I have such vivid memories of learning to play games on the original PlayStation. I remember the terror of being “eaten” by a virtual zombie in the lightly traumatic MediEvil opening cinematic. I remember marvelling at the sunset vistas of Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer. I remember Crash Bandicoot 2‘s river levels, and thinking about how cool its water looked. Games have changed a lot since then.
They’ve become bigger, more ambitious, and more beautiful. The 2D pixellated water I marvelled at has become steadily flowing, lifelike streams of individual water droplets. Those sunset vistas now come with all shades of the rainbow, and glimmering ray tracing that illuminates character models and individually-rendered leaves and grasses. Playing enhanced games with the PS5 Pro, I was struck by just how far video games have come – and how swift the progress towards genuine realism has been.
That’s really what the PS5 Pro does best: it makes games prettier, more realistic, faster loading, and smoother. One scene flows immediately into the next, with no real difference between gameplay and cutscenes. If you’re somebody who enjoys whipping out your phone for a quick check during a loading screen, forget that. Where we’re going, there’s no loading screens.
Playing Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, I was immediately struck by just how powerful the PS5 Pro is – because while a loading bar does appear in this game, you’ll blink and miss it. From watching many years of Top Gear, I have an echolalia of Jeremy Clarkson yelling “POWERRRR!!!” while driving a fast car. Playing the PS5 Pro, it’s all I heard in my head. POWERRRR!!!
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Beauty in every pixel
The biggest difference you’ll notice on PS5 Pro is the quality of visuals, and the packed in detail – as long as you’ve got a TV set which will serve these improvements. For reference, I was using the PS5 Pro on a 55-inch Samsung S90D, as well as a 75-inch Hisense U8NAU, both of which were more than capable of showing off dynamic visuals and colours. Games that are PS5 Pro Enhanced are real marvels to behold – with the Horizon games feeling particularly well-served by the console.
Travelling through Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, I was fascinated by every rock, every blade of grass, every patch of moss. There’s just so much detail in this enhanced version that you don’t get on a regular PS5. Moss is fuzzy and tangible, and you feel like you could reach out and touch it. Blades of grass bend under your feet, and you can see each bush reed flowing around you, as you creep into patches of cover.
There’s a real visual depth that enhances gameplay and makes it feel more lifelike, and more engaging. It’s not only that trees are dappled by gorgeous sunsets, or that individual plants are rendered leaf-by-leaf – in Horizon, in particular, faces are also given more life-like qualities. Face muscles move in human fashion, eyes glisten with light, and you can see skin pores and fine hairs as you chat in close-up.
Read: Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PS5 Pro is staggering
Marvel’s Spider-Man gets similar treatment, with character faces being more emotive, adding weight to the depth of story. Textures also have snappier load-in, so you can swing or glide through New York, and have the entire city rendered out before you. Even when you’re speed-crossing rivers, you can see everything ahead of you, with no noticeable pop-in to ruin that sense of immersion.
As an added bonus, the enhanced version of the game also adds in fibres to each Spider-Suit, so you can really see the intricacy of costumes and character designs. If you look close enough, you can even see those finer hairs on character models. Kraven’s chest has never looked better.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is another significant beneficiary of the PS5 Pro’s added compute power. Here, you’ll find a plethora of vast fantasy realms, buoyed by vivid colours, crisp visual detail, and magical flourishes in the form of colourful aurora borealis. Each swipe of your weapon is accompanied by well-defined sparkle.
In a game where companionship is so important, it’s also nice to see the enhanced version of The Veilguard added in detail to character expressions and appearance, making eyes softer and more understanding, so you can better connect with your pals.
It’s also worth noting the PS5 Pro is capable of marginally enhancing PS4 games, too. Within the console’s graphics settings, you can pop on a feature that allows it to use AI to enhance PS4 games, regardless of any patch or update. I played through MediEvil using this feature, and found the game was crisper and more detailed.
Many character models were sharper while playing on the PS5 Pro, particularly if they were static and foregrounded. When Sir Dan is running across the screen at top speed, the impact is lessened – he noticeably remains at standard PS4 quality when in motion – but overall, the feature did have a significant impact. Text and on-screen UI is much crisper, and in-game models are better defined, without changes to their design intention or vibe.
I didn’t feel this feature was particularly groundbreaking, but it will make playing PS4 games more pleasant, allowing a vague sense of remastering, without the formalities of an actual remaster.
Smooth sailing
Beyond visuals, the most noticeable change the PS5 Pro instills in games is a real sense of flow. As mentioned, there’s zero load between scenes in enhanced games. For Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, that meant leaping between Peter and Miles’ gameplay instantly, and being able to jump from one mission to the next, even skipping cutscenes with no drama. The PS5 Pro loads in scenes snappily and easily, leaving no room for wandering attention.
All the while, the console maintains a low, steady hum that quickly fades into the background. It’s not a loud console, and doesn’t get egregiously hot, despite its extra power. Throw anything at it, and it can handle it.
Quick boot also means you’re flicking on the console, and jumping straight into games. Who cares if games are 90GB+ and feature hundreds of thousands of polygons? Not the PS5 Pro, that’s for sure. It chews through games, regardless of size or scope.
Should you buy a PS5 Pro?
Now, for the big question. The PS5 Pro is an incredibly impressive console, but do you really need it? In a word, it’s a self-indulgent console. It houses capacity to bring beautiful worlds to life, with details packed into every corner. It makes games look absolutely gorgeous, renders them smoothly, and imbues enhanced adventures with a new sense of dynamism and immersion.
If you’re somebody who appreciates the finer things in life, then this is a fantastic console. But it is worth noting it does everything the base PS5 console does, just slightly better. In physical media terms, it’s the difference between watching a Blu-ray film, and watching a 4K film. While you’re watching the Blu-ray, you’ll be thinking, “Oh, this is crisp.” Then, you’ll watch the 4K and think, “Oh, this is even better.” If that difference means something to you, then this console is a fantastic investment.
For those who just want to play games, there’s not a whole lot you’re missing out on, if you already own the PS5. Sony really popped off with the base console – to the point where it’s difficult to top. It’s already fully-featured, and allows for jaw-dropping sights. The PS5 Pro simply enhances these sights, for an all-round better, and more powerful console.
It’s also worth noting the price in these discussions. At AUD $1,199, the PS5 Pro is over $500 more expensive than the similarly disc-less PS5 Slim, which plays all the same games at lower resolution. It is much cheaper than a gaming PC or some phones – but you’ll have to make your own judgements about actual worth, when considering your wants.
All that said, even as a relatively frugal buyer, my personal sense of wonder at the graphics and capabilities of the PS5 Pro tempts me to say it’s worth it. Playing the enhanced Horizon games nearly single-handedly convinced me. You don’t need to see every leaf on a tree, or individual snowflakes falling as you game. But it sure does look good – and treating yourself is one of life’s great pleasures.
Four stars: ★★★★
PS5 Pro
Release Year: 2024
Manufacturer: Sony
Price: AUD $1,199
A PS5 Pro was loaned to GamesHub by PlayStation for the purposes of this review. GamesHub reviews are rated on a ten-point scale.
