PS5 Pro Mode Details Show Players Will Still Make Trade-Offs

The PS5 Pro is out in just a few weeks promising “enhancements” for over 50 games to start. One of those is The Last Of Us Part I, which was showcased in the initial tech demo for the hardware running more smoothly at higher fidelities than its current PS5-only version. The Naughty Dog hit and other blockbusters are now starting to reveal just exactly what modes will become available to players who decide to spend $700 on Sony’s newest console.

The Last of Us Part I’s PS5 Pro enhancements were outlined this week in a 2.0 patch notes list over on the studio’s website. The remaster’s existing Performance and Fidelity modes will still be options, and each will run better due to the PS5 Pro’s beefier specs. But a new “Pro” mode will also appear in the settings that runs the game at a native 1440p upscaled to 4K using PSSR while “maintaining” a target framerate of 60fps.

This is the PS5 Pro experience as architect Mark Cerny described in the original reveal. Instead of sacrificing visual quality for smoother framerates, the new hardware can deliver the best of both worlds without compromises. But when it comes to developers actually delivering updates to their games to take advantage of the Pro, there won’t be a one-size-fits-all approach and many games could still end up forcing players to choose between fidelity and framerate, just with fewer trade-offs.

Remedy Entertainment also recently revealed the PS5 Pro modes for Alan Wake 2, which arrives in a physical form this month, one year after release. The horror thriller is taking a different approach than The Last of Us, with two modes for players to choose from on the new hardware. PS5 Pro Quality will run at 30fps with ray-traced reflections and a render resolution of 2176 x 1224 scaled up to 4K. A PS5 Pro Performance mode, on the other hand, will output at 60fps with the image quality of the base PS5 quality mode scaled up to 4K and no ray tracing.

“If you have a high-end PC with the right graphics card, ray tracing on Alan Wake 2 looks great, and we are happy that we can now bring ray tracing to the Pro thanks to its upgraded hardware,” the studio wrote in a blog post. Thanks to PSSR AI upscaling, the team said they decided to focus more on the “signal” quality of the image rendering, rather than just adding more data. The post continued, “These upgraded settings provide the Pro version of Alan Wake 2 with a fast response rate combined with a sharper and better-quality image than was previously possible.”

Lies of P is also taking a two-pronged approach to the PS5 Pro update. Its enhanced Quality mode will get a “30 percent” boost to framerate, director Jiwon Choi told Eurogamer today. The enhanced Performance mode, meanwhile, will now support “full native 4K resolution.” Instead of getting a single “best” mode, last year’s critically acclaimed Dark Souls-inspired game will basically just boost the performance of its existing ones.

“We believe that frame rate truly matters the most in a premium action RPG,” Choi said. “The precision and fluidity required for this genre are critical to the combat experience. Thanks to the PS5 Pro’s outstanding performance, we’re able to maintain an optimal frame rate at 4K, ensuring the gameplay feels as smooth and responsive as it should.”

Dozens more games, like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Diablo IV, also have PS5 Pro enhancement updates on the way. According to some recent hands-on dispatches from Digital Foundry, the tech is more impressive than it may have originally seemed over livestream. But the proof will still be in the final product once it’s actually in people’s hands and running the games they actually want to play. The PS5 Pro launches on November 7.

Update 10/23/2024 11:39 a.m. ET: Shift Up, the studio behind Stellar Blade, has also revealed its PS5 Pro mode in a new set of patch notes this week. Enhanced Balanced Mode will prioritize “superior quality” while Max Enhanced prioritizes a higher frame rate. The company didn’t specify more concretely what the output targets are for either one of those modes.