Image: Fuzion Xbox Testing on YouTube
The latest major update for Starfield officially dropped yesterday – adding new “Free Lanes” content along with a paid Terran Armada expansion — and the game also officially released on PS5 for the first time.
With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PS5 Pro versions following the update, both in terms of a comparison as well as whether anything particularly notable has changed on Xbox.
Thanks to some new footage from Fuzion Xbox Testing and The Games Tester, we can see that Starfield looks perfectly good overall across both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, but the frame rate can still be quite variable at times when going above 30-40FPS. Ideally, you’ll want to use a VRR-enabled display for Starfield across all consoles, which will provide a much smoother and perfectly enjoyable experience at higher frame rates.
Don’t forget that you can activate a 40FPS mode across every console if you have a 120Hz and VRR display, the results of which are highlighted in this following snapshot from The Games Tester’s Xbox Series S video:
Image: The Games Tester on YouTube
Here’s a couple of videos showing off the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions:
On PS5, it’s very much a similar story — both the Quality Mode and Performance Mode run well in most areas, but then begin to struggle more when you get into big cities with a lot of activity. Even Performance Mode can drop into the low 40s (or potentially a bit lower) in scenarios like this, which again highlights the importance of VRR.
The PS5 Pro struggles to maintain a solid 60FPS across all of its modes in busy areas too, but only just. In general, Sony’s powerful console has the advantage in both visuals and performance, which obviously is to be expected.
We know you’re probably wondering about direct comparisons between Xbox and PS5, but we haven’t really seen any crop up just yet (fingers crossed for a new Digital Foundry breakdown soon), aside from the following video which perhaps unfairly compares the Xbox Series X Quality Mode with the PS5 Pro Enhanced Mode.
The Xbox Series X still holds its own perfectly well here, but the PS5 Pro version does look better. There’s also a comparison between the standard PS5 and PS5 Pro versions below if you’re interested.
So, there you go! We’ll keep an eye out for a more in-depth breakdown of all Starfield versions in the near future, but as Xbox owners, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot has changed via this update. It still looks good and runs relatively well!
How are you getting on with the new Starfield update on Xbox and/or PS5? Tell us down in the comments.
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Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.
