After we were told it was coming a few weeks ago, and after Sony soft-launched it by having it included in Resident Evil: Requiem, a new and upgraded version of PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) is now rolling out for all PS5 Pro owners in a software update.
That's big news if you've been hoping for a bit of a visual boost to what your PS5 Pro can manage, and in my case it's a little annoying – I've played more than one of the games getting PSSR 2 in recent months, without the upgrade visual tech.
PlayStation made the announcement in a blog post that you should definitely check out if you're curious, since it includes clips from a bunch of the games that are getting patches to work with PSSR 2 straight away. Some of those games have needed performance fixes for a while, too, so it's an impressive slate.
Top of the list is the superb horror experience of Silent Hill 2, which I played through in February and massively enjoyed. It's beautiful on PS5 Pro, but there are a few locations where the original PSSR struggled to avoid major shimmering (including, awkwardly, the parking lot where the game begins).
This should be massively reduced with PSSR 2, as proved by a clip of Silent Hill f, which had the same problem but seems to resolve far more clearly in the example. This could make for a radically upgraded experience in both games, to the point where I'm a little gutted I played them before it was fixed.
The full list of games included in PlayStation's blog post is as follows:
- Silent Hill 2
- Silent Hill f
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Alan Wake 2
- Control
- Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Nioh 3
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Crimson Desert
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows
- Cyberpunk 2077
Most of these should have patches available to download today, although in Crimson Desert's case, it'll come when the game launches on 19 March, and Assassin's Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077 will both get their patches in the next few weeks.
That makes it quite a solid list of visual heavy-hitters that are getting PSSR 2 in the first instance, and you'd imagine that this is just the vanguard. If you want to sell more copies of your game to PS5 Pro owners, after all, embracing PSSR 2 would be a great way to incentivise people to buy.
Intriguingly, though, even if developers don't release patches, you can still see how PSSR 2 improves things. There'll now be a toggle in the Screen and Video settings on the PS5 Pro to use upgraded PSSR in all titles that support the original version.
As PlayStation says, "While results may vary by title, many games may see improvements in clarity and image stability. If it results in any unexpected visual effects, you can turn it off at any time."
That's a super interesting option that I'll be exploring once I get the software update, which will apparently roll out over the next few days – so if you don't see it yet, don't panic!
