The Xbox One has been subject to much debate and controversy regarding its inability to output 1080p resolution. Even in less taxing games like Trials Fusion, the Xbox One version was running at 900p. The eSRAM has been long touted as the reason behind the lack of 1080p games, however Microsoft seems to be working hard to resolve this issue.
The June SDK update allowed games like Destiny to run at 1080p on the Xbox One and games like Sunset Overdrive will push for better effects, instead of a higher resolution using the latest update. Having said that, the Xbox One version of Outlast still managed to run at 1080p without using the SDK update.
So how did they managed to do it without using the SDK update? “It is true that the eSRAM is pretty small for 1080p, you never seemed to have enough of it,” explains Philippe Morin who is the founder of Red Barrel Games. “But since Unreal Engine 3 is a good old forward renderer, we did not need as much as some of the other games using deferred shading,” he said to GamingBolt.
Philippe also confirmed that the game runs at 1080p and 60fps on the Xbox One. However, “there might be a few frame drops occasionally.”
But is it gimped in anyway compared to the PS4 version? “No, it isn’t. Actually, because of the additional time development, we were able to fix additional bugs and do further optimization,” explains Philippe.
It has to be added that Outlast is not a taxing game and most mid-level gaming PCs can easily max it out. Outlast also ran at 1080p/60fps on the PS4, so it seems they have achieved parity between the two systems.
Outlast is now available for the Xbox One along with the Whistleblower DLC.