Horizon Zero Dawn
Sony’s PS4 Pro has been out for quite a few months now. Touting 4K visuals, an enhanced VR experience, and 4K media streaming, the system is the most powerful console on the market at the moment. However, at the time of writing, few games have truly utilize the full extent of PS4 Pro’s power. That all looks set to change thanks to a number of upcoming experiences, and these five are the best-looking of the bunch.
With less than a month to go, Horizon Zero Dawn is looking set to be the first first-party title to truly show off the PS4 Pro’s potential. This is the first time that Guerrilla is working with the PS4 Pro, but from the 4K gameplay footage we were shown back at the console’s reveal last year, it’s certainly looking gorgeous.
That’s partly thanks to the game’s Decima Engine (the same one being used for Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding). This is an evolved version of the engine that Guerrilla has used for all of its games. However, the studio has overhauled it in recent years, mainly for this project.
Its visual grandeur is also thanks to the game’s stunning and vibrant environments. Horizon’s color palette is accentuated and brought to life thanks to HDR, and the extra detail of 4K helps to give the surroundings an extra touch of realism. Add in the enhanced draw distance as you glance out over stretches of terrain reclaimed by nature, and the whole world looks almost lifelike.
As a first-party studio, it’s pretty safe to say that Guerrilla Games knows exactly what to do in order to get the very best out of the system. And as one of Sony’s headline titles for the year, you can bet your bottom dollar that the company will want the game to be a prime example of why existing PS4 owners should upgrade to the Pro.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Vicarious Visions’ HD remaster of the first three Crash Bandicoot games may not seem like one of the titles you’d expect to reach the PS4 Pro’s true potential, but hear us out. One of the games deemed to look best on the Pro when the system first released was last year’s Ratchet and Clank. Its bright and colorful action, as well as the insane level of animation in the characters, made for something that looked as good as a Pixar movie.
While the sound effects, level design, and boss battles will all remain the same in the N. Sane Trilogy as they did in the originals, the rest of the trilogy is being beautifully remastered. Playing on the Pro, the game will display in a 4K resolution, with the all-important HDR providing a truer range of colors for Crash’s wacky environments.
It might not be cutting-edge realistic visuals, but Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is looking set to be further proof that a light-hearted, animated visual style can be just as breathtaking.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect: Andromeda is edging ever closer to finally hitting the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and recent footage should be more than enough to have PS4 Pro owners very excited. Just last month we got a five-minute look at how the game was shaping up in 4K, and it was nothing short of astounding.
The Andromeda galaxy has been fully realized, from the gaseous giants that hang in space, to mountain sides plagued with the scars of harsh weather. Each and every detail you can see in Andromeda’s trailer, no matter how big or small, pops thanks to the extra crisp image of the 4K resolution.
As one of the first major open-world titles from a third-party developer wholeheartedly using the power of the Pro, Andromeda will be the first of many games to run smoother and benefit from a generally enhanced playing experience on the system. The PS4 Pro doesn’t just improve visuals, but its added horsepower can be used to decrease load times and achieve higher and more consistent framerates.
Unfortunately, Mass Effect: Andromeda’s framerate on the PS4 Pro still seems to be up in the air, but from what we’ve seen so far, it certainly looks to be making good use of Sony’s supercharged system.
For Honor
If you had the chance to play For Honor’s closed beta this weekend, you’ll likely already know exactly why it’ll show the PS4 Pro’s true potential. From just the beta’s opening cutscene alone, For Honor genuinely had me second-guessing whether some elements of it were live-action.
The visuals are vivid and all of the close-combat action runs effortlessly. No awkward animations, no framerate dips. It looks like a real-life reenactment.
Stepping into actual gameplay, For Honor still looks great. Lush meadows exude a harsh green that contrasts against the deep browns and dull silvers of warriors’ intricately-detailed armor. Pools of water reflect their surroundings with an exceptional level of detail, and the whole thing runs consistently smooth, even when the screen was awash with chaos.
With its release in just a couple of weeks, don’t be surprised to see many PS4 Pro owners making similar comments. If you thought the game looked good on the normal PS4 or Xbox One, you gotta see it on the Pro.
The Last of Us 2
The Last of Us 2 is finally going to be a thing, and while its reveal trailer may have left fans with more questions than answers, its high production value is undisputed.
Despite being very early footage, the game is definitely showing just what’s possible with 4K resolution. The coarse texture of Ellie’s guitar strings, or each individual strand of Ellie’s hair, are the kinds of details we’ve come to expect from Naughty Dog. Yet, the PS4 Pro looks set to give the esteemed studio even more power to play with. We’ve seen what the team can do retrospectively with The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, but The Last of Us 2 will be built from the ground up with the PS4 Pro in mind. And that’s a very exciting prospect.
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much more of the game, but if this early footage is anything to go by, The Last of Us 2 could push the PS4 Pro to its limits, just as its predecessor did with the PS3 last generation. If anyone can get every last drop of power out of the PS4 Pro, it’s Naughty Dog.
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