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[ArtHands]

Dragon's Dogma 2: another impressive PS5 Pro upgrade marred by PSSR issues

Dragon's Dogma 2 has seen its fair share of tweaks and improvements since launch, but none so drastic as the one afford…

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Booting the game, PS5 Pro owners are greeted to a more fleshed out graphics menu. At the top, there's a new mode added on Pro - the balanced mode - which sits in between the performance and graphics modes already present on base PS5. In side-by-side comparison, all three offer matching quality settings in terms of textures, shadows, and draw distance for foliage. However, the key difference is in each mode's internal resolution target. Performance mode renders natively at 720p, balanced runs at 1080p, and finally the quality mode runs at a much higher 1440p. All are reconstructing to a 4K target using PSSR. Creating a convincing 4K image benefits from more pixels per frame - and so, the 720p performance mode does struggle to always resolve to a flicker-free, temporally stable result.


Returning to the menu, there are individual toggles for motion blur and the frame rate target. This latter option works just as on base PS5: there's a 30fps cap, and a so-called 'variable' option - unlocking the frame-rate to either 60Hz or 120Hz depending on your display. The 30fps option is still not recommended on PS5 Pro, due to its issues with uneven frame-pacing resulting in choppy motion. It seems a waste of horsepower to lock at 30fps as well, given the console's prospects at 60 frames per second are much improved. Rounding out, there is, once again, a ray tracing toggle in the menus, enabling RTGI. It has a huge impact to Dragon's Dogma 2's darkened areas, creating thicker shade and more realistic light bounce. On PS5 Pro, RTGI is enabled by default on balanced and graphics modes - but performance mode keeps it disabled. The curious twist here is that unlike base PS5, it's possible to toggle ray tracing on and off on all modes (including the performance mode) giving you more scope to customise. I decided to keep all modes set to the out-of-the-box standards for today's testing.

Many changes are made moving from the standard PS5 to the enhanced model, kicking off with revisions in resolution and upscaler. PS5 Pro's graphics mode runs at a native 1440p with a PSSR upscale - a big change from the 4K checkerboard approach on the base PS5 equivalent mode. On paper, in rendering a 1920x2160 image, the base machine technically pushes more pixels per frame than PS5 Pro, but ultimately, PSSR's benefits as an upscaler overcome that deficit. The result is Pro delivers a visibly crisper image overall with more definition resolved in distant trees and mountains during its opening flyover sequence. Also, swapping to the performance mode on each, it's a similar story: PS5 Pro runs at 720p with a PSSR upscale, which is an even larger cutback in pixels pushed from the checkerboard 1536x1728 image on base PS5. Again, there's a boost in sharpness and clarity with the PS5 Pro upscale via PSSR, even from a measly 720p base, but there are more consequences in image break-up.

Image break-up on PS5 Pro impacts the game in two ways. Firstly, fine detailed elements - like foliage, rooftop tiles and wood bridges - are prone to more pixellation on PS5 Pro as a result of the current implementation of PSSR. Even on the 1440p graphics mode, you'll spot break-up on grass, for example. Everywhere you might look, grass tufts manifest as a blurry smudge as they sway in the wind, and worse still, at a distance the individual blades also pixellate as PSSR struggles to interpret their movement. The reconstruction to 4K is flawed here, though at least most other elements - like hair - resolve correctly. The other downside is PSSR's effect on the game's ray tracing. Again, using graphics mode as an example with RTGI engaged, you'll notice the shade underneath grass shimmers in woodland spaces, while RTGI has added noise which is far more stable on the standard PS5.

All of these issues are exaggerated on the performance mode. Comparing PS5 to PS5 Pro, the pixellation on animating grass is far more pronounced, creating a constant flicker as you walk through any woodland spot. At a native 720p there's simply too much sub-pixel detail on grass blades for PSSR to stand a chance of resolving cleanly and it often creates a distracting visual noise instead. Ambient occlusion also has issues: PSSR does not blend well with even the game's rasterised ambient occlusion setting, flickering in motion in interiors - and again, this does not happen on the base PS5.

Outside of these major differences in image quality, visual settings are broadly unchanged on PS5 Pro. The RE Engine's screen-space reflection method is kept in place on PS5 Pro's large water bodies. Grass LODs are also identical in a run across the orchard outside the city gates, with a matching cascade range for shadows. Also, NPC draw distances around the city are seemingly untouched from the base PS5 game - a shame given it's such a glaring issue. That said, there is a minor difference in ambient occlusion, and also shadow rendering. It's a curious change, and not always for the better. This applies across all PS5 Pro modes: the Pro console loses the dithered edges of the base PS5 shadows outlines, but ends up replacing them with a more aliased, noisy effect. It's very rarely obvious, but applies to all of PS5 Pro's modes - performance, balanced and graphics.

As it stands, unless Capcom gives us a new Pro update, we're lumbered with the additional flicker across fine details and the game's RTGI on PS5 Pro - with no means to opt out. That aside, the game does at least run much better on Pro hardware, with a much-needed frame-rate boost to 60fps that addresses a criticism of the base PS5 experience. It's satisfying to see the huge gain in performance though: it solves a major issue with its console performance but it's also a shame that the Pro patch is bundled with these unwanted side effects. In common with many of the Pro upgrades we've seen, further work is needed from the developer to get this game where it needs to be.

 

[Orpheus]

Dragon's Dogma 2: PS5 Pro Tech Review - Big FPS Boosts But PSSR Issues Need Fixing

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