Death Stranding 2: On The Beach - PS5/PS5 Pro - Digital Foundry Tech Review

runs in a 120hz container if your display supports it. What do you mean by this ?

It pulls settings from the system dash, so I highly suspect it'll require 120hz with VRR capability.

Remember 120hz is commonly supported via HDMI 2.0, but VESA Forum VRR has relatively limited options.
 
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runs in a 120hz container if your display supports it. What do you mean by this ?
Output to the TV is 120 Hz without vsync. Which means 60 fps capped without the minor input lag that typically comes with vsync. More responsive, basically. Would obviously apply only to TVs that support 120 hz
 
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Surprised that they can't tell what upscaling is used based on whatever artifacts. I guess it's definitely NOT checkerboarding, then. If it does end up being GG's solution, and that's on the base as well, albeit at lower resolution, then that proves that it's not an AI based upscaling

It will most likely be the new PSSR, because if it's just the GG's own non AI temporal upscaling solution, they would've used it on regular ps5 as well and there shouldn't be any difference since the rendering res is about the same.
 
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It will most likely be the new PSSR, because if it's just the GG's own non AI temporal upscaling solution, they would've used it on regular ps5 as well and there shouldn't be any difference since the rendering res is about the same.
The new PSSR? That's not out till next year. Or do you just mean the latest version?
 
The new PSSR? That's not out till next year. Or do you just mean the latest version?

The new PSSR will basically be a pro version FSR4, so I won't be surprised if it's already available, since FSR4 has been out for some time now. If it was just an upgraded version of older model, John would've noticed it due to the PSSR specific artifacts.
 
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The new PSSR will basically be a pro version FSR4, so I won't be surprised if it's already available, since FSR4 has been out for some time now. If it was just an upgraded version of older model, John would've noticed it due to the PSSR specific artifacts.
Highly doubt that's ready. If Cerny said we will start seeing it next year just a few months ago, we can't expect it in June, that too from an independent studio licensing the engine.
 
It was also supposed to be Ray Tracing ...remember Cerny's "3 pillars"?

We haven't seen RT improvements in many games at all ....ratchet and Spiderman amd that's it. I don't count GT7 because the game looks downright bad with RT and pssr.
Truck Driver: The American Dream *PS5 Pro versions is using HWRT for reflections, ambient occlusion (AO) and lighting (RTGI).
p8QSezi.jpg


Fortnite : +50% resolution , HWRT (high Reflections & epic Diffuse lighting)
r0uonSA.jpeg


Marvel Rivals , The first descendant : HWRT 60fps , IQ improvement
Jedi Survivor : HWRT 60fps

We will see more games utilizing BVH8, which is adopted by PS5 Pro and RDNA4, appear in the future.
 
To be perfectly honest playing on base PS5 the performance mode has real aliasing on distant details.

Up close it's pretty sharp and you feel the 1440p, but the overall IQ could definitely be better. The game is superb but has a clean, subtle look that feels like it could really be enhanced with more clarity.

I hesitate upgrading to the pro in the end. Can guys here be 100% honest and tell me whether it's really sharper ?
 
Truck Driver: The American Dream *PS5 Pro versions is using HWRT for reflections, ambient occlusion (AO) and lighting (RTGI).
p8QSezi.jpg


Fortnite : +50% resolution , HWRT (high Reflections & epic Diffuse lighting)
r0uonSA.jpeg


Marvel Rivals , The first descendant : HWRT 60fps , IQ improvement
Jedi Survivor : HWRT 60fps

We will see more games utilizing BVH8, which is adopted by PS5 Pro and RDNA4, appear in the future.
I didn't know about those games (except for SW Survivors). I was mainly referring to Sony exclusives...I would include perhaps Callisto Protocol and AC Shadows as games that seem to potentially have better RT on Pro however I haven't compared them against base PS5. AC Shadows dev said something about working extra hard on rt reflections on the Pro ....anyone confirm whether that game has better RT reflections than base ps5?
 
Highly doubt that's ready. If Cerny said we will start seeing it next year just a few months ago, we can't expect it in June, that too from an independent studio licensing the engine.

This isn't just any engine. This is GG's own Decima on ps5 exclusive title made by Kojima studio :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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Highly doubt that's ready. If Cerny said we will start seeing it next year just a few months ago, we can't expect it in June, that too from an independent studio licensing the engine.
We really need pssr to be fixed/revised for the huge initial batch of Pro patched games because so many of them suffer from aliasing and Pssr specific artifacting.....not that we ever will see this happen though but games like Alan Wake 2, Avatar, SH2 and Dragons Dogma 2 all have barely better image quality than base ps5
Actually, in the case of SH2, DD2 and Avatar IQ is actually worse on Pro. The waterfalls in Avatar are disgustingly artifacted. SH2 we all know about and DD2 has really messed up ambient occlusion due to pssr. Digital Foundry even covered that one.

SW Outlaws, GT7, Datktide, Hogwarts Legacy all have significant issues too. If you play GT7 with RT on and pssr looks like a blurry mess ...until recently I was getting raked over the coals pointing these problems out to people but seems like recently people are starting feel like Sony is half assing Pro support.
 
To be perfectly honest playing on base PS5 the performance mode has real aliasing on distant details.

Up close it's pretty sharp and you feel the 1440p, but the overall IQ could definitely be better. The game is superb but has a clean, subtle look that feels like it could really be enhanced with more clarity.

I hesitate upgrading to the pro in the end. Can guys here be 100% honest and tell me whether it's really sharper ?
I don't think anyone can tell you since the game isn't out yet.
 
We really need pssr to be fixed/revised for the huge initial batch of Pro patched games because so many of them suffer from aliasing and Pssr specific artifacting.....not that we ever will see this happen though but games like Alan Wake 2, Avatar, SH2 and Dragons Dogma 2 all have barely better image quality than base ps5
Actually, in the case of SH2, DD2 and Avatar IQ is actually worse on Pro. The waterfalls in Avatar are disgustingly artifacted. SH2 we all know about and DD2 has really messed up ambient occlusion due to pssr. Digital Foundry even covered that one.

SW Outlaws, GT7, Datktide, Hogwarts Legacy all have significant issues too. If you play GT7 with RT on and pssr looks like a blurry mess ...until recently I was getting raked over the coals pointing these problems out to people but seems like recently people are starting feel like Sony is half assing Pro support.
Agree with all those games badly needing the update, but I have no hope that most will get it. GT7 is quite likely as it appears they plan to support the game all the way up to GT8. Whatever is being worked on for SH2 is likely to be a shorter term fix and not the big one.

I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Wake 2 and Jedi Survivor get something as the devs are known for going back and updating their last titles. AC shadows might get it if they plan some DLC next year. The rest… chances are close to 0 IMO
 
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This isn't just any engine. This is GG's own Decima on ps5 exclusive title made by Kojima studio :messenger_tears_of_joy:
GG has their own upscaling solution in the works, which means they are not working on PSSR enhancements. And Kojima wouldn't be developing a totally different AA solution for an engine they are licensing. Sure, they are contributing to the engine, but not at that level, when there is another solution built by the engine creators. It makes no sense, honestly. I'm willing to bet that the first game to have the new PSSR is not coming out this year and there will be a big splash made whenever it's out. It won't be shadow dropped in a game like this where all of us are left guessing
 
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Is it me, or is the motion blur in DS2 far more intense than in Part 1 (where I didn't bother)?
I assume Kojima wanted to make it look even more 'cinematic' :messenger_pensive:
 
There is a point at which great graphics are great enough.
And Even death stranding 1 characters look better than anything else.

Here, they improved everything. It looks fantastic and is still 60fps.
And yes. Of course kojima want every part of this game look certain way lol. He is more of a director than a game maker.

I have to appreciate that a studio can say "this looks good enough, we will only improve a bit" and spend all those years using the developed tech and making the game.
Not reinventing the wheel if it was already round...

tl:dr - I dont give a fuck if it looks the same as resident evil 4 og (we could only hope). I care that it's an amazing visionary game... and it just so happens to be one of best looking games've ever seen.
@SlimySnake Clearly this is not as good looking as ac shadows pro 40fps mode. nothing is this gen. But somehow it still looks fantastic and characters are 10x better
Which is why I'll wait for a sale to pay a movie price.
 
I was expecting something perhaps like RT reflections or even RTGI on the Pro's Performance Mode though. We're not seeing any sign of it in any mode. I could have sworn I had heard that game had RTGI back then. Maybe the pre-baked solution was so good (at least during cutscenes) they mistook it for it?

The RT GI assumption I believe came from a DF breakdown of the first DS2 trailer. Based on some evidence in the clip of how indirect lighting played across the sequence as bounce filled the room, coupled with it being a movable deployment base and an assumed-at-the-time TOD feature and how lighting generally seemed sourced correctly across the clips, they made an educated guess that this game was showcasing a new RT GI method in the Decima toolkit.



(RT solutions also were something Guerrilla and Nixxes talked about in regards to the PC port of H:FW, Guerrilla even gave it some thought for the initial Forbidden West project. While ultimately it would have been a nightmare to replace all the baked detail with RTGI solutions, Guerrilla did say in regards to RT solutions, "Watch this space.")

Unfortunately, it seems this isn't tech deployed for Death Stranding 2, whether or not Guerrilla have RT approaches working in Decima at this point. Not that it matters a great deal, the multi-bake approach is still viable and produces great results. (Also, as always, RT is exciting to techies into tech talk and to the developers who have to work with the engine, but gamers should just pay attention to whether it looks good to them or not and worry less about the methods; RT =/= automatically good graphics.) Still, it would have been exciting to see a feature like this debuting in the second major new PS5 Decima game, if it had happened, especially at the fidelity levels shown in this game.
 
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From a technical perspective, DS2 is one of the best-looking console games, and the fact that it also looks good on the base console is only an advantage, no one loses here.

As for the actual differences, it is in a sense a question of priorities. They focused on delivering high quality code in every respect, without sacrificing the vast majority of the audience and that already gives them an extra point.


As expected from Kojima Studios. 👍
 
Surprised at the lack of 40fps 120hz mode

Why surprised? They never confirmed there would be 40fps to begin with.

I remember the lead up to 2020 with the PS5 launch, everyone was screaming for 60fps. We finally have it more than ever in a lot of titles and now everyone wants 40fps. Not saying it's bad to ask for it per se, but it's funny to see.

I appreciated 40fps with Spider-Man, but if more games like DS2 have rock solid 60fps while retaining clear image quality on the Pro, I'll take that over 40 all day.
 
I appreciated 40fps with Spider-Man, but if more games like DS2 have rock solid 60fps while retaining clear image quality on the Pro, I'll take that over 40 all day.
I think SM2 with 40fps unlocked was really quite great, a very good mixture of bling and performance - but, LFC for under 48fps must be done in software, which many developers choose not to do. Not saying every game should have a 40+fps option, but it's nice to have as an alternative. Having said that, after some hours of gameplay the performance mode on PS5 Peasant seems to be as solid as the rocks Sam walks on.
 
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The new PSSR will basically be a pro version FSR4, so I won't be surprised if it's already available, since FSR4 has been out for some time now. If it was just an upgraded version of older model, John would've noticed it due to the PSSR specific artifacts.

A5aZUHJIQYdTCU5f.jpg
 
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We really need pssr to be fixed/revised for the huge initial batch of Pro patched games because so many of them suffer from aliasing and Pssr specific artifacting.....not that we ever will see this happen though but games like Alan Wake 2, Avatar, SH2 and Dragons Dogma 2 all have barely better image quality than base ps5
Actually, in the case of SH2, DD2 and Avatar IQ is actually worse on Pro. The waterfalls in Avatar are disgustingly artifacted. SH2 we all know about and DD2 has really messed up ambient occlusion due to pssr. Digital Foundry even covered that one.

SW Outlaws, GT7, Datktide, Hogwarts Legacy all have significant issues too. If you play GT7 with RT on and pssr looks like a blurry mess ...until recently I was getting raked over the coals pointing these problems out to people but seems like recently people are starting feel like Sony is half assing Pro support.
It's unbelievable how overcrutinized is every flaw on PSSR but the difference over the FSR which is a total shitshow with foliage and transparecies in motion for some people it's just barely better.
 
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Output to the TV is 120 Hz without vsync. Which means 60 fps capped without the minor input lag that typically comes with vsync. More responsive, basically. Would obviously apply only to TVs that support 120 hz
it may still use 1/2 vsync, and that would most likely be the case, unless devs or reviewers specifically mentioned otherwise
 
AC Shadows dev said something about working extra hard on rt reflections on the Pro ....anyone confirm whether that game has better RT reflections than base ps5?
The base PS5 doesn't have RT reflections at all in any mode of AC Shadows. The PRO has them in both the quality and balanced modes now (quality mode is slightly higher quality). And of course the RTGI in performance mode whereas it's limited to the 30fps quality mode on the base. Definitely one of the best PRO upgrades out there.

Get the facts straight before you continue moaning and complaining about the PRO (you should have been sold your PRO and limit yourself to PC gaming with those expectations 😉)
 
It's unbelievable how overcrutinized is every flaw on PSSR but the difference over the FSR which is a total shitshow with foliage and transparecies in motion for some people it's just barely better.
It's the same with DLSS. It's considered "perfect" or "better than native" by many users, but if you look closely you will find issues very similar to PSSR as they're inherent to all AI upscalers in one way or another. Yet few people talk about its flaws here, it's mostly PSSR that is being torn apart.
 
The base PS5 doesn't have RT reflections at all in any mode of AC Shadows. The PRO has them in both the quality and balanced modes now (quality mode is slightly higher quality). And of course the RTGI in performance mode whereas it's limited to the 30fps quality mode on the base. Definitely one of the best PRO upgrades out there.

Get the facts straight before you continue moaning and complaining about the PRO (you should have been sold your PRO and limit yourself to PC gaming with those expectations 😉)
False, RTGI is also available on the 40fps mode on the base console
 
The RT GI assumption I believe came from a DF breakdown of the first DS2 trailer. Based on some evidence in the clip of how indirect lighting played across the sequence as bounce filled the room, coupled with it being a movable deployment base and an assumed-at-the-time TOD feature and how lighting generally seemed sourced correctly across the clips, they made an educated guess that this game was showcasing a new RT GI method in the Decima toolkit.



(RT solutions also were something Guerrilla and Nixxes talked about in regards to the PC port of H:FW, Guerrilla even gave it some thought for the initial Forbidden West project. While ultimately it would have been a nightmare to replace all the baked detail with RTGI solutions, Guerrilla did say in regards to RT solutions, "Watch this space.")

Unfortunately, it seems this isn't tech deployed for Death Stranding 2, whether or not Guerrilla have RT approaches working in Decima at this point. Not that it matters a great deal, the multi-bake approach is still viable and produces great results. (Also, as always, RT is exciting to techies into tech talk and to the developers who have to work with the engine, but gamers should just pay attention to whether it looks good to them or not and worry less about the methods; RT =/= automatically good graphics.) Still, it would have been exciting to see a feature like this debuting in the second major new PS5 Decima game, if it had happened, especially at the fidelity levels shown in this game.

Wouldn't be surprised to see RTGI or some optimized form of it (like idtech's probe based RT) make it into the next Horizon game. Playing Indy right now and it looks so good, even without PT.
 
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So game has marginally higher resolution on Pro but at the same time looks sharper, have less shimmering and more details are visible.

My guess is that PS5 is using simple TAA and Pro is using GG tech, it's in the engine and in Horizon base PS5 didn't get it as well. Textures can indeed be better or it's just the difference from much better reconstruction.

Not too bad Mr. Kojima. Maybe Pro was worth it after all.
 
it may still use 1/2 vsync, and that would most likely be the case, unless devs or reviewers specifically mentioned otherwise
Good point. Being a console peasant for years now, I had forgotten all about 1/2 vsync!


Wonder if he consulted with Alex or Oliver. They seemed to have an eye for identifying PSSR. We're certainly not seeing any of the swimming film-grainy-ness, so it's either one of the best implementations out there or it is in fact GG's tech.

So game has marginally higher resolution on Pro but at the same time looks sharper, have less shimmering and more details are visible.

My guess is that PS5 is using simple TAA and Pro is using GG tech, it's in the engine and in Horizon base PS5 didn't get it as well. Textures can indeed be better or it's just the difference from much better reconstruction.

Not too bad Mr. Kojima. Maybe Pro was worth it after all.
Changing your stance after seeing with your own eyes? :)

I'd still not call it the best upgrade. Felt like HFW did a lot more little tweaks compared to the base. But it ticks that "Quality mode at 60 fps" box. Can't really ask for more
 
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Changing your stance after seeing with your own eyes? :)

I'd still not call it the best upgrade. Felt like HFW did a lot more little tweaks compared to the base. But it ticks that "Quality mode at 60 fps" box. Can't really ask for more

It's not close to the best upgrades (Rebirth, Callisto...) but seems much better than what DF video was suggesting (or at least how I understood it). Performance mode on Pro looks good (comparable to quality on base machine) and this is basically what I wanted from the system.
 
Truck Driver: The American Dream *PS5 Pro versions is using HWRT for reflections, ambient occlusion (AO) and lighting (RTGI).
p8QSezi.jpg


Fortnite : +50% resolution , HWRT (high Reflections & epic Diffuse lighting)
r0uonSA.jpeg


Marvel Rivals , The first descendant : HWRT 60fps , IQ improvement
Jedi Survivor : HWRT 60fps

We will see more games utilizing BVH8, which is adopted by PS5 Pro and RDNA4, appear in the future.
You ruined his entire unfounded drivel! Good job lol
 
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