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[omegasc]

The game looks incredible, and it seems like they fixed most of the annoying things in the first one. I can't say I expected less loading time but that is because other games spoiled me, like Final Fantasy VII Remake, but around 10 seconds is not too much, and I believe they can refine that even more in future patches.
Performance mode is my default mode, but it does look a little blurrier, so I'll decide once I get my hands on it.

 

[Tripolygon]

Spoiler: How?

How can any reasonable person say that Horizon ZD on PC looks similar to this?

 

[GooseMan69]

From the article:

“ The screenshots embedded on this page will likely generate much debate, but the bottom line is that the PS4 tier essentially cuts back almost every aspect of the presentation: the biggest differences are a massive reduction in geometric density, pared with substantial cuts in asset quality. Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 is remarkably dense to an extent where YouTube video compression actually sells the game short. The PS4 consoles reduce this density significantly, with many objects reduced or removed (an impressive moss layer completely vanishes, for example). Foliage rendering is also reduced in quality, with the PS4 consoles using software-based variable rate shading up against full resolution on PS5.

The next significant drawback is level of detail. Forbidden West on PlayStation 5 not only draws so much more, it does so further into the distance to quite a dramatic degree. PS4 is still capable of delivering its stunning vistas, and to be fair, the reduction in far-field detail isn't something you're likely to miss. However, the pushed out draw distances also mean that object pop-in during traversal is far more noticeable on PlayStation 4-class consoles. The end result? The new Sony console delivers a far richer world, but also a more visually consistent one, and that's before we talk about further reductions made to ensure that PS4-class machines can run the game smoothly.


Virtually every system is touched: textures are half or even quarter-resolution, screen-space reflections are simpler and reflect less world detail. Volumetrics and particles are also of a lower resolution. PS5 gets bokeh depth of field while PS4 makes do with a guassian effect. Density of light probes is also reduced on PS4, resulting in lower fidelity lighting, while extra light rigs are deployed on PS5 (especially evident on character lighting in cutscenes). Water effects are also pared back, especially when Aloy dives beneath, where screen-space reflections are gone, along with a good chunk of the underwater plant life. Up in the skies, Guerrilla's beautiful but every expensive cloud-rendering system also sees a layer removed, with lower resolution formations.”


Article

 

[GooseMan69]

So much for the “bbbbut cross gen!” narrative.

 

[Anos Voldigoad]

Are you guys looking at them on a phone or something? PS4 (top) is missing the moss on the rock.

That and a lot more trees in the top left portion of the screenshot

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Don't see this in OP but written article is available:

Horizon Forbidden West: how a PS5 graphics showcase scales down to PS4

We first saw Horizon Forbidden West at the climax of the PlayStation 5 games reveal showcase, a fitting 'just one more …

www.eurogamer.net

SlimySnake

 

[ZywyPL]

They should make it 1440p and don't add any of their weird Upscale techniques.

GG's CBR solution is really bad, dunno why they didn't borrow Temporal Injection tech from IG? Is ICE team still a thing around Sony?

 

[Dr Bass]

credit to @benzy

Spoiler: Sogood

Yea this obliterates the first Horizon in the visuals department.

I'd think you should credit the US Postal Service because these are postage stamps.

Edit: Comment no longer seems valid. Shots are large and lookin' good!

 

[Tripolygon]

I'd think you should credit the US Postal Service because these are postage stamps.

Has the size of the screenshots changed? It was full rez earlier.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

How can this be 1800P in performance mode while trash like dying light runs 2 in 1080p??

 

[ethomaz]

They should make it 1440p and don't add any of their weird Upscale techniques.

Maybe but I still choose 4k30fps of how good looking this mode is.

 

[Vick]

Spoiler: How?

How can any reasonable person say that Horizon ZD on PC looks similar to this?

No reasonable person ever said that, indeed.

Our discount Morpheus on the other hand... and actually said better. And not at native 4K.

 

[ethomaz]

Snowy mountain peak with some volumetric cloud and god rays.

Imagine looks identical to PS4 version if you go with that weird thread made before actual footage...

 

[ethomaz]

So much for the “bbbbut cross gen!” narrative.

It sadly still cross-gen and you can see it.
The loading times are not there.
Some graphical decisions seems to be made to accommodate the PS4.

Don't let the gorgeous look hide the fact that being developed only for PS5 could made it even better

 

[Mr Moose]

It sadly still cross-gen and you can see it.
The loading times are not there.

They should've got help from Sucker Punch with the loading.

 

[VFXVeteran]

How can this be 1800P in performance mode while trash like dying light runs 2 in 1080p??

DL2 is using RT and FW is not.

 

[Vick]

Glad to see GG delivered, even though I really dislike that the performance mode`s draw distance had to be cut down as much as it did.

?

Draw Distance is the same between the two modes.

 

[mansoor1980]

DL2 is using RT and FW is not.

DL2 does not use any RT in performance 1080p 60 fps mode

 

[nowhat]

DL2 is using RT and FW is not.

Not in performance mode, DL2 is 1080/60fps but no RT. The "quality mode" with some RT is 1080/30fps.

 

[saintjules]

 

[VFXVeteran]

Spoiler: How?

How can any reasonable person say that Horizon ZD on PC looks similar to this?

So more foliage (which is used in ZD) and higher resolution that makes things look crisp and sharp (PC version provides true 4k) is enough to push this game a generation ahead of the last one? Nah... It's still using the same graphics engine from last gen with the same feature set. As usual you guys are hyped over different environments and different assets so you declare a generational leap when it's not.

 

[VFXVeteran]

Not in performance mode, DL2 is 1080/60fps but no RT. The "quality mode" with some RT is 1080/30fps.

No way to determine why these graphics engines perform the way they do when you are comparing 2 totally different games with different assets and different gameplay situations.

 

[ethomaz]

So more foliage (which is used in ZD) and higher resolution that makes things look crisp and sharp (PC version provides true 4k) is enough to push this game a generation ahead of the last one? Nah... It's still using the same graphics engine from last gen with the same feature set. As usual you guys are hyped over different environments and different assets so you declare a generational leap when it's not.

I'm not sure what are you talking about... this game on PS5 provides true native 4k.

 

[VFXVeteran]

I'm not sure what are you talking about... this game on PS5 provides true native 4k.

Right. I'm saying PC version of ZD is also true 4k so the clarity is the same. Rendering in true 4k will give much better clarity results than using a reconstruction method (which blurs things).

 

[Dr Bass]

Has the size of the screenshots changed? It was full rez earlier.

Well, what do you see in my quote? For me they are tiny and I'm on a large monitor right now. Can't click to open full res either.

 

[SlimySnake]

SlimySnake

Very interesting stuff, but the conclusion pretty much states what I have been saying all along. This is basically a PC Low vs High change.

but in actual gameplay, what we're actually seeing is a carefully curated equivalent to 'PC low settings' up against an all-out ultra-class experience on PlayStation 5.

 

[nowhat]

No way to determine why these graphics engines perform the way they do when you are comparing 2 totally different games with different assets and different gameplay situations.

Sure. So why do you make assertions that are not factual?

 

[Thief1987]

Spoiler: How?

How can any reasonable person say that Horizon ZD on PC looks similar to this?

Reasonable can't say that. If you are talking about some industry vetted veteran he is opposite of that.

 

[mansoor1980]

the FXAA that they are using blurs the game too much in performance mode even though it is 1800p , wonder if guerilla will patch that in the future

 

[SenjutsuSage]

How can this be 1800P in performance mode while trash like dying light runs 2 in 1080p??

It uses checkerboard rendering to achieve 60fps. Also, the two games are not designed the same. At a pure technical level they're both very different. We have to get out of the habit of directly comparing games just because there are loose similarities between them.

 

[nowhat]

the FXAA that they are using blurs the game too much in performance mode even though it is 1800p , wonder if guerilla will patch that in the future

It's not FXAA, it's the checkerboarding.

 

[SLB1904]

Is one of these supposed to be waxy? I feel like I'm blind.

 

[mejin]

Very interesting stuff, but the conclusion pretty much states what I have been saying all along. This is basically a PC Low vs High change.

lol not really.

 

[Foilz]

PlayStation studios make realistic experiences while Xbox makes games that look like games. The color, shadow and detail created by the Sony engines shows exactly why using the unreal engines is bad. Xbox needs to start creating games that don't look like they are a game. This is coming from someone who has 2 series x consoles and sold his ps5 after completing demon souls.

 

[mansoor1980]

cant compare the superior skills of guirrella to techland

 

[mansoor1980]

It's not FXAA, it's the checkerboarding.

the DF video mentions FXAA ,

 

[MidGenRefresh]

PlayStation studios make realistic experiences while Xbox makes games that look like games. The color, shadow and detail created by the Sony engines shows exactly why using the unreal engines is bad. Xbox needs to start creating games that don't look like they are a game. This is coming from someone who has 2 series x consoles and sold his ps5 after completing demon souls.

You should probably buy 2 copies of Forza Horizon 5 and 2 copies of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

What a bunch of nonsense.

 

[Vick]

So more foliage (which is used in ZD) and higher resolution that makes things look crisp and sharp (PC version provides true 4k) is enough to push this game a generation ahead of the last one? Nah... It's still using the same graphics engine from last gen with the same feature set. As usual you guys are hyped over different environments and different assets so you declare a generational leap when it's not.

Head-to-heads vs the first Horizon Zero Dawn show profound improvement across a number of systems, the most striking being water rendering (a huge, huge improvement!), character rendering and crucially, animation. As a sequel then, the improvements are palpable for users of PS4 and Pro - it's just that PS5 delivers that generational leap on top. It's the complete package.

 

[Mr Moose]

Well, what do you see in my quote? For me they are tiny and I'm on a large monitor right now. Can't click to open full res either.

Forum might be resizing them, they look fine on my screen.

 

[Tripolygon]

There is a massive difference between the PS4 version and the PS5 version. It is not even close.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

4k30 wins again. Looks the best by a significant margin. I want no visual compromises.

But isn't 30FPS is a visual compromise? You're literally compromising the ability to see half the frames each and every second.

 

[nowhat]

the DF video mentions FXAA ,

Yeah but the effect you see is mostly due to checkerboarding. Compare straight edges that are either completely vertical or horizontal to those that are at an angle - that's checkerboarding. Also anything with transparency like hair against an out-of-focus background.

 

[SlimySnake]

How can this be 1800P in performance mode while trash like dying light runs 2 in 1080p??

It's 1800p cb. So 1920*1800p instead of the usual 3854*1800.

Still, it's roughly 61% more pixels than 1080p and they had to pair back several features from its native 4k 30 fps mode where as Dying Light 2 is basically the same settings in both modes. I think there is something in the PS5 that is bottlenecking the GPU and CPU because we are seeing devs having to downgrade 60 fps modes and still struggling to hit 1440p. Spiderman had to drastically reduce the number of NPCs and traffic density on top of reducing ray traced reflections beyond just their resolution as well as lighting. Ratchet had similar downgrades to world density, skybox traffic and other crowd density along with minor lighting changes. We are seeing the same thing in the XSX which has more RAM bandwidth but split ram architecture so these GPU and CPUs are probably just starved for bandwidth. Otherwise devs wouldnt need to reduce other settings beyond just dropping the resolution to 1440p.

That said, Techland just isnt as talented as GG. GG have been the cream of the crop going back to KZ2. Techland is basically a B studio. And they chose to remain that way when they downgraded the original reveal just to get it to run on last gen consoles. Had they stuck to their original vision, they wouldve been seen as a true AAA studio. Now they are just another euro jank studio.

 

[VFXVeteran]

Oh there is no denying the water rendering is better. No doubt. The other comments are based on PS4 HZD. The PC version of HZD has collision detection for the foliage so that was already an advancement that the PS4 didn't get. Assets are different due to the different location (obviously) but the rendering quality is very similar. Would you say the PS4 version of HFW looks better than the PC version of HZD?

 

[MidGenRefresh]

There is a massive difference between the PS4 version and the PS5 version. It is not even close.

It's the same game with lower graphical settings. If I play a game on my laptop on low settings and then switch to my main PC with 3080 and play on ultra I don't ever think "hey, now this is NEXT GEN".

 

[Midn1ght]

Impressive, the water part did for me. Gorgeous stuff.

Maybe I should open my sealed PS5 from November.

Maybe...

 

[VFXVeteran]

It's 1800p cb. So 1920*1800p instead of the usual 3854*1800.

Still, it's roughly 61% more pixels than 1080p and they had to pair back several features from its native 4k 30 fps mode where as Dying Light 2 is basically the same settings in both modes. I think there is something in the PS5 that is bottlenecking the GPU and CPU because we are seeing devs having to downgrade 60 fps modes and still struggling to hit 1440p. Spiderman had to drastically reduce the number of NPCs and traffic density on top of reducing ray traced reflections beyond just their resolution as well as lighting. Ratchet had similar downgrades to world density, skybox traffic and other crowd density along with minor lighting changes. We are seeing the same thing in the XSX which has more RAM bandwidth but split ram architecture so these GPU and CPUs are probably just starved for bandwidth. Otherwise devs wouldnt need to reduce other settings beyond just dropping the resolution to 1440p.

That said, Techland just isnt as talented as GG. GG have been the cream of the crop going back to KZ2. Techland is basically a B studio. And they chose to remain that way when they downgraded the original reveal just to get it to run on last gen consoles. Had they stuck to their original vision, they wouldve been seen as a true AAA studio. Now they are just another euro jank studio.

I've been saying this like FOREVER!

 

[rofif]

I wanted to replay some of zero dawn before friday.. but I don't want to play in 60fps because switching would be harder for FW

 

[Punished Miku]

There is a massive difference between the PS4 version and the PS5 version. It is not even close.

Who knew moss would be one of the defining features of our age. All these years I looked down on moss, but little did I know how impressive it really is.

 

[nowhat]

Would you say the PS4 version of HFW looks better than the PC version of HZD?

Wasn't the original question whether the PS5 version of HFW would look better than the PC version of HZD, and your firm opinion was "LOL NO!!!"?