We've seen Horizon: Zero Dawn running with HDR enabled on one of Sony's top-of-the-range 4K televisions and it's amazing, but what if you're planning to play the title with the PlayStation 4 Pro on a bog-standard 1080p screen? Writing on the PlayStation Blog, developer Guerrilla Games has revealed that there's lots for you to look forward to.
Technical director Michiel van der Leeuw wrote: "For players who still possess standard 1080p HDTVs, we're able to offer far better image quality. We've got a number of techniques at our disposal. The most logical one is supersampling. This is a very high-quality anti-aliasing technique, which basically means we internally render at a higher resolution before shrinking it down to the final 1080p."
He continued: "We're also looking at enhancing the quality of our shadow maps and increasing the quality of our anisotropic filtering. This is a technique which increases the quality of texture sampling, resulting in more detailed environment textures. We still have to tweak these elements of the 1080p output quality for the final game, but we have quite a bit of power yet to play with."
Those of you with an aforementioned 4K television will have lots to look forward to, too: "We're rendering 2160p checkerboard, which is a special technique that looks incredibly good on a 4K TV. You're going to notice a ton of subtle details, from stitching on Aloy's outfit, individual leafs and branches swaying in the wind, kilometers away in the distance and more detail in all machines."
But the developer's quick to stress that every E3 demo you've seen thus far has been running on a bog-standard PS4 – the game's going to look amazing whichever model you play on. "We're dedicated to making a game that looks great regardless of the model it's played on; it will look beautiful on PS4, and will look even better on PS4 Pro, particularly if you own an HDR-compatible 4KTV."
[source blog.eu.playstation.com]
Comments 25
Im glad i bought a 4k tv before the launch of the ps4 pro now i need the ps4 pro to enjoy better gaming.
Can't wait for this game but have a feeling Horizon will be bundled with the Pro when it releases in Febuary even a custom console is a possibility. But can't wait to see this running on a Pro in all its glory.
@SnowstormX A bundle would definitely be a good idea.
Shiney!
All this talk about graphics, but i have yet to see gameplay that inspires the same confidence. I remember The Order 1886 and the marketing leading up to it enough to know this could follow the same fate. The last KZ game was mediocre at best, and i've yet to see anything come out of guerilla games that signifies they have the ability to create a third person action RPG.
Normal PS4's and 1080p screens are 'bog-standard' now..?
@Napples - KZ2 was excellent imo, particularly the multiplayer. i enjoyed KZ3 a lot as well, but Shadowfall undid most of the good work of the previous games, it didn't feel like the same franchise at all, particularly the multiplayer. it was just kind of blah... GG was well aware that an RPG was outside its usual comfort zone, so they've expired experienced industry people to write stories, quests, design progressions, etc. etc. that are typical with RPGs. i'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, and even just wandering around that breathtaking environment is enticing for me. but there''s some alarm bells for me that it's going to run like a bit of a dog's dinner on the standard PS4.. and i've no immediate intention to get a PS4pro.
A quick question with 4k tv's, do they have the option to display 1080p with the improved graphic options or can this be chosen via the game, or do you have to go with the 4k option only? Thanks for any help on this!
@EnragedGibbon i have a 4k tv and i notice that when i use cable to watch tv its 1080i but when i play ps4 it switches to 1080p so i am assuming the tv can tell the difference of output by the device.
We seem to be slowly drowning in these articles across the gaming press. Surely its a given that the Pro will look/run better.... Sony have really been getting developers / journos on the hype train, when arguably theres no need.. Dont have a problem with promoting but this seems a bit pointless...
@EnragedGibbon Yes with a 4k tv you can still run PS4 games at 1080p. For example my Panasonic tv offers 1:1 pixel at 4k, native 1080p and 1080p x4 for 4k upscale. Tomb Raider even offers 3 options i believe. Hope this helps.
@tonyp1987 Correct it is a digital signal.
@dellyrascal They should not talk about their new product, I agree.
@Napples I think the game will turn out fine, but the emphasis on graphics over game is making me raise an eyebrow. It's like they're making it like a pretty showcase than a great game.
My heart stopped for a minute when I thought that was a scratch of Cole McGrath from Infamous, and I had to rewind. Alas it was some other copycat.
@tonyp1987 @GBMatthew
Cheers for the info guys, that's done it, 4k and ps4 pro here I come!!! (don't tell the wife!!)
@MarcelRguez I'm excited for it, to the point where I'll jump at any mention of it, but recently it's just been about how good it looks. As a guy who values gameplay and enjoyment over graphics, I'm starting to wonder about things now. I have an idea about how the game will play from all the videos, but it may not live up to the hype.
Granted, I'm also assuming that it's played up as a technical showcase because of the PS4 Pro, and Horizon will be one of the early exclusives for it. So naturally it's graphics will be a huge part of the discussion, but I still feel they could shed more light on the game mechanics while talking about the Pro fluff.
@FaultyDroid there is now Pro Master Race perhaps?
Sounds great! Not sure I can see the individual leaves twitching on a tree kilometres away in real life though!
@leucocyte Well, from what they've said, everything they've shown so far has been on regular PS4, so i don't think it will have a problem running well. I just think a downloadable demo, or a lengthy gameplay video highlighting how it actually plays would be a huge step in the right direction instead of "look at the pretty picture".
@get2sammyb There is a difference between talking about a product, and regurgitating well known information over and over again. What's going to happen if it releases and sucks as an actual game because they focused too much on how it was presented for the pro? Oh wait, we already know what will happen, it will end up in the $10 bargain bin 6 months after release.
@Napples To be fair "How visuals will be improved on 1080p televisions?" was the number one question people wanted answering in a recent poll:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2016/10/talking_point_what_do_you_want_to_know_about_ps4_pro
This is great info for me and clearly others as I do want to get a Pro to get the best out of my games (a certain FF15 shaped one in particular) but I'm not able to upgrade my TV this year.
As long as I can choose between 4K version and 1080p version of the Pro settings, I am happy. Sometimes I may not care about the additional resolution, but I want better looking graphics and effects.
Some are worried that Horizon will be all graphics over gameplay like The Order. Except an Horizon trailer more gameplay potential in 10 seconds then The Order ever did. Not to mention that it's previewed very well too. I think some are trying to judge it (before they have even played it) against the likes of The Witcher but are worried it's going to be another Unisoft style game. But this is GG's first go in a new genre which is unheard of in the AAA space and has a female protagonist which is a risk too. But what will sell people on it is you get to hunt robot dinosaurs, say no more.
With imminent launch of the PS4 Pro its not surprising that developers are talking about the enhancements this offers over the standard PS4. Yes 1080p is 'bog standard' as far as displays go - I don't know many people that use a CRT TV or 'less than' 1080p TV so it is the 'bog standard' of display technology!
E3 and a few subsequent video's went on to explain 'some' of the game-play and RPG elements of this game. GG have been careful not to reveal much about the main storyline at all but have said a lot (if not all) of the answers to many of the games mysteries will be answered by playing. The 'new' E3 demo was actually part of an optional side quest which then had a longer video, mostly the preceding moments that lead up to the E3 game play. Although this was predominantly in Japanese, it did reveal some of the RPG elements. It featured Aloy coming across a village and showed several NPC's offering Side quests although only 1 was explored - the one which eventually led to the path we saw at E3. Before leaving the village, we got to see a Aloy go to one of the village vendors and buy new gear, not just ammo, but weapons and armour with different stat roles, before embarking on the side quest.
This is NOT talking repeatedly going on about the aesthetics of the game! I applaud GG for not showing us too much about the world they have created, leaving us to explore that ourselves. I applaud GG for not revealing much about the main quest line too and revealing some of the main mysteries a mystery. I understand that seeing a game-play video that spends much of its rime in menu's, revealing stats, upgrade paths, etc is boring so in particular have focused more on the action.
I am still very excited by Horizon:ZD and have been since its initial reveal. I intended to buy before rumours of the 'Neo' existed and pre-ordered the Ltd Edition as soon as it was announced. The improvements to the visuals are for me the cherry on top of the icing on the cake!
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