Xbox Full Screen Experience, Windows 11's gaming UI overhaul, is available to try now on Legion Go handhelds

Ahead of the afloat Legion Go rollout coming soon

Last year, Microsoft yet enactment immoderate effort into making Windows 11 little dreadful for handheld PCs, launching Xbox Full Screen Experience - a stripped-back, much gamepad-friendly interface specifically for launching and installing games – connected the Asus ROG Xbox Ally family. The aforesaid update has been strangely unforthcoming to different Steam Deck rivals, but it sounds similar the Lenovo Legion Go bid is yet getting entree soon. There’s a preview physique that Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 owners tin effort close now, too.

As acold arsenic I’ve seen, determination isn’t a merchandise day for the afloat rollout, though Lenovo selling antheral Ben Green has confirmed that Xbox Full Screen Experience is "finally coming" to Legion portables. Getting hands connected it aboriginal begins with signing up here; I did, and wrong an hour, received a download nexus to a Windows registry update. Executing this connected my Legion Go 2 and restarting, definite enough, got Xbox FSE up and running. This preview is lone accessible for different 29 hours astatine the clip of writing, mind.

While I’ll astir apt bash a much in-depth look aboriginal this week, I’m wary of presenting this is immoderate wonderfully transformative improvement. Xbox FSE inactive isn’t arsenic snappy and responsive arsenic the Deck’s SteamOS – this preview, connected the Legion Go 2, is often downright sluggish – and Microsoft couldn’t defy stuffing it with lures towards their ain Game Pass stuff. That said, FSE is unquestionably amended suited to handheld and controller usage than Win11’s desktop-minded interface, and it’s inactive dutiful successful offering speedy entree to games from Steam and different non-Xboxy launchers.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

There’s adjacent a hint of anticipation that Legion hardware volition beryllium capable to marque amended usage of the Xbox mode’s 'optimisations', which mostly magnitude to disabling definite inheritance processes that Windows runs successful regular desktop mode. The ROG Xbox Ally X didn’t tally faster astatine each with FSE successful play, and my Legion Go 2 saw nary framerate quality successful The Talos Principle 2, but Forza Horizon 5 (on Low quality) climbed from 76fps to 81fps aft I installed FSE. Delicious crumbs of improvement, those. At the precise least, it’s astir apt going to beryllium worthy installing erstwhile the due merchandise goes through.

I besides can’t assistance but wonderment if Xbox FSE will, successful the coming years, person a overmuch bigger relation to play than tuning up immoderate handhelds. Last week, Microsoft announced that Project Helix, their adjacent location console, volition play some Xbox and PC games, meaning it’ll request an operating strategy that’s compatible with the Windows catalogue portion besides being afloat navigable with a gamepad. It’s not hard to spot Full Screen Experience acting arsenic the quiescent proof-of-concept for thing similar that, if not the intended ground for the full thing. The lone alternate would beryllium to make yet different caller console codebase and marque Windows games enactment though immoderate benignant of Proton-esque compatibility layer, but past wherefore fuss erstwhile you person Windows right there?