Consoles may still have quite a few exclusive games that are not (yet!) available on the PC, but PC has exclusive features that console players will be missing out on in Far Cry 6.
In their PC presentation, Ubisoft demonstrated the power of Raytracing and FSR, but were inconspicuously silent about the consoles. In the recent interview with the lead dev for Far Cry 6, it was confirmed that neither feature will be available on the console version.
The reasoning behind this was that Ubisoft wanted to make the most out of the new gen consoles’ hardware capabilities, and especially its ability to run in 4k, while achieving 60 FPS and keeping the new game features supported on all platforms.
Console players may miss out on DXR Reflections and Shadows, but they will gain 60 FPS and gaming in 4K. Considering that not every PC gamer has the option to run their game in 4K and achieve 60 FPS at the same time, this does not seem like such a bad trade off for either console gamers or PC gamers.
If you have a mid-range gaming rig, worry not, because your gaming experience has not been neglected by the dev team. Far Cry 6 will use hybrid ray traced reflections, and when asked about why this was chosen, Ubisoft confirmed that it has the best quality-to-performance ratio, allowing DirectX Raytracing on even mid-range gaming rigs. This is excellent news for gamers whose hardware cannot handle SSLR due to tech limitations, as it allows them to still enjoy ray tracing.
On the question of the Direct Storage coming to PC and being integrated into Windows 11, Ubisoft confirmed that it will significantly decrease the load times, and especially so for the open world games. Excellent news for Far Cry 6, but also for the upcoming open world games.
In truth, long loading times were historically an issue for the consoles, especially the last gen, but with the Direct Storage integration into Windows 11, it will even further optimize PC gaming for the new and upcoming open world games. Remembering Skyrim on the last gen consoles vs the PC, there was a clear difference in the load screen times and one of the reasons why picking up Skyrim on PC was a must. It wasn’t as distracting, but it was very noticeable. Screen loading times could go on for minutes. Then there was The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – if you were playing on the console and fast-travelled or died, you could comfortably go and make yourself a cup of coffee while you waited to load back into the game. It was just best not to die… or fast travel.
According to the lead dev, Stephanie Brenham, the most striking difference regarding next generation consoles are the SSDs. Unlike the last gen consoles’ HDD which could do only so much, the SSDs that have replaced them have also replaced minutes of loading with just seconds.
So while console players may be missing out on the raytracing and FSR, they’re certainly gaining in reduced load times and 4K 60 FPS.
"There are a few common benefits both next-gen consoles and PC enjoy," Brenham said. "That includes better LODs, draw distances, better ocean simulation, and HD textures. Newer consoles also have 4K 60 FPS. PC has DXR Reflections & Shadows, Fidelity FX (FSR, CAS), unlocked FPS, ultrawide screen, and adjustable FOV."
As we prepare to visit Yara beginning of next month, check out some gameplay ‘’tips’’ by Anton Castillo himself…about how to take him and his army down. It’s all a bit suss if you ask me, but I think we should definitely at least hear El Presidente out.
