Support NeoGAF

[GymWolf]

Great character models? Great facial animations? Did i watched a different trailer? Their character and digital acting still look a gen behind forbidden west, you people are crazy

Locations look great at least, hooefully they can get on pair with shadows

Combat look like the same old shit, giga pass for me.

 

[Gonzito]

Great character models? Great facial animations? Did i watched a different trailer? Their character and digital acting still look a gen behind forbidden west, you people are crazy

Combat look like the same old shit, giga pass for me.

 

[GymWolf]

Tbf i'm having a lot of shit on my mind these latest days so maybe i need to rewatch the trailer, i'm gonna save my final judgement for later.

 

[Msamy]

Tbf i'm having a lot of shit on my mind these latest days so maybe i need to rewatch the trailer, i'm gonna save my final judgement for later.

Watch direct feed capture that I shared in previous page, that said we all know ubisoft characters are not on par with sony studios, but this remake have better models than shadows, also on all other graphics aspects It's definitely big step above hfw.

 

[Msamy]

As I said no difference between pro and base, true waste, don't like it

 

[Msamy]

No lumen, no nanite, no RT, no virtual shadow maps, and no per pixel techs, just some fancy particalls on mid 2026 UE5 sony first party game, just fuck this

 

[Xtib81]

As I said no difference between pro and base, true waste, don't like it

It's a Sony game, no surprise here.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

No lumen, no nanite, no RT, no virtual shadow maps, and no per pixel techs, just some fancy particalls on mid 2026 UE5 sony first party game, just fuck this

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

 

[TheRedRiders]

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

Witcher 4 too

 

[Pokedot]

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

I know what CDPR showed of Witcher 4 was a tech demo, but what we saw was the key technologies in UE5 can run on a base PS5 at 60 FPS with further optimizations still coming along.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

I know what CDPR showed of Witcher 4 was a tech demo, but what we saw was the key technologies in UE5 can run on a base PS5 at 60 FPS with further optimizations still coming along.

Linear action games using UE5 are forgoing lumen and nanite. I don't think there is a chance that Witcher 4, an open world game, looks like that tech demo at 60fps on consoles. Maybe with the amount of money behind it Witcher 4 can hit those visuals at 30fps. I have doubts tho

 

[GymWolf]

Watch direct feed capture that I shared in previous page, that said we all know ubisoft characters are not on par with sony studios, but this remake have better models than shadows, also on all other graphics aspects It's definitely big step above hfw.

For a pirate based game, water also doesn't look much better than fw in look, and not even close to crimson water physics wise.

 

[BlownUpRich]

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

It's literally the simplest thing ever. Make it run at thirty fucking frames, no 60fps bullshit that can or could push developers into thinking that features like Nanite or Lumen are not necessary so they start using a different methodology to "improve" graphics, which is pre-baking and static light probes that make games look last-gen.

I love you btw, don't take my comment to heart, I'm just frustrated by people that demand this stuff and then expect developers to achieve the impossible!

 

[mrMUR_96]

No ray reconstruction is disappointing. Massive added it in both Outlaws and Avatar.

Anvil vs Snowdrop. I don't think any Anvil based game has had ray reconstruction.

 

[mrMUR_96]

Gonna wait to see AC Black Flag in actual gameplay outside of shitty youtube. There's a lot of moments with poor graphics imo, bad facial rendering, basic lighting and crappy vegetation LODs. Or maybe this is just console footage and the max settings will look better.

 

[Superposition]

Saros looks two generations behind by visually, no effort other than character models. Insomniac will save the PlayStation again.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

It's literally the simplest thing ever. Make it run at thirty fucking frames, no 60fps bullshit that can or could push developers into thinking that features like Nanite or Lumen are not necessary so they start using a different methodology to "improve" graphics, which is pre-baking and static light probes that make games look last-gen.

I love you btw, don't take my comment to heart, I'm just frustrated by people that demand this stuff and then expect developers to achieve the impossible!

It depends on the game. A fast paced game like Saros needs to be at 60fps or it won't feel right. I would be fine if Witcher 4 is 30

 

[Msamy]

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

Hellblade, wukong, silent hill 2, silent hill f, cronos, robocop, mafia, upcoming witcher 4 and others I forgot, all have soft/hardware lumen or nanite or both on current gen consoles and with good quality on ps5 pro, the problem on lazzy ass sony first party not UE5

 

[Msamy]

Here 8 minutes B roll direct feed gameplay from Black flag remake instead of YouTube bullshit (note video size =4.2 gb)
Enjoy everyone

Transfer expired – TransferNow

Click to download the files for this transfer with TransferNow

www.transfernow.net

Edit
Direct feed 1mintue trailer

Transfer expired – TransferNow

Click to download the files for this transfer with TransferNow

www.transfernow.net

mrMUR_96
Direct feed capture here for those who missed it

 

[Toots]

Great character models? Great facial animations? Did i watched a different trailer? Their character and digital acting still look a gen behind forbidden west, you people are crazy

Locations look great at least, hooefully they can get on pair with shadows

Combat look like the same old shit, giga pass for me.

The new Kenway model gives even stronger Christophe Lambert vibes. Look at the fivehead !

 

[GymWolf]

The new Kenway model gives even stronger Christophe Lambert vibes. Look at the fivehead !

They still look too stilized for my taste.

I cant go back from metahumans like you people cant go back to raster after trying rt.

 

[Toots]

They still look too stilized for my taste.

You cant get back from metahumans like you people cant go back to raster after trying rt.

I agree with you that it was not a technically mindblowing presentation, and if you don't like the visual style on top of that it must have been pretty underwhelming.

 

[Xtib81]

Linear action games using UE5 are forgoing lumen and nanite. I don't think there is a chance that Witcher 4, an open world game, looks like that tech demo at 60fps on consoles. Maybe with the amount of money behind it Witcher 4 can hit those visuals at 30fps. I have doubts tho

W4 won't be out until Q4 2027 anyway, it would be a crime to play in on current gen consoles. On next gen consoles/PC, it will undoubtedly surpass that tech demo.

 

[analog_future]

As I said no difference between pro and base, true waste, don't like it

I mean the resolution alone is a nice bump. They didn't go above and beyond, clearly, but saying there's "no difference" isn't even remotely true.

 

[SlimySnake]

So I did make some testings, and yeah there is something wrong with your version/PC as it is 100% fixed. The infamous texture in your GIF:

RR ON

RR OFF

Another example with RR ON:

And RR OFF

If it's like... in one place in the map, on a specific time frame (which I don't believe honestly, I'm pretty sure something is fucked with your game), is it really that bad so to say it "destroys detail"? Anyway I went to see it by myself and it actually looks better with RR (added shadows and same P.O.M.)

RR ON:

RR OFF

I just tested this area. The issue isn't with ray reconstruction. Its with dlss and even dlaa. Turn off all upscaling and do another comparison. It's night and day. Literally a generational difference. At least on the ground. Foliage and other objects like mountains are fine.

 

[Bojji]

Current gen consoles unable to run key features of UE5 again. Gears E-Day will be the true test. If Coalition can't figure it out how, I am not sure if anybody can

What? Most UE5 games on console use one or two major UE5 features in 60fps mode.

And you have Avoved or Clari Obscur that have almost all of them and with close to 1080p native res.

Soros is on UE5 but uses UE4 feature set, what the fuck those devs are smoking? Sony studios offer the worst next gen jump ever, even compared to third parties.

WTF is this shit? AC Unity has better shadow maps.

 

[Lootlord]

Soros is on UE5 but uses UE4 feature set, what the fuck those devs are smoking? Sony studios offer the worst next gen jump ever, even compared to third parties.

WTF is this shit? AC Unity has better shadow maps.

Those particles probably need alot of GPU power

 

[Bojji]

Those particles probably need alot of GPU power

PS4 was running them in Returnal (and they developed them ~2014). Compared to Lumen and Nanite they should be insignificant, they even removed environment destruction Returnal had.

Edit: Baked shadows, like in DS3 and BB on PS4

"Next gen lighting"

 

[SlimySnake]

PS4 was running them in Returnal (and they developed them ~2014). Compared to Lumen and Nanite they should be insignificant, they even removed environment destruction Returnal had.

Edit: Baked shadows, like in DS3 and BB on PS4

"Next gen lighting"

Looks like the game is running at 1244p internally before being reconstructed using FSR2 so it likely has the same budget as a 1440p 60 fps game. You just cant run lumen and nanite at those resolutions at 60 fps. Even the upgraded UE5 engine ran Witcher 4 at 800-1080p at 60 fps on the base ps5.

The game still looks gorgeous when it matters. That is when the bullet hell fills the screen. There were so many gif worthy shots in Oliver's footage I was surprised to see such fidelity. The visuals have also improved since Returnal. Some of the mechanical levels look stunning especially during combat. they have brought back the volumetric lighting system from returnal and it looks great here. What can I say, the combat footage looks stunning. Shame Sony is done with PC because i have no doubt Nixxes wouldve enabled lumen at the very least. IIRC, they added rt reflections and shadows in returnal despite it being a ue4 title. lumen essentially is a toggle on UE5 so it shouldve been very easy to implement.

Yes, lack of nanite, lumen and vsms is a disappointment, but its understandable. People who diss on those features need only look at your screenshots and some of the footage in oliver's demo that showcases the drawbacks of baked lighting and shadows. That said, 90% of the time you wont be noticing these edge cases.

 

[Bojji]

Looks like the game is running at 1244p internally before being reconstructed using FSR2 so it likely has the same budget as a 1440p 60 fps game. You just cant run lumen and nanite at those resolutions at 60 fps. Even the upgraded UE5 engine ran Witcher 4 at 800-1080p at 60 fps on the base ps5.

The game still looks gorgeous when it matters. That is when the bullet hell fills the screen. There were so many gif worthy shots in Oliver's footage I was surprised to see such fidelity. The visuals have also improved since Returnal. Some of the mechanical levels look stunning especially during combat. they have brought back the volumetric lighting system from returnal and it looks great here. What can I say, the combat footage looks stunning. Shame Sony is done with PC because i have no doubt Nixxes wouldve enabled lumen at the very least. IIRC, they added rt reflections and shadows in returnal despite it being a ue4 title. lumen essentially is a toggle on UE5 so it shouldve been very easy to implement.

Yes, lack of nanite, lumen and vsms is a disappointment, but its understandable. People who diss on those features need only look at your screenshots and some of the footage in oliver's demo that showcases the drawbacks of baked lighting and shadows. That said, 90% of the time you wont be noticing these edge cases.

Game don't need to be 1200p to look good with pssr2.... Waste of resources if they are using 1200p and FSR2.

They could have enabled lumen on pro and keep the game around 1080p base

 

[Luipadre]

Saros is a game where you constantly on the move, dodging projectiles and gripping the controller. Obviously if you stop and zoom in and observing the details its not that impresssive, but in motion when the action kicks in, it will look fantastic and smooth. Gameplay first title and imo returnal looked fantastic in motion aswell.

 

[Bitstream]

Particles and constant movement causes much more upscaling artifacts than slower paced games. In order to keep Saros from looking like a blurry mess they prioritized the resolution to minimize FSR2 ugliness. As a result though, the game doesn't have any of the UE5 features that tend to make those games look current gen.

 

[Bojji]

Are they really using FSR2 on pro?

Are they fucked in the head?

 

[analog_future]

PS4 was running them in Returnal (and they developed them ~2014). Compared to Lumen and Nanite they should be insignificant, they even removed environment destruction Returnal had.

Edit: Baked shadows, like in DS3 and BB on PS4

"Next gen lighting"

... so a Playstation Studios title.


It is what it is at this point.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

Hellblade, wukong, silent hill 2, silent hill f, cronos, robocop, mafia, upcoming witcher 4 and others I forgot, all have soft/hardware lumen or nanite or both on current gen consoles and with good quality on ps5 pro, the problem on lazzy ass sony first party not UE5

I would argue that none of those games are pushing the envelope in terms of particles on screen like Saros(what game does?). And while Silent Hill 2 and Wukong look amazing on PC, the console versions have considerable graphical downgrades and/or performance issues

Maybe it is partially on Housemarque, but I still think UE5 is an unoptimized mess that puts undue stress on developers. If Phantom Blade Zero and Gears of War look as good as advertised on consoles than I will agree with you, at least in terms of UE5 being utilized in linear games

 

[Luipadre]

Are they really using FSR2 on pro?

Are they fucked in the head?

No, its PSSR2

 

[Bojji]

No, its PSSR2

I see conflicting reports. I watched only 1/3 of the video before I had to leave home.

 

[Luipadre]

I see conflicting reports. I watched only 1/3 of the video before I had to leave home.

The blog post earlier told us its the new PSSR, also looking at the comparisons its clearly using PSSR2. The particles and everything looks incredibly clean in motion

Just look at this

 

[Bojji]

The blog post earlier told us its the new PSSR, also looking at the comparisons its clearly using PSSR2. The particles and everything looks incredibly clean in motion

But what DF says?

PS blog is not technical information.

 

[SlimySnake]

Game don't need to be 1200p to look good with pssr2.... Waste of resources if they are using 1200p and FSR2.

They could have enabled lumen on pro and keep the game around 1080p base

well actually on the pro, oliver said its 1440p internal so PSSR 4k Quality. I agree that typically PSS4 2.0 4k performance would be good enough, and they shouldve enabled lumen on the Pro, and keep base PS5 at the current resolution. FSR2 4k performance isnt very good especially in a bullet hell game like this with constant movement.

Honestly, its surprising that they were able to improve the visuals this much despite not using lumen or nanite, and despite increasing the resolution from 1080p in returnal.

Fake edit: just realized that the game might be CPU bound even on the pro, hence the lack of lumen which would definitely have a hit on CPU.

 

[Luipadre]

But what DF says?

PS blog is not technical information.

I didnt watch DF video, but its clearly PSSR

 

[winjer]

Yes, that is PSSR2. Not FSR2.
The difference in quality is huge.

 

[Buggy Loop]

It's a Sony game, no surprise here.

You have to be really fucking special to disable almost every UE5 features that make it distinct from UE4.

 

[SlimySnake]

Are they really using FSR2 on pro?

Are they fucked in the head?

FSR2 on base. PSSR2.0 on Pro.

Returnal a combination of TAA and 4kcb. IIRC, they upscaled a 1080p image to 1440p using TAAU then used checkerboarding to reconstruct it to 4k. They have ditched that for FSR2 in Saros and have increased the base resolution to 1244p.

 

[winjer]

You have to be really fucking special to disable almost every UE5 features that make it distinct from UE4.

They probably did it to get the game to 60fps.
But still, they might have just used UE4 for that.

 

[SlimySnake]

You have to be really fucking special to disable almost every UE5 features that make it distinct from UE4.

i mean they are not the only ones. Split Fiction and Arc Raiders also disable them. BF66 is on a different engine and also didnt use any Ray tracing. Some games just have different goals and NEED to run at higher resolutions at 60 fps. You are not going to get that when you have expensive next gen/current gen techniques like lumen and nanite.

I am all for trashing sony studios, but saros isnt the game to do that. Its not trying to be some cinematic masterpiece. its a 60 fps arcade shooter. if ND's next game turns out to be targeting these resolutions and ditching ray tracing and other advanced next gen features then we can trash them.

 

[Bojji]

i mean they are not the only ones. Split Fiction and Arc Raiders also disable them. BF66 is on a different engine and also didnt use any Ray tracing. Some games just have different goals and NEED to run at higher resolutions at 60 fps. You are not going to get that when you have expensive next gen/current gen techniques like lumen and nanite.

I am all for trashing sony studios, but saros isnt the game to do that. Its not trying to be some cinematic masterpiece. its a 60 fps arcade shooter. if ND's next game turns out to be targeting these resolutions and ditching ray tracing and other advanced next gen features then we can trash them.

Nanite can be unnecessary for game like that (very fast action) but lumen would totally benefit it, it changes how all environments looks and makes lighting coherent. Especially if they didn't bake the lighting well.

 

[Gonzito]

PS4 was running them in Returnal (and they developed them ~2014). Compared to Lumen and Nanite they should be insignificant, they even removed environment destruction Returnal had.

Edit: Baked shadows, like in DS3 and BB on PS4

"Next gen lighting"

Yikes

 

[SlimySnake]

Great character models? Great facial animations? Did i watched a different trailer? Their character and digital acting still look a gen behind forbidden west, you people are crazy

Locations look great at least, hooefully they can get on pair with shadows

Combat look like the same old shit, giga pass for me.

What did you think of shadows again? Like where would you rank it? To me, its the best looking game of the generation but at the same time, its clear that UE5 games are just able to get that photorealistic/cg look much better than Anvil which is going for more detail and a slightly more gamey look which doesnt quite land in youtube videos but stuns when you are actually playing it on your screen.

This looks to be an improvement over shadows. Even on consoles, they were able to get ray traced GI working in the 60 fps version. Shadows' 60 fps mode didnt have RTGI.

The faces are also a massive improvement over shadows. I am pretty sure they will announce they have upgraded to a metahuman like tech for their faces because they look a generation ahead of the trashy faces we've had since AC origins. Watch some of the youtuber footage to see more cutscenes where you get to see the characters for more than just a second. The face shaders are a huge upgrade over even Unity, the last time ubisoft did great character faces. I will try to find some footage of the faces and make some gifs. I think they are very close to matching HFW.

There are two trailers. One short 1 minute story trailer and another 8 minute gameplay overview. Then a bunch of youtubers like ElAnaldebits have their own B roll. Some of the comparisons ive seen especially on water are absolutely stunning. They had this great morning fog, and light scattering through it, on top of the ocean as you sail through it. Its as close to CG as ive seen Anvil look.

I love this shot. The pirates beware sign is so detailed with almost nanite quality texture work, and the main shot of havana (or is it something else?) is detailed as fuck. This kind of detail pushing is where Anvil really stands out even if it cant do UE5 quality photorealistic lighting.

 

[mrMUR_96]

Nanite can be unnecessary for game like that (very fast action) but lumen would totally benefit it, it changes how all environments looks and makes lighting coherent. Especially if they didn't bake the lighting well.

Nanite would have been hugely beneficial here, at least to reduce the pop-in. I would take baked lighting over lumen in this case. Either way, just not acceptable for a 1st party game in 2026 imo. Why are people so soft on criticising this game? It's a ps4 tech game with a nice particle system.