PS5 Pro: PSSR Analysis, Silent Hill 2 Patch & Stalker 2

The State of PSSR and PS5 Pro Performance

The episode provides a deep-dive technical assessment of Sony's new PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) on the PS5 Pro. The analysis reveals that the technology is highly dependent on individual game implementations rather than being a universal 'magic' fix.

Key Findings on PSSR

• Inconsistency: PSSR performs well in less demanding scenarios, often matching native 4K results in titles with simpler lighting models, like The Last of Us Part 1.
• Problematic Outliers: Titles such as Silent Hill 2, Jedi Survivor, and Alan Wake 2 show poor implementations that generate significant noise and artifacts, often performing worse than previous temporal upscalers like TSR.
• Lack of Control: The team advocates for a system-level toggle that would allow users to update the PSSR model manually, similar to how DLLs are managed on PC, to avoid waiting for developer-issued patches.

Notable Patches & Game Performance

"Basically, it's a mitigation. Mitigation is a more accurate term."

• Silent Hill 2 Updates: The team reviews patch 1.06, which effectively replaces PSSR with the original TSR solution to address egregious visual noise and instability, significantly improving the image quality in performance mode.
• Stalker 2 Launch State: A candid discussion about the Stalker 2 review process highlights the dangers of shipping broken review code. While the Day Zero patch resolved many severe technical hurdles, the panel notes that early negative reviews were a direct result of the unstable code provided, labeling the situation a "publisher failure."
• AC Syndicate: The unexpected 60 FPS patch for Assassin's Creed Syndicate is analyzed, with the team expressing mild surprise that this title was chosen over the more technically ambitious Unity.