Dragon Age: The Veilguard on consoles is an attractive, technically solid release
After a decade of improvement and mission restarts, the newest Dragon Age is lastly right here. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a direct sequel to 2014’s Inquisition, and makes use of a dramatic evolution of that recreation’s Frostbite know-how, that includes ray tracing methods and current-gen exclusivity. We have already lined the PC model and got here away impressed with how the brand new release scales throughout a variety of {hardware}, however the place does that go away the consoles – particularly the 4 teraflop Xbox Collection S? And the way have the sport’s ray tracing settings been tailored for console play?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a great-looking recreation. I wasn’t all that taken by early previews, however with the sport really in hand I believe it is clearly a really good-looking title. There are some actually stunning environments right here, with plentiful foliage and engaging lighting. It is not essentially going to face toe-to-toe with this era’s high tier by way of reflections or diffuse world illumination high quality, however the general picture is spectacular.
One component that highlights the expertise is the sport’s strand-based hair system. The builders have taken and tailored Frostbite’s hair system right here (as seen within the FIFA/FC video games) which offers an spectacular mixture of refined hair element with life like motion and circulate. In nearly any gameplay or cutscene state of affairs, my character’s lengthy curled locks produced a visually satisfying end result with minimal clipping – and that applies to basically all of the hair featured within the recreation, no matter size or texture. It might appear odd to focus on the hair rendering at the start – but it surely’s a placing characteristic that is unique and distinct.
Oliver Mackenzie runs the rule over the Xbox Collection and PlayStation 5 variations of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.Watch on YouTube
That hair is featured fairly properly within the recreation’s character creator, which offers a variety of choices for character designs with out feeling overwhelming. The rounded-off, exaggerated options make sure the characters do not dip into the uncanny valley. It is a bit extra guided than creating a personality in a Bethesda recreation, however I really feel prefer it offers the same degree of flexibility – and naturally it is easy to skip via in case you simply do not care. Veilguard’s stylisation is more likely to be a bit controversial, because the cartoonish faces do stick out barely, but it surely did develop on me over the course of my gameplay.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection X have two visible modes in Veilguard, a reasonably customary constancy mode and efficiency mode, which goal 30fps and 60fps respectively. For resolutions, we’re taking a look at fairly typical FSR 2 targets, with the constancy mode often operating at or round 1080p and the efficiency mode coming in round 720p. At a minimal, I counted 504p within the efficiency mode, so there is some dynamic res there, although the constancy mode held at 1080p in my testing. From these inside figures, BioWare is utilizing a custom-made model of FSR 2.2 to convey the sport to larger resolutions, doubtless round 4K for the constancy mode and 1440p for the efficiency mode, at the least judging from comparisons to the PC code.
In follow, I believe this works pretty effectively. You continue to get a few of that traditional FSR 2 fizzle in movement, but it surely’s much less apparent than in a variety of different video games that use the method. Picture stability at relaxation is typically advantageous, and when transferring via a scene it is not too dangerous both. The method is pressured most in quick motion fight, the place complicated motion and particles do create points for FSR, however even when there’s a bit little bit of breakup it by no means appears notably offensive. The constancy mode is cleaner general, although the efficiency mode’s doubled refresh helps to maintain disocclusion points to a minimal.
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Outdoors of picture high quality, the opposite key distinction between the 2 modes is the presence – or absence – of ray tracing, particularly RT reflections and RT ambient occlusion, that are featured within the constancy mode completely. The RT reflections could make an enormous distinction in some scenes, including a degree of depth and lighting accuracy to a scene that may’t be replicated with cubemaps or SSR. RT reflections are incessantly utilized to water, and typically make an look on shiny supplies like metals. These reflections seem to run utilizing the PC ‘selective’ RT setting, so they do not essentially apply broadly throughout all our bodies of water or suitably shiny surfaces. BioWare makes use of them when the efficiency overhead is there to accommodate them gracefully.
The RTAO would not appear to be prioritised fairly as effectively although, with the impact seemingly lacking on consoles for a lot of the length. The visible impression could be fairly substantial, however solely high-end PCs can take benefit – and even there, we’ve points with ray size, which may result in an undershaded look. I did spot what seems to be RTAO within the recreation’s second space, the place the PS5 constancy mode provides a barely deeper depiction of shade than the efficiency providing. However SSAO nonetheless seems to be current right here, and the impression of RTAO is nonetheless a bit restricted relative to what we would often see. The general distinction between the constancy mode’s obvious RTAO and the SSAO-only efficiency mode is fairly restricted I might say, with the RT reflections providing a larger visible distinction.
Nonetheless, the general delta in lighting high quality between the efficiency and constancy modes is not that nice. Outdoors of the RT, the constancy mode seems to make use of a barely larger SSAO setting and higher shadows, which typically exhibit extra diffuse filtering. Stage of element settings additionally seem extra refined in that 30fps mode. Outdoors of these tweaks, there’s not a lot to separate the 2 modes visually outdoors of decision.
30fps constancy and 60fps efficiency modes are current on each PS5 and Xbox Collection X. The 30fps is basically a lock, with solely slight drops within the 60fps mode, the place Xbox has extra noticeable screen-tearing. | Picture credit score: Digital Foundry
Efficiency-wise, the story is fairly easy. The constancy mode is just about a locked 30fps, at the least in my expertise. There’s no frame-pacing weirdness right here, and the sport does a great job touchdown a constant 30. It is attainable the sport could have barely larger points later on, however I did not encounter any issues in earlier sections. The efficiency mode is principally a 60fps expertise. Nevertheless it does wrestle barely with periodic frame-rate drops, which are inclined to happen in sure cutscenes and environments. Demanding fight moments can even trigger a quick dip right here and there. It is not an ideal 60fps, and you may really feel these frame-time intrusions happen a bit extra usually than I might like, but it surely’s a fairly good efficiency degree on the entire. All of this commentary applies in equal measure to each PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection X variations, although Microsoft {hardware} has extra intrusive screen-tear and maybe is not fairly as secure underneath load.
Xbox Collection S is a bit extra attention-grabbing. There are the identical visible toggles as the opposite consoles – a efficiency and a constancy mode. The constancy mode runs at about 648p internally sometimes, with a visible output that appears noticeably softer and noisier than the opposite consoles’ efficiency modes. Efficiency mode goes all the way down to roughly 432p internally, often, outputting at one thing that appears near 1080p to my eyes. I wasn’t really capable of spot any decision variance right here, even when the sport was dropping frames, suggesting the Collection S could also be holding on to its decision figures extra tightly than the opposite consoles.
Each modes undergo from further breakup relative to the opposite machines and do not maintain up that effectively on a 4K TV set. It is not almost as dire as the inner resolutions would recommend, as FSR is drastically upgrading the imagery, but it surely is not a foolproof resolution at very low resolutions. Collection S unsurprisingly drops RT fully, with no ray tracing seen within the constancy mode. The recreation’s excellent strand-based hair additionally would not make the minimize, with the Collection S getting by with much less fluid and fewer detailed hair playing cards as an alternative. Different settings look just like the opposite consoles’ efficiency modes.
Xbox Collection S lacks RT in its 30fps constancy mode, however efficiency is nonetheless solid. The efficiency mode works effectively sufficient allowing for the constraints of the {hardware}, but it surely’s clearly lagging behind PS5 and Collection X regardless of the assorted cuts. | Picture credit score: Digital Foundry
Collection S delivers a solid 30fps refresh in constancy mode, once more roughly matching the opposite consoles. The efficiency mode although is rather less secure, dipping under 60fps extra incessantly whereas traversing environments and watching cutscenes. It principally runs at an honest sufficient efficiency degree, it is simply not fairly as much as the requirements of the opposite console platforms.
General, I am fairly happy with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It appears particularly effectively calibrated for consoles, relying on a selective RT implementation to keep away from stressing the consoles’ GPUs, and delivering first rate picture high quality and good efficiency. It is a extra console-friendly expertise than many different big-budget video games this yr, although it is not excellent both. On PS5 and Collection X, I’ve a choice for the efficiency mode, which delivers many of the recreation’s visible enchantment at a fairly good 60fps replace. There are quite a lot of nips and tucks, however none which have a huge impact on the expertise, and picture high quality is typically advantageous sitting a traditional distance from a 4K TV. Plus, VRR helps iron out any dips when you’ve got an acceptable show, and eliminates tearing.
On Collection S, I believe the selection is much less clear. The constancy mode provides extra cheap picture high quality at a constant 30fps, whereas the efficiency mode has to make due with a way more compromised picture at a much less secure 60. I might often take the 30fps choice in these circumstances, however Dragon Age would not have a lot movement blur, which makes the 30fps choice much less clean than I might like. Contemplating the {hardware} although, it is a completely good expertise, particularly contemplating many different Collection S efforts drop excessive efficiency modes fully.
I do not suppose Dragon Age followers will probably be disenchanted with Veilguard, and I do not suppose console avid gamers will both. BioWare’s newest RPG appears nice and performs effectively, delivering a solid technical expertise on current-gen console {hardware}.