With Microsoft officially welcoming Bethesda to Xbox Game Studios and adding 20 games from the publisher to Xbox Game Pass, it’s now implementing FPS Boost for select titles on Xbox Series X/S. Dishonored: Definitive Edition, Fallout 4, Prey, Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition are the first batch of titles to receive the update today. As noted on Xbox Wire, this means they’ll run at almost double their original framerate.

These five titles are touted to go from 30 FPS to “nearly” 60 FPS, but there is a catch. “In some instances, because there are higher graphics requirements to enable FPS Boost technology, we’ve had to reduce a game’s resolution to ensure it both runs smoothly and plays great.” As a result, some titles like Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 won’t have FPS Boost enabled by default. Players will have to choose to enable it from the “Manage Game” section for each title.

It’s also possible to press the Xbox button and see if a game has FPS Boost and Auto HDR enabled. FPS Boost also requires the March console update to be installed beforehand. Microsoft will announce more titles that take advantage of the feature in “the coming weeks” so stay tuned.

As is the case with any new console generation, once PS5 and Xbox Series X / S have released many developers and publishers will be remastring and touching up many of their PS4 / Xbox One games to bring them over to the newer consoles. It seems some of them might already be on their way, in fact.

As spotted on ResetEra, ratings for Wolfenstein Alt History Collection and Dishonored and Prey The Arcane Collection have gone up on the ESRB’s official website (screencaps for which you can view below, in case the listings get taken down). Interestingly enough, both ratings mention Xbox Series (as in both Series X and Series S) as the release platform.

Of course, Wolfenstein Alt History Collection is already a thing that exists (it compiles Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood), while all Arkane games have also been previously compiled in the Arkane Anniversary Collection (which includes Dishonored: Definitive Edition, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, and Prey). Perhaps those games are getting remastered and brought over in a next-gen compilation.

It would make sense, and the timing would be right, given Microsoft’s Bethesda acquisition. Of course, that also brings up the question of whether these games will release for the PS5 (the ESRB ratings don’t mention it).

The ESRB recently rated another game for the Xbox Series X / S that hasn’t yet been officially announced- Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition

Arkane Studios’ Dishonored debuted in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and despite arriving near the end of their life-cycles, it made an impact. The stealth gameplay, multiple ways to approach missions, consequences that had far-reaching effects on the story and so on established it as an excellent game. And it was all the more impressive that Arkane could deliver such a great experience with anti-aliasing, screen space ambient occlusion and depth of field on essentially outdated hardware.

So you would think that Dishonored Definitive Edition, which launched in August 2015 for Xbox One and PS4, would be a decent step up. No one expected remade visuals or heavily revamped assets but 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second seemed a given. Unfortunately, despite launching two years after the initial game – which could hit 60 fps on more inferior PC hardware – Dishonored Definitive Edition was stuck at 30 frames per second. Image quality is better, for sure, but the large amount of FXAA blurred significant amounts of details. Texture streaming issues, the lack of anisotropic filtering and other missing visual flourishes from the PC version didn’t help.

Supermassive’s Until Dawn may have received a strong critical response on release and debuted in a great position in the UK. However, it only managed to hit second place in sales according to Gfk Chart-Track. It was The Coalition’s Gears of War: Ultimate Edition which debuted on top in the midst of several new releases for the week.

Disney Infinity 3.0 and Madden NFL 16 also debuted in the past week at third and fourth place respectively. LEGO Jurassic World tumbled to fifth place followed by Grand Theft Auto 5 at sixth while Dishonored Definitive Edition managed to score a spot at seventh on its debut. Minecraft: PlayStation Edition, Batman: Arkham Knight and Minecraft: Xbox Edition occupied the remaining spots in the top ten.

This week’s sales should be even more interesting since games like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Mad Max have released after much hype. Which one will remain supreme in the UK? We’ll find out next week so stay tuned.

Even for its time however, Dishonored wasn’t pushing the boundaries of what the Xbox 360 and PS3 could accomplish. Developed on Unreal Engine 3, Dishonored brought out numerous little details like rats crawling through alleyways and steadily increasing number as the bodies piled up in the story or bodies burning, limbs being chopped off or corpses being consumed (sometimes all at once). Playing it on PC was a delight and even when teleporting across rooftops, admiring the scenery and analyzing character movements, the game was silky smooth and responsive.

Performance on older platforms was anything but perfect but for the most part, Dishonored managed to look good and play good. It ran at 30 frames per second on Xbox 360 and PS3 with adaptive V-sync causing screen tearing whenever the frame rate began to chug. Post process anti-aliasing was in effect, which obviously couldn’t compare to the PC version’s full blown AA solutions, and both versions rant at a 1280×720 resolution. Elements like screen space ambient occlusion and depth of field were also present though their implementation varied across both versions (for example, the PS3 version boasted better DoF).

Note: PC followed by the Xbox One version.

What can one reasonably expect from a PS4 and Xbox One port like Dishonored: Definitive Edition? A full overhaul of textures, character designs and cut-scenes a la Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was never really the case (nor was it expected) but there was at least some hope that Arkane Studios would take advantage of the current gen consoles to significantly improve the game’s performance, increase the resolution and further add on to the present effects and options.

Unfortunately, that isn’t completely the case here.

Textures look sharper with better image quality overall and Dishonored: Definitive Edition can thus be considered as the PC version running at high settings. Native resolution is set at 1080p for both Xbox One and PS4 as revealed through pixel counting. So far, so good. However, the frame rate hasn’t been increased to 60 FPS. Consider this for a second – my three year old laptop with an AMD A8 APU with a mobile GPU was capable of running Dishonored at 60 frames per second with some drops here and there on reasonable medium settings.

The PS4 and Xbox One are obviously far superior hardware in comparison and yet Dishonored: Definitive Edition isn’t running at 60 FPS on either of them. Why couldn’t Arkane Studios hit a higher frame rate? This makes the Definitive Edition feel like a cheap port in some ways and the screen tearing that harmed previous gen releases is still present. The other assumption is that enough has been improved in other areas to justify 30 FPS.

That’s not the case either. Both console versions use a heavy amount of fast approximate anti-aliasing or FXAA for removing jaggies with no performance penalty. The problem is that it also tends to blur out a lot of the details on textures and even with FXAA, Dishonored: Definitive Edition doesn’t run at 60 frames per second. Couldn’t Arkane have at least used a better anti-aliasing solution if it intended to stick to 30 FPS?

Anisotropic filtering is absent on the PS4 version of the game, which would’ve been understandable a year ago on newer titles but doesn’t fly here. Parallax occlusion mapping is included in both versions but the lack of anisotropic filtering makes it insignificant. Texture streaming issues have also been spotted in some places as noticed with textures that would load incompletely. This is similar to what plagued id Software’s RAGE and whether this is related to Unreal Engine 3 not being properly optimized for current gen consoles (not that it’s meant for the PS4 and Xbox One anyway – that’s Unreal Engine 4) or due to some other reason isn’t known. Either way, it really hurts the experience for those who appreciate the finer details. Loading times are almost non-existent on the current gen consoles but texture streaming still feels snappier on the PC.

Note: PC followed by the PS4 version.

If that weren’t enough, the PC version features a number of visual enhancements that is present on neither version of the Definitive Edition. While the PS4 and Xbox One versions undoubtedly look better than the previous generation, we at least expected the Definitive Edition to stand side by side with the PC version.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition is a very, very odd port. The original visual style stood out for its amazing art direction and this was ably assisted by the gameplay, world design and characters. The 2012 release wasn’t a benchmark by any means and could be maxed out easily even on older gaming PCs. That’s what makes the new generation release so baffling, especially when it’s supposed to provide the transition to Dishonored 2 which has been developed from the ground up for PS4 and Xbox One. The fact that both current gen platforms can’t hit 60 frames per second and still suffer from screen tearing is disappointing.

For those interested in Dishonored, especially since the Definitive Edition includes all previously released DLC, it’s worth your while to seek out the original PC release. Not only will it offer a better visual experience overall for those with powerful hardware but it scales remarkably well on older GPUs. If you’re a console player who never experienced the original game and are wondering what the fuss is all about, then give a shot at Dishonored: Definitive Edition. For everybody else, looks some where else.

There are honestly much better ways to get into the universe and prepare for Dishonored 2 without having to spend money on a below average port. Hopefully Arkane Studios’ true current gen outing will offer a much better visual experience even if it sticks to 30 FPS on consoles.

Note: Analysis was carried out by Bill Smith.

e-xpress Interactive, India’s leading distributor of video game hardware, software, and accessories, has announced that it will be releasing Bethesda and Arkane Software’s Dishonored: Definitive Edition in India this Fall, when it goes on sale for the rest of the world as well. To that end, the game is now available to pre-order in the country.

With Dishonored: Definitive Edition, players will now experience Dishonored, plus all of its additional content, on the new console systems for the first time, with wide-ranging changes and improvements, such as the enhanced graphics that take full advantage of the powerful hardware of this generation- PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition includes an upgraded version of the original game as well as all of its downloadable content like Dunwall City Trials, The Knife of Dunwall, The Brigmore Witches and Void Walker’s Arsenal. It’s also an excellent way for players to catch up on the series and its lore, while Arkane work on delivering Dishonored 2.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition is available for pre-orders at the price points of INR 2,999 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at all leading retailers in India.

It was expected, but that didn’t stop it from being any less awesome at its official reveal. Arkane Studios took the stage at Bethesda’s first ever E3 press conference, and officially announced Dishonored 2, the sequel to their 2012 hit stealth action game.

It looks absolutely stunning, and the graphics looked like a legitimate step up from the original’s, where the stylization hid the deficiencies in the graphics. The action and the special powers look far more advanced and sophisticated than anything in the original.

In Dishonored 2, players will also get the choice to play as either Emily or Korvo, both with their own unique powers. The game got no release date, but we were assured that it would be coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Hurrah for no last gen.

Meanwhile, to make sure we’re all caught up on our Dishonored lore, we will be getting Dishonored: Definitive Edition on PS4 and Xbox One this August, which will include the original game, all of its DLC, and remastered graphics.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and coverage.

Bethesda Softworks may have been good at hiding details for its upcoming releases in the past few years but as we approach E3 2015 and the developer’s first press conference, more information is coming to light on future titles. For example, rumours have pegged Dishonored 2 as skipping E3 but it seems that a Definitive Edition for the original Dishonored could be announced instead.

This is according to a rating that popped up on the Brazilian classifications database for Dishonored: Definitive Edition on Xbox One and PS4. It’s not completely odd to see a remastered version – Dishonored is old enough at this point that a re-release isn’t unwarranted. Also, if Bethesda is indeed bringing Dishonored 2 to current gen consoles, this would be a great way to bring those who didn’t play the original up to speed.

Take this with a grain of salt as always though and stay tuned for more information as E3 nears. Bethesda’s E3 conference will be taking place on June 14th while E3 2015 begins on June 16th to 18th.