PS5 Pro to get upgraded PSSR for better graphics and performance — here's the game you'll see it in first

PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) is getting an upgrade. As described on the PlayStation Blog, Sony will begin rolling out an upgraded version of the AI upscaling tech on the PS5 Pro to boost the resolution and performance of over 50 titles that support it. While this rollout will happen in the coming weeks, there’s already a title taking advantage of the new PSSR.

That game is Resident Evil Requiem, which I recently reviewed. The blog post says this latest entry in the long-running survival horror franchise is the first title to use the more advanced PSSR. I didn’t know that when I was reviewing the game, but it makes sense given how great it looked and performed throughout. If this is what PS5 Pro users can expect from games, then they’re in for a treat.

“With Resident Evil Requiem, we focused on enhancing the presentation quality of the protagonist through an upgraded version of RE Engine to deepen the player’s immersion in horror,” said Masaru Ijuin from Capcom in the blog post. “For example, each individual strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, allowing it to move realistically in response to body motion and wind. The way light passes through his hair changes depending on how the strands of hair are overlapped as well.”

Ijuin also said that the upgraded PSSR enabled the game to have more expressive characters, which might have been more difficult without it. I can vouch for this, as I always marveled whenever I walked up to a glass surface and saw protagonist Grace’s subtle (and horrified) expressions in her reflection.

The upgraded PSSR stems from Sony’s Project Amethyst partnership with AMD. The blog post says that PC gamers with the best gaming PCs packing an AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series GPU are already benefiting from this collaboration via Team Red’s FSR 4 upscaling tech. “With the updated PSSR, we’re delivering the very latest of this co-developed technology with a further six months of refinement for PS5 Pro players,” says the blog post.

Expect a PS5 system software update sometime in March to enable the updated PSSR for all the titles that will support it. To do that, select “Enhance PSSR Image Quality” in Settings on PS5 Pro.

I’m sure I speak for all PS5 Pro owners when I say I can’t wait to see how games look and run after the update. I’ll likely do a follow-up story on this after testing some titles, so stay tuned!

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