However, the game’s promised online multiplayer update will not arrive this year.

Digital Foundry analyzed Watch Dogs: Legion‘s next-gen console versions and the result is about the same we expected: „I can confirm right away that Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 do indeed run with practically identical visual settings – an almost complete match for the details locked away in the PC version’s configuration files (which don’t just include PC settings, but every single version). This is most readily evident in side-by-side ray tracing comparisons – the RT effect is identical, but crucially, the cut-off for objects not in the reflection is also the same, meaning matched fidelity in the effect itself, but also identical compromises and optimizations,” the site says.

There are some small differences, but even these seem to be caused by bugs: „There seems to be a bug on Xbox Series platforms here as for some reason. [The Xbox] Series X delivers a slightly lower level of texture filtering than its PlayStation 5 equivalent. Again, checking the ‘reference’ config files stashed within the PC version, Series X and PS5 should be using the same ultra quality setting, while [the Xbox] Series S explicitly gets a cut-back rendition of the effect. Beyond that, any differences between the premium consoles are thin on the ground – literally. I noticed that puddles are missing in RT reflections on PlayStation 5, but not on Xbox consoles, likely another inconsistency rather than intended behaviour,” Digital Foundry adds.

What about the Xbox Series S? It’s not on the same level as the other two new consoles, but that was bound to happen: „[The Xbox] Series S also has the same settings for its ray-traced reflections, but with one crucial difference. The premium consoles target a dynamic 4K rendering resolution for the majority of the presentation, but reflections run at checkerboarded 1080p instead. For Series S with its much lower 1080p target pixel-count, RT reflection resolution drops in step – reflections here are rendered internally at 720p instead, with the same reconstruction technique.” The config files mention a 60 FPS mode, though. Hmm…

And finally, the frame rate: it pulls the same results on all three new consoles: „Everything runs at 30fps on all three systems, with none of the varying levels of slowdown found on the last-gen machines – uninteresting for frame-rate graphs but great for the players. I suspect we were limited on both CPU and GPU sides on the last-gen platforms, but the new hardware just powers through, with the DRS system taking care of any potential graphics bottleneck.” The loading times are better on PlayStation 5 (18 seconds) than on Xbox Series (26).

The French company also announced that Ubisoft Toronto needs more time to develop the online multiplayer update of Watch Dogs: Legion. Here’s their explanation: „As part of our commitment to fixing the game’s issues, we’ve decided to delay the Online mode of Watch Dogs: Legion to early 2021. This will allow us to focus on fixing issues with single player, and it will give us more time to test the online experience to help ensure a smooth launch of the mode.”

The game’s 2.20 update, which launched on PlayStation 5 on November 19, will launch everywhere else by the end of this week.

Source: WCCFTech, Gematsu

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