PSSR, or PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, is getting a behemoth upgrade – and you can test it right now in Resident Evil Requiem.
Sony’s confirmed that a universal toggle will be added to its supercharged system in March, potentially allowing all PSSR supported software to benefit from the upgrade – no patches required.
And, as more games ship throughout the year, many of them will be supporting the upgraded upscaler – including, we assume, the likes of Marvel’s Wolverine and potentially even GTA 6.
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While impressions are limited to Capcom’s horror opus for now, the results are promising. Tech experts Digital Foundry note this is the “real deal” in their reporting.
Early analysis shows the new version of PSSR stacking up relatively well against its PC-based counterparts, FSR4 and DLSS 4.5. There’s some extremely minor aliasing in some instances, but Sony’s solution compares favourably with both – especially on a 4K panel at a comfortable seating distance.
Crucially, many of the issues with the original PSSR appear to have been resolved, and the hope is that the new universal toggle will solve – or, at least, improve – those issues reported in titles like Silent Hill F and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater in the past.
It’s a promising start, then, and we’ll allow Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia to sum it up:
“PSSR 2.0 passes the ‘it’s more than good enough’ test for me. Like, when I talk about the differences between it and FSR4 and DLSS 4.5, they’re not actually that important. For me, it hits the ‘it’s good enough that I’m playing the game and it’s not bothering me anymore’ unlike problem areas with FS3 or PSSR 1.0. This is good enough, I don’t care.”
Machine learning upscalers, like PSSR, always tend to improve with time – and hardware architect Mark Cerny did promise that would be the case with the PS5 Pro, too. Now we’re seeing the results in action.
The really promising news here is that it’s almost certain PS6 will be taking advantage of the same kind of technology, so even if you don’t plan to invest in the PS5 Pro, you’ll be reaping the benefits when Sony’s new hardware eventually arrives.