PC Low PC Medium Xbox One PC High PC Very High While shadow resolution on Xbox One compares favourably with the high setting, it also lacks some of the additional flourishes. Look carefully at the background details, including the dome structure, and you'll see that the Xbox One version matches the PC version's high setting. PC Low PC Medium Xbox One PC High PC Very High Next to this bonfire, we can take a closer look at the level of detail setting included in the PC version. The game also supports arbitrary resolutions which can be adjusted at any point to suit your needs - users of Nvidia's Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) can enjoy Rise of the Tomb Raider at resolutions well beyond the monitor's native resolution. Tomb Raider can operate in full-screen or borderless window and supports two levels of super-sampling anti-aliasing right out of the gate. The basic display options are filled with all of the options one might expect including resolution adjustment, refresh rate selection, and anti-aliasing type. This makes adjusting the experience an absolute breeze, encouraging experimentation on the part of the user. You can see changes happening behind the menu in real-time giving you immediately feedback and enabling easy resource monitoring.
In the case of Tomb Raider, we were satisfied to discover that all settings are dynamically adjustable in-game, meaning no lengthy reloads as you tweak. One hallmark of a great PC port pertains to the number of settings available and how quickly they can be modified. Rise of the Tomb Raider is very responsive on the PC and it has a transformative effect on the quality of the combat experience. We were already surprised when the Nixxes-engineered Xbox 360 version offered faster input response but on the PC, where faster frame-rates rule the day, this is improved further. We're talking about a reduction in input latency - an issue where the Xbox One version feels mildly unresponsive and more difficult to play. Of course, one of the most important improvements here isn't something you'll notice in screens or videos. Our detailed analysis takes a closer look at the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, including Xbox One comparisons and a look at the impact of the various quality settings. However, other settings, including depth of field, texture quality, scene detail, and shadow quality all stack up well against the high settings on PC. Based on our tests, we believe that Xbox One offers results similar to the high preset with tweaks designed to aid performance - anisotropic filtering is dialed back on Xbox One to a very low level, dynamic foliage is limited to the medium setting, tessellation is limited to snow deformation, and soft sun shadows appear to be completely absent. Instead, we see a combination of settings designed to suit the performance needs of the platform. When drawing comparisons to Xbox One we've found that the console version of the game doesn't fit squarely into any of the PC presets. All of these improvements do require more powerful hardware than Tomb Raider 2013 but with some tweaking, you can achieve excellent performance on a wide range of hardware. Tessellation is used throughout the game in areas where it is absent on Xbox One, shadows are greatly enhanced, the amount of dynamic foliage is increased, high quality HBAO+ is available, and general performance and image quality can be pushed much further. While the game looks quite similar to the Xbox One version at first glance, it's clear that these additional PC specific settings bring a lot of additional depth to the experience. In bringing the game to the PC, Nixxes has enabled a host of PC exclusive options which expand upon and refine this already beautiful game. This includes a physically-based materials system, image-based lighting, deformable snow, enhanced hair simulation, tessellated terrain, high quality cinematic effects and more. Powered by an upgraded iteration of the in-house Foundation Engine, Rise of the Tomb Raider brings a host of next generation visual features to the table. The Xbox One version is already a great-looking game but with the vastly increased power of a high-end PC, Crystal Dynamics' latest has never looked or played better. Released to critical acclaim this past November, Rise of the Tomb Raider is now locked and loaded for release on the PC courtesy of always reliable Dutch development house Nixxes Software.