & NPC refresh rates, textures, foliage density and more to make higher frame rates a reality.
"Asobo Studio has answered the call for 60 frames per second gameplay. The sacrifices are clear: in the drop to 1080p, the half-refresh elements, the lower quality textures and removed town details - but it delivers.
A Plague Tale: Requiem flows smoothly at 60fps, and accepting the disconnect with those 30fps rat animations, it really does play better than ever before. It's a great optional extra, and nothing stops us from reverting back to the original 30fps experience either."
DF also points out that such cutbacks show how 'next-gen' A Plague Tale: Requiem is under the hood, despite some launch day disappointment from fans at the lack of a 60FPS mode.
"As a response to the criticisms of it running at 30fps at launch, update 1.5 also reveals the cost of next-gen visuals as well. The advances in scene complexity, materials, and AI elements which are embedded into the game design are each a huge step over the original A Plague Tale.
However each of these points is tellingly pared back to make 60fps possible here. It makes it clear that pushing any technical envelope doesn't come for free and even on newer systems like PS5 and Series X, GPU and even CPU resources are still a big consideration in targeting 60fps."
We're glad to see Asobo make this happen though, and the added bonus of unlocked 60FPS+ frame rates is very welcome as well. Whether you want to go with a higher resolution and more visual details or higher frame rates; A Plague Tale: Requiem now delivers both options on Xbox Game Pass.