The good news is that performance is indeed a little better on both consoles, with PS4 particularly benefiting from the update. In particular, crowded scenes featuring hundreds of NPCs run a little more smoothly than before. While drops down to 20fps and the high teens still occur when the engine is heavily taxed, outside of these situations we see between a 2-5fps increase in performance in some scenes.
The new patch also improves performance on the Xbox One game, although the difference isn't as noticeable as it is on PS4. The main boost in frame-rate occurs in crowded or high-detail areas where NPCs are found, but also extends to other areas, albeit to a lesser extent. We also find that sometimes frame-rates remain similar to the game running with the day one patch enabled, while occasionally they are a little worse.
Overall, it's clear that the update has a noticeable effect on improving the frame-rate, but at what cost? Ubisoft's use of the word 'refurbished' when describing alterations to Paris is a curious one. There's the implication that suggests that a downgrade may have taken place - and assets changed - to combat the performance problems that have overshadowed the game.
However, after replaying several sections of the game and matching up footage with our previous captures, it's not exactly clear what has been adjusted. The level of detail across the NPCs and the environments appears to be the same, while level of detail (LOD) streaming doesn't seem any different. Some users have reported poorer NPC streaming with the new patch installed, but we couldn't replicate the issue.
On the whole, Assassin's Creed Unity does indeed run more smoothly after the latest update is installed, although the improvement is very much context-sensitive and we're still a long way off the locked 30fps seen in Black Flag. Compared to the pre-patched game, drops in frame-rate aren't quite so heavy, and the PS4 version now more closely matches the Xbox One release during gameplay. However, performance is still variable, failing to hit 30fps in crowded areas or in detailed locations.
Elsewhere, the good news is that a number of key bugs are also addressed: we didn't encounter characters falling through scenery and we didn't get stuck outside the world after dying or leaping to our death. In that respect, it's good to see progress being made in improving the unpolished nature of the original launch game, but the fact that it has taken four updates to get to this point is still difficult to swallow.
More: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...test-assassins-creed-patch-boosts-performance