Between all the PS5 Professional upgrades we have examined up to now, the Resident Evil sequence enjoys a number of the biggest advantages by operating on Sony’s new {hardware}. So as, we have now 2017’s Resident Evil 7, the remakes for RE 2 and three, Resident Evil Village, and most just lately Resident Evil 4 Remake. Capcom’s in-house RE Engine kinds the technical spine for all 5 video games, after all, and every one runs as a local PS5 app. Besides, there’s typically been a catch to their efficiency supply on base PS5 – whether or not it is utilizing RT options at 60fps in some instances, or enabling a 120Hz HFR mode in others, there’s potential not being completely fulfilled on base {hardware}. PS5 Professional affords an answer throughout the board with its elevated GPU energy and extra superior PSSR upscaling, by way of which there’s now a real means to bridge the hole to these frame-rate targets.
Earlier than we get to the efficiency, the essential info first: out of all 5 video games, solely RE4 Remake and RE Village are literally up to date with Professional assist. The opposite three video games nonetheless obtain a efficiency enhance on PS5 Professional, however the options and visible settings stay the identical as the usual PS5. For RE4 Remake and Village, the PlayStation Retailer pages present a PS5 Professional Enhanced image, and positive sufficient, the improve is clear on booting PS5 Professional the place we now get a brand new 120Hz toggle on every. Basically, this works very similar to the 120Hz toggles already current within the RE2/RE3 remakes and RE7, nevertheless it’s a Professional-exclusive function for the newest two video games.
Let’s kick off our tour of the sequence’ upgrades on PS5 Professional with RE Village. That is the one recreation to get PSSR upscaling, with core visible settings in any other case staying in place from the bottom machine. PS5 Professional runs at a set 1536×864 decision which is reconstructed to 4K utilizing PSSR in each mode – whether or not you might have ray tracing enabled or disabled, or run at 120Hz or 60Hz. The result’s respectable, although there’s a trade-off when in comparison with the 4K checkerboarding technique used on base PS5, which renders at a local 1920×2160. This makes it extra of a side-step visually: base PS5’s picture is sharper and crisper – however with extra pixellation artefacts owing to the checkerboard strategy. In the meantime PS5 Professional’s dealing with of comparable tremendous element is mostly extra steady, although liable to its personal causes of flicker, relying on the shifting content material inside the body. Static pictures do resolve to a comparably crisp 4K picture as info accumulates over a number of frames utilizing PSSR, although, and the one different disadvantage is that tremendous hair element turns into blurred in movement (not an issue on base PS5). It is a combined outcome – at instances subtly improved in its temporal stability, and at different factors worse – although there are fortunately no different visible side-effects as we noticed in Dragon’s Dogma 2, one other RE Engine title.
Leaping over to frame-rate testing, operating RE Village with RT engaged is a way more sturdy 60fps expertise on PS5 Professional. We get RT reflections, ambient occlusion and a type of GI right here, enhancing the sport’s shadows and native bounce lighting for interiors. Taking a look at base PS5’s supply with this RT mode, it usually holds a steady 60fps and with a VRR show it seems to be nigh-on good – save for essentially the most demanding moments within the recreation, the place the frame-rate can dip into the mid-40s. As for the sport’s new 120Hz excessive frame-rate mode on PS5 Professional, it hits its 120fps goal nearly flawlessly if RT is disabled, and even with it enabled the run of play is usually 55-90fps. Total, it is a very good turnout if you happen to’re keen to sacrifice the ray tracing possibility.
Resident Evil 4 Remake is extra profound in its efficiency positive aspects, although it is also a extra taxing title total as soon as all visible bells and whistles are enabled. Surprisingly, PS5 Professional makes no main visible modifications – and PSSR is a no-show whereas outputing at 60Hz – with 4K checkerboard rendering used there very similar to the bottom PS5 model. The decision mode runs natively at 2160p, whereas the efficiency mode runs at round 1944p as soon as once more. RT is non-obligatory, including RT reflections when engaged, and there is a hair strand possibility too. Nevertheless, the brand new 120Hz HFR mode on PS5 Professional adjusts the decision setup, and we are able to affirm that this as an alternative runs at 1536×864, with a PSSR upscale to 4K (or 40 per cent scale of the 4K reconstructed goal). As long as 120Hz chosen it switches to this alternate rendering mode, although 60Hz continues to make use of base PS5’s 4K checkerboard technique. Trying again on the base PS5, operating the sport on the decision mode with RT turned out to be a recipe for catastrophe with a 40-60fps frame-rate, at instances going under the best VRR window. An answer for base PS5 customers is the efficiency mode, which runs at 55-60fps with RT.
PS5 Professional customers needn’t make such a sacrifice; it is now doable to run this decision mode and RT together (and even the hair strand possibility if you happen to’re so inclined), the place 60fps is stored nearly permenantly locked down. Impressively, in comparison with the bottom PS5, that equates to a 30-40 p.c relative enchancment in frame-rate on Sony’s new machine, throughout matching checks in fight and cut-scenes. Then again, the fortunes of the brand new 120Hz possibility are slightly extra combined on Professional {hardware}. Frankly, and even with PSSR in use on this case, it is a problem to lock at 120fps even with all visible niceties disabled. It goes between 85-105fps within the efficiency mode (with RT disabled) and 70-90fps in decision mode (RT enabled), which exhibits the best possible and worst instances. In efficiency mode, 120fps is technically reachable in inside areas and in cutscenes, so the HFR mode is viable at factors, although a VRR show is really helpful for the very best expertise.
Rounding out, let’s look again on the different three RE Engine releases: RE7 and the remakes for RE2 and RE3. None of those video games have an official PS5 Professional improve on the time of writing, however the further GPU horsepower on PS5 Professional signifies that the titles nonetheless see automated enhancements. That is significantly true with RT enabled in RE2 and RE3, which prompted dips all the way in which right down to 35fps on the bottom PS5 machine. PS5 Professional realises the untapped potential on this mode, with play operating at 60fps for a majority of the time and dips right down to round 48fps in a single occasion. It is simply inside the VRR vary in that case, although these with out that show expertise needn’t fear: PS5 Professional nonetheless feasibly runs at a locked 60fps 99 per cent of the time. In matching scenes, we measured a forty five p.c frame-rate enchancment in RE2, with equally grand margins in RE3 with 60hz because the goal. On which observe, the 120Hz mode in every remake additionally sees a equally audacious achieve, changing the 90-120fps vary we noticed beforehand with an nearly pefect 120fps lock immediately on PS5 Professional.
As for Resident Evil 7, the sport that debuted the RE Engine again in 2017, there is a much less thrilling margin to talk on. Briefly, it usually ran at a locked 60fps on base PS5 – even with RT enabled – which means there is no room for Professional {hardware} to dazzle us with such a stark enchancment immediately. Likewise, the sport’s 120Hz mode ran properly as-is on the bottom machine, and so it continues on PS5 Professional.
Trying throughout all 5 Resident Evil video games, PS5 Professional turns round nearly each occasion the place the bottom mannequin didn’t hit 60fps with RT. The excellent news is that that is now a very viable, performant mixture, and likewise 120fps works uniformly properly on every recreation, aside from RE4 Remake. It maybe speaks to a scarcity of optimisation for these RT choices on base PS5, particularly in RE2 and RE3 – and a 30fps cap might need made extra sense in these instances. Nonetheless, the silver lining is that Capcom’s use of an unlocked frame-rate again then interprets to a steady 60fps on Professional {hardware} immediately. The one excellent criticism is that there is restricted ambition past these frame-rate boosts. Outdoors of the transfer to PSSR in Resident Evil Village, we’re being served an identical visible function set to base PS5. On the very least PS5 Professional addresses the efficiency points the sequence confronted for years although, and for that alone, its improve throughout the Resident Evil sequence ranks as one in every of its better successes.
