Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Resident Evil devs tout PS5 Pro benefits - and a lot of them are still talking about using a Performance Mode
Sep. 26, 2024Many PS5 Pro games will still have quality and fidelity modes despite Sony’s messaging
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When thePS5 Pro was revealed, lead system architectMark Cerny said the controversially expensive console is intended to remove the decision between fidelity and performance mode, but now it sounds like many games will still have two different modes to choose from.
On Wednesday, a newPlayStation Blogwas published that includes a round-up of 14 major studios; someSony-owned and others third-party; touting the visual and performance benefits ofPS5 Pro. For example, Remedy communications director Thomas Puha saidAlan Wake 2, a game in which “the mood and environmental story-telling are essential,” will be more immersive thanks to the addition of ray tracing.
Meanwhile,Assassin’s Creed Shadowstechnology director Pierre Fortin similarly said the PS5 Pro version of the game will have “enhanced ray-traced global illumination technology” as well as “improved rendering systems and an increase in the photorealism and immersion of the game.”
Capcomsaid the addition of 120 FPS gameplay to Resident Evil Village will “provide the best possible user experience” and make “the unique and memorable cast of characters [look] even more realistic, adding greatly to the scare factor, and the action scenes have more punch than ever before.” Resident Evil 4 Remake will also benefit from “a higher framerate, making the dynamic action even more intense”, and “ultra-high-resolution technology, painting vividly realistic imagery brimming with detailed environments and more natural and beautiful visual effects than ever before.”
Dragon Age: The Veilguardtechnical director Maciej Kurowski said the upcoming sequel will have “upgraded image quality thanks to Sony’s new AI-based upscalers, PSSR.“BioWarealso said it’s “enabled Raytraced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) in the 60FPS Performance mode, which previously was only available on the base PlayStation 5 with 30FPS Fidelity mode.”
One common theme I noticed reading through all of the developer statements is that many of them confirm that fidelity and performance modes will still exist in their PS5 Pro ports, just with higher frame rates and resolutions than before. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Alan Wake 2, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor are among them, while Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a new PS5 Pro-exclusive “Enhanced” mode with 60 FPS and “a resolution on par with that of Graphics Mode.”
Similarly,Insomniacsaid Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will all have a new default “Performance Pro” mode, which will have the ideal trifecta of 4K resolution, ray tracing, and 60 frames per second.
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None of this is likely to change many minds about whether the PS5 Pro is worth $700, but it does blatantly fly in the face of Sony’s existing messaging on the benefits of upgrading.
Meanwhile,Sony says the PS5 Pro doesn’t come with a disc drive because it’s “giving players choices,” like the choice to spend $80 extra to play the physical games “most players” have.
After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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