This long-delayed shooter finally has PS5 and Xbox Series X performance confirmed

With Atomic Heart’s release just a month away, developer Mundfish has detailed the game’s performance features. To ensure that the current generation of consoles can handle the intense action of the sci-fi shooter, the team has set up several modes that keep the frame rate high.

I’ve been eyeing Atomic Heart for a long time as it’s one of the prettiest upcoming games For several years. Developer Mundfish has recently confirmed via Twitter (opens in new tab) that you can expect the Russian answer to Fallout to run at a “solid 60fps, 4K in dungeons” but a “dynamic resolution, mostly 4K at 60fps in the open world” on Xbox Series X and PS5. No details have yet been shared about the performance of the previous generation or PC.

It’s encouraging to hear that Atomic Heart sticks to a solid 60fps at 4K in dungeons or smaller areas on Xbox Series X. Though I’m less than thrilled with Mundfish’s handling of open world achievements. A dynamic resolution of ‘mostly 4K at 60fps’ indicates we could see anywhere from Full HD (1080p) to QHD (1440p) scaling depending on the action on screen.

It doesn’t inspire too much confidence that the game will run at a solid 60fps in open-world environments, which seem to make up the bulk of Atomic Heart’s exploration. From what we’ve seen in preview footage, it looks like the title is taking a lot of design cues from the Fallout and BioShock game series with how indoor and outdoor missions are structured.

Originally announced in 2017, Atomic Heart has been in development for years and caught my attention when it was used to showcase (opens in new tab) Nvidia’s RTX ray tracing technology. Although, as we approach launch, we still don’t know the full extent of ray-tracing in the game, or if it will be activated on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

We still don’t know if the performance figures Mundfish cites include ray-traced shadows, ray-traced reflections, or global illumination. Considering that visually demanding games like the upcoming The Dead Space remake runs at 30fps with these settings enabled, we could also see the projected frame rate cut in half for Atomic Heart.