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Digital Foundry: A Plague Tale Requiem: A Stunning Tech Showcase on PS5/Xbox Series X/S - DF Tech Review

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?



A sequel built just for PC and the new generation of consoles, A Plague Tale Requiem makes a strong case for dedicated development on PS5 and Xbox Series hardware. The visual upgrade on the original game, Innocence, is often stunning - with the caveat being that developer Asobo Studio doesn't offer a 60fps performance mode, concentrating on a 30fps target. Tom checks out its delivery on all three machines, and also the discrete 40fps mode when outputting at 120Hz.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Summary:

- Rat count increased from 5000 to 300,000
- All console versions run at 30 FPS on 60hz displays and 40 FPS on 120hz displays.
- Game/engine is pushing the CPU/GPU hard.

- PS5|SX run at 1440p and Series S runs at 900p. PS5|SX upscale to 2160p using a temporal solution
- Besides lowered AO quality and draw distance, Series S matches all other visual features.
- PS5 version makes use of dual sense features

- In the 30 FPS mode, SX barely shows any blips even in the biggest rat swarms but PS5 can struggle though largely solid, PS5 version is also prone to tearing (DF did not mention tearing for either Series in the video)
- Series S falls in between with performance closer to Series X.
- In the 120hz 40 FPS mode, Series X performs better but can drop close to the 30s in big rat swarms. PS5 has more drops and can drop to the 20s. Series S is also not a stable 40

- DF recommends the SX version if you have the choice.
- DRS should have been used in the game to stick to each modes respective target better on all consoles.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
They should have added FSR 2.1 to both PC and console releases.
It might have been enough to push the game back into 60 fps territory.
Asobo already did most of the work, by implementing DLSS.
 
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anthony2690

Banned
I haven't played this yet, got it installed via game pass and sealed copy on my shelf.

I do wonder if they dropped the rat count, could they have achieved 60fps? Even if they dropped to 100k or something.

Is there any non spoiler scenes that showcase what 300k rats on screen look like, as I just can't imagine it myself, or how you tell there is 300k on at any time.

I'll give this a try at 40fps after I finish NMH3, hopefully it doesn't feel awful like 30fps, but I'm a little worried about camera panning.
 
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Sorcerer

Member
I remember early on in the first game clearing out every single rat in one particular dungeon because I thought I would get an achievement for it. I'd guesstimate it was about 200 rats. It was futile and annoying, but that's on me. I could not figure out a way to breeze through it otherwise anyway.
I can't imagine why the game would even need 300,000 rats on screen, surely some comprise was made somewhere to achieve this.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
This.

I don’t understand why they didn’t?

Is it something to with having an obligation to Nvidia?

Even if they had, it would affect only the PC.
Also consider that NVidia made a tool called Streamline, that aims to make it easier for devs to implement FSR, DLSS and XeSS in one go.
So I doubt that nvidia forced Asobo not to use XeSS and FSR.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
I’ve only done the opening chapter. That looked pretty damn good. No rats though. I’ll play this as soon as I beat Halo Infinite, which should be tonight.
 

twilo99

Member
Even if they had, it would affect only the PC.
Also consider that NVidia made a tool called Streamline, that aims to make it easier for devs to implement FSR, DLSS and XeSS in one go.
So I doubt that nvidia forced Asobo not to use XeSS and FSR.

Well, then it really doesn’t make sense to me, but they must’ve had a good reason not to include it.

Maybe it can be patched it later on.

I think all console games should support FSR 2.1 .. because why not?
 

DaGwaphics

Member
hamster GIF

Supposed to be a dancing rat, looks more like a gerbil. LOL
 
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Mr Moose

Member
- In the 30 FPS mode, SX barely shows any blips even in the biggest rat swarms but PS5 can struggle though largely solid, PS5 version is also prone to tearing (DF did not mention tearing for either Series in the video)
At least the 30fps update is evenly frame-paced, with adaptive screen tearing kicking in on all three when the engine's pushed. I'd also stress that 95 percent of the time you're getting a smooth 30fps line here with no issues.



It's just Tom being Tom.
 
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Fbh

Member
Yeah I'm waiting for a steep sale on this on Ps5. I'm ok with 30fps but drop to the mid 20's with screen tearing? no thx.
If they couldn't get it to run well they could have lest offered a 1080p mode or something.

Overall the visuals do seem really nice, specially considering it's a much smaller team than most AAA studios. But it does seem more technically demanding than it should be.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
The fact that some thought the XSS would run as the XSX but at lower resolution seemed to end up being delusional...

...It seems like it runs like the PS5 but at lower resolution in the end instead :pie_thinking:
 
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yamaci17

Member
They should have added FSR 2.1 to both PC and console releases.
It might have been enough to push the game back into 60 fps territory.
Asobo already did most of the work, by implementing DLSS.
You can run the game at 144p and it would still not reach 60 FPS in certain scenes. It is called being CPU bound. They could've made it so that game ran at 60 FPS and dropped frames where it is CPU bound, but I guess they settled on a consistent experience instead.
 

winjer

Gold Member
You can run the game at 144p and it would still not reach 60 FPS in certain scenes. It is called being CPU bound. They could've made it so that game ran at 60 FPS and dropped frames where it is CPU bound, but I guess they settled on a consistent experience instead.

They would have to just weak the game a bit. Maybe less mice, shorter LODs. Etc.
 
No 60fps mode? Only 30 fps and 40 fps (120 hz setting).

Is this a first in modern day console gaming?
"A Plague Tale: Requiem can be easily described as a GPU-bound title. At 1080p/Ultra, the only GPUs that were able to provide a constant 60fps experience were the RTX 3080, RTX 4090 and AMD RX 6900XT. The NVIDIA RTX2080Ti was also able to provide a smooth experience, though we did notice some drops to 57fps"

This is what I thought and explains why the PS5 is struggling compared to Series X. Make no mistake about it this is a true next generation game (current gen really ).
 

Mr Moose

Member
"A Plague Tale: Requiem can be easily described as a GPU-bound title. At 1080p/Ultra, the only GPUs that were able to provide a constant 60fps experience were the RTX 3080, RTX 4090 and AMD RX 6900XT. The NVIDIA RTX2080Ti was also able to provide a smooth experience, though we did notice some drops to 57fps"

This is what I thought and explains why the PS5 is struggling compared to Series X. Make no mistake about it this is a true next generation game (current gen really ).
There's something wrong with the game on all of the consoles, which hopefully can be patched and isn't an engine issue.
I read loading takes about 25 seconds? And it loads slowest on PS5? Can anyone confirm that?
 
There's something wrong with the game on all of the consoles, which hopefully can be patched and isn't an engine issue.
I read loading takes about 25 seconds? And it loads slowest on PS5? Can anyone confirm that?
What from the start screen? I don't recall long loading between chapters on Series X.
 
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