Assassin’s Creed: Unity runs better on Xbox One

Assassin’s Creed Unity is out this Friday and so far the reviews are not as amazing as I would’ve hoped. I still want to play the game, out of a deep love for the franchise and even deeper one for the French Revolution, but I can’t help but already feel disappointed. Only decision to make now is which platform to get it one – and it’s looking like Xbox One is the better option.

That’s if you discount PC of course, which was always bound to run the game better than the 900p/30FPS locked console versions. Ubisoft wanted parity between the two versions, seemingly downscaling the PS4 version in order to run on par with Microsoft’s hardware. Suspiciously though, it seems that the Xbox One runs the game far better.

That’s according to the wizards at Digital Foundry, who have done a deep analysis of the two versions. As Ubisoft stated, the game is heavily CPU bound, with the numerous NPCs and the lively world bringing both consoles to their knees. The PS4 bows a little lower though, sometimes dipping below the 20FPS mark in heavily populated areas. The Xbox One, in comparison, never reaches that low.

The tables are turned in cutscenes though, with the PS4 pushing out a locked 30FPS while the Xbox One dangles slightly below. But in free-roaming gameplay, which is what you’ll spend most of your time doing, the Xbox One has the edge. The console does have a bit more CPU power behind it, which could be the reason why the PS4 is struggling so much.

Either way, both consoles fluctuate rather terribly, and it affects the fluidity of gameplay and the timing of your inputs. This is with the 1GB day one patch installed as well, so don’t expect a hail mary save from that either. It just makes the already disappointing review scores even worse to bear. But is it enough for you to potentially cancel your pre-order? Or are you sticking to your annual Assassin’s Creed purchase?

Last Updated: November 12, 2014