In an age of ever-advancing tech, reaching a revolutionary new benchmark is getting increasingly hard. And, as we gradually start to swerve away from Moore’s Law, the logistics behind achieving those breathtaking moments of utter awe have also shrunk down. However, the new has somehow managed to break through all of those barriers to achieve something truly remarkable.
Created by , which is the team behind A Plague Tale: Innocence and a lot of Pixar games, is the first big release to come out of Xbox Studios since 2006. And, with such an incredible pedigree of the that has lasted for almost 40 years, there was a massive responsibility on Asobo’s shoulders.
Thankfully, they have knocked it out of the park as has not only managed to meet everyone’s expectations, but it has exceeded them. After a closed beta that lasted for an entire month, the has finally been released. And, unsurprisingly, the reviews for it have also started to trickle out.
tops the charts on Metacritic
The reviews for IGN and Eurogamer. This has elevated ‘s status as something that is a must-play for everyone, be it casual gamers or enthusiasts. have been overwhelmingly positive so far. The astonishingly beautiful from Asobo has managed to gather perfect scores from many big media outlets like
Currently, the Metacritic. This exceptional rating makes the Highest Rated PC of 2020. And not only that, but is also the highest-rated , period, to come out of Xbox Studios this generation, even climbing above the masterpieces like Ori and the Will of the Wisps. is sitting at a lofty score of 94 on
In addition to that, the has officially broken through into the Top 100 Games of All-time list on Metacritic, sitting at number 99 next to the greats like Oblivion, Quake, and GTA Vice City.
Why is so impressive?
are not a new concept by any means and are actually rather simple when you think about it. So, what is the special ingredient that makes so special? Well, it all starts with the little details. is arguably the most impressively detailed ever made.
In terms of playability, or are just using a controller, there are plenty of options for you to get started on your . Furthermore, the modes are also incredibly helpful if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details of being a . is the most accessible yet for the franchise. Whether you play with a full
Apart from that, the in- AI is also extremely useful if you wish to hone your and work on things like your approach. Overall, this provides an of being a real-life that is unparalleled.
The Stunning Visuals
The visual details, on the other hand, are on a whole another level. From the little dials and knobs within a to the dimensions of the wings, everything in has been perfected to within mere millimeters. If you showed a screenshot of the ultra-realistic of the hand-crafted within the to someone, they’d probably think that it is an actual real-life photo. However, the is only the beginning.
The world outside the is even more impressive. Using data from Bing maps with the power of Azure, Microsoft’s cloud service, has managed to bring the entire world to the ‘ hands. Everything from famous cities and landmarks to remote barren mountains has been rendered accurately using photogrammetry and cloud technology. in
Furthermore, a lot of cities like New York are actually actually rendered down to an incredibly low 5 cm accuracy. This, combined with over 3,000 accurate airports around the world ushers connoisseur to understand what an incredible feat this is. into a league of its own. You don’t even have to be a
Additionally, the doesn’t cut any corners on the visual fidelity either as everything, from the clouds to the light bouncing off your airplane, looks absolutely stellar. I’d go as far as to say that this is hands-down the most realistic-looking to date. That obviously comes at a cost though as most modern PCs aren’t able to run the at 4K60 at its highest settings. However, this is a good thing since we haven’t really seen anything really push the boundaries of graphical performance lately.
We could even see the return of the classic “but can it run Crysis?” meme but for . The best part about all of this is that the is included in for PC and you don’t have to spend $60 to get your hands on it. The first month of Pass can be claimed for only a single dollar which is incredible value when you think about it.
Nevertheless, has surely raised the bar for what a can do in terms of technology with , and with their plan of adding more things in the future into this already feature-rich , this could become a true technological juggernaut of the next-generation.
Xbox Series X console and whether it manages to achieve that coveted 4K60 benchmark on the new hardware. is currently only releasing on PC via Steam and . However, Microsoft has stated that the will be making its way to consoles as well later down the line. It would be interesting to see how well it performs on the upcoming