We at Press Start have no reservations about the fact that we love a good 40 FPS mode, and Hogwarts Legacy looks to be continuing that trend. Launching with a slew of modes, Hogwarts Legacy does a great job of offering players choices as to how they want to experience their game. I have my own personal preferences, of course, but following God of War Ragnarok we’d hoped more games would launch with that option and it appears that Hogwarts Legacy does.
After spending (too) many hours with Hogwarts Legacy, I’m happy to report that there are five different visual modes and there’s bound to be something for any players preference within.
I’m somebody who almost always avoids 30FPS modes where I can, but thankfully there’s still a lot more on offer in Hogwarts Legacy depending on what your preferences and personal priorities are in video games. I’ll obviously preface this by saying I’m not Digital Foundry, so I’ve done no professional pixel counting, though here’s how I understand Hogwarts Legacy’s modes work when playing on console.
HOGWARTS LEGACY GRAPHIC MODES
- Fidelity – A high fidelity mode that favors resolution (presumed 4K at 30fps)
- Fidelity with Ray Tracing – A higher fidelity rendering mode with Raytracing
- Performance – A high-framerate mode that favours performance (presumed 1080p at 60FPS)
- Balanced – A rendering mode aiming for a balance, that’s only available on supported output devices (presumed dynamic 4K at 40FPS)
- HFR Performance – An ultra highframerate mode favouring maximum performance that’s only available on supported output devices (presumed dynamic 1080P at 120FPS)
As you’d expect, you’d need a HDMI 2.1 TV to take advantage of both Balanced and HFR modes. I’ve played a majority of my time on Balanced, and while there’s some screen tearing at play it’s been a largely enjoyable experience.
While performance modes offer higher framerates, it was clear that some spell effects are less particle ridden and as such look a little bit less fancy. In a game like this, that was a bit of a dealbreaker for me, so I was happy to go with Balanced for the majority of my play-through.
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What’s more impressive about Hogwarts Legacy is that beyond that, there wasn’t a huge drop in fidelity like we’d seen in game like Horizon: Forbidden West at launch (which has since been fixed).
I think the best thing about Hogwarts Legacy’s options is that you don’t really seem to be missing much no matter what you pick. Each of the options still features some gorgeous vistas and snazzy reflections to help bring the world of Hogwarts to life.
Hogwarts Legacy launches on February 10th for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The cheapest price is currently $79 with free shipping.
