Digital Foundry: Assassin's Creed Shadows - PS5 Pro vs PS5 Review - One Of The Best Upgrades For The System

Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.

9nxzlr.gif


EDIT: He does point it out. I missed it. Though the example here shows the difference quite clearly.
 
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viveks86 said:
Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.

9nxzlr.gif
Click to expand...

I was just about to reply to the thread and ask why there is even a balanced mode at all on Pro. Well....there it is. Nice job. Why in the world would DF not point this stuff out?
 
viveks86 said:
Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.

9nxzlr.gif
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fuck ray-tracing
 
Topher said:
I was just about to reply to the thread and ask why there is even a balanced mode at all on Pro. Well....there it is. Nice job. Why in the world would DF not point this stuff out?
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Outside of RT reflections (which don't look great anyway), it is near identical to quality mode. Plus you get the additional responsiveness. Imo, Quality mode is the one that is kind pointless at the moment if balanced mode is an option. But for some of us without a 120hz TV, there is no other option other than 60 fps or decent IQ, hair strands and draw distance. If PSSR gets the performance mode IQ to match current quality mode, the winner would be a no-brainer. Will take 60 fps over some grass and pebbles!
 
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Horseganador said:


One of the games where the improvement on PS5 Pro is most noticeable at first glance, the difference with PS5 and Series X is quite large and the usual ones giving it their all to scratch something negative.
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Wow, the baked lighting looks like shit in this game. That stands out more in a negative way than the RTGI does in a positive way (although it does look good).
 
Blank Space Invader said:
Remember when people talked about gameplay and level design and control schemes in the most interactive entertainment medium? Now it's shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections. Do people pay $70 these days just to look at shadows and lighting and reflections and then endlessly debate them on the internet? Is that the video game meta? It is exhausting.
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Couldn't have said it better myself. It used to be about gameplay and now it's about a game looks? How is the level design? How does it FEEL to control the characters? How is the enemy AI? What is the sound design like? Is the game difficult or easy? Seems more people are interested in screen grabs and bragging that their console/PC looks better than something else. Gotta justify spending the big bucks I suppose...
 
viveks86 said:
Outside of RT reflections (which don't look great anyway), it is near identical to quality mode. Plus you get the additional responsiveness. Imo, Quality mode is the one that is kind pointless at the moment if balanced mode is an option. But for some of us without a 120hz TV, there is no other option other than 60 fps or decent IQ, hair strands and draw distance. If PSSR gets the performance mode IQ to match current quality mode, the winner would more a no-brainer. Will take 60 fps over some grass and pebbles!
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I'm the same. I'm already sold on Performance mode, but I'd like to see a proper RT solution implemented with PSSR. If we can get higher base resolution, RTGI and 60fps then that will be quite the accomplishment.
 
viveks86 said:
Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.

9nxzlr.gif
Click to expand...
viveks86 said:
Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.

9nxzlr.gif
Click to expand...


Edit: he do mention on hair physics difference....
 
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viveks86 said:
Seems like their virtualized geometry doesn't cover vegetation, similar to earlier versions of nanite. Also seeing fewer objects, like all the pebbles/rocks by the shore. Oliver doesn't bring this up, just as he doesn't bring up the absence of hair strands on pro performance mode. Anytime these guys see ray tracing, they stop making an effort to look at other nuances. Made a small comparison GIF.
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He does mention that in the video (and text article). timestamped:

 
Blank Space Invader said:
Remember when people talked about gameplay and level design and control schemes in the most interactive entertainment medium? Now it's shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections. Do people pay $70 these days just to look at shadows and lighting and reflections and then endlessly debate them on the internet? Is that the video game meta? It is exhausting.
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I mean, what do you expect to be discussed in a topic titled:

Digital Foundry: Assassin's Creed Shadows - PS5 Pro vs PS5 Review


Like clearly it's about the visual features of the game. Review topics and OT's should feature actual gameplay discussion, ESPECIALLY once release rolls around and people can actually play.
 
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Doctor Hades said:
What disappoints me a bit is that the 40 fps Balanced mode on PS5 and PS5 Pro don't seem to be that different: both use Standard RTGI and have similar resolutions so where exactly is the Pro's extra performance being used in that mode versus PS5?
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I agree wholeheatedly. DF seems to have largely overlooked the Balance Mode because we are clearly seeing the same questions rise
 
LordCBH said:
You can build up your hideout and stuff right? Maybe they just locked it so it stays consistent even if you add a shit ton of stuff?
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Yeah there must be a point where they can't maintain 60 fps anymore. Goofy though. I'd rather they limit the amount of stuff we can put in there instead. At least keeps the game experience consistent.
 
viveks86 said:
Yeah there must be a point where they can't maintain 60 fps anymore. Goofy though. I'd rather they limit the amount of stuff we can put in there instead. At least keeps the game experience consistent.
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Or maybe a popup saying something like "if you continue to add you may experience performance degradation while in the hideout" or something.
 
Blank Space Invader said:
Remember when people talked about gameplay and level design and control schemes in the most interactive entertainment medium? Now it's shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections and shadows and lighting and reflections. Do people pay $70 these days just to look at shadows and lighting and reflections and then endlessly debate them on the internet? Is that the video game meta? It is exhausting.
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Dude you are moaning about discussing graphics? Litterally one of the oldest topics known man.
 
Joel Was Right said:
I agree wholeheatedly. DF seems to have largely overlooked the Balance Mode because we are clearly seeing the same questions rise
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They did the same with the high framerate performance mode in Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 Pro.

They're milking the hell out of the PS5 Pro but not even giving it proper coverage. They'll do whatever they can to minimize acknowledging that the PS5 Pro is better than the XSX by removing it from the conversation entirely. Meanwhile, they'll pretend like the performance and fidelity is across the board on PC regardless of specifications.

Their strategy is so transparent. Even acknowledging that this is by far the best console version, Oliver spent half the video taking pot shots at it for things that are present in the PS5 version that in a normal video would be applied to all consoles. There's no reason why these videos need to be separate.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
Their strategy is so transparent.
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Brace Yourself Here We Go GIF by MOODMAN



Joel Was Right said:
I agree wholeheatedly. DF seems to have largely overlooked the Balance Mode because we are clearly seeing the same questions rise
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Eh, I wouldn't say that. It got decent time in the video, it also gets multiple paragraphs in the text article.

There's sufficient info here to get a proper understanding of what the mode is and isn't offering. There's some limitations on Oliver's part for not having capture equipment that fully covers it, but he gives his general impressions about it looking visibly sharper in the segments too.

Of course, there's one final mode available on PS5 Pro: a 40fps balanced mode for users of 120Hz displays. In a lot of games this would function as a slightly downgraded quality mode, but here it's more like an extended performance mode. RTGI is in, but RT reflections are out. Interestingly, this is another shift from some of the pre-launch press materials, which said that the balanced mode on Pro would feature both RT effects. Elsewhere, fidelity come in somewhere between the other two modes. Quality mode and balanced mode both use strand-based hair during gameplay, for instance, but shadowmap resolution in balanced mode is similar to the performance mode.
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Relative to the balanced mode on the base PS5, we're basically at parity here in terms of visual settings. Both have RTGI, no RT reflections, and fall on the same side of the hair rendering and shadowmap divide. I can't really compare image quality directly, owing to capture limitations on my HDMI 2.0 system, but pixel counts do suggest a higher resolution on Pro, and it does look cleaner as well. Both are upsampling to 4K, so they produce a sharp final image. Both consoles also basically nail their 40fps updates here, with a consistent 40fps in typical play, with the usual 30fps limits for cutscenes and the hideout.
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Quality mode and balanced mode get more moderate boosts. The headlining change here is the addition of RT reflections, which do make reflections look more accurate when screen-space information isn't available, but this isn't quite enough to recommend these less responsive modes over the excellent 60fps option. It has a compelling combination of visual quality and good frame-rates that's hard to beat, and I suspect that's what most players will prefer. In that context, this is quite possibly the most transformative PS5 Pro upgrade we've seen so far.
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MacReady13 said:
Couldn't have said it better myself. It used to be about gameplay and now it's about a game looks? How is the level design? How does it FEEL to control the characters? How is the enemy AI? What is the sound design like? Is the game difficult or easy? Seems more people are interested in screen grabs and bragging that their console/PC looks better than something else. Gotta justify spending the big bucks I suppose...
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Graphics/tech discussion has always been a big aspect of videogames since forever, nothing has changed. If you were expecting a discussion about gameplay in a digital foundry thread, I don't know what to tell you.
 
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Mibu no ookami said:
They did the same with the high framerate performance mode in Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 Pro.

They're milking the hell out of the PS5 Pro but not even giving it proper coverage. They'll do whatever they can to minimize acknowledging that the PS5 Pro is better than the XSX by removing it from the conversation entirely. Meanwhile, they'll pretend like the performance and fidelity is across the board on PC regardless of specifications.

Their strategy is so transparent. Even acknowledging that this is by far the best console version, Oliver spent half the video taking pot shots at it for things that are present in the PS5 version that in a normal video would be applied to all consoles. There's no reason why these videos need to be separate.
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PS5 Pro version is called the best version and praised multiple times by DF:

"They hate Pro and were paid by Phil Spencer!"

tenor.gif
 
Killer8 said:
Quality mode is the way to go on Pro. You guys need to join the church of SlimySnake SlimySnake and submit to the 30fps experience.

We have hair strands. And ray-traced reflections.
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I think the reflections are very easy to skip given the setting and the low quality. I can understand wanting to go for the eye candy, but a 40fps mode makes the 30 one redundant.
 
Skifi28 said:
I think the reflections are very easy to skip given the setting and the low quality. I can understand wanting to go for the eye candy, but a 40fps mode makes the 30 one redundant.
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Only if your TV supports it. I don't think I'm going to upgrade till PS6
 
viveks86 said:
Only if your TV supports it. I don't think I'm going to upgrade till PS6
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Obviously, but I'd like to think most people with a modern console, at least a pro, do have one. My heart goes out to those that still don't, I recently upgraded myself.
 
Pretty disappointing Pro implementation with all of those weird image instability from the TAAU. Why aren't they using PSSR. Heck even Space Marine 2 looked better in it's image stability than it looks here in AC Shadows.
 
viveks86 said:
Only if your TV supports it. I don't think I'm going to upgrade till PS6
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I think one of the better gaming decisions I made near the start of this gen was getting a 32inch 4K monitor that ended up supporting 120hz/VRR on both Series and PS5. It's gonna last me the entire 6, 7 years gen lasts and more.

I've come to appreciate gaming closer to a screen with headphones over sitting farther back on a sofa with a speaker system more.
 
They could make these videos a heck of a lot shorter/better if I didn't have to hear romanticized language just to say "Yo, this ish dope, bra!"
 
viveks86 said:
Only if your TV supports it. I don't think I'm going to upgrade till PS6
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You have to ask yourself what TV technology and what window of technology is important to you.

Will the PS6 support 144hz for example? I doubt it. Even the PS5 is largely behind most high end TVs, but if you bought an LG C8 for example in 2018, you're not getting 4K120, but the PS5 also doesn't support LFC at the system level despite being an AMD chipset. The PS4 Pro launched without support for 4K Blu-rays. I think Sony is no longer really looking to push their consoles to be as high end as they can be after the PS3.

So what will you get from a PS6 that a tv sold today won't support? I don't think there's much of anything. There will be TVs pushing 144hz and even 240hz and real 8K, but I don't think the PS6 will sniff any of that and even if it does support it technically, I don't think any games will make use of it.
 
LordCBH said:
You can build up your hideout and stuff right? Maybe they just locked it so it stays consistent even if you add a shit ton of stuff?
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Its beyond stupid imo though. Cutscenes at 30 are one thing, at least the camera is fixed and they can limit pans, or just flat out cut to new angles, but in gameplay? There is a reason I NEVER play at 30 on my TV.... This literally makes a portion of the game at worse unplayable for me and at best a jarring transition thats going to have me hate using the hideout. If it really is a performance issue they should just allow fps drops and those of us sensitive to them can just deal with it and limit construction. Not ideal but better than 30.
 
It seems the focus was the performance mode.
There is obviously a generational difference there compared to base PS5 so 60fps fans are eating good on the Pro.

Quality mode has ray traced reflections but they don't seem to be super high quality and balanced it's basically higher res.
Imo given the fact they changed the listed ray tracing features of balanced mode last minute and they are confirming they are working to implement PSSR, I suspect they didn't manage to get all the things they wanted to do on the Pro ready for launch and we'll see clearer improvements for balanced and quality modes with future updates.
 
mansoor1980 said:
not impressed with the pro upgrade effort by ubisoft
-hideout still locked to 30 fps
-no hair strands in performance mode
-no rt reflections in balanced mode , and those reflections arent that impressive
-res count for pro is very close to base ps5 in all modes
-no pssr
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Glad I'm not alone, AC Shadows PS5 Pro implementation is lackluster.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
You have to ask yourself what TV technology and what window of technology is important to you.
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Its funny, what would be a better upgrade for me was if Remote play went to 1440p/120. Then for the odd title at 40 I could just stream it to my external monitor on the Mac. Was hoping for some love with the Pro, but now have to wait on the PS6 and maybe even that doesn't get >60, but presumably >1080p at least.
 
Ashamam said:
Its beyond stupid imo though. Cutscenes at 30 are one thing, at least the camera is fixed and they can limit pans, or just flat out cut to new angles, but in gameplay? There is a reason I NEVER play at 30 on my TV.... This literally makes a portion of the game at worse unplayable for me and at best a jarring transition thats going to have me hate using the hideout. If it really is a performance issue they should just allow fps drops and those of us sensitive to them can just deal with it and limit construction. Not ideal but better than 30.
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100% agree with you!
 
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