David Bridges
Highlights
- Updates: Microsoft is enhancing the Xbox Ally X to feel more like a console.
- Performance: The handheld now supports Default Game Profiles for select titles, optimizing performance.
- Games: Currently, 40 titles are supported, including popular games like Fortnite and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
- Issues: Users still encounter bugs, especially with sleep-related functions on the device.
If you were hoping to spy how Microsoft intends to transform Xbox into a console/PC hybrid, watch the updates coming to the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. Microsoft is slowly but surely updating the handheld software to make it feel more console-like. There’s more work to do, but it’s already a far, far better experience.
It was clear just a month ago the Xbox Ally’s software, dubbed the full screen experience, needed more time in the oven compared to Valve’s SteamOS built for handhelds. The latest update is relatively simple, though it will have large implications for the Asus and Microsoft-made handheld going forward.
The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are essentially gaming PCs, requiring users to adjust graphics settings in their games to get stable performance. Microsoft also mandated users go into the Asus Armoury Crate SE menu to set the TDP, or thermal design power, to squeak out better frame rates—usually at the cost of battery life. Now, Microsoft has enabled so-called Default Game Profiles for select titles. These create preset graphics and system settings to make games run at a stable fps.
There are 40 games that support the settings currently, though there was obviously a big push for popular and Xbox-published titles to start. The list includes Fortnite, Gears of War: Reloaded, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Sea of Thieves, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and 7. These profiles are only available in preview, though I tested them out on the Xbox Ally X and found they make the system so, so much easier to use. Microsoft said Halo: The Master Chief Collection is one of the supported titles. However, when I loaded the game up on Steam, I didn’t receive any option for a default profile. You can only access these when loading games through Xbox’s own services.
This is the console-like experience we wanted
With Default Game Profiles, the Xbox Ally handhelds set their own TDP, depending on the title. In Indiana Jones, the system also maintains a preset graphics quality at medium and turns on TAA, or temporal anti-aliasing, with a target of 30 fps. The game would sit somewhere between 29 and 33 fps in cutscenes and gameplay. The game doesn’t enable AMD’s FSR, or FidelityFX Super Resolution, which enhances frame rates by upscaling the game from a lower resolution to a higher one. With that setting enabled, I could get around 40 fps at the same TDP. Xbox obviously wanted a consistent experience.
In other games, the Xbox Ally X proved it could hit a minimum of 60 fps with no effort needed on the player’s part. Last month, Bethesda released handheld-specific graphics settings for Doom: The Dark Ages on Steam Decks and other mobile PCs. On the Xbox Ally X, the game runs at a stable clip with FSR enabled. It was the same story for Gears of War: Reloaded and Gears of War 5. All these games were running at a TDP just below the max 35W, but from what I experienced, the battery life was better overall compared to launch. Instead of trying for 30W TDP on battery power, keeping it simple helped me play for more than two hours and still have juice left over for the morning. In Hollow Knight, the game hits a consistent 120 fps while at lower wattages; there is no need to change the TDP.
Of course, not all is perfect in the land of Xbox on handheld. While the Xbox Ally now responds to gamepad controls faster after login, I also encountered a bug that wouldn’t let me input my PIN after waking the device up. Overnight, I woke up to find the thumbstick lights flashing while the handheld was asleep. Microsoft said it was still working on fixing sleep-related bugs, though this has been one of the most consistent complaints with the handheld since launch.
A work in progress
Not to mention, even getting access to these enhancements required updating Armoury Crate SE, the Xbox app, and Windows 11 individually. If the Xbox Ally/Ally X were a true console, the system would do all the work for me as soon as I booted it up. Experiencing these updates is akin to watching an injured man learn to walk again after a car wreck. Xbox knows how to make a good UI, judging by the Xbox Series S and Series X. Why it still struggles to put gamepad-forward controls—letting users navigate more menus with the bumper buttons—is beyond me.
Microsoft said we’ll have to wait until next year before it enables Auto Super Resolution, or Auto SR, which is the company’s own AI upscaling tech. Xbox will also get a game save sync indicator for its Xbox Anywhere cloud saves, so you won’t have to worry about losing a save if you jump between your handheld or PC.
The next-gen Xbox is expected to be a powerful beast, one that combines aspects of both PC and console gaming. If users will be able to play their Steam library on an Xbox, it means Microsoft needs to keep incentivizing players to buy games on Xbox. Having profiles built for the system first is one way to keep players coming back. At least that’s as long as the Steam Machine doesn’t take all the wind out of Microsoft’s sails.
Daniel Mercer
