Tomas Sala’s upcoming The Falconeer looks like one of the more interesting indie titles scheduled for release this year, with its combination of aerial exploration and combat and RPG mechanics promising something fresh and unique. Something else that’s quite striking about it, even at first glance, is its visual design and art style.
Naturally, in light of that, many would be wondering if the game will feature an Xbox One X-specific enhancements. And while developer Tomas Sala isn’t a 100% sure about that just yet, he is hoping to achieve a baseline 60 frames per second frame-rate for the game even on the base Xbox One.
“I’d say 60fps should be possible even on a regular Xbox One,” Sala told us in an interview. “I’m a purist that way, and I would hate to downgrade to 30 fps. There will be a resolution increase for the X, but that’s TBC as some of the VFX I’ve created, such as the volumetric clouds, do take up more performance as resolution is increased. The game does look incredibly crisp at higher resolutions, so I’d love to support 4K eventually.”
Meanwhile, as is the case with pretty much any game coming out in 2020, questions about whether The Falconeer might also come to next-gen platforms – due out later this year – are quite pertinent. Sala told us that though next-gen is something he’s obviously thinking about, given the timing of the game’s release, for now he remains focused on the game’s Xbox One and PC launch.
“Of course, I don’t think you can make a game in 2020 and not think ahead to the next-gen,” Sala told us, “but right now my focus is on the initial PC and Xbox One release.”
Given that the Xbox Series X is backward compatible with all Xbox One software though, next-gen ports for games might not be as commonplace going forward as they have been over the last few years. This is something else that Sala touched on while speaking with us.
“I think most developers are already cross platform focused, in that sense it’s become less of an issue than it was say 10 or 20 years ago,” he said about backward compatibility in next-gen consoles, and what impact that might have. “That said, bringing out a new title at the end of the lifecycle it’s a comfort that people who invest in Xbox Series X will still be able to enjoy The Falconeer.”
The Falconeer is due out later this year for the Xbox One and PC. You can read our full interview with Sala through here.