Even before the official announcement of the PlayStation 5 Pro, in the middle of this generation's life cycle, the gaming community was divided into two camps. The first believed that it was not needed and that the regular PS5 could handle the technical challenges posed by modern games. The latter were inclined to believe that some games could work better and could not understand whether it was the developers' laziness in optimization or the hardware was already too weak. The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle, but I made the decision to buy the new product very quickly. And now I will share my impressions on whether the PlayStation 5 Pro is worth considering buying.
Visual changes to the PlayStation 5 Pro
The design of the new product is consistent and very similar to the slim version of the console. Even the removable panels have the same look and feel, and seem to be interchangeable between models. However, users who have already upgraded have found that only the bottom part is compatible.
I upgraded from the very first revision, the so-called "fatka", and here the changes in dimensions are noticeable, even considering that the Pro is larger than the Slim. The new console is thinner and less deep than the regular version and about the same height.
It came with neither a stand nor a disk drive, unlike the original console. And this is sad, given the price tag of 800 euros. This is about a third more expensive than the basic disk version. I could have avoided spending extra money. But to transfer the entire game library, I had to buy a disk drive. And to keep the device upright, I needed a separate stand.
At least the disk is now 2 terabytes, instead of the old console's 825 gigabytes, and it can hold many more games than the full Call of Duty package.
So what is PlayStation 5 Pro all about?
The first rumors about an updated and more powerful console from Sony seem to have appeared in 2023. They were periodically highlighted in the specialized press and on social media until it was officially announced in September 2024. It's hard to say whether these rumors were true, because they all contradicted each other - we'll never know where the real sources of insiders were and where the fantasies of journalists and fans were.
However, it's now clear that the PlayStation 5 Pro, a mid-generation upgrade, largely followed the fate of its predecessor and received the expected innovations, such as a larger and more powerful video chip and improved ray tracing. But the artificial intelligence-based PSSR image upscaler, similar to NVIDIA's DLSS, came as a surprise to many and showed promising results in the games selected for the presentation.
So how do games work on the updated console? Selected games with the patch add a new mode, while others simply improve their resolution and detail on PlayStation 5 Pro.
At the same time, other PS5 games and older PS4 titles that are available for backward compatibility are not left behind - the PS5 Pro Game Boost feature is available for them. It improves performance and stability in games that have not received a patch. Selected PS4 games will also receive an increased resolution.
Introduction and transition from the original console
It's worth starting with the fact that installing a disk drive on the PlayStation 5 Pro is not difficult, and it seems to be done in the same way as with the Slim. The same goes for the stand.
After launch, we have the usual PS5 interface, which offers to enter account information and optionally transfer data from another console, the same as when the PS5 was first launched. At that time, the console offered to transfer from the PlayStation 4 (Pro), and this time I transferred from my regular PS5, which I bought on pre-order in 2020.
If both devices have a wired network connection, the migration will be faster. After selecting the accounts and data that you want to have on the new console, the recipient falls asleep and the data transfer begins. After that, the profile is transferred quite quickly, and you can already get to the main menu and use the new console while the information is being reset in the background. The transfer is similar to a large game download from the network.
Also, as I mentioned above, there are 2 terabytes of disk space, but I had an extra SSD on my phatphone, so I decided to transfer it over as well. I simply unscrewed it from one console and inserted it into the other, and all the games remained in place. There's no need to format or transfer anything: the database is restructured at startup, and after that, everything is ready to play. And here's a fun fact: if you had the same game on both the internal and additional disks, then during this procedure the console will still ask you to either disconnect the SSD or delete the copy on it.
In games, the PlayStation 5 Pro is just as quiet, with the cooler almost never being noticeable. However, on my copy, you can sometimes hear sounds similar to the throttles in modern video cards or the operation of the transformer in the power supply.
The real situation with improvements in games
Have we seen in practice all the promised improvements from features with beautiful and spectacular names that Mark Cerny, the chief architect of PlayStation, promised us at the presentation of the more powerful model? Actually, if you noticed that some games lacked clarity and detail, or stability in their performance, then absolutely!
Many games have already received PS5 Pro support and the corresponding marks. This means that the game may have new graphics modes or improved performance.
You may have already seen comparisons on YouTube where the graphics make it look like the difference is so minimal that buying a PlayStation 5 Pro is no longer worth it. This may be true for most games and players. However, I was able to play some recent and not-so-recent games that I wasn't satisfied with the technical condition of on the basic PS5, and the difference was very noticeable.
For example, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: here the PS5 had its own performance mode, even two! And both of them had problems: Performance Smooth was very soapy, and Performance Sharp, although a little sharper, was not only not enough, but also had a drop in FPS in dynamic scenes. However, the Pro version has a new mode that really impressed me. It adds a lot of smoothness and detail to the animation, and the frame rate becomes stable. It's just magic. And, perhaps, this is the game where PSSR is revealed the best.
Dragon's Dogma 2, another game from 2024, has a similar mode , which lacks the power of the basic PS5. This is manifested in the actual absence of a 60 frames per second mode, because in fact, the performance mode simply unlocks FPS. At best, the game delivers a little over 50 and has constant dropouts, which greatly affects the interaction experience, especially on screens without VRR support. On the PlayStation 5 Pro, a choice of PSSR mode has been added, which works similarly to DLSS on a computer and, in combination with the increased power of the hardware, allows you to get the same desired 60 frames.
Silent Hill 2 doesn't have a special mode for PS5 Pro, but there is a noticeable increase in FPS stability in performance mode - where the frame rate used to dip, it's now a stable 60. Plus, PSSR makes the picture a little clearer.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard on Pro also has only two graphics modes that are already familiar to consoles. It also shows good stability and looks great in performance mode, where the FPS is reliably kept at a stable level. And in this mode, the game shows a clearer picture in dynamics - the environment does not crumble when moving and fighting. It's hard to see this in static shots.
On the bright side, even in games that don't officially have improvements for PS5 Pro, you can also notice positive changes. For example, in my favorite and simultaneously hated Hunt: Showdown 1896, previous patches brought FPS drops in difficult scenes and just at random moments, but the PS5 Pro pulls out the stops with raw power. So in heavy firefights, where reaction and dynamics are important, you get a slight advantage or at least a better chance of winning the fight. And this is when the enemy is doing well in a particular situation for some reason, and you are not.
For games from the previous generation, there is also an option in the settings that improves the image quality. However, with PS4, I have only tried
Bloodborne, where there are some improvements in graphics, but due to the 30 FPS limit, it is not very noticeable. The game looks okay, but it would be much better if the developers unlocked FPS - then higher FPS and clarity would do the trick.
Experience with PlayStation Portal
Since the release of Playstation 5 Pro, many players have noticed that their remote gaming experience on PS Portal has improved. And it's true - as a result of the additional power, it's noticeable that streaming is running at a higher FPS, the picture is more stable, and there are no freezes or artifacts in dynamic scenes. Of course, the type of console connection to the network plays a significant role in obtaining such an experience - it is still better to have a wired connection.
On a regular PS5, with good connection conditions, there were no problems, but the frame rate and pacing were not entirely stable and it is more pleasant to play games with intense gameplay on a TV. With the PS5 Pro, flying into some fights in the same Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you can easily be in another room while the TV is watching a TV series or YouTube.
So why take the PlayStation 5 Pro?
There is no such big leap as with PS4 Pro (when we saw the transition to 4K and 60 FPS modes). Although PS5 Pro also has an 8K output mode, it is not yet relevant for the vast majority of players, but the "pro" also adds comfort and improves the overall experience.
Different games have different levels of improvements for PS5 Pro: sometimes it's a separate graphics preset, sometimes it's a choice of PSSR mode, and sometimes it's just under-the-hood improvements. Or even without the declared PS5 Pro support, the game works better on the new console.
PlayStation 4 games have received small picture improvements that are noticeable on high-resolution screens and stable performance where it had problems in the original.
So, if you're happy with a regular PS5, you don't need to worry, because you won't get the "wow" effect of the Pro. But if you think that the basic power of the PS5 is a bit lacking, or if you don't have a PS5 at all, then the Pro is a good choice if you have the budget.
The only thing that worries me a bit is the risk that over time, developers may start to ignore optimization for Pro, and as a result, the quality gains will become less noticeable. Or vice versa - they may invest in improvements for Pro, and the new console will not be able to reveal itself fully.