Assassin’s Creed Origins is an interesting title to analyze on the Xbox One X primarily because it was one of the first games that was confirmed to support the new console. When it was first announced during E3 2017, there were confusing reports regarding what resolution and frame rate the game will run on the Xbox One X. There were reports ranging from 1080p/60fps support to full native 4K presentation. Later on, Ubisoft responded to this rumors by stating that the game employs a dynamic 4K buffer. So a full native 4K presentation or 60fps support on the Xbox One X is out of the picture.
But then how close does Microsoft’s latest machine gets to native 4K? To begin with, the game doesn’t utilize any sort of checkerboard solution. Instead we see figures largely stuck in the 1800p region along with a dynamic buffer. In other words, the Xbox One X boasts around 36% more pixels compared to the PS4 Pro, and given the size and scope of Assassin’s Creed Origins, this is definitely quite impressive. Performance, too, is a bit better on the Xbox One X compared to the PS4 Pro. Cutscenes, unfortunately, are still a problem but compared to Sony’s machine they run much better on the Xbox One X. So from a performance and image quality standpoint, the Xbox One X leads the PS4 Pro but what about other graphical enhancements?
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War made full utilization of the Xbox One X’s 12GB of memory by including high resolution textures and a host of other enhancements. Does Assassin’s Creed Origins also take advantage of this increased pool in memory? Unfortunately, the Xbox One X features very little benefits over the PS4 Pro in terms of visual effects. For example, better texture detail is observed on the Xbox One X backed up by slightly improved draw distance. Shadow quality and ambient occlusion is also improved on the Xbox One X but other than these benefits, there are no noticeable improvements.
Other graphical assets are 1:1 across both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X and this is a tad disappointing given the new console has far more memory and GPU TFLOPS to push. Regardless of this shortcoming, the Xbox One X remains the best console verion to play Assassin’s Creed Origins on. It’s a shame that the console isn’t pushed to its limits but what we have is ultimately a beautiful and highly optimized game.