Returnal PS5 Pro patch is out now, promising 2.5x the pixels

Housemarque has released an update for the early PlayStation 5 hit, Returnal, adding support for the PS5 Pro that brings a higher resolution experience to players of the game.

Once you’ve downloaded the update, the PS5 Pro is capable of running the game with up to 2.5x the pixels of the game on base PS5.

Looking back at early analysis of the title, Digital Foundry pegged the game’s original PS5 release to having a native 1080p pixel count that was then upscaled through temporal reconstruction to 1440p, and a further checkerboarding pass to 2160p. Housemarque hasn’t put a firm figure on the new resolution targets, but with 1920×1080 delivering just over 2 million pixels, rendering 2.5x the pixels would put this around 5 million pixels, or an uncommonly heard of 1700p. Of course, this is “up to” and we’re dealing with dynamic resolutions throughout.

While it’s perhaps a little disappointing that Housemarque haven’t enhanced the game with a 120Hz performance mode – 120fps is generally out of reach for the PC version of the game, even – a straight up resolution bump still has plenty value for increasing image clarity and reducing the effects that temporal and checkboarding upscaling have on image quality.

Looking back on Returnal, our glowing 9/10 review of the PS5 launch window game said, “It feels immensely satisfying to be sat here in 2021, eons after playing Super Stardust HD on PS3, and see just how far Housemarque has come. Offering a visual bullet hell spectacle, a showcase for the DualSense controller and a rewarding sci-fi narrative woven around the roguelike loop, we can say with unflinching confidence that Returnal is the PS5’s best game to date.”

Housemarque announced Saros, their next project during February’s State of Play, which following in the footsteps of Returnal’s roguelike shooter form, starring Rahul Kohli as our player character Arjun Devraj.

Source: Housemarque