Assassin's Creed Valhalla might only run at 30FPS on Xbox Series X, the world’s most powerful console

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the 11th main entry in Ubisoft’s long-running franchise, could run at last-gen framerates on Xbox Series X.

Despite boasting 12 teraflops of computational power and support for 120fps, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks like it will fall short of hitting the coveted 4K/60fps experience that many gamers crave. 

Speaking to Eurogamer Portugal, Ubisoft said, “Currently, we can guarantee that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will run at least 30 FPS. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will benefit from faster loading times, allowing players to immerse themselves in history and the world without friction. Finally Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will benefit from improved graphics made possible by the Xbox Series X, and we can’t wait to see the beautiful world we’re creating in stunning 4K resolution.”

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It’s unclear whether a performance mode will be available in the game, which usually drops the resolution in favor of a higher framerate. There’s also a chance that Ubisoft will be able to make further optimizations to the game before launch. 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is listed as supporting 4K, HDR and Smart Delivery on Microsoft’s Xbox Series X website, and also features the ‘Optimized for Xbox Series X’ badge. 

Nevertheless, it’s disappointing that, despite the addition of a few fancy graphical bells and whistles, the experience will be largely the same on Xbox Series X – performance wise – as it will be on Xbox One X. 

Microsoft is bullishly claiming that Xbox Series X is the most powerful console ever made, which is admittedly true. However, hitting 4K/60fps might prove to be an ambitious target, with even Nvidia’s top of the range graphics card, the GeForce RTX 2080Ti, struggling to keep a locked 60fps at 4K in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey at max settings. 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will invade Xbox Series X (and presumably PS5) when it's released this holiday season. We’re likely to find out more about the game at Ubisoft’s E3-style digital event, Ubisoft Forward, which takes place on July 12.

We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will update this article when we hear more.

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