Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is out later today, and while hands-on time with the PC version confirmed relatively solid performance, Cold Iron Studios has been mum on console resolutions and frame rates. Thankfully, it finally broke that silence in our recent interview with engineering director Arnel Lim, confirming that the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions run at 1440p/60 FPS.
On PS5 Pro, you can expect 4K/60 FPS while Xbox Series S sits at the bottom of the pack at 1080p/30 fps. All of this sounds good on paper, but achieving it all has been challenging.
“Maintaining those targets during our largest four-player encounters has definitely been one of the challenges of development,” said Lim. “We establish performance budgets for things like encounter complexity, environments, characters and effects, but as the game evolves and everything comes together, we’re constantly profiling real gameplay and making adjustments to stay within those targets.”
He noted that the biggest performance impact would originate from effects like cryo mines and flamethrowers, especially against hordes of enemies. However, these are “exactly the kinds of scenarios we’ve been profiling and optimizing—looking at everything from effects and rendering to what happens when weapons interact with large numbers of enemies simultaneously.”
Lim notes that it’s an “ongoing process of finding those hotspots and optimizing them while preserving the scale and intensity we’re aiming for.” It also probably explains why console performance numbers haven’t been nailed down until closer to release.
As far as scope goes, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is bigger than its predecessor, but not just in the additional player in co-op. Environments had to be redesigned to accommodate four-player teams, and with even crazier build options available (see: The Specialist), it’s a miracle that everything runs smoothly. Stay tuned for more details when the third-person shooter arrives later today, and check out the latest trailer detailing the different types of Xenomorphs.
