The PS Portal is one of Sony’s biggest surprise hits.
Released back in 2023, this remote player — which lets you remotely control your PS5 from anywhere with an internet connection — has continued to improve itself with countless updates.
The latest, and potentially greatest, is the ability to stream games that are in your PS5 library.
Previously, Portal users could stream a select collection of games available via the PS Plus Premium catalogue.
With roughly 200 games to choose from, it wasn't exactly slim pickings, but it was limited to games available on the service — something that can change with each month.
However, with this latest update, Portal users are now able to stream most PS5 games in their library, essentially blowing open the doors on the Portal’s potential.
As it was before, the Portal’s cloud streaming capabilities are locked behind Sony’s most expensive subscription tier, PS Plus Premium (£119.99/$159.99 per year).
We're a little taken aback by how huge an upgrade this is for Portal users. We can now stream hundreds of our digitally owned games from this pad wherever we have an internet connection.
And what’s even better is that it’s still all seamless across devices. We booted up Resident Evil 4 on the Portal, and it just picked up right where we left off on our PS5 months prior.
The update arrives with a new menu which allows you to access recent games, and then folders of games via either PS Plus Premium’s catalogue, or your own library.
From there, booting up the games is simple and fairly quick. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not instant, and users will be waiting anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute to get into their games.
However, it isn’t any different from booting up cloud streaming on your PS5, and will obviously vary depending on your own internet connection.
When we booted up Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it took us 43 seconds to go from selecting the game to actual gameplay – and just 35 seconds to get to the main menu.
But what about the quality of the stream? The Portal is able to run games at 1080p and up to 60 frames per second, and that’s no different here. If your internet is struggling, you're able to select 720p as an alternative.
We’ve always been fans of the 8-inch LED screen, which is perfectly sized for the device and incredibly clear and vibrant. Obviously, an OLED would be better, but we think this will do the job for most people.
The issue that we ran into is input lag. It’s almost unavoidable when cloud streaming, and it’s why we’d still be selective over which games we play on the Portal.
Booting up Black Myth: Wukong, it's obvious that combat would be a bit of a challenge for us since we’re accustomed to playing on a low latency monitor. This won’t be a huge issue for everyone, but it felt quite noticeable for us.
However, if you’re accustomed to the Portal, via cloud streaming or remote playing, this has always been the case. Back in our original review, we noted that we wouldn’t be playing first-person shooters or anything particularly fast-paced and twitchy.
The Portal has always been better accustomed to the slower experiences, but now with this update, you aren’t limited to what PlayStation offers you in its Premium catalogue.
While we found this remote player a great but niche product when it launched, it’s since gone from strength to strength, and is now better than it's ever been. You don’t even need a PS5 anymore to make use of this device.
It does sting to have streaming locked behind PS Plus Premium, and those that still buy physical won't gain much from this update. But for players like us with digital collections, it gives the Portal a whole new lease of life. Inarguably, it’s one of the PS5’s best products.
But what do you think about this update? Does it change your opinion on the Portal? Do you think you’d pick one up now? Let us know down in the comments!