Early Tests Reveal How PS5 Pro Improves Your Old PS4 Games | Push Square

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One of the more fascinating features of the PS5 Pro, mentioned in early marketing materials and leaked more meaningfully over the weekend, is how it aims to improve unpatched PS4 games.

These titles, never updated for the PS4 Pro, stand to benefit from a toggle in the new system’s menu named ‘Enhance Image Quality for PS4 Games’. While its testing is still early, Digital Foundry explains how this works.

“In essence, the 1080p output of PS4 games goes through a post-process filter – possibly AI-based in nature – that resolves additional detail,” writes Richard Leadbetter. “I would imagine that the idea is to take legacy 1080p gaming content and to make it look better on today's 4K screens.”

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While it doesn’t present a seismic shift for releases like Bloodborne, there are clear improvements in image quality. But it’s not without its drawbacks.

“Being a post-process filter means this is nowhere near as advanced as Nvidia DLSS or indeed Sony’s own PSSR,” Leadbetter continues. “The filter has no integration into the game engine at all, meaning that a 2D image goes into the algorithm, a best guess is made on how it should look on a 4K screen, and that is what’s sent to your display.”

The report concludes this is something that’s “nice to have” but it’s hardly a game changer, and there are some instances where you may want to turn it off as things like chromatic aberration can resolve poorly using the solution.

Ultimately, it’s better than nothing, but we’re going to have to sit tight for the oft-requested Bloodborne remake for a significantly prettier version of the FromSoftware favourite.

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys