Amidst performance issues on all platforms, Xbox seems to be the way to go for Elden Ring on day one

Early impressions of Elden Ring have been very positive even though it has been out for less than a day as of this writing.

It has already received plenty of accolades for its overall gameplay, art design, and story. It currently holds a score of 97 on Metascore, which is among the highest ever received by a video game.

However, based on the work done by specialists at Digital Foundry, there are certain performance issues, and the results are quite similar to the beta.

Digital Foundry tested patched version 1.02 on all three platforms - PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. While the game certainly shines in many areas, there are some technical issues on all three platforms.

See Melina Elden Ring here.

While it is expected that FromSoftware will solve these problems with post-release patches, players should be prepared for performance issues: some minor, others a bit more serious.

---

Elden Ring has performance issues on all platforms

Elden Ring offers two modes on consoles - a performance mode and a quality mode. The FPS (frames-per-second) ranges between 45-60 on both consoles in performance mode and between 30-60 in quality mode.

The game presently lacks an option to lock the frames, and there's no way to cap the maximum FPS to 30 either. Since the two next-generation consoles fail to perform at a consistent 60 FPS, the framerate tends to fluctuate.

Both consoles have a solution for this situation, and Xbox's is better in comparison. Due to VRR, there is even better smoothening in the dynamic range. Even for the Series S, VRR helps run the game smoothly and in a 45-60 FPS range in performance mode.

Click here to see Elden Ring Xbox One

However, on the PS5, the solution isn't quite as straightforward due to the lack of VRR. Digital Foundry suggests running the PS4 version on PS5, which allows for a smoother experience.

However, there will be tradeoffs such as lower grass density and overall resolution. Nevertheless, this is the best solution for PlayStation players who value performance over image quality.

For PC users, FromSoftware's foray into DirectX 12 has resulted in severe framerate stutters, as is common in many other titles. As per Digital Foundry, there are stutters of 250 milliseconds when new enemies and areas show up on the screen. However, stuttering is less severe when the player revisits an area in the game.

Check out the Elden Ring PS5 here.

This issue with Elden Ring on PC seems to be exacerbated when the game is loading completely new areas. While some drops in framerate are minor, others tank the framerate down to as low as 40 FPS.

Systems with VRR capabilities can help assuage the situation somewhat, but this severe case of stuttering is exclusive to PCs only.

That aside, ultrawide support is missing from Elden Ring. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is quite common with day one releases of late, and recent games such as Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042 have had their share of gremins too.

While Elden Ring's astronomical Metascore justifies the overall gameplay experience, it blankets the game's launch-day optimization issues.

The complete Elden Ring Steam is available here.