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An Ultimate, Ultimate Edition for Gears of War? Looks like it! John takes us through the new Gears of War Reloaded, discussing the technological upgrades over the 2006 original and the prior ultimate edition, before diving into how every version stacks up - including the fully unlocked 120Hz support, available on all consoles... even Series S!


00:00 - Introduction
02:14 - First Comparisons
05:36 - More Comparisons
10:00 - 2006 vs 2025
11:02 - Every Version Compared
13:39 - Performance Testing
17:30 - How Is it?
19:35 - Audio Testing
20:17 - Wrap-up

 

[Imtjnotu]

I'll come back when you give us your great breakdowns

 

[kevboard]

screen space reflections... it had to have a catch didn't it?
a sad to see visual downgrade

 

[analog_future]

screen space reflections... it had to have a carch didn't it?
a sad to see visual downgrade

What do you mean? There's no visual downgrade. They've added screen space reflections in Reloaded where there were no reflections before.

 

[kevboard]

What do you mean? There's no visual downgrade. They've added screen space reflections in Reloaded where there were no reflections before.

yes... they downgraded the visuals, like I said.

 

[adamsapple]

- Re-imagining of the 2015 Ultimate Engine with a slew of improvements.
- Still running on UE3 with custom and hybrid effects not found in the Ultimate release.
- Improvement in settings like Reflections, modern-upscaling solutions benefits all versions (incl. PC)
- PS5 doesn't really have official support for UE3 so Coalition had to work off of unofficial UE3 code on PS4
- Native HDR rendering also supported on all platforms.

- Higher quality texture compression, baked GI and fidelity with crisp well-defined results.
- SSAO upgraded to AMD's CACAO. Additionally it has sharper baked and dynamic shadows.
- Shading and lighting refined across the board eliminating many artifacts
- Though the overall picture 'largely looks the same' with cleaner results

- Cut-scenes are still pre-rendered video clips but they're all re-rendered with internal 8K resolution downsampled
- However they're still encoded at 30fps. DF asked Coalition who clarified it would have required significant code re-writes to re-render them at 60.
- DF thinks some elements from the original 2006 X360 release like the raindrops feel less impactful in all future releases, same for krill storms
- Other minor nitpicks but overall visual presentation is solid and holds up in 2025

Resolution metrics:
- All consoles offer 60fps and 120hz unlocked options (seems to be for SP as well ???)
- SX and PS5: 1440p using FSR3.1.3 to up-scale to 2160p - Changing to 120hz drops to 1080p on both.
- Series S: 1080p up-scaled to 1440p at 60fps - 120hz drops to 720p
- PS5 Pro: 1620p up-scaled to 2160p at 60fps - 1440p in 120hz
- PS5 Pro switches to PSSR instead of FSR3.1 and provides a better resolve than FSR
- All console versions look sharp and provide a good output, even Series S
- PC has native ultra-wide support though it causes perspective to shift 'up' a little bit

Performance:
- Edge cases are always possible, DF did not find any drop from 60fps in any of the console versions 60fps modes
- 120hz ranges from 70 to 120fps on all machines, with none of them giving a locked 120hz at all times
- PS5 Pro out-performs the base PS5 in pretty much all cases
- Series X outperforms PS5 in 120hz with both running the same metrics
- But currently, VRR does not work properly on the SX version which DF thinks is a bug, though it works fine on PS5
- DF suggests using the 60fps cap on Xbox in the meantime
- DF also tested the "Energy Saving" mode * on PS5 which locks the game at 30fps or 60fps with lower fidelity

* This is an optional system level setting on PS5 to reduce energy usage. Theorized as something to test output on a potential PS handheld later.

PC corner:
- Average CPU utilization improved over the Ultimate version leading to much better performance
- The game is also shipping with "Rog Ally" approved settings

 

[Karim]

- good PSSR usage
-steady 60 fps everywhere
-VRR is broken on xbox series console
But it's such an old game I barely care.

 

[analog_future]

yes... they downgraded the visuals, like I said.

 

[kevboard]

SSR is a glitch, not a feature.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Energy Saving Mode. LOL

 

[analog_future]

SSR is a glitch, not a feature.

 

[MikeM]

Damn the Pro improvements are nice. Gonna scrap buying on PC and go full gooner with playing on PS5 Pro.

 

[kevboard]

look, if you like occlusion artifacts, reflections going in and out of existence depending on how your camera is angled, good on you.
I value visual consistency and stability. and SSR is one of the worst offenders when it comes to disrupting both.

it's especially sad to see here, because the increased memory pool would have allowed them to instead add high fidelity and perspective corrected cube maps, which would look far superior.

at least Gears 1 is very light on reflective surfaces, so it's not a huge eyesore here.

 

[Bojji]

PS5 Pro version is quite a nice upgrade this time around with 1440p res in 120hz mode and (good implementation) of PSSR.

XSX vs. PS5:

 

[Investor9872]

1440p in 120hz on the PS5 Pro sounds good. But in the campaign, does it need to be played in 120hz when 60hz gives you a higher resolution if PSSR is implemented in both?

 

[adamsapple]

What do you mean? There's no visual downgrade. They've added screen space reflections in Reloaded where there were no reflections before.

The rain looks and feels like a downgrade.

I always liked that chapter in OG Gears cause it basically gave the game a survival-horror style pivot in visuals. Very atmospheric for its time.

 

[Zuzu]

The Pro is doing well in this game compared to base PS5 wrt the 120fps mode. In the 120fps mode it's running at 1440p internal resolution whereas the base PS5 is 1080p. It's using PSSR which is significantly better than FSR3 in this game and it's running at a higher frame rate.

 

[Darsxx82]

VRR on XSX worked fine in the recent beta. I'm guessing it'll be fixed soon. But yeah, it's funny how the platform with the best VRR performance by far fails here on that specific feature, and it's doing so in a first-party game .

 

[Skifi28]

1440p in 120hz in the PS5 Pro sounds good. But in the campaign, does it need to be played in 120hz when 60hz gives you a higher resolution if PSSR is implemented in both?

1440p vs ~1700p both upscaling to 4k with PSSR seems like a small difference in terms of image quality while you get a nice 100+ fps.

 

[analog_future]

The rain looks and feels like a downgrade.

I always liked that chapter in OG Gears cause it basically gave the game a survival-horror style pivot in visuals. Very atmospheric for its time.

Agreed on the rain but that doesn't pertain to the SSR comment.

 

[FeralEcho]

Haven't veen keeping up with this release but watching the video it seems like they fucked up the atmosphere of the original once again...

Modern western devs can't do atmosphere even if their lives depend on it.

Maybe in the 3rd remaster we'll get it right boys

Useless Cunts!

 

[Connificent]

The rain looks and feels like a downgrade.

I always liked that chapter in OG Gears cause it basically gave the game a survival-horror style pivot in visuals. Very atmospheric for its time.

Yeah, this and the Krill storms are way better in the original

 

[Chuck Berry]

I want to know how the haptics and triggers feel. I know the speaker is utilized well enough, but I'm all about that trigger feedback

 

[yogaflame]

Looks like I'm going to buy GeOW for Ps5 later this year. This is the only game that made me jealous for those with xbox 360 in the past,, and was tempted to get a xbox 360. Only Uncharted save me from buying xbox 360 that time.

But I will prioritize my budget for Sword of the sea, MGS delta and Lost souls first before buying GeOW.

 

[adamsapple]

Haven't veen keeping up with this release but watching the video it seems like they fucked up the atmosphere of the original once again...

Modern western devs can't do atmosphere even if their lives depend on it.

Maybe in the 3rd remaster we'll get it right boys

Useless Cunts!

This release is basically a 'remaster' of the 2015 Xbox One game so any changes you see are all a decade old

The darker, more oppressive atmosphere is exclusive to the X360 version.

 

[Panajev2001a]

The rain looks and feels like a downgrade.

I always liked that chapter in OG Gears cause it basically gave the game a survival-horror style pivot in visuals. Very atmospheric for its time.

Looks like what happened with snow storms / snow fall on Metroid: Prime Remastered. At such high resolution they might save on particles intentionally…

 

[intbal]

Did they subcontract the rain effect to Grove Street Games?
That looks terrible.

Remove this "enhancement" please, Coalition.

 

[Mr Moose]

Precision Performance on Every Platform

No matter where you play, Gears of War: Reloaded has been re-engineered to look and feel incredible. Players can expect:

• 4K resolution

 

[Bojji]

It's all about output...

 

[Tobimacoss]

Energy Saving Mode. LOL

For the PS6 handheld.

 

[Mr Moose]

For the PS6 handheld.

It's on all consoles.
Edit: adamsapple might be worth adding to the list. Is this mode for EU/Cali bullshit regulations?

 

[Tobimacoss]

look, if you like occlusion artifacts, reflections going in and out of existence depending on how your camera is angled, good on you.
I value visual consistency and stability. and SSR is one of the worst offenders when it comes to disrupting both.

it's especially sad to see here, because the increased memory pool would have allowed them to instead add high fidelity and perspective corrected cube maps, which would look far superior.

at least Gears 1 is very light on reflective surfaces, so it's not a huge eyesore here.

You're asking for unnecessary additions. Gotta save all the good stuff and focus on E-Day. This was just the appetizer and setting the stage for that game which is the main course.

 

[Diego Brasil]

PS5/SX vs. PRO

 

[SpokkX]

What do you mean? There's no visual downgrade. They've added screen space reflections in Reloaded where there were no reflections before.

screen space reflections are worse than no reflections at all imo

they look like shit when the break all the time

 

[Bojji]

screen space reflections are worse than no reflections at all imo

they look like shit when the break all the time

Yeah, use RT or planar reflections - SSR is fucking cancer.

Starfield used real time cube maps and even that was better than SSR (but still looked bad).

 

[adamsapple]

It's on all consoles.
Edit: adamsapple might be worth adding to the list. Is this mode for EU/Cali bullshit regulations?

Sure, they only mentioned this mode in a single sentence in the video itself. Didn't go into any other detail.

 

[R3TRO]

That'll do, grabbed it for the Pro.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Playing and enjoying but I've enjoyed every previous release of the game. Still surreal to see the game on PS5 still but every bit as fun as it was before.

 

[kevboard]

You're asking for unnecessary additions. Gotta save all the good stuff and focus on E-Day. This was just the appetizer and setting the stage for that game which is the main course.

I mean, if you watch the video, I don't think additing some cubemaps would even be 1% of the work they did to this engine.
they had to manually port a highly modified version of UE3 to the PS5 by using an unfinished beta of the official branch of UE3...

not sure about UE3, but adding cubemaps in Source 2 for example is literally just a button press and essentially fully automated lol.
and HL Alyx makes great use of them. I think Counter Strike 2 as well, but I haven't played that myself.

 

[MikeM]

Wonder how it plays on the ROG Ally

 

[LordCBH]

Looks like a damn good job all around.

 

[kevboard]

Wonder how it plays on the ROG Ally

on the current Ally X it seems to have no issue hitting 60+fps. someone is live streaming playing it on the Ally X currently.

edit:

 

[Horseganador]

When a good job is done, the difference in PS5 Pro is quite noticeable, this thread will have few pages.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Looks like a great job by coalition here.

Ps5 pro would be the place to play on console. Seriously good pro support.

 

[Timberwolf25]

Hopefully they patch the rain, kryll and other effects like the locust hole, smoke on the lancer back into Reloaded.
It's lost some of the "feel" of the OG, although an improvement in the end for the most part.

 

[FeralEcho]

This release is basically a 'remaster' of the 2015 Xbox One game so any changes you see are all a decade old

The darker, more oppressive atmosphere is exclusive to the X360 version.

I know,but I was hoping they'd actually improve upon it to make it more akin to the original vision ,I hated the "Ultimate" Version of Gears. The original is superior to it anyday of the week.Wish they'd just make a 4k patch for the original instead.

 

[adamsapple]

When a good job is done, the difference in PS5 Pro is quite noticeable, this thread will have few pages.

Yeah, it's a remaster, not a new game afterall. PSSR seems to work good on cross-gen looking stuff like this or Rebirth.

Would be nice if it were universally good across newer games too.

 

[Timberwolf25]

I know,but I was hoping they'd actually improve upon it to make it more akin to the original vision ,I hated the "Ultimate" Version of Gears. The original is superior to it anyday of the week.Wish they'd just make a 4k patch for the original instead.

Or give us the option to play both ala 1 of the Halo remasters that had the underlying game playing with a new coat of skin on top. There was a simple button press to switch between the OG and remaster.
NG2B is similar too if I recall correctly.

 

[Imtjnotu]

Xbox has better use of PSSR than konami

 

[Bojji]

Xbox has better use of PSSR than konami

This game has no RT and very high base resolutions (1440p and 1600p), no wonder than PSSR works better...