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[Lunatic_Gamer]

Asobo delivered one of the standout games of 2022 in Requiem, itself a sequel to the great opening chapter in A plagues tale innocence. They have now seen fit to blow past the old 40fps limits on consoles with a whopping 120fps performance mode update to PS5 & Series X players. I put all consoles and PC through the test bed to see if this generation is really going to be limited to 30fps and do the Series S players get any nibbles?


Chapters
0:00 Introduction and video contents
0:37 The 30fps Conundrum on console and PC
2:30 Visual changes, sacrifices PS5, Xbox Series X|S
6:30 Summary of mode changes and visual wrap-up
9:10 PS5 vs Xbox Series X Quality mode performance test
13:40 PS5 vs Xbox Series X Performance mode test
17:00 Series S Single mode performance update test
17:46 PC new modes tested and benefits
20:30 Thanks and until next time

 

[Physiognomonics]

On average NXGamer found a 8.7% performance advantage for XSX in this patch when XSX was leading by ~30% at launch. Developers have greatly improved performance on PS5.

 

[Flabagast]

So what are the trade offs in the end ?

 

[Duchess]

So what are the trade offs in the end ?

Seemingly, reduced resolution, reduced animations, removal of some objects, and cut down rat density.

I've not played it yet, but I don't think I'd actually notice until I knew exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Thief1987]

IMO they aimed too high, should have stick closer to 60 fps target and make slightly less graphical sacrifices

 

[Riky]

Good performance on Series X, even touched 120fps at times and always good enough for VRR on a 120hz output. Very impressive.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

Please play this if you enjoyed the original. It's a phenomenal sequel.

 

[Flabagast]

IMO they aimed too high, should have stick closer to 60 fps target and make slightly less graphical sacrifices

100% agree

 

[rofif]

IMO they aimed too high, should have stick closer to 60 fps target and make slightly less graphical sacrifices

Nah. It’s a perfect game for 30fps. And don’t ignore 40fps mode

 

[adamsapple]

TL-DR

- Perf mode drops native res to 1080p which is then reconstructed to 4K (Quality is 1440p).
- LoD, foliage, shadow, SSR, AO, animations receive some cut backs to reach the performance mode targets.
- Reduction is visible but not that drastic.
- Rat counts are run at half rate animation (30hz) in Performance mode

Quality Mode:
- Between patch 1.04 and 1.05, PS5 sees 3% improvement in performance in the 40hz Quality mode.
- SX still sees an 8 to 10% performance advantage in Quality mode but the gap is much lower than at launch between the two.

Performance Mode:
- Performance mode targets 120fps on 120hz displays.
- But if you want a locked 60fps, set your console to 60hz and its practically 100% locked.
- In the 120hz mode: SX can have a 8~15% performance advantage at highest point.

- Series S still only has 1 mode but it 'gains' as well
- 120hz 'unlocks' FPS, but far below the other consoles.

 

[Gaiff]

Great stuff they did with the performance upgrade. It really didn't run well at first on PS5 with dips into the mid 20s in the Quality Mode but now it seems to always remain above 30fps even in the busiest scenes.

The unlocked frame rate mode is kind of strange. They did way too many cutbacks and left a lot of performance on the table. No point for this game to be running at 90fps when you could enhance the graphics and get it down to 60fps.

 

[adamsapple]

Nah. It’s a perfect game for 30fps. And don’t ignore 40fps mode

Yeah, I think 40hz is the best mode for me. It's pretty much 100% locked 40hz at this point and retains the higher resolution + all the visual enhancements and the full speed and animation rat swarms.

 

[Fbh]

Having a 60fps option is great but some of the cutbacks made seem rather big considering they are seemingly still getting 80+ fps even during the heaviest scenes. Makes you wonder if they could have still hit that 60fps target without cutting back the foliage and LOD this much.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Nice work Asobo.
They have their heads around DX12.

 

[Haint]

So what are the trade offs in the end ?

TL-DR

- Perf mode drops native res to 1080p which is then reconstructed to 4K (Quality is 1440p).
- LoD, foliage, shadow, SSR, AO, animations receive some cut backs to reach the performance mode targets.
- Reduction is visible but not that drastic.
- Rat counts are run at half rate animation (30hz) in Performance mode

It removes like 75% of the foliage in some scenes

 

[adamsapple]

It removes like 75% of the foliage in some scenes

Yeah, just paraphrasing what NX says in the video. He acknowledges the short comings as well.

 

[Black_Stride]

Stick to the 40hz mode.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Nice work Asobo.
They have their heads around DX12.

They literally nuked 75% of the foliage.

 

[01011001]

They literally nuked 75% of the foliage.

that was not the issue tho. the game was CPU bound, which was the main reason there was no 60fps mode at launch.

 

[omegasc]

They literally nuked 75% of the foliage.

So many trees cut that Greenpeace is going to riot in front of their office

 

[DeepEnigma]

that was not the issue tho. the game was CPU bound, which was the main reason there was no 60fps mode at launch.

This has nothing to do with "heads around DX12" either.

 

[01011001]

This has nothing to do with "heads around DX12" either.

kinda true, but it was well threaded since launch... so... I guess that's kinda related

 

[DeepEnigma]

kinda true, but it was well threaded since launch... so... I guess that's kinda related

Kinda not.

 

[lucbr]

Very good analysis! He makes his point and argues that a future of 30fps gaming is not inevitable. He also points out that developers have a high knowledge of Series X and DirectX 12, and that a closed plataform like those of consoles brings benefits, illustrating the good performance of Series X even compared to some graphics cards.

PlayStation 5 performance improved a lot and Series S got benefits as well. It's a great patch for everyone. Congrats to Asobo!

 

[Neo_game]

Console performance mode is still bad, they should have optimized it for fixed 60fps having quality mode settings.

 

[In Cold Blood]

They literally nuked 75% of the foliage.

I was talking about how they actually did a good job with the PC and Xbox versions. All that work on Flight Sim made them pretty decent working on DX12.

As for the frame rate, their engine produces beautiful visuals, but it's not well optimised for CPU.

 

[adamsapple]

This has nothing to do with "heads around DX12" either.

Funny enough, NXGamer directly said that line in the video. About Asobo having their hands (or heads?) around DX12 well.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

This is the kind of thing that's going to make me stop buying games at launch, the game was fine but I'm not going to go back and play it again. This kind of thing should be available when the game launches not 7 months later.

 

[Duchess]

This is the kind of thing that's going to make me stop buying games at launch

I now wait a minimum of 3 months before buying a new game. I always suspected that Requiem would get a 60fps update, so glad I waited. I'll probably wait a little more, in case another patch happens by that makes a few more improvements.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Funny enough, NXGamer directly said that line in the video. About Asobo having their hands (or heads?) around DX12 well.

That's fine, but I don't think reducing 75% of foliage and a major drop in resolution is a head around anything. It's literally dropping things down so low.

Give them stutterReal engine in DX12 and let's see what they can do.

 

[lh032]

It removes like 75% of the foliage in some scenes

tbh, if you just jump in performance mode without looking at quality mode, its really impressive.

 

[SlimySnake]

That's fine, but I don't think reducing 75% of foliage and a major drop in resolution is a head around anything. It's literally dropping things down so low.

Give them stutterReal engine in DX12 and let's see what they can do.

Well the resolution is dropping 75% while they are trying to increase the framerate by 100% so they need to find that extra 25% from somewhere else. Foliage is one of the most taxing settings on the GPU so I get it. Looks like the game goes all the way up to 80 fps so they probably shouldve implemented some kind of DRS but this is one of the better 60 fps modes. Forspoken, Dead Space and Star Wars are all hitting 720p in their performance modes. Even Sony games had to drop resolution by 100% to get double the framerate.

For example, the native 4k 30 fps fidelity mode in Spiderman Miles can drop to 1080p at times while staying at 1440p most of the time. A 100-200% drop in resolution. It also downgrades the RT quality, the number of pedestrians on screen on top of the drop in resolution.

HFW goes from native 4k to 1800cb which is even lower than 1440p. So again, a massive 150% drop in resolution plus some reduction in foliage (though not nearly as drastic as Plague's tale) just to increase the framerate by a 100%.

Demon Souls and TLOU both drop resolution by 100% in their performance modes in order to get a 100% increase in framerate. The problem with plague's tale is that unlike DS, TLOU and Ratchet, they started off at 1440p so if they drop resolution by 100%, they are right around 960p which wouldve looked even worse than 1080p. Probably best to reduce some settings which is what PC gamers end up doing to hit 60 fps.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Well the resolution is dropping 75% while they are trying to increase the framerate by 100% so they need to find that extra 25% from somewhere else. Foliage is one of the most taxing settings on the GPU so I get it. Looks like the game goes all the way up to 80 fps so they probably shouldve implemented some kind of DRS but this is one of the better 60 fps modes. Forspoken, Dead Space and Star Wars are all hitting 720p in their performance modes. Even Sony games had to drop resolution by 100% to get double the framerate.

For example, the native 4k 30 fps fidelity mode in Spiderman Miles can drop to 1080p at times while staying at 1440p most of the time. A 100-200% drop in resolution. It also downgrades the RT quality, the number of pedestrians on screen on top of the drop in resolution.

HFW goes from native 4k to 1800cb which is even lower than 1440p. So again, a massive 150% drop in resolution plus some reduction in foliage (though not nearly as drastic as Plague's tale) just to increase the framerate by a 100%.

Demon Souls and TLOU both drop resolution by 100% in their performance modes in order to get a 100% increase in framerate. The problem with plague's tale is that unlike DS, TLOU and Ratchet, they started off at 1440p so if they drop resolution by 100%, they are right around 960p which wouldve looked even worse than 1080p. Probably best to reduce some settings which is what PC gamers end up doing to hit 60 fps.

Those Sony games must have their head around Vulkan-like APIs.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

I've decided I prefer NX Gamer to DF.

 

[adamsapple]

Well the resolution is dropping 75% while they are trying to increase the framerate by 100% so they need to find that extra 25% from somewhere else. Foliage is one of the most taxing settings on the GPU so I get it. Looks like the game goes all the way up to 80 fps so they probably shouldve implemented some kind of DRS but this is one of the better 60 fps modes. Forspoken, Dead Space and Star Wars are all hitting 720p in their performance modes. Even Sony games had to drop resolution by 100% to get double the framerate.

TBH the frame rate isn't increasing by 100%. It's increasing by 300% (or 400% if you want to count 30 FPS as the base).

Yes, there are cut-backs, but they've turned it from a 30 FPS game into a 120 FPS game.

Hopefully they continue patching the game and reach a middle ground where they at least retain the visual features, if not the resolution, while having a 60 FPS target.

 

[SlimySnake]

TBH the frame rate isn't increasing by 100%. It's increasing by 300% (or 400% if you want to count 30 FPS as the base).

Yes, there are cut-backs, but they've turned it from a 30 FPS game into a 120 FPS game.

Hopefully they continue patching the game and reach a middle ground where they at least retain the visual features, if not the resolution, while having a 60 FPS target.

Oh wow. I had no idea it was going up to 120 fps. I skimmed through the video and saw 80 fps max.

I think DRS shouldve been implemented in the performance mode for the locked 60 fps mode. If you have to cut foliage, fine, but at least push the resolution as high as you can.

 

[MikeM]

If playing only in perf mode, you’d have no idea the cutbacks. Just further proof that these consoles can absolutely be 60+ fps boxes.

 

[adamsapple]

If playing only in perf mode, you’d have no idea the cutbacks. Just further proof that these consoles can absolutely be 60+ fps boxes.

I'mma be honest, 40hz with the kind of visuals this game pushes is more than enough for me as a standard for this generation.

60 FPS is nice but 40 FPS is incredible if it lets you retain the higher fidelity and effects.

 

[01011001]

I'mma be honest, 40hz with the kind of visuals this game pushes is more than enough for me as a standard for this generation.

60 FPS is nice but 40 FPS is incredible if it lets you retain the higher fidelity and effects.

it's not 60fps tho.
it's like 80fps to 120fps in many areas, and the difference in fluidity is massive.

 

[adamsapple]

it's not 60fps tho.
it's like 80fps to 120fps in many areas, and the difference in fluidity is massive.

True, true.

The response in fluidity is really noticeable but IMO the cut-backs are a little too much for them to try a 120hz mode. A middle ground with 60 and as close to the quality mode would have been the best thing IMO.