Topic: Probably a dumb question about PS5 patches

Hi all,

I'm due to receive a PS5 in the next couple of days and am a little unsure on this; if I install a PS4 game which has a PS5 patch, AC Valhalla for example, onto an external drive, will it only play the PS4 version or will it include the benefits provided by the PS5 patch (perhaps besides the loading times)?

Same question regarding Cyberpunk, if I update to the newest patch on PS5 but run the game from an external drive, it will play the PS4 or the updated PS5 version?

Will it be clear on the machine what version of what update is running?

It's probably very simple I've just gotten myself confused by overthinking it.

Any help / advice appreciated!

@Junosbetterhalf from what I gather only PS4 games… and therefore without any of the PS5 enhancements can be run externally. I could be wrong but, I’m sure that I read something to that effect back in Nov 2020.

@Junosbetterhalf There are 'ps4 games' and 'ps5 games', and they're completely separate. You can have both installed at the same time, even on different storage. The console's UI will make it clear which one a game is by displaying a little ps4 or ps5 logo alongside its icon.

You can't patch a PS4 game into a PS5 one, but what it will offer you (depending on the game) is a way to download the PS5 version alongside / instead of the PS4 game.

PS4 games can be aware that they're running on a PS5 and basically use the fact that it's more powerful (higher frame rate or whatever), but they're still PS4 games.

Hope that helps a bit

@Junosbetterhalf There are 2 types of updated games:

• ones that have native PS5 versions: usually can be upgraded if you already own the PS4 version (either free or for like $10 in some cases) which will mean downloading the entire new version of the game. These can't be installed on the external drive, the console will just not let you do it. AC Valhalla is in this category, with a free upgrade.
• ones that are technically PS4 games but recognize they're running on PS5 and enable different settings (like 60fps and/or higher resolution). These can be played from an external drive with all the benefits except faster loading. God of War and Days Gone are some examples of this category.

Cyberpunk is somehow both of these - there is a PS4 version that runs better on PS5 and can be played from an external drive, but also as of 2 days ago there's a native PS5 version that's event better but can't be installed on external.

The console's UI has a PS5 or PS4 icon next to each game so you know what version it is.

I definitely recommend playing the native PS5 versions whenever you can (with some very niche exceptions, mostly in the fighting games genre).

Really helpful guys thank you, makes more sense now.

I'm definitely looking forward to moving on a generation so there's not too many that I'll be carrying over but certainly AC I'd like to see improved as I found it underwhelming and the Cyberpunk upgrades released yesterday are very appealing as my experience with it on Ps4 was a joke to say the least.