One of the biggest benefits of all that power is giving developers the ability to make games that are Xbox Series X|S Optimized. This means that they’ve taken full advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X|S, both for new titles built natively using the Xbox Series X|S development environment as well as previously released titles that have been rebuilt specifically for the console. In our Inside Xbox Series X|S Optimized series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of how they’re optimizing their titles for Xbox Series X and what that means for the future of gaming. Today, we’ll be chatting with Manfred Lizner, CEO at Shin’en about optimizing The Touryst for Xbox Series X|S.

Q: What excites you most about developing and bringing The Touryst to life on next-generation hardware?

A: The Touryst uses a very stylized and fresh art style for its game world. The increased hardware power allowed us to refine this look to a “perfect pixel” level. It now feels very much like playing a fun CGI movie.

Q: How will these enhancements impact a player’s experience with The Touryst?

A: We hope the perfect image and presentation draws everyone deeper into the gameplay.

Q: Why did you choose to focus on increased resolution and 120 fps, as enhancement areas for The Touryst?

A: We felt our game already had a near perfect look with its stylized environments and lush colors. So improving overall quality with much higher resolution and twice the frame rate was the right decision. As we created only console and handheld games in the last 20 years we supported with our in-house engine only 60fps. Quite a lot of work went into achieving 120 fps, but with the immense hardware power in back we had little difficulties to achieve that.

Q: How do you expect fans of The Touryst will respond to playing it on Xbox Series X|S with these enhancements?

A: We tried to make The Touryst a very fresh experience. And a console launch is perfect to try out something new and unique. So we hope a lot of players will enjoy this adventure.

Q: What is it like developing on Xbox Series X|S?

A: As a developer, it’s cool to tap into so much hardware potential!

Q: What does Xbox Series X|S development enable in current or future projects that you could not have achieved with the previous generation of consoles?

A: I hope loading screens become a thing of the past. The Touryst has none! 🙂