PlayStation 5 Pro Review: A Powerful Upgrade with AI Upscaling, but at a Premium Price

PlayStation 5 Pro review: A superpowered $700 console for gamers who won't buy a PC

It's basically your only sub-$1,000 gateway to 4K/60 gaming with ray tracing. It's pretty easy to tell if the PlayStation 5 Pro is for you. If you have no problems with the PS5's existing performance, if you balk at the $700 price tag, or if you don't have a modern 4K TV, you can just ignore this console entirely. But if you've been annoyed about losing graphical fidelity in 60 fps performance modes, or just want to avoid 30 fps gaming entirely, it could be the console you've been waiting for. There's no doubt that the PS5 Pro is a niche product, not an upgrade targeted at all PS5 owners. It's meant for the Sony devotees who want the absolute best PlayStation experience, and who will never upgrade to a gaming PC. After all, those rigs typically run well over $1,000 for similar graphics performance, and they also involve all the complexity of Windows PCs, like driver issues, OS instability and juggling multiple game storefronts. So sure, if you're eager to see what Spider-Man 2 looks like in 60 fps with extra graphical flourishes, it may be worth stepping up to the PS5 Pro. And if you haven't jumped on the PS5 bandwagon yet, it's a solid option if you just want a no-compromise experience. To echo our preview, you might not need it, but you'll want it. While the PS5 Pro certainly lives up to the hype, at least based on my week of testing, it's also a bittersweet product. When the PS5 debuted in 2020, Sony touted it as a powerful console that could finally give players a taste of PC gaming with features like ray tracing, while also delivering 4K playback. The reality was far more complicated: While some games ran at 4K, they were typically limited to 30 fps in fidelity modes. If you wanted smoother 60 fps gaming, you typically had to give up ray tracing and/or graphical quality for the performance mode. But of course, the same was true for the Xbox Series X. Both Sony and Microsoft were limited by hardware constraints and the economics of console gaming. But now, Sony is finally able to deliver on the initial promise of the PS5 by swapping in a more modern GPU and pushing for a higher price. The PS5 Pro is certainly great news for anyone who desires more performance, but I wouldn't blame some PS5 owners for being a bit miffed. So what do you get for a $700 gaming console? Sony threw in a new GPU with 67 percent more compute units, alongside 28 percent faster memory. That leads to 45 percent faster rendering performance, according to Sony, and up to triple the ray tracing power of the launch PS5. All of that new hardware is assisted by PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), an AI upscaling technology that can make lower-resolution graphics appear as if they're natively 4K. We've already seen similar AI upscaling in action with NVIDIA's DLSS, which has been around since the RTX 20-series cards debuted in 2018. While DLSS wasn't always perfect early on, NVIDIA steadily improved on it to the point where I prefer it to natively rendering a game in 4K. True 4K gaming is far too resource-demanding for a minor visual upgrade (in my eyes, at least) over 1440p. I'd typically rather play a game that's upscaled from a lower resolution if it leads to smoother gameplay. The PS5 and Xbox Series consoles already support AMD's FSR upscaling, but in my experience on PCs, it's not as effective as DLSS. FSR upscaling places dead last in comparisons among PC upscalers, and a recent Digital Foundry deep dive had PSSR (which I just love to pronounce phonetically) beating out FSR, since it delivers a more stable and detailed image with better anti-aliasing around edges. When using the PS5 Pro, PSSR essentially replaces FSR upscaling, making it yet another selling point for fidelity obsessives. The two other big upgrades are 2TB of storage -- 1.86TB is available out of the box, though you can claw some back by deleting Astro's Playroom -- and Wi-Fi 7 support. While your best bet will always be a direct, wired connection to your router, Wi-Fi 7 is a meaningful upgrade for those who can't or don't want to use a network cable. We didn't have a Wi-Fi 7 router on hand, but the Pro was slightly faster than a launch edition PS5 when connected to a Wi-Fi 6 Nighthawk router. The standard PS5 had max download speeds of 401 Mbps and upload speeds of 53 Mbps. The Pro (in the same location and time of day), clocked 484 Mbps down and 53 Mbps up. What you don't get with the PS5 Pro, oddly enough, is a disc drive. You'll have to pay $80 to add on Sony's disc drive, which was released alongside the PS5 Slim last year, or just rely entirely on digital downloads. With its 2TB SSD, plus room for an additional drive, the PS5 Pro certainly has enough room to hold a decent library of games. But why give up on the disc drive? Sony is likely just reading the tea leaves: A report by the gaming analytics firm NewZoo (via Destructoid) noted that 72 percent of console title sales in 2022 were digital. Still, it's odd to see what's ostensibly the ultimate PS5 missing a feature that was included in the launch model four years ago. Without a bundled disc drive, players will have to pay extra to take advantage of cheaper used games and watch 4K Blu-ray titles. The PlayStation 5 Pro is a beast, simply put. Sony makes that clear the moment you power it on, when you're welcomed by a bombastic opening sequence that'll give your surround sound speakers a workout. (Remember when The Simpson's Milhouse played Bonestorm for the first time? It's basically that.) It's a minor thing, but it's one way to impress someone who just spent $700 on a console. I jumped right into Spider-Man 2's Performance Pro mode, and I was knocked out by how clear and smooth the game looked. It brings over all of the features from the game's standard Fidelity mode, including ray-traced reflections across windows and water, but it also delivers 60 fps with higher-res textures, thanks to PSSR. It was as if I were playing Spider-Man 2 on a gaming PC. Swinging around the city was silky smooth and the reflections on buildings were simply stunning. I found myself just wandering around the streets of NYC or hanging out on rooftops just to drink in the additional detail. Spider-Man 2's Performance Pro mode basically delivers everything I wanted from the game on the original PS5, where you had to choose between a less graphically intense, 60 fps Performance mode, or the 30 fps Fidelity setting with ray tracing. But, as if to constantly rub compromise in our face, there's also a new Fidelity Pro mode that once again brings the frame rate down to 30 fps to make room for new graphical features, including ray-traced ambient occlusion, key light shadows, and enhanced reflections and interiors. Much like a gaming PC, you can tweak the levels of those new ray tracing settings to your liking. The Fidelity Pro mode looked fine when there wasn't much action on the screen, but swinging around NYC was far less thrilling at a sluggish 30 fps. It also made me feel a bit dissatisfied with the graphics of the Performance Pro mode. While some console gamers probably won't mind, I can't see myself playing a modern title at 30 fps when I know the same hardware can deliver a more fulfilling 60 fps experience. In The Last of Us Part 2, the new 4K/60 fps Pro mode is a striking upgrade over when I originally played it on the PS4. It also looks noticeably more fluid and realistic than the previous PS5 revamp. While the game is being rendered at 1440p and relies on PSSR to hit 4K, textures and skin tones appear sharp, and characters' hair is far more natural. I wasn't the biggest fan of The Last Of Us Part 2 when it debuted (the revenge narrative felt a bit simplistic), but the visual leap on the PS5 Pro is enough to make me want to replay the entire campaign. Demon's Souls, a game that already looked great on PS5, also gets an impressive update. The new Pro mode looks sharper than the old Performance option, it still runs at 60 fps and it features a more lifelike contact shadow system. While it's arguably a game that didn't need a huge graphical bump, the improvements are still welcome. Once again, it feels reminiscent of playing Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring on my gaming PC. I spent most of this review playing the PS5 Pro on my Formovie UST 4K projector, which was outputting to a 120-inch screen around eight feet away from my seat. So, as you can imagine, I had a pretty close look at graphical details. It's often annoying to play console games on such a large screen, where every imperfection is magnified to an obscene degree. But the PS5 Pro felt similar to projecting from my RTX 4090 gaming PC: Gameplay looked wonderful at 60 fps and it was all delivered in scrumptious detail. The author of our PS5 Pro preview, Jessica Conditt, tested out the new console on a 55-inch LG OLED C2. Her impressions are as follows: PSSR certainly isn't without fault, though. Sometimes while playing Spider-Man 2, objects like spinning fans or signs with fine text would get distorted. Some textures would start shimmering for no reason. I remember coming across similar issues in the early days of DLSS, and I still frequently see these issues while using AMD's FSR technology on PS5 and PC titles. There's still room for Sony to improve PSSR down the line, so hopefully obvious problems will get ironed out soon. The PS5 Pro can enhance the quality of PS4 titles, similar to the PS4 Pro's boost mode. Bloodborne was the only older game I was eager to try out, and I can confirm that it looks a bit more detailed, particularly when it comes to the intricacies of your wardrobe. But while the facelift is nice to see, and it's the best we'll get until Sony listens to fan demands and remakes Bloodborne, it's still not running at 60 fps. A $700 game console isn't for everyone -- that much is obvious. Most players would be better off with the $450 all-digital PS5, or the standard $500 model if you need disc support. Given how long the console has been around, you can also often find used or refurbished PS5s for $400 or less. The PS5 Pro clearly isn't meant for anyone who is prioritizing value -- unless, of course, you're comparing it to a full-fledged gaming PC. If you want 4K-like graphics with ray tracing at 60 fps, the PS5 Pro is simply your best choice under $1,000.

PS5 Pro review: few compromises at a huge cost | Digital Trends

PS5 Pro MSRP $700.00 Score Details "The PS5 Pro is a worthwhile upgrade for tech enthusiasts, but you can live without it just fine." Pros 2TB hard drive is a plus Games look clearer across the board Increased stability AI-upscaling is the real deal Cons Big price tag considering what's missing PSSR has its quirks Enhancements can feel negligible Let's be honest: From a technical perspective, this generation of consoles has been a dud. Contents Design and featuresUpgraded GPUPSSR upscalingAdvanced ray tracing The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have given us plenty of standout games that look great, but a lot of the lofty promises they made never quite materialized. The dream of 4K resolutions at 60 frames per second has become a cruel joke with each major release. But after four years of letdowns, this console generation may finally be reaching its potential thanks to the PS5 Pro. Better late than never, I suppose. Sony's pricey new console uses some technical magic tricks to finally deliver a system capable of playing games at the peak performance we expected four years ago. To accomplish that, it delivers an updated GPU, advanced ray tracing, and -- most impactful -- AI-driven upscaling in the form of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). That powerful tool alone might just be the key to salvaging the PS5 for serious techies. The PS5 Pro mostly delivers on the 4K/60 fps dream, even if it comes with some PSSR eccentricities that PC players should be all too familiar with by now. Aside from that feature, though, the system's finer upgrades can often be so subtle that you need a telescope to spot them. It's a definite step up, but whether it's one that's worth the $700 price tag will ultimately hinge on how many developers are willing to create Pro modes for their games. Design and features For its design, Sony didn't stray too far from its playbook for the PS5 Pro. It uses the base PS5's iconic black-and-white design, with the only real difference being that it has black gills across either side. It's about as tall as the original base model, which is a shame considering that the slim refresh is a much more manageable size, but it's at least not as deep as the 2020 model. It's smaller overall, though part of that is due to the fact that no version of it comes with a disc drive. That omission continues to be a thorn in the PS5 Pro's side considering its price. For $700, you'd expect the console to feel like a premium version of the PS5. Instead, it feels like you're getting less. You'll have to spend extra to get a disc drive and a vertical stand, and your old faceplates aren't compatible with it either. $700 is just the starting price, but you'll have to spend at least a hundred more to get it up to par with your base version if it has a disc drive and a stand. Even Sony's decision to include a standard DualSense here instead of throwing in a DualSense Edge feels like corner-cutting. The one perk you do get here -- and it's a big one -- is that the Pro model comes with a 2TB hard drive. That's 1TB larger than the one available in the slim model, which is a legitimate value. Trust me, as someone who downloaded over a dozen games to test them for this review, the extra space is a huge improvement. I won't spend much time talking about what's inside beyond that, because it's just about identical to the PS5. Even its menus often say "PS5" instead of "PS5 Pro." If you want to know the ins and outs of the console, read our PS5 review. But the bottom line is simple: The PS5 is an excellent system, and nothing here changes that. Upgraded GPU What's really important here is what the PS5 Pro can do for performance and visual fidelity. The system uses a three-pronged approach to tackling those. Let's start with its upgraded GPU. It includes 67% more Compute Units than the one used on current PS5s, and has 28% faster memory. Sony claims that adds up to 45% faster rendering, but numbers don't really mean much out of context. It's better, but does that make a difference? The short answer is yes, though whether you'll notice it is up in the air. When playing games that had not been specifically enhanced for the system, I did begin to notice some consistent upgrades. Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a clearer resolution in performance mode compared to it running on the base model, something that became apparent when I was looking closely at foliage. You can expect increased sharpness in games, though that can often be very subtle. Only speaking anecdotally, Black Myth: Wukong did feel a little more stable on the PS5 Pro. Comparing a mid-game boss on both old and new hardware, I caught more frame hiccups and slowdowns on the base PS5. Granted, Wukong is a bit of an unstable game on PS5 so it's hard to say for sure what was the Pro at work and what was just a stray flaw. What I could say for sure was that the GPU isn't a cure-all that fixes up all games. Wukong is still loaded with frame tears, pop-in, and more issues even on the Pro. Similarly, it doesn't do much to clean Sonic Frontiers' muddy textures or egregious pop-in. Sony does still offer some tools to get more out of games that aren't getting updates, though. The most mysterious of these is PS5 Pro Boost, a new feature that enhances PlayStation's game catalog. Sony has not explained how it exactly works and I've seen mixed results so far, which ultimately come down to the games themselves. Bloodborne, for instance, is locked at 30 fps, so it doesn't get any real boost that I've noticed. Shadow of the Colossus (a game that was once a mess on PS5), on the other hand, does have sharper textures, particularly with objects off in the distance. The full extent of Boost mode's power will likely come out over time, but it's the same story as what we found with the GPU: For games that do not explicitly have a new graphics or performance mode built for PS5, the differences ultimately come down to how well optimized the game is in the first place. How useful the console will be ultimately will come down to the creators developing for it. PSSR upscaling The much bigger upgrade here comes from the system's flagship feature, PSSR. The idea here is to bring the world of AI-upscaling to consoles, allowing Sony to make a 1080p image look like 4K while maintaining 60 fps. It's a bit of a trick, but if you can't tell the difference, what does it matter? The goal is to essentially make it so players no longer have to choose between Fidelity and Performance mode, and the Pro delivers on that front -- but only for supported games. Not every game just gets PSSR upscaling by default. It's on developers to create specific modes that enable it. In the supported games I tested, that usually meant a Performance Pro option, or a separate toggle. You can expect Sony's first-party games to take advantage of this across the board moving forward, but the jury is out on if everyone else will fall in line. Though at launch, we're already seeing Square Enix, Ubisoft, Capcom, and most of the major players adopting it already. That's a good sign for its future. For those who are tired of making compromises ... PS5 Pro is the best option. The headline here is that PSSR is the real deal. In the games I've tested that utilize it, the differences between Performance Pro and Fidelity Pro (which utilizes advanced ray tracing instead of upscaled visuals) is often negligible. Both Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart look fantastic while holding a steady 60 fps. It accomplishes exactly what Sony claimed it would do: You no longer need to choose between Performance and Fidelity, because PSSR puts both modes into one. That fact alone sells the console; everything else is an extra. While Sony's first-party games are built to take full advantage of PS5 Pro, it's actually third-party titles that benefit the most so far. Dragon's Dogma 2 gets the biggest upgrade here. With PSSR enabled, the game gets a significant frame rate increase, even if it's not quite 60 still. I've also seen more detailed textures in it compared to the PS5 version. When I look at a buffalo-like creature in the latter, the fur around its back can look a little blurry with little defined detail. On PS5 Pro, I can see the individual hairs on it in crisper detail. Expect games that weren't very well-optimized for PS5 to begin with, like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's once blurry Performance Mode, to get the biggest boosts while Sony's already well-optimized games won't be as immediately apparent. While PSSR is a game-changer for Sony, it comes with all the usual flaws of AI-upscaling. You may be getting the illusion of 4K, but the trade-off is that the image isn't entirely stable. In Dragon's Dogma 2, I noticed some fairly heavy artifacting around yellow grass as it swayed in the wind. You'll also occasionally notice moments where the upscaled resolution needs to settle into place after a fast movement; the textures often need a split second to snap into place after I spin the camera. Visual flaws like that popped up consistently in testing, but none of it is too surprising for the current state of AI upscaling. They're just the tiny moments of disappointment where you'll be able to see through the magic trick. Taking PSSR as a whole, though, the good outweighs the flaws. While I was zipping over the water in Spider-Man 2, I had a brief moment where it all clicked. The smooth, fast movement and the high resolution momentarily made me feel like I was looking at a movie. For those who are tired of making compromises to get that experience, the PS5 Pro is the best option on the market when it comes to home consoles. Advanced ray tracing What I'm less sold on so far is the PS5 Pro's advanced ray tracing. This is the clearest feature in theory: It's meant to improve lighting. That means better reflections, crisper shadows, and more nuances that you might not have even considered when it comes to how real light works. You also may never notice it. More than any other feature, advanced ray tracing is one you really need to be looking for to see it at play. Remedy has done a great job at selling it with an Alan Wake 2 trailer that shows how lighting changes what players see in windows or on the surface of water, but there's a reason it's showing them off in contextless, quiet shots. When you're actually moving through a game, all those little details are hard to actually catch. In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, I had to pop into Photo Mode to zoom in on shadows. After a lot of back and forth testing, I could tell that Fidelity Pro mode had darker, crisper shadows versus the softer, AI-upscaled ones in Performance Pro. If you have to pull out a magnifying glass to see details like that, do they really matter? The answer is yes and no, which makes the PS5 Pro such a complicated console to break down for console players used to pronounced technical leaps every generation. On one hand, advanced ray tracing can make some big differences once you know what you're looking for. In Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, I hit an early scene where Aloy is in a dark cave surrounded by candles. For some reason, the image felt brighter on Pro, but that didn't make much sense. After some sleuthing, I deduced that the image only looked that way because Aloy's skin was reflecting light in a more realistic way on Pro, as if she were getting illuminated with a bounce light. That's one of the ways that ray tracing can make an image look much better even if you can't put your finger on why. All of the features and upgrades I've described here may sound small -- and they are. Who cares if I can see the fibers of a buffalo's hair? But you have to consider that none of these details exist in a vacuum. If you notice one tiny tweak somewhere, there's hundreds more like it happening too. This all adds up to a stronger and more stable image, even if you're not conscious of it. Remember that when you inevitably find yourself rolling your eyes at ultra-zoomed-in comparisons proving the PS5 Pro's power through minutiae. This isn't a necessity for your average player; it's a pricey perk for high-level enthusiasts. All that said, if you truly can't see a difference and feel like none of these upgrades matter, you're not wrong either. I wouldn't call the PS5 Pro a quantum leap over the base model by any stretch. This is an incremental improvement that mostly benefits those with giant monitors or 8K TVs. I truly believe that most players will be left playing spot the difference when trying to find what makes the PS5 Pro's image better. I wasn't even convinced until I started combing over my captured footage and spotting resolution differences; I'm still skeptical that some of the things I spotted are simply a placebo effect. You need to trust your instincts on this one. If making games run as perfectly as possible is your priority, the PS5 Pro is unquestionably an improvement. PSSR alone will make the $700 worth it if you're the kind of person who has that money to spend on tech. On the other hand, if you've seen Sony's videos of the console in action and truly don't believe you can tell the difference, save your money. This isn't a necessity for your average player; it's a pricey perk for high-level enthusiasts. So long as you understand that and make an informed purchasing decision based on it rather than feeling pressured to buy the hot new thing, everyone wins. You either get the souped up PS5 you've wanted since 2020 or you get to hold onto $700 with no negative impact on your life. Either way, you'll be playing the same games -- and that's what really matters.

PS5 Pro review: 2025's games will make or break it

Cameron Faulkner (he/him) is Polygon's commerce editor. He began writing about tech and gaming in 2013, and migrated from The Verge in 2023. The PlayStation 5 may be getting older, but don't count it out just yet. At 4 years old, it's in much better shape than the PS4 was in when the PS4 Pro stepped in. Notably, 2024 games like Astro Bot and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered prove how good it still is at delivering graphical spectacles. Plus, the perks that wowed us when it launched are still impressive today -- like the fact that its games look more like their graphically superior PC counterparts than ever before, and that its fast SSD greatly reduces (or totally eliminates) loading screens in games. If there's a bone to pick with the PS5, it's this: Many of its games ask players to decide between better graphics or faster gameplay. Gamers want both, but the PS5 can't do both. In an announcement video for Sony's new hardware, PS5 (and PS5 Pro) lead system architect Mark Cerny shared that most people choose performance mode over fidelity when given the choice. It's easy to see why; while quality mode looks better with increased detail and ray tracing, it's usually accompanied by sluggish-feeling 30-frames-per-second gameplay. Sony's $699.99 PS5 Pro promises better frame rates and enhanced graphics in supported games, and it comes with the peace of mind that future games will continue to look and run great as the base PS5 slowly but surely ages out. As for how the PS5 Pro fares on launch day, it removes most (but not all) of the sting of having to choose between graphical modes. Thanks to its added power, there are fewer glaring differences overall across modes. However, some of its graphical improvements are easier to notice than others. And I'd argue that some just aren't noticeable at all if you sit more than a few feet away from your TV. The list of PS5 Pro-enhanced games available to play on launch day (Nov. 7) is 50 strong, but not totally comprehensive of the system's back catalog. Most of Sony's PlayStation Studios games are supported, along with a fleet of third-party games that include Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, EA Sports' F1 24, Hogwarts Legacy, Alan Wake 2, and more. I didn't test every compatible title, but instead spent my time playing titles that touted some of the biggest improvements. The PS5 Pro-enhanced game I tested that best illustrates what the system is capable of is Alan Wake 2's new 30 fps "quality" mode, which offered some noticeable upgrades over the regular PS5's mode of the same name. Windows and shiny floors feature realistic ray-traced reflections that make rooms feel more lived-in, since I can see people and neon signs reflected in them. What's more, the enhanced shadows and lighting add a level of atmosphere and detail I didn't realize was missing. In the game's Night Springs DLC, Rose Marigold's pink dress reflects realistically on stainless steel fixtures and appliances in the diner. On top of that, the anti-aliasing in this mode was noticeably improved over the base PS5, keeping crispy-looking jaggies out of her cool hairstyle. In terms of the performance mode in Alan Wake 2 on PS5 Pro, it looks nearly as good as the base PS5's quality mode and runs even better. Notably, the game didn't feel sluggish to play, either. These gains, as well as more I'll mention later, come as a result of the PS5 Pro's larger GPU, which has 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory onboard, leading to its ability to render games 45% faster than the PS5. The enhanced anti-aliasing that makes for a cleaner-looking image comes courtesy of a new AI feature called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). It's an image upscaling method that works to make supported games look better than they do without it via machine learning (as in, PSSR is taught on a per-game basis exactly what it needs to touch up an image). While this kind of tech is new to consoles, PSSR joins the ranks of Nvidia's DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling techniques on PC that have steadily grown in adoption by PC game developers, and it matters more to the PlayStation's future than you might think. Here's the skinny: Most games need to run at a render resolution that's lower than 4K to maintain a steady frame rate, especially if effects like ray tracing are involved. In titles that are patched to take advantage of PSSR, the feature can enhance the picture quality and anti-aliasing so that, ideally, you won't even notice that it's running at that lower resolution. If there's no patch, this feature appears to be dormant (we've asked Sony for confirmation on this point but have yet to hear back). PSSR is a clever workaround to a common problem that plagues modern consoles and gaming PCs alike, making it a very nice thing to have in the console that's designed to run the latest games until the PS6 arrives. That said, this is a PS5 Pro feature that you're asked to trust is working; there's no indication in the UI that it's on, and no comparison tools built into supported games to show you what the benefits are, much as I wish there were. PSSR is also being used to enhance the visuals in PS4 games played through backward compatibility. The Game Boost feature, which needs to be manually turned on in the system settings, allows PSSR to boost the picture quality of PS4 games. That said, the difference between running Bloodborne on a PS5 Pro and a PS5 was negligible; the new AI feature doesn't perform miracles, like allowing a higher frame rate. How developers for the launch day enhanced titles have utilized the added GPU power and PSSR varies quite a bit. For Dragon's Dogma 2, Capcom's enhancements are limited to a higher frame rate (no disrespect, we love a fast frame rate). In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, EA says that a ray-tracing feature once limited to the PS5's 30 fps quality mode is now available in a 60 fps mode on the Pro. In the Demon's Souls remake that debuted at the PS5's launch, there are more particle effects present in front of fog-covered boss arenas (I couldn't spot a single difference otherwise, as the game already runs flawlessly on the base PS5). The intro sequence in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor had some noticeable improvements to the way light bounces off of other objects in the game world. Note the green neon sign's reflection on the duct in the image slider below. As I expected, some of the fastest and prettiest PS5 games are now even more so on the Pro. Marvel's Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart have been patched with two new visual options that deliver a high-resolution image, fast frame rates, and realistic ray tracing on surfaces all at once. Performance Pro is essentially the old fidelity mode, but with 60 fps gameplay and ray tracing set to medium. Fidelity Pro is now the high-end option for those games, with 4K output and the option to turn on more demanding ray-tracing effects that impact the frame rate. I won't turn away further improvements, even though those games already had remarkably smooth, speedy performance on the base PS5. They're just a bit more beautiful now. Insomniac Games says it'll go even further with its next game, Marvel's Wolverine, which currently doesn't have a release date. Naughty Dog games utilize the extra power of the PS5 Pro differently. For The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2, the new PS5 Pro-specific mode renders the game at a locked 1440p resolution, then adds extra detail and upscales the game with the help of PSSR to 4K at 60 frames per second (neither game features ray tracing). I didn't notice differences in either game with the PS5 Pro, nor could I see from my couch that the base PS5 delivered markedly worse performance by comparison. That's not to say the differences aren't there. But these especially are incremental improvements to games that already looked incredible. The same can be said for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The PS5 Pro patch adds a new versatility graphics mode that allows the game's 4K quality mode, which ran at 30 frames per second, to now be enjoyed at a smooth 60 frames per second (that said, there's a surprising amount of pop-in with detail and shadow). The extra detail is obvious when comparing versatility mode to the performance (smooth) mode. However, I'd be hard-pressed to notice the extra sharpness during gameplay -- especially during the heat of battle. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't try each of the 50 games that have gotten a PS5 Pro patch. But what I did try delivered a mixed bag of improvements that I'm not sure I'd be totally happy with if I spent $699.99 on launch day. That said, there will be many games in 2025 that put the PS5 Pro's more powerful specs to the test. And as is usually the case with new console hardware, giving developers more time to play with it will lead to more impressive games. Of course, the upcoming game that matters most is Grand Theft Auto 6. You don't need me to tell you that it's poised to be a monumental hit when it comes out in 2025. Assuming that Rockstar Games takes full advantage of this console's bigger GPU and PSSR with its next open-world game, GTA6's launch could also be the PS5 Pro's big moment. The PS5 Pro has its work cut out for it in a more existential way, too. The PC now plays a large role in Sony's software strategy, selling its greatest hits to new players who may flat-out refuse to buy a console. On PC, people can play these games with newfound fidelity not possible on a PS5, and in the case of multiplayer games like Helldivers 2 on Steam, without Sony's PS Plus paid subscription, too. Given these perks, it's possible that some console players have been switching from PlayStation to PC. So in a way, the PS5 Pro is a stopgap console, costing $699.99 with power comparable to a PC that would cost hundreds more to purchase or build. Considering that the PS5 Pro costs $250 more than the most affordable PS5 slim model (and $300 more than a Sony-refurbished PS5), this isn't an upgrade to be taken lightly for current owners and newcomers alike. It's also not an upgrade that will scream "new" to PS5 owners in any way. The UI is exactly the same throughout, and the Pro is too subtle at times with communicating its benefits. As time goes on, how much better the PS5 Pro is compared to the base PS5 will eventually fade into the background. Instead, how the PS5 Pro stacks up to the always-evolving state of PC graphics in 2025 and beyond will be a much more interesting -- and telling -- sign of whether it's worth your money.

PlayStation 5 Pro

Placing an indicative, definitive score on the PlayStation 5 Pro has proven to be a rather difficult task. This review will, in all likelihood, act as part of a purchasing decision not just now, but well into the future as we slowly move towards the launch of the next console generation, and whether the console is actually worth its rather high market price will depend on a number of rather peculiar parameters. Perhaps most importantly, it also depends on how broad the support will be and how much developers take advantage of the extra horsepower under the hood. First and foremost, it's important to note that the PS5 Pro really, as in really leans on the existing design framework that the PS5 already established, and no one expected otherwise. However, it also means that just like the PS4 Pro, you're paying a lot of money for an experience that in many aspects will feel quite identical. When the console launches there is no special welcome specifically for PS5 Pro owners, it even says "Welcome to PlayStation 5", and there are no new wallpapers or other software tells to remind you that you've spent the extra for this platform. It's a shame that Sony couldn't find little differentiations here and there to please their most passionate, invested fans, and there's also no real indication inside the games that you're playing on a Pro. For example, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, whose Performance Mode is actually one of the more compelling cases for PS5 Pro among the third parties, it's just that this graphics setting looks better, but neither the game's interface nor a Sony-specific overlay tells you that the reason it looks better is because you have a PS5 Pro - this is also a missed opportunity, I think. Fortunately, there is better news under the hood. Mark Cerny and Sony seem to have lost the unveiling of the console itself, with examples from games from way too long ago where the examples given were upgrades over the PS5 version of the same game, but where the concept behind the console's identity still made sense to most people. In a world where we are often forced to choose between 60fps and a solid level of graphical detail, it feels obvious to strengthen the level of detail you can get served with the higher frame-rate, even if many developers have decided to just improve Ray-Tracing and seemingly focus on 30fps Quality Mode. There is more horsepower to take care of this task. It may be the same AMD Ryzen Zen 2 chip with 8 cores and 16 threads, but the RDNA GPU has 67% more compute units and the console RAM is 28% faster. Teraflops is certainly an imprecise metric for calculating actual performance, but these specifications mean that the GPU produces the equivalent of 16.7 teraflops instead of 10.23 teraflops in the regular PS5. Does it make a real difference? We'll get to that. You get the same 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and the same custom SSD, but there's now an additional 2GB of DDR5 RAM to handle console-related interface tasks exclusively, and you get 2TB instead of 825GB. This also means the console now draws 390 watts instead of 340. The other big news here is PlayStation Spectral Super Sampling, or PSSR. AI-based upscaling is certainly nothing new, and in different guises, Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR manage to do something similar, but with different results and approaches. The idea is the same; the game renders the image at a lower resolution, and then PSSR increases that resolution through AI image processing without losing the higher frame-rate. Sony's various studios have commented on the implementation of PSSR since its unveiling in September, and most seem to agree (but could they be otherwise?) that PSSR introduces a pretty significant difference in their games, with Insomniac for example saying that there is a much higher level of detail by rendering the game at a lower resolution and letting PSSR take the image to 4K. Naughty Dog has also said that vegetation in particular appears more believable after PSSR implementation. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? An upscaler you don't notice that lets you play at a higher frame-rate without negatively impacting resolution or detail. But, as I stated at the start, it's quite difficult to say in the long run whether this will enhance the games you're specifically looking forward to, or whether the differences are significant enough to justify a purchase. We can look at individual test titles that support PS5 Pro (because it will require specific, manual implementation going forward in each and every game) and try to get a little closer. Incidentally, in terms of how widely PS5 Pro implementation will be picked up, I don't think it will be a problem. PS4 Pro was pretty successful with broad adoption among third parties, and there's no reason to think otherwise about PS5 Pro. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, we see the simplest but also quite convincing first example of the implementation of PSSR in the game's Performance Mode, which gives a pretty solid boost to the whole experience. The game has always managed to maintain its 60fps, but on Pro the sharpness and detail is a noticeable step up, no doubt about it. This is not a state-of-the-art Ray-Tracing implementation, but for regular gamers who just want a combination of Performance Mode and Quality Mode without sacrifices either way, Veilguard offers a compelling selling point that most will recognise. But as I said, this is very much game-to-game. Guerrilla Games is apparently using a new rendering method in the PS5 Pro version of Horizon Forbidden West that is neither checkerboarding as we know it from PS4 Pro or PSSR, but using the extra GPU-based horsepower to put together a custom image, and the difference is also extremely impressive. No, we weren't given a tour by Guerrilla Games like IGN or Digital Foundry, and in a way we just had to run around the game world and observe as granularly as possible, but there is a clear difference here - not in frame-rate, but in the level of detail that goes with it. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and The Crew: Motorfest take a more aggressive approach, combining graphics settings from PS5 into just one "Pro Mode" on PS5 Pro, and the difference is night and day. I personally have the most experience with Rebirth, where I completed the game in Performance Mode, where the game's frame-rate held up reasonably well, but where you were forced to accept a kind of blur of muddy graphic detail that looked like it had been smeared with olive oil as the last step in the game's graphical pipeline. On the PS5 Pro, it really is like playing a different game, and the same can be said for The Crew: Motorfest. Alan Wake 2 represents a more subtle approach, retaining the same modes (as it is in a number of games) but introducing improved Ray-Tracing performance to Quality Mode and dragging more Quality goodies into Performance. The game looks better, make no mistake about it, but it's more subtle. I could go on and on, and we have yet to touch on Demon's Souls, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Dragon's Dogma 2 and many others. The truth is that the effect varies, but both I and others here in the office were consistently slightly impressed by how much better many of these games now look while maintaining 60fps. This is where the console really comes into its own, and in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Demon's Souls, Dragon's Dogma 2, Gran Turismo 7 and a host of others, you currently feel that the console is worth every penny. But that's just not true for everyone. As the meme video from Jackfrags makes clear, granular graphical detail is a tricky thing, as your eyes quickly become accustomed to what you're playing, and where the difference between 30fps and 60fps is so noticeable that you can never go back (though even this is surprisingly debated), improved Ray-Tracing performance or more detailed shadows or improved clarity of vegetation is much harder to nail down. The truth is that the PS5 Pro, like the PS4 Pro, is designed for those looking for these things, but for them you get a lot for your money. And then there are the little things; the console is just as quiet as a regular PS5 (we compared it to a relatively new one though - they can get noisy after a while, we know), it barely even gets warm, the controller is still downright sublime and even four years after the launch of the original PS5, we haven't encountered any obvious flaws. But while we praise the little things, there are also little things that jar. Not including the console's Vertical Stand is insulting, and in a "Pro" console it feels wrong not to include the external disc drive in the package. Yes, we are roaring into a digital future, but at the same time, this console is designed for those who want everything, and to partition out the console's accessories and still charge £700 for it just feels wrong. Sony has really designed a high-end Pro console here, no doubt about it, and across our test suite there are impressive graphical differences. Furthermore, it's not particularly large, produces no noticeable heat or noise, comes with 2TB of space and is, still, a pretty fantastic console all round. It's a shame then that small attempts to push the consumer by omitting something as fundamental as a Vertical Stand should spoil the overall impression here, and Sony really should have introduced small software quirks in the interface that made it clear to a Pro owner that they've spent the extra money. That said, this is a solid upgrade for the kind of consumer who already has an interest in optimised console gaming, no doubt about it.

The PS5 Pro gives console players the guilt-free 60 fps that PC players have enjoyed for years

It's been years since I've had to endure playing a game at a glacial 30 frames per second, and I don't think I'd survive going back. Most gaming PCs have been able to hit 60 fps without much trouble for years now, as long as you're not cranking the settings up to ultra on a 4K screen. Consoles, on the other hand, often still have to sacrifice a lot of visual fidelity to make games run as smoothly as our eyes deserve. The PlayStation 5 Pro doesn't get rid of all the trade-offs for playing games at a high frame rate, but it removes enough of them to make the choice a no-brainer in any game with a proper "performance" mode. I've been using a pre-release PS5 Pro from Sony for the last week, and the biggest upgrade it has over the original console is how good games look in their new 60 fps modes. Every game I tested had an improved "performance" option with fewer knocks to image quality than before. With the extra horsepower in the PS5 Pro and Sony's homemade AI upscaling tech, PSSR, you have to squint to notice what you're giving up from the 30 fps "fidelity" modes. I'm happy for everyone with a deep library of games tied to a PSN account. The PS5 Pro is no threat to your gaming PC though. The Pro still can't match a decent graphics card, nor does it offer enough graphics options to let you find your own balance of frame rate and image quality. You're stuck with presets outside of some first-party games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Spider-Man 2. But it's nice to finally have a console that doesn't smear Vaseline over the screen when you ask it to output some extra frames. To be clear, my PS5 Pro tests weren't scientific. I don't have the kit to measure frame rate on a console, so I don't have the kind of in-depth performance analysis that we do for PC games. If you want to see real-time comparisons, I'm sure Digital Foundry will have you covered. But after primarily playing PC games at 60 fps (and higher) for years, I'm pretty confident I can identify the frame rate for each game and pick up on dips when they strike. The Last of Us Part 1's new "Pro" mode uses the PS5 Pro's Nvidia DLSS equivalent to hit a steady 60 fps without a ton of visual degradation. The game is rendered at 1440p and upscaled to 4K using PSSR, and the biggest downside seems to be softer edges on things like blades of grass and bricks. Details like the fronds of ferns, however, are surprisingly accurate to the native 4K mode without PSSR. Naughty Dog's head of technology Travis McIntosh told IGN that PSSR's "neural network is trained to do foliage really well," and it shows. The soft layer over the detailed objects and edges is tough to notice in motion, so keep that in mind when flipping back and forth between the screenshots. While I was playing through the game's harrowing opening sequence in the city, I was more struck by the smoothness of 60fps than the blurry objects I was running beside. This effect isn't uncommon with upscaling tech on PC either. AMD's FSR is particularly problematic when it comes to image distortion. In my tests, PSSR generally looks better than FSR, but worse than DLSS on a PC. Distant buildings in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart's intro have the "fizzle" you get with FSR where pixels distort during motion because the upscaler fails to accurately fill those spots in. But, again, it's hard to notice while smacking enemies with an oversized wrench at a high frame rate. Spider-Man 2 is a similar story. Its 60 fps "performance pro" mode also uses PSSR and has raytraced reflections enabled. It's only when you're fighting down on the ground that the raytraced shadows and ambient occlusion make a difference in its 30 fps "fidelity pro" mode, giving scenes more realistic lighting on the buildings and streets. The smaller crowds and fewer shadows in performance mode didn't bother me. I was much more impressed that the game maintains close to 60 fps during its bombastic opening battle against the Sandman, which makes the combat feel way better than it does in fidelity pro mode. If your monitor or TV supports a 120Hz refresh rate, Spider-Man 2's fidelity pro mode can be boosted up to around 40 fps with its raytracing settings knocked down to medium. As a Steam Deck user, I've learned to appreciate how close 40 fps can feel to 60 fps as long as it's consistent. I obviously can't speak to performance for the entire game, but it's a neat option if you have the setup for it. And screens that support variable refresh rates can use the "unlocked" setting to add some extra fps overhead to keep the game from getting choppy at the cost of the resolution dipping when it needs to. Both Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered hit a solid 60 fps in their performance modes, and I still only really noticed what I was giving up by searching for it in screenshots. Alan Wake 2, one of the few third-party games I tested, suffered the biggest visual quality drop when touring the town of Bright Falls. I suspect the slower pace and increased focus on dynamic lighting makes losing raytracing hurt more than in other games. The jump in frame rate with Alan Wake 2's performance mode, especially during fast-paced action sequences, felt worth it to me, but it's a good example of the limits of the PS5 Pro compared to a PC. On a PC, I can flip on exactly the settings I want. Maybe I want raytracing set to low but view distance on high for Spider-Man 2, and for all that stuff to be cranked up to max in Alan Wake 2 because the action isn't as constant. The PS5 Pro simply isn't going to offer that kind of customization. You're at the whim of however each mode is designed by the developers. The PS5 Pro is a big step toward console players joining the 60 fps party that PC players have enjoyed for years, and a lot of it is due to PSSR. I don't think these improvements are worth $700, though, especially if you own a gaming PC or even a PS5. Unless you're desperate to play the Sony games that haven't been ported over yet, PC is still the way to go. But hopefully it means Sony's next console won't make it look like you're playing the Wish.com version of a game to reap the benefits of a silky smooth 60 fps.