Alex Simmons
Guest
After weeks for speculation and leaks, Sony has officially revealed the PS5 Pro during a nine-minute presentation that touched on some of the enhancements the console will offer. Boasting better GPU performance, advanced ray-tracing, and AI-powered upscaling, the PS5 Pro aims to eliminate the choices many of us currently have to make between performance and fidelity modes. In short, it aims to give us both of those modes running at the same time, and as part of the reveal we saw glimpses of games that will be enhanced for PlayStation 5 Pro by offering up higher-resolution visuals that run at a smoother 60-frames-per-second.
Although specific enhancements were mostly kept to first-party Sony games, we did get a broader look at what games will make use of the hardware when it launches. Here’s every game we know so far is going to be enhanced for PS5 Pro.
Thanks to the power of Remedy’s advanced Northlight engine, Alan Wake 2 was already one of the best-looking games on the PS5 platform. The PS5 Pro will hopefully take it to new heights, especially when it comes to the atmospheric lighting effects in the New York City-like Dark Place.
Ubisoft has purposefully upgraded the Anvil engine for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, its upcoming feudal Japan-set historical adventure. The added power of the PS5 Pro will hopefully allow that engine to render a sprawling open world at 4K resolution with high frame rates, without having to sacrifice beautiful extras such as gusts of cherry blossom and tree pollen. Running at a steady 60fps will also keep the combat feeling as sharp as Yasuke and Naoe’s blades.
Despite being a launch title released back in 2020, Demon’s Souls remains one of the most visually arresting games on PS5. The standard version features a Cinematic mode, which has all the bells and whistles tuned on and runs at 4K resolution capped at 30fps, and a Performance mode which drops the resolution to 1440p in order to hit 60fps. The visual difference between the two is only slight, and so most people opt to play in Performance mode considering timing is a vital part of Souls combat. Being able to have the full force of Cinematic mode at 60fps will be a treat if that’s what PS5 Pro delivers.
When it launched earlier this year, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was scrutinised for its choppy performance on console, with 60fps all but impossible to achieve. Sony has yet to detail what to expect from the confirmed PS5 Pro enhancement, but hopefully it brings the framerate up to 60fps so we can enjoy those giant monster battles exactly how they were meant to be. With any luck we’ll also be able to do that at 4K so we can see all the detail rendered by the impressive RE Engine.
Another 2024 game that suffered performance woes, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is frequently a graphical stunner but is locked in the 30fps jail cell. Shifting from fidelity to performance mode makes the combat run buttery smooth, but it comes at the cost of upsettingly blurry visuals. FF7 Rebirth is a game that deserves to be played in the best situation possible, so best to showcase its gorgeous world design and lovingly rendered characters, and hopefully the PS5 Pro upgrade will unlock its full potential.
Gran Turismo 7 already looks pretty damn good on PS5 and runs at a slick 60fps, but on PS5 Pro the main focus looks to be ray tracing, especially between the cars as they race around the tracks. This was demonstrated when a bright yellow Corvette edged past a blue Porsche Cayman GT4, and you could clearly see the reflection of the Corvette in those blue body panels as it passed by. It looks nice, but $700 nice? That’s up to you to decide.
Hogwart’s Legacy was another game that really showcased the PS5 Pro’s improved ray-tracing capabilities, and when we walked through the doors to the Hogwarts' Great Hall I was almost dazzled by how shiny the stone floor was. In addition to more reflections, we’re promised a greater variety of reflective surfaces, a point that was made as a hippogriff flew gracefully over the Great Lake, the distant hills reflected in the icy waters. Lastly, the ray-tracing will benefit shadows too, promising greater realism.
Guerilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West was another first-party game showcased during the reveal that, thanks to the improvements of the PS5 Pro, promises to bridge the gap between Performance Mode and Fidelity Mode by taking full advantage of the improved GPU. During the presentation we saw Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 Pro with an improved level of graphical fidelity, from better lighting to more detailed skin and hair texture during cinematics.
Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 is the benchmark to which all PS5 games aspire to, with high-end graphics and insane performance – but not necessarily at the same time. PlayStation architect Mark Cerny promises that, with the PS5 Pro, a game like Spider-Man 2 will no longer have to choose between performance or graphics, and that Spider-Man 2 will achieve high fidelity graphics at performance mode level of framerate, so you get all that gorgeous detail at a sweet 60fps.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was an early PS5 technical marvel, highlighting in particular the kind of whiz-bang effects that were only achieved thanks to the faster SSD loaded in the base console. With the PS5 Pro’s promised improvements, we saw that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is now able to maintain that high level of performance and gameplay, while improving the graphics that took a hit to meet peak performance. We even see that the PS5 Pro can hit greater visual details while maintaining the same level of frames during Performance Mode.
Ubisoft’s online racing game The Crew Motorfest was briefly shown during the montage of games that will be improved thanks to the PS5 Pro. While we don’t have any details on what those specific improvements are, the brief sizzle showed what looked to be improved reflections on the car surfaces, potentially meaning a similar visual improvement to Gran Turismo 7’s graphical upgrade, while maintaining 60fps.
Nexon’s free-to-play MMORPG The First Descendant also appeared in the PS5 Pro montage, indicating that it too will receive performance and graphical upgrades with the new console. The clips shown during the sizzle were only from cinematic cutscenes, making it hard to determine what specific improvements will be added, but the PS5 Pro promises to bridge the gap between Performance and Fidelity Mode, so expect to see even greater graphical details while maintaining a consistent higher frame-rate.
During the presentation we saw a side-by-side comparison of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered running on PS5 Pro alongside the PS5 version in fidelity mode. The wooded environments Eliie explores look as sumptuous and detailed as ever on the Pro, but the key difference is the frame-rate – it runs at 60fps, which looks much smoother compared to the standard PS5 version running at a choppy 30fps. When the presentation compared the original’s performance mode, the difference in detail was obvious – it’s noticeably sharper on PS5 Pro. It’s another clear demonstration that the Pro will offer both high resolution visuals and a smooth framerate, if you’re willing to fork out $700.
Those are all the games we know will be enhanced for PS5 Pro so far. We’ll be sure to add others when they’re announced. In the meantime, check out how the internet has reacted to the PS5 Pro $700 price point, and check out the console’s reveal trailer.
Although specific enhancements were mostly kept to first-party Sony games, we did get a broader look at what games will make use of the hardware when it launches. Here’s every game we know so far is going to be enhanced for PS5 Pro.
Alan Wake 2
Thanks to the power of Remedy’s advanced Northlight engine, Alan Wake 2 was already one of the best-looking games on the PS5 platform. The PS5 Pro will hopefully take it to new heights, especially when it comes to the atmospheric lighting effects in the New York City-like Dark Place.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Ubisoft has purposefully upgraded the Anvil engine for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, its upcoming feudal Japan-set historical adventure. The added power of the PS5 Pro will hopefully allow that engine to render a sprawling open world at 4K resolution with high frame rates, without having to sacrifice beautiful extras such as gusts of cherry blossom and tree pollen. Running at a steady 60fps will also keep the combat feeling as sharp as Yasuke and Naoe’s blades.
Demon’s Souls
Despite being a launch title released back in 2020, Demon’s Souls remains one of the most visually arresting games on PS5. The standard version features a Cinematic mode, which has all the bells and whistles tuned on and runs at 4K resolution capped at 30fps, and a Performance mode which drops the resolution to 1440p in order to hit 60fps. The visual difference between the two is only slight, and so most people opt to play in Performance mode considering timing is a vital part of Souls combat. Being able to have the full force of Cinematic mode at 60fps will be a treat if that’s what PS5 Pro delivers.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
When it launched earlier this year, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was scrutinised for its choppy performance on console, with 60fps all but impossible to achieve. Sony has yet to detail what to expect from the confirmed PS5 Pro enhancement, but hopefully it brings the framerate up to 60fps so we can enjoy those giant monster battles exactly how they were meant to be. With any luck we’ll also be able to do that at 4K so we can see all the detail rendered by the impressive RE Engine.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Another 2024 game that suffered performance woes, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is frequently a graphical stunner but is locked in the 30fps jail cell. Shifting from fidelity to performance mode makes the combat run buttery smooth, but it comes at the cost of upsettingly blurry visuals. FF7 Rebirth is a game that deserves to be played in the best situation possible, so best to showcase its gorgeous world design and lovingly rendered characters, and hopefully the PS5 Pro upgrade will unlock its full potential.
Gran Turismo 7
Gran Turismo 7 already looks pretty damn good on PS5 and runs at a slick 60fps, but on PS5 Pro the main focus looks to be ray tracing, especially between the cars as they race around the tracks. This was demonstrated when a bright yellow Corvette edged past a blue Porsche Cayman GT4, and you could clearly see the reflection of the Corvette in those blue body panels as it passed by. It looks nice, but $700 nice? That’s up to you to decide.
Hogwart’s Legacy
Hogwart’s Legacy was another game that really showcased the PS5 Pro’s improved ray-tracing capabilities, and when we walked through the doors to the Hogwarts' Great Hall I was almost dazzled by how shiny the stone floor was. In addition to more reflections, we’re promised a greater variety of reflective surfaces, a point that was made as a hippogriff flew gracefully over the Great Lake, the distant hills reflected in the icy waters. Lastly, the ray-tracing will benefit shadows too, promising greater realism.
Horizon Forbidden West
Guerilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West was another first-party game showcased during the reveal that, thanks to the improvements of the PS5 Pro, promises to bridge the gap between Performance Mode and Fidelity Mode by taking full advantage of the improved GPU. During the presentation we saw Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 Pro with an improved level of graphical fidelity, from better lighting to more detailed skin and hair texture during cinematics.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 is the benchmark to which all PS5 games aspire to, with high-end graphics and insane performance – but not necessarily at the same time. PlayStation architect Mark Cerny promises that, with the PS5 Pro, a game like Spider-Man 2 will no longer have to choose between performance or graphics, and that Spider-Man 2 will achieve high fidelity graphics at performance mode level of framerate, so you get all that gorgeous detail at a sweet 60fps.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was an early PS5 technical marvel, highlighting in particular the kind of whiz-bang effects that were only achieved thanks to the faster SSD loaded in the base console. With the PS5 Pro’s promised improvements, we saw that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is now able to maintain that high level of performance and gameplay, while improving the graphics that took a hit to meet peak performance. We even see that the PS5 Pro can hit greater visual details while maintaining the same level of frames during Performance Mode.
The Crew Motorfest
Ubisoft’s online racing game The Crew Motorfest was briefly shown during the montage of games that will be improved thanks to the PS5 Pro. While we don’t have any details on what those specific improvements are, the brief sizzle showed what looked to be improved reflections on the car surfaces, potentially meaning a similar visual improvement to Gran Turismo 7’s graphical upgrade, while maintaining 60fps.
The First Descendant
Nexon’s free-to-play MMORPG The First Descendant also appeared in the PS5 Pro montage, indicating that it too will receive performance and graphical upgrades with the new console. The clips shown during the sizzle were only from cinematic cutscenes, making it hard to determine what specific improvements will be added, but the PS5 Pro promises to bridge the gap between Performance and Fidelity Mode, so expect to see even greater graphical details while maintaining a consistent higher frame-rate.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
During the presentation we saw a side-by-side comparison of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered running on PS5 Pro alongside the PS5 version in fidelity mode. The wooded environments Eliie explores look as sumptuous and detailed as ever on the Pro, but the key difference is the frame-rate – it runs at 60fps, which looks much smoother compared to the standard PS5 version running at a choppy 30fps. When the presentation compared the original’s performance mode, the difference in detail was obvious – it’s noticeably sharper on PS5 Pro. It’s another clear demonstration that the Pro will offer both high resolution visuals and a smooth framerate, if you’re willing to fork out $700.
Those are all the games we know will be enhanced for PS5 Pro so far. We’ll be sure to add others when they’re announced. In the meantime, check out how the internet has reacted to the PS5 Pro $700 price point, and check out the console’s reveal trailer.