Dark Souls 3 now runs at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X, S with Xbox FPS Boost

Dark Souls 3 Key Art
Dark Souls 3 Key Art (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

What you need to know

  • Dark Souls 3, developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco, was released in 2016.
  • The game was previously playable at 30 FPS through backward compatibility on the latest Xbox consoles.
  • A new update brings Xbox FPS Boost support, allowing Dark Souls 3 to run at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

FromSoftware's 2016 title Dark Souls 3 now runs at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, thanks to Xbox FPS Boost. According to the technical experts at Digital Foundry, the game now meets its new 60 FPS targer with "nigh-on flawless performance."

Per Xbox director of product management Jason Ronald, getting Dark Souls 3 to run with Xbox FPS Boost required a new technique, though he doesn't elaborate on further details.

Xbox FPS Boost allows backward compatible games to be updated to run at double (or in rare cases, quadruple) the original framerate, seeing games that once ran at 30 FPS hit 60 FPS or even 120 FPS on Xbox Series X and S. The feature was introduced earlier this year, with multiple titles like Prey, Skyrim, Metro Last Light and more updated to take advantage of the new hardware.

Alongside my Windows Central colleague Miles Dompier, I've been hoping to see Dark Souls 3 and other games updated to use Xbox FPS Boost. Microsoft has previously spoken on increasing the resolution of backward compatible games as well, so hopefully that's a feature we'll also see arrive in the months ahead.

Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.