[UPDATE] A Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 vs PS4 Pro analysis video has now launched showing the real difference between graphics and framerates on both consoles. Watch the video above to see tthe comparison between the two.
Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of the year’s biggest PlayStation 4-exclusive titles, so it’s perhaps unsurprising the upcoming open-world actioner will take full advantage of PS4 Pro and its meaty innards. Those who are lucky enough to own Sony’s ultra-powered console and a 4K TV will be able to benefit from a variety of visual enhancements, complementing an already stunning-looking title.
Horizon: Zero Dawn PS4 Pro
How exactly does PS4 Pro enhance the Horizon: Zero Dawn gameplay experience? What does it offer for those who still own standard 1080p TVs? Are the differences really all that noticeable? Find out below what to expect.
PS4 Pro + Standard HDTV
PS4 Pro owners who still own regular HDTVs aren’t missing out, as you’ll be able to enjoy a much better image quality than playing on a regular PS4. Guerrilla Game has a number of tricks up its sleeves, chief among which includes supersampling. For the uninitiated, this is a anti-aliasing technique that internally renders at a much higher resolution—close to 4K to be exact—before reducing it down to 1080p. However, calculations are executed at a higher resolution than 1080p, so it allows much more detail to be squeezed into the image before it shrinks it down. In layman terms, that means smoother visuals, almost no jaggies, and a more stable picture.
Elsewhere, shadow maps benefit from increased quality, as does anisotropic filtering, which is a method of improving the quality of texture sampling. As a result, textures in the environment are far more detailed.
Horizon: Zero Dawn PS4 Pro + 4K TV
Those of you with 4K TVs can really dip into PS4 Pro’s power, with resolution hitting 2160p. As a result, the overall visuals effects become more nuanced, with everything from individual leaves swaying in the breeze to the stitching on Aloy’s outfit all visible when playing on PS4 Pro. There’s also High Dynamic Range, aka HDR, which enhances the range of colours on screen.
Guerrilla explains: “You can’t print it, it’s not in cinemas, your phone’s screen can’t do it. The only thing that you can compare HDR with is reality. We normally have to do a lot of work in the engine to take an internal high dynamic range image and then make it suitable to be displayed on a normal TV. A lot of color fidelity gets lost in the process. If you own an HDR-enabled TV, we don’t have to lose that data and you’re looking at the image in its full glory, with brighter and deeper colors, more contrast and vibrancy, in its pristine state. The benefits are truly awesome.”
Horizon: Zero Dawn is due out on PlayStation 4 in the U.S. on February 28 and in Europe on March 3.