PlayStation debuts upgraded PSSR upscaling with Resident Evil Requiem
Sony has upgraded its PSSR AI upscaling technology, and it has transformed their PlayStation 5 Pro
Sony has officially released a new version of its PSSR PlayStation 5 Pro upscaling technology, and it has made its debut with Resident Evil Requiem. With this new version of PSSR, Sony has adopted a new approach to its neural network and algorithms to deliver higher image quality. Because of this, PS5 Pro is by far the best console to play Requiem on.
Sony worked with AMD to create this new version of PSSR through Project Amethyst. PC gamers have already seen the benefits of this collaboration with FSR 4, AMD’s AI upscaling solution for RDNA 4 GPUs.
Resident Evil Requiem will be the first game of many to use Sony’s new version of PSSR. Below is what Capcom had to say about this new upscaling solution.
With Resident Evil Requiem, we focused on enhancing the presentation quality of the protagonist through an upgraded version of RE Engine to deepen the player’s immersion in horror. For example, each individual strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, allowing it to move realistically in response to body motion and wind. The way light passes through his hair changes depending on how the strands of hair are overlapped as well. This detailed expression of texture is one of the many details that we would especially love for our fans to see.
The upgraded PSSR has allowed us to elevate our expressiveness by successfully processing these details and textural particularities, which are traditionally difficult to upscale because of their intricacy. We hope you will experience this unprecedented level of horror and visual fidelity, and the new gameplay feel it delivers.”
– Masaru Ijuin, Senior Manager Engine Development Support Section R&D Foundational Technology Department, Capcom
Above, we can see the impact of Sony’s new PSSR version. Finer details, such as hair, are reconstructed much more effectively, delivering a higher-quality presentation.
In March, Sony plans to release an update for its PS5 Pro to “enhance PSSR Image Quality”. This will allow gamers to upgrade to Sony’s new version of PSSR in supported games. This means that games using Sony’s old version of PSSR can be upgraded to Sony’s newer model, improving their image quality. This gives Sony’s console a feature similar to AMD’s “FSR Upgrade” feature on PC. Sadly, not all games with PSSR can be enhanced with this feature.
Better AI upscaling for PS5 Pro
When Sony launches PS5 Pro, PSSR was one of the console’s three pillars. If there was one thing that made the PS5 Pro disappointing at launch, it was that PSSR didn’t look as good as PC upscaling solutions like FSR 4, XeSS, and DLSS. Now, PSSR looks much better. If PSSR looked like this at launch, PS5 Pro would have been much more successful.
The lack of a high-quality upscaling solution on most consoles is holding back most platforms. If PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S had an upscaling solution like PSSR (today’s version), today’s games would look much better. As it stands, it looks like Sony has turned PSSR into PS5 Pro’s killer feature.
You can join the discussion on Sony’s upgraded version of PSSR on the OC3D Forums.
