The PS5 Pro's Impact on Assassin's Creed Shadows

The latest Assassin's Creed game, Shadows, has a lot riding on it. It's the first major entry since 2020's Valhalla, and it's built exclusively for current-gen consoles. The PS5 Pro version of the game stands out with its ray tracing enhancements. But does it truly shine, or is it just a slight upgrade? First off, the PS5 Pro version of Shadows includes ray-traced global illumination (RTGI) in its performance mode, something the base PS5 lacks. This means the game looks more realistic, with better shadow detail and lighting that bounces off surfaces. The base PS5, on the other hand, has a more flat and uniform lighting, especially in foliage-heavy areas. The difference is stark, with the Pro version feeling more true-to-life. However, the image quality on the Pro's performance mode isn't perfect. Both the base PS5 and Pro suffer from pixel crawl and blocky patterns. Ubisoft promised 4K upscaling for both consoles, but the results are mixed. In light scenes, the internal resolution hovers around 1080p, with RTGI taking up most of the GPU time. Some of Ubisoft's pre-launch promises didn't make it to the final game. They talked about PSSR upscaling on Pro, but it's not there. Instead, the game uses TAAU, which is less stable but has fewer issues with disocclusion. The upscaling used here doesn't appear to be PSSR, despite earlier claims.

Beyond the ray tracing boost, the game's visual settings are similar on both machines. Draw distances, shadow resolution, and other tweakables are about the same. Frame-rates on PS5 Pro's performance mode are consistent at 60fps, but there are some drops, especially in the introductory sequence. The PS5 Pro doesn't get ray-traced reflections in its performance mode, relying instead on screen-space reflections (SSR) with lower resolution cubemaps as a fallback. RT reflections are limited to the quality mode, but they're not perfect, with issues like pop-in and lack of detail. In quality mode, both the base PS5 and Pro offer a locked 30fps, with strong performance overall. The PS5 Pro's quality mode is sharper and has fewer visual issues, but it's not a night-and-day difference. There's also a 40fps balanced mode for 120Hz displays. It's more like an extended performance mode, with RTGI but no RT reflections. The visual fidelity is between the other two modes, with both consoles upsampling to 4K and maintaining a consistent 40fps. In conclusion, the PS5 Pro upgrade for Shadows is significant, especially in the 60fps performance mode. The RTGI is a game-changer, making the game look more realistic. However, it's not perfect, with issues like pixel crawl and blocky patterns. The quality and balanced modes offer moderate boosts, but the 60fps mode is likely where most players will find the best combination of visual quality and frame-rates.

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