Two Weeks With the Xbox Series S

In case you haven’t noticed, next-gen consoles are here. That’s been kept awfully quiet, hasn’t it? Sarcasm aside, Microsoft and Sony have launched their next-gen machines with plenty of excitement, even if the launch lineups have been heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the power of a Mercedes F1 engine being harnessed to power the gaming equivalent of a Renault Mégane. All this is to say that the new CPU architecture and power is promising, but we won’t really know the full potential until the end of 2021 at least. 

However, each manufacturer’s propositions are enticing and I couldn’t wait. Mainly because for the last 7 years I have been using an Xbox One as my main gaming platform. Yep. The original Xbox One. Playing games like the wonderful Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Jedi: Fallen Order was painful on a machine underpowered in 2013. Most recent AAA games found themselves prone to freezing and framerate drops aplenty, and in the case of Jedi, texture pop-in on a scale so massive that not even a Death Star itself could blow it up. 

So the next-gen couldn’t have rolled around at a better time, but without a 4k set up to exploit the full power of the Xbox Series X and PS5 or the money to get one, and as a regular Game Pass user throughout 2020, the machine that had the most appeal for me was Microsoft’s diminutive Xbox Series S. A £249 machine backwards compatible with a catalogue going back to 2001 and plenty of options via Game Pass, there was enough intrigue around the little white box to spur a purchase. Although its actual capabilities to keep pace this generation is certainly a big question for Microsoft.

Of course, we can’t necessarily know how this machine will stand up in five years time, but right now it’s plenty powerful and I was more than ready to buy it last week. So I've now had a full two weeks with the machine I wanted to share how using the Xbox Series S has been, the improvements I’ve noticed from last-gen and a couple of general drawbacks.

I’m pretty sure this is a photo of two Xbox engineers dealing with day one server loads.

After a trek to Game (following all the COVID-19 guidelines) the console, as well as an additional new controller was picked up and the piece of kit was set up in the evening. This was a slightly fiddly process. Involving scanning QR codes on the Xbox app, setting up internet connections and downloading the day one update. Such is the way with modern gaming consoles. Regardless, the hardware was sorted and I spent Tuesday evening downloading plenty of games to play on Wednesday. It was during this setup, downloading for the first time, that I noticed how deathly quiet the machine was. Of course, the Series S looks like a boombox for a reason, expelling plenty of heat from the black mesh atop the console so silently I have hardly noticed it since it took its place.

Wednesday was also a day off from work, giving me plenty of time to play Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Rocket League, The Falconeer and Tetris Effect: Connected. Not necessarily many new or exclusive games but plenty to play. And all this the Xbox Series S did effortlessly. All of them played smoothly with not a dropped frame in sight, and no obvious screen tearing, along with blisteringly fast load times, particularly for Ori and The Falconeer. While games like Apex Legends saw load times halved. Thunderlotus’ Spiritfarer took 92 seconds to load on Xbox One. Here on Series S, just over 34 seconds. Moving through the UI and store to buy The Falconeer also made me realise how buttery smooth the interface is. Granted, the store itself is loaded with menus upon menus to navigate for the window shopper, but for players familiar with Xbox or Windows’ interfaces the dashboard and storefront will be comfortable and zippy to move around. 

Oh I’m sorry, I meant to write a caption here but if I’m honest Ori is just so pretty looking I got kinda distracted.

Regardless, what matters here are the complete smoothness of the gameplay at 1080p in my case. Ori’s platforming is sharp, precise and flowing. The Falconeer’s open-world is dazzling with rippling oceans and smoky skies that all run flawlessly. The beef CPU architecture is clearly on full display and works tremendously to overcome those GPU deficiencies and give games a full feeling of motion at 1080p. 

Saturday, Sunday and Monday also gave me time to extensively put the Xbox Series S through its paces with one of Microsoft’s most heavily advertised features Quick Resume. Whilst the feature itself is not very clearly labelled in the UI as to which titles it is applied to, it works brilliantly and with ease. It isn’t a revolutionary feature. After all, not everyone is playing loads of games at once and not everyone will be fussed given how quickly titles load without Quick Resume. However, holding both Ori and Tetris Effect in that cache whilst doing some quick journeys in Spiritfarer and downloading Apex Legends felt wonderful and did reveal something else. That even with two games in Quick Resume standby, one running and another AAA title downloading, the Series S will remain calm under pressure, with barely a sound emitting throughout the entire process and not getting extraordinarily hot. You never get the sense the Series S is breaking its back to run things, rather that it deftly performs tasks with efficiency and speed. That is next-gen power to me and whilst the graphical fidelity still sits at a 1080p, the speed and performance all show how the CPU powering it firmly propels the Series S as a true next-gen piece of hardware.

Who needs to make friends online when you can make animal spirit friends?

The aforementioned Apex Legends was also the best game to demonstrate how great the new controllers are. The Xbox Series X/S controllers take cues from the Elite Series 2 controllers Microsoft started making in 2019, with a new flatter d-pad and textured grips on both the back and the shoulder buttons. Doing this gives a more tactile feel but also a better sense of control on said shoulder buttons, and playing an FPS at a locked 60fps and that controller felt like an entirely new experience, with lateral movement feeling smooth and deliberate, all without latency (that isn’t caused by a weak internet connection). 

Monday brought about the toughest test for the console in Gears: Tactics and whilst I didn’t get too far through The Coalition’s strategic approach to the world of Sera, the game played without obvious dropped frames or graphical issues and with Quick Resume working excellently, which was useful in breaking up two parts of the first mission with some relaxing Spiritfarer. Quick Resume is impressive but it does lend itself to tonal whiplash. But that’s kind of on you. 

Despite this glowing praise, it's time for that big ol’ elephant in the room. When the specs were initially revealed, a number of people expressed concern for the consoles’ 512GB SSD. Those concerns were more than valid then, and have been proven extremely justifiable as the Xbox Series S only has 364GB usable available space for game, apps and any other media. As someone who isn’t too dependent on AAA gaming, this is a problem that I can navigate with an external HDD I had from my Xbox One. But for those more heavily invested in AAA gaming? Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is almost 190GB, so yeah, this is going to become an issue. The lack of space on Series S is a serious problem no matter what you play and forces you to think about what you’re downloading and the options of external storage. Of course, the lack of disc tray in the long-term is an unavoidable problem in the sense of only being able to get games from one storefront and does prevent the chance of getting second-hand discs in the future.

I hear the Xbox Series S | X is FLYING off of shelves!

Get it?

Make no mistake, there are certainly long-term problems that Microsoft will have to face with the Series S. For now, the plucky little box stands out as a viable alternative for those looking to enter next-gen gaming without having to fork out upwards of £500. If anything, my first two weeks have given me a deep appreciation for Microsoft’s trajectory and a deep resentment of my old Xbox One which I can’t ever see myself gaming on again. I can’t sing the praises of the Series S enough as a budget piece of kit. 

After all, it's quiet enough on its own. Someone has to shout for it.