Life is healthier in 2023 for players on Apple macOS and even Linux, due to the Steam Deck’s scorching arrival, however Windows stays the perfect PC working system for video games.

Microsoft is conscious about this benefit, and because of this, it has bundled loads of gaming options into Windows through the years—on Windows 11, there are much more gaming goodies. Here are the Windows 11 options that can make your subsequent late-night frag session even higher.

Game Bar

Ryan Whitwam

Windows 11 ships with the Game Bar preloaded, supplying you with fast entry to some helpful instruments with a easy keystroke. You can open the Game Bar at any time (even in case you’re not taking part in a recreation) by urgent Win + G. If you have got an Xbox controller paired together with your PC, tapping the Xbox button will do the identical. 

The Game Bar is an overlay with widgets that show you how to seize gameplay footage, management audio output, monitor PC efficiency, and extra. In the settings, you may even log in to your social media accounts for fast sharing of your captured photographs and clips.

DirectStorage

If you have got a sufficiently highly effective PC, Microsoft has devised a manner your {hardware} can talk extra effectively, which suggests a lot quicker loading occasions in video games. It’s referred to as DirectStorage, and also you don’t must do something to show it on. You do, nonetheless, must hit sure {hardware} specs that may necessitate an improve. 

Ryan Whitwam

DirectStorage permits your laptop’s storage (the place recreation information lives) to speak straight with the GPU. This cuts out the CPU decompression step that almost all techniques require, eliminating a serious efficiency bottleneck. Games with DirectX 12 can reap the benefits of DirectStorage so long as your PC has an NVMe SSD and a compatible graphics card. Any fashionable Radeon or GeForce GPU ought to do the trick. 

If you aren’t certain whether or not your system can deal with DirectStorage, you could find out within the beforehand talked about Game Bar. Click the settings gear, after which choose Gaming Features. This web page will inform you in case your software program, GPU, and SSD are suitable. Currently, the one recreation suitable with DirectStorage is Forspoken, whereas Nvidia’s Portal RTX contains related RTX IO expertise, however extra are coming.

Auto HDR

Ryan Whitwam

Games that assist HDR (excessive dynamic vary) can produce extra vibrant, sensible colours. However, it has solely been widespread for builders to incorporate HDR assist in the previous few years. If you’re taking part in a recreation that doesn’t assist HDR, Windows 11 can nonetheless pump up the colours with a function referred to as Auto HDR. 

The catch right here is that you just’ll want a monitor able to HDR, and people are often dearer than normal panels. If you have got a suitable monitor, Windows can algorithmically improve non-HDR video games on the fly. This occurs on the OS degree, so builders don’t must do something. To allow Auto HDR, go to Settings > System > Display > HDR. If your monitor is supported, you’ll have the ability to flip on Auto HDR. This will even add an HDR depth slider to the Game Bar.

Further studying: The best gaming monitors (including HDR options)

Game Mode

There’s nothing worse than watching your silky clean recreation drop frames as a result of one thing in your PC determined it was time to run a heavy operation within the background. If your PC is already struggling to keep up body charges, this may make a recreation unplayable. Windows 11 has a method to cease that, and it’s referred to as Game Mode. 

Ryan Whitwam

You’ll discover this function below Settings > Gaming > Game Mode. It’s a single toggle, and there are not any particular {hardware} necessities. Flip it on, and Windows won’t attempt to obtain or set up updates within the background, and apps that use the Windows notification system gained’t interrupt your recreation. Game Mode swings into motion mechanically when Windows detects you’re operating a recreation.

Here’s an explainer on how to fine-tune Windows Gaming Mode for the perfect outcomes, and a deep-dive into how Windows Game Mode makes unplayable games playable — sometimes.

Ryan Whitwam

The Game Bar has loads of performance if you first open it, but it surely’s extra customizable than you suppose. Tucked away within the menus is a widget retailer the place you will get extra gadgets on your overlay.  It’s within the widget checklist, which is the far-left button in the principle bar. At the very backside, you’ll discover the widget retailer. 

Most of what you’ll discover within the retailer is free, however there are a couple of paid widgets, in addition to overlays that connect with paid desktop apps. The retailer has widgets that may add floating YouTube movies, insert an ethically doubtful crosshair to your display screen for no-scope sniping, and extra. You’ll additionally discover devoted widgets for {hardware} like EVGA video playing cards and Corsair coolers.

Xbox app

Ryan Whitwam

Microsoft’s Xbox app is bundled with Windows 11, and it’s price opening even in case you don’t have an Xbox. It permits you to buy PC video games like Cuphead, Destiny 2, and Minecraft, but it surely’s greater than a Steam substitute with a poorer catalog. It additionally serves because the hub of Microsoft Game Pass on the PC. 

Game Pass is a subscription service that makes a big selection of video games accessible at no further cost. You can set up and play them for so long as they’re on Game Pass, and Microsoft has bought publishers like Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard to make sure there’s loads to play. Even in case you don’t have a flowery GPU, the Xbox app will help you get your recreation on. Game Pass Ultimate (the $17-per-month tier) contains Cloud Gaming, which renders Xbox video games on a server and streams them to your laptop. The choice right here isn’t particularly broad, however you’ve bought Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Doom Eternal, and extra console hits — together with Bethesda’s Starfield. So, irrespective of the way you get your gaming repair, Windows 11 ought to have one thing to assist make the expertise higher.

Further studying: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tip: Get 2 years of access for dirt cheap