
Stellar Blade is comfortably one of the best games of the year, and while we knew it would be upgraded for the PS5 Pro, we had no idea exactly how. It sounds like this may be one of the new system’s secret success stories, as Digital Foundry describes its upgrades as a “gigantic leap”.
There are two options available, with the first offering PSSR upscaling at 80fps. The latter works in tandem with VRR on 120Hz displays to deliver a buttery smooth gameplay experience. Meanwhile, tech expert John Linneman is effusive in his praise for the AI-based upscaling.
“My goodness, it completely changes the image,” he beams. “It resolves so much more detail and cleans up so much noise. And it winds up massively improving the visuals overall in what was a somewhat dirty looking game. It’s a gigantic leap.”
The other option, according to Linneman, is a little stranger. It builds on the base game’s Quality Mode but ups the framerate to 50fps, which again could be enhanced further by VRR. The problem is that it doesn’t use PSSR and instead uses the base game’s temporal anti-aliasing solution to deliver a native 4K image.
“Even though it’s a lower internal res,” Linneman notes, “the PSSR mode looks significantly better than the native 4K.”
It’s a reminder that, with these AI-based upscalers, the need for native resolutions is diminishing. In this case, it’s one of the better examples of PSSR implementation – but it just shows how you can do so much more with a lower internal res and still achieve comparative or even superior image quality.
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[source youtube.com]
Comments 50
I am looking forward to PS5 Pro Pong review and expect words like breath taking and giant leap to be used 🙄
@RiverGenie Well now you're just being silly aren't you?
This really looks impressive. Honestly cant believe how good PSSR can be in the right hands. The fact that its already overtaken FSR, which has been around longer, is pretty amazing.
Whats even more amazing, is that what Guerilla is using, is even more impressive!
bUt ItS nOt NaTiVe ThO. iF yOu CoMpArE oRi RuNnInG aT 720p oN sWiTcH vs nAtIvE 4k oN oNeX tHeRe Is A cLeAr DeLtA /s
@colonelkilgore The resolution war is now officially dead for sure, but I know some people are still trying to keep it alive.
@get2sammyb people are just idiots and will actively look for anything to cling to that might potentially support their world view… regardless of the fact that they ignore the same damn thing on their side of the divide.
If it looks better than native 4K at 80fps, why even bother with a native 4K at 50fps?
I guess for those who can actually spot the extremely hard to notice graphical glitches that come with using these techniques?
Dirty dirty game, yes John.
I’d image that extra detail really helps with the braille-nipples 😎
Quality of pixels not quantity of pixels is the new meta.
Native resolution has been pointless to anyone gaming on PC for a while with DLSS, so PSSR was the biggest selling point of the Pro to me and it hasn't disappointed in the games I've tried so far. The Last of Us 2 for example, when looking at images online it might not look a big deal but sat right in front of your 4K TV and it's night and day
@GamingFan4Lyf That's more or less what they said in the DF video.
@carlos82 I keep meaning to say to you, I love seeing your avatar!
@LogicStrikesAgain Yeah John was blown by Horizon in the Pro review, he said its the best image he's seen on console and is like a high end PC image.
@get2sammyb haha thanks, it's my phone's lock screen too, I'm a bit of a fan of Sega Rally
Did they ever release photo mode for this?
Higher res boobs? Ok now I'm interested.
@Dodoo They didn't yet...
I wish they would start with 60fps as a base, then make the graphics and resolution as good as possible at that setting.
I think the ai-upscaler is what helped Wilds beta run good on my PC with my RTX card at high settings, so it can definitely help on console, especially when the console is completely dedicated to it.
@Nekomichu ah ok thanks!
@DennisReynolds Exactly! Guerilla Games really are a bunch of tech wizards.
Lock the 120fps by any means necessary. Upscale it to 1800p instead of 4K. Yes, VRR smooths it out and makes the framedrops unnoticeable. What is noticeable however is the loss of fluidity and the added sluggishness when moving the camera etc. If they aren't offering one "Pro" mode, then have a separate Performance 120fps option. The resolution war is over, right? Now deliver locked 120fps.
@get2sammyb yup extremely silly. Life is too short to be serious about a fun hobby
Now this is the most effective PS5Pro "ad" and "endorsement" yet. Two important things.
@GamingFan4Lyf if it looks identical, you shouldn't be able to spot the difference. They probably leave the option in there for those that are graphics petty.
@carlos82 Sega rally rocks! Back when I was working at Bullfrog, we had a Sega Rally machine set on free play in the chill out room which we all used to use a lot. I believe of the top 10 players in the world, 5 of them were colleagues from Bullfrog. I was good, but not that good
@GamingFan4Lyf Some people still have 60 hz panels and will not be able to display 80hz with vrr? I guess what's surprising is they didnt scale down the internal render to allow locked 60hz and upscale with PSSR to get that clean stability like they achieved with the 80hz mode.
@mountain_spider Yup.
I mean, yes, there are anomalies that can show up, but you pretty much would need to take direct capture, stop footage, zoom in 400% on a blade of grass and compare it with the native version at exactly the same time to actually notice that a blade of grass as slightly more break-up in motion than the native resolution.
@Titntin I guess I overlooked the fact that it's a HFR Mode that isn't available on 60Hz displays. That's actually kind of an odd choice, indeed.
Perhaps console makers should look into what Nvidia does with VSync. For those not in the know, it has a "Fast" Vsync option that lets the game run as fast as the game can run, it just drops the frames your display can't handle so you don't get screen tearing - but get all the game response benefits of the higher FPS.
So for something like this, a 60Hz TV can run a game at 80fps, you just don't see it - but the game responds as if it's running at 80fps. Like a reverse Frame Gen - lol!
The more I see images for this game, the more I really want to play it…
I will be replaying. Everyone should own this wonderful game.
@LavenderShroud admiral hipper. Manofculture.gif
"some what dirty looking game" what does he mean?
@AndyKazama She’s definitely my favorite. Plus it makes all my comments look sarcastic and snooty as hell.
This is my problem with sites like DF. They do this for a living and its their job to compare, find fault and nit pick. He says "dirty looking game" like SB it was sh*t to begin with. Imo SB was an awsome looking game and ran smooth to my "average Joe" eyes. I really want to be sold on a pro and had my finger on the pre order button the other day but i couldnt even tell the difference between the PS4 and the pro. Maybe its just me 🤷
Stellar Blade would be one very good reason to buy PS5 Pro tbh
Also, @get2sammyb any chances of seeing anything PS5 Pro + Space Marines 2 today? Kinda wanna see how it performs.
@Kidfunkadelic83 Everyone is different mate. You should rejoice in your inability to notice these differences, as ultimately it saves you cash as you are just as happy.
Unfortunately I did do this for a living and cant switch of noticing small differences, as proffesionaly I would want to correct whatever imperfections I could. Im delighted at some of the differences Im seeing today with my pro, but I appreciate that not everyone will even notice! 😂
Just makes me want to play Stellar Blade over and over again.
That reminds me I have yet to buy that game. But I couldn't care less about the PS5 pro regardless about the propaganda around it.
I'm dumbfounded by comments like the one by DF. Maybe unbeknownst to me and everyone I know my eyes are messed up, or maybe I'm just more reserved in my use of language. Sure, the image on the Pro side looks a bit better. But a "gigantic leap"? What? I don't think I would even mostly notice (much less care for) the difference in image quality if I did not see them side by side (not that I think it's enough to care anyway).
Final note to avoid comments asking what I'm doing in this comments section. I kept seeing titles using such superlative adjectives to characterize the PS5 Pro enhancements that I just had to come and see for myself. Could it be that contrary to my first indifferent reaction to the PS5 Pro reveal, I was actually missing out on great improvements. Well, I guess I'm glad that it's not the case
I'm watching the video on loop on X and I don't see any difference. Still a great game, so I'm not complaining.
@Kidfunkadelic83 I too didn't really notice much between my brothers ps4 pro and my vanilla ps4 other than his pro sounded like Donald Campbell starting up the bluebird in his living room...wow that was a loud console..
@Northern_munkey ps4 pro noise was horrible... upgrading to pro was my worst mistake last gen...
@Northern_munkey yeah mine sounded like it was going to take off 🤣🤣
@Titntin me and my lad were just watching videos on youtube and he was laughing at me not being able to tell the difference. He plays PC on a 244hz monitor and could instantaneously tell the difference. I could tell the difference on F1 tho. That game looked incredible and the ray tracing really made it look realistic as opposed to standard ps5. I want to be able to tell the difference tho as i want a reason to buy a pro 🤣
Can’t wait to check it out
Those boobs and a$$ never looked so good. Coming to PC next year.
Now I'm really glad that I didn't play it yet. Going on top of my wishlist now
Yet another game that I haven’t yet bought. Now that I have a PS5 Pro and a 43 (I think?) inch LG OLED 120hz sitting 3 feet away on a desk, it may be time to get a closer view of this title.
@CielloArc
No; actually Stellar Blade would be two very good reasons to buy PS5 Pro.
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