The Evil Within update enables 60 FPS without any "glitches"

The Evil Within

I was baffled by the decision to release The Evil Within with a 30 FPS cap. Why should my (admittedly hypothetical) blisteringly-fast PC be artificially limited to a frame rate it's easily capable of exceeding? Didn't I spend hours back in the day benchmarking Quake, trying to squeeze as many frames out my hardware as I possibly could? Whatever the reason for the cap, it's academic now, as today's Steam update has officially done away with it.

It was actually done away with in mid-October when the debug console commands were revealed to the world, but sidestepping the cap in that fashion was not without risks: Bethesda warned that playing with frame rates and letterboxing could result in "quirks," although it added that it would fix them eventually.

And so it has. The patch released today adds a "frame lock setting," allowing players to toggle between 30 and 60 FPS, and also to toggle the letterbox bars on and off. More importantly, it takes care of the aforementioned gameplay and visual glitches associated with changing the settings through the debug console.

The patch also ensures that achievements will work properly when the console is enabled, incorporates a fix for starting the game in windowed mode on its first run, and makes "minor localization fixes," none of which is terribly sexy as updates go. But being able to play at a decent frame rate without having to worry about "issues?" That's good stuff, should it all work as promised.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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