DF Weekly: FSR 3 frame generation comes to consoles – and we've tested it

Another week, another episode of DF Direct Weekly (hence the name) and this episode was actually split into two recording sessions. Normal filming occured on Friday morning, but at around 3pm, Ascendant Studios in association with Enduring Games, released its AMD FSR 3 frame generation upgrade for Immortals of Aveum. Initial testing from myself and John Linneman confirmed that it’s in, it’s working and it’s well worth talking about, so I put together some data and assets and we added a second part to the Direct. And here it is!

As a proof of concept for console frame generation, Immortals of Aveum is compelling, but let’s first deal with the basic details. Similar to Nvidia DLSS 3 frame-gen, AMD’s take works on buffering up an extra frame, on top of the one last rendered, then inserts an interpolated frame between them. In a best case scenario – basically when you’re CPU-limited with GPU cycles to spare – you’ll double the frame-rate from the host system, so a 60fps game becomes a 120fps game. However, when you’re GPU-limited – as is almost certainly the case with Aveum – gains will be lower.

The plus points are obvious though. In the case of Immortals of Aveum, which tends to run at between 40fps to 60fps, the experience moves beyond the 60fps limit and into HFR (high frame-rate) territory, making the game more compelling for those with 120Hz displays. However, there are minus points. Interpolated frames – particularly those sandwiched between two very different frames – will lack the fidelity of standard frames. Also, the process of buffering up an extra frame adds latency… and that will be the time taken to generate the extra frame along with the time taken to calculate the interpolated frame.

0:00:00 Introduction0:01:15 News 01: Immortals of Aveum FSR3 frame-gen tested!0:18:16 News 02: Hellblade 2 review reaction0:45:34 News 03: IGN buys Gamer Network… but what about DF?0:57:44 News 04: TopSpin 2K25 impressions1:08:14 News 05: Snapdragon X Elite processors launch1:21:37 News 06: New Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door details1:30:23 News 07: Ark: Survival Ascended features console menu on consoles1:41:12 Supporter Q1: Should ‘artistic’ effects always be optional in games?1:47:21 Supporter Q2: Should a frame-rate cap option be added to Ghost of Tsushima?1:52:55 Supporter Q3: Future compatibility enhancements are very helpful – so should they be a standard feature in console games?2:01:32 Supporter Q4: Is VRR becoming a crutch for console games?2:09:00 Supporter Q5: Are full UE5 titles finally becoming common?2:12:35 Supporter Q6: Which game should get an RTX Remix treatment?2:17:15 Supporter Q7: By 2030, will 8K gaming be ‘a thing’?

So, the big question is simple, then: how does Immortals of Aveum stack up? We’re working on a full breakdown covering all the current-gen consoles (Series S has it!) but our first look was at Xbox Series X, which received the patch ahead of the PlayStation 5 version. As I expected back in the day, Ascendant isn’t looking to sustain 60fps with frame-gen but rather to produce a good HFR experience for HDMI 2.1 displays, especially with VRR (variable refresh rate).