Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores PS5 - DF Tech Review - A Visual Masterclass
- Thread starter John Elden Ring
- Start date
Article for these old foxes like me 
www.eurogamer.net
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a visual masterclass
Horizon Forbidden West returns and looks better than ever in its Burning Shores expansion. Here's Oliver with the visual breakdown from Digital Foundry.
www.eurogamer.net
D
Deleted member 417
Guest
H2 wasn't constrained too much because it looks fantastic on PS5. A real, living, breathing open world game.
It was constrained, which is why this one looks and plays even better.
- Modes
- Favour Resolution
- DRS up to native 4k @ 30fps
- Balanced
- DRS up to checkerboarded 4K @ 40fps
- Favour Performance
- DRS up to checkerboarded 1800p @ 60fps
- Favour Resolution
- DRS impact to image quality is subtle and performance is rock-solid, save for a single frame held on camera cuts that improves the image reconstruction
- VRR is also supported, with an unlocked version of the performance mode that hovers around 60 to 80fps
- All modes are excelent in performance.
- Impressive given how good the PS5-only DLC looks, even compared to the base game
- Visuals
- Key factor driving its visual progression is the new system for cloud rendering, which gives clouds stunning 3D geometry that perfectly mimicks the bulbous yet sparse look of cloud formations in real life
- Lighting is very pleasing, with the water vapour faintly occluding the direct lights of the sun and creating convincing pockets of shade and large-scale shadows
- During sunset conditions, the game's sky looks particularly stunning, with light penetrating the ragged cloud edges and beautifully highlighting their dense formational detail
- You can view the clouds from close range too, scaling perfectly without breakup from far to near, while flying through them provides a good approximation of real-life white-out conditions. This is a pretty unique feat in video games - there's really no circumstance where the clouds exhibit any odd properties
- The only real exception is with the performance mode engaged, where clouds seem slightly less detailed and have more pronounced edge artifactsBurning Shores moves to a voxel-based system with a more physicalised simulation of how clouds look in 3D space, something not possible on PS4.
- Guerilla seems to have pumped up the already-impressive geometry of the base game to really take advantage of the PS5
- Combat
- Fights take place with a lot of AI foes, including smaller spawned-in enemies, and occupy massive gameplay areas
- There's one endgame engagement in particular that is by far the largest fight in any Horizon game to date, showcasing a kind of scale that is reminiscent of the older God of War games.
- Issues
- Aloy's animations are occasionally awkward over rough terrain, mounted travel can reveal pop-in and older interior spaces look odd, with a monotone, overly bump-mapped and specular-rich look that feels out of step with the rest of the game
It was heavy constrained going by the article.
A lot of things that could not be done on PS4 are now implemented.
And that is probably just the small facet of how much games are limited by old and weak hardware... PC mininum requiriments come to mind with how it drive development to miss to build visual showcases that take fully advantage of actual RTX 4080 cards.
Os consoles having bases like PS4 or Series S.
Most developer won't waste time with effects and features that will only works on PS5 (or Series X or RTX 4080).
They will focus in what works across all the target hardware.
This is a small DLC... give more time and Guerillha could do even more for PS5 only.
Imagine developing from the ground for PS5?
That makes me really miss if God of War Ragnarok was made from the ground to PS5... maybe the boss scale of old GoW games could be back.
Finished it two nights ago, really loved it... I think I liked it more than the base game tbh.
The pace and the length and the spectacle towards the end are just incredible.
It really culminates into something worthwhile, really exciting. I could barely believe a console could do what it was doing....
The pace and the length and the spectacle towards the end are just incredible.
It really culminates into something worthwhile, really exciting. I could barely believe a console could do what it was doing....
Looks no better than Horizon Zero Dawn maxed out on PC.
Btw, I'm Veteran. VFX Veteran..
Btw, I'm Veteran. VFX Veteran..
D
Deleted member 417
Guest
I don't doubt that the expansion runs and plays better. I was just saying that the game is the best looking of the generation so far, with the most alive world I've seen in an open-world game. it maybe constrained within itself, but show me a better looking game that's cross-gen.
Heck, show me a current gen xbox game that looks as good as Horizon on PS4.
Apologies for going OT. I just don't feel that GG have been given the praise they really deserve for the technical achievement that Horizon is.
It's alright buddy, sometimes simple phrasing choices give the impression to someone else that you are saying something that you didnt mean to....
I'm sure everyone knows that you were just saying HFW was already amazing looking and they improved in many areas since zero dawn. <3
I've worked in VFX rendering pipeline, so I know more than you.
I was only half listening / reading his stuff, so I always thought he lived in a pipeline.
(VFX if you ever read this, it's only a bit of fun... peace)
P
peter42O
Guest
Looks amazing. Still wish I could play it without having to replay the base game in order to access it.
P
peter42O
Guest
I deleted several saves off the PS5 and it was in the batch and I simply forgot to remove it before deleting it all. Simply did it fast and wasn't paying attention. I have restarted the game though. I'm on the 5th story quest.
P
peter42O
Guest
Ever since RDR2 and TLoU Part 2 I'm at a point where graphics don't even need to improve.
60fps, good IQ, VRR, HDR, if Horizon is about as good as any game from this gen we'll ever look I'm actually 100% satisfied.
Sony should pitch an Ace Combat 8 with this Horizon cloud technology for Bandai Namco.
60fps, good IQ, VRR, HDR, if Horizon is about as good as any game from this gen we'll ever look I'm actually 100% satisfied.
Sony should pitch an Ace Combat 8 with this Horizon cloud technology for Bandai Namco.