I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'll let you in on a secret: It's okay to spend your money on what you want. That's not to say we don't all buy things we probably shouldn't, of course. I recently purchased 24 cartons of Barista Oat Milk only to find that it doesn't foam. That's over a month of regrets right there, and that just happened this week. I even bought a SEGA Mega CD for crying out loud! If you fancy a £700 PlayStation 5 Pro, Sony's new mid-range console, I won't stop you… but you might want to read this first.
Over the past week I've been thinking about how to best summarize the car in a smart, witty and articulate way. The best thing I could come up with is this: You know when you find something funny, like a tweet or a meme, and save it to show your partner later that evening? Then you do a big song and dance about how they must see this shiny thing you saw online. You show it and… nothing. At best you get a pitying look that suggests you're one step closer to receiving divorce papers. Realizing that things have gone wrong, you explain the picture and the funny words, pointing out why it's actually one of the most hilarious things you've seen in ages, which makes you start to sound a little obsessed. It's over, they don't understand it. You sigh inwardly as they let out a laugh usually reserved for humoring your toddler who has excitedly entered the room to announce that he has made a “bottom burp.” This is the PS5 Pro experience.
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Mid-generation consoles are difficult to position on the market. Sold at a higher price than most would be willing to pay and without exclusive games, they're a bit like spending money on a higher spec car package. Sure, both cars do pretty much the same things, but one also parallel parks for you and warms the steering wheel on cold mornings. They have to cater to a hardcore group of buyers, but buyers who probably aren't that concerned about high-end PC gaming (I mean, who wants that hassle? Disclaimer: I had that hassle for years when I was younger.) And that's actually one of the most important points I want to make “make sure you understand this before you buy a PS5 Pro”.
The PS5 Pro is not a PC. It is a console that can only function within the limits defined by the games it runs. If you buy a new PC, you'll be able to see improvements in virtually every modern game you own. Whether it's higher resolution or frame rates, better texture detail, improved shadows, ray tracing capabilities… the list goes on and on, and that's one of the joys of upgrading your PC. The PS5 Pro is capable of better frame rates, higher resolution graphics, and better ray tracing, but only if allowed. I've seen people online who are a little annoyed that all their PS4 and PS5 games don't look better on the Pro. Unfortunately, that's not how console gaming works, but there's some nuance to that.
PS5 Pro supported games are relatively scarce at the moment, with the official number exceeding 50. These are PS5 games that have received an official update from the developer, adding graphical improvements of some kind. These can come via new selectable modes or simply a better overall experience for all PS5 Pro users. Horizon Forbidden West, for example, offers three new PS5 Pro modes, while The Crew Motorfest opts for just one that can't be changed. Some games will offer frame rates above 60 FPS (if you have a 120 Hz TV that supports VRR), others will aim for a frame rate locked at 60 or 30. In the case of Insomniac's PS5 games, the studio went even further, allowing you to enable/disable various advanced ray tracing features that impact overall performance. The nuance comes from games that haven't been updated for Pro, and these were interesting to test.
Dirt 5 and Devil May Cry 5 are two games I reviewed during the PS5 launch, and both offer existing graphics modes that allow the PS5 Pro to offer improved performance. In the case of DMC5, it really makes the ray tracing mode much more playable than on a standard PS5 (or Xbox Series X for that matter). I should add here that many of these improvements won't be noticeable unless you're using one of the aforementioned VRR TVs. Much like the PS4 Pro was aimed primarily at those with a 4K TV, the PS5 Pro has thus far made me more willing to use high frame rate modes. The standard PS5 offers plenty of games that support high frame rates, but they often come with cuts to graphics and image resolution. The Pro handles these modes much better.
“What about older games?” you ask as you survey a collection of PS4 games that represent the unstoppable march of time and your demise (the PS4 was released 11 years ago. 11 years!). PS4 games rendered at 1080p can benefit from some sort of image sharpening, but the impact of this varies greatly. To my eyes, Dark Souls 3 looks sharper on the PS5 Pro than the standard PS5, but other games don't seem to benefit as much. I've seen a lot of chatter about Bloodborne looking better on Pro, but honestly it's so slight and I've mostly seen improvements in the clarity of HUD elements. In short, I definitely wouldn't buy a PS5 Pro to enhance PS4 games.
Not much of this PS5 Pro brain dump talked about what the games actually look like, rather than how sharp the images are on your TV. That's the point, really, as most games these days offer acceptable 60 FPS modes – the big change with Pro is image clarity and a handful of interesting new graphical bells and whistles. For many people, we are dealing with a real, working example of the “It's the same picture” meme. I think that's right, but if you are one of the enlightened, like me (of course), you will see enough.
To bring clarity (get it?) to my feelings on the PS5 Pro, I spent a good bit of time on my standard PS5, playing the same games I played on the Pro. It was at this point that I found reason in what I some have called PlayStation PS5 Pro madness. Let me tell you a short story about cola. I was a diehard collector of Coca-Cola special edition glass. The real Christmas Coca-Cola. Then “cozzie livs” happened (urghh, what a horrible term!) and I started buying supermarket brand cola instead. It's okay, it's cute too. Years passed, until two months ago when I again bought two cases of the good stuff at the wrong price. So good, it looked like it had been made by Coca-Cola Santa himself, but the supply ran out and the supermarket brand bottles returned. Let me tell you, it's hard. Going back to the standard PS5 is like getting slapped in the face with a cheap brand of cola. Clear?
I'm not Rich from Digital Foundry, so forgive me for giving this lazy but accurate summary: everything* looks better on PS5 Pro.
(*everything that is not blocked due to previously mentioned console development weaknesses.)
Heck, EA FC25 is supported by Pro, but it's one of the most bland updates I've seen in over 20 games, which is disappointing. What's interesting, though, is that because its menus are so much snappier, this is also a game I'd have a hard time returning to on the original PS5.
We're spiraling a bit now, but I can't ignore some of the needlessly infuriating problems and unexpected advantages of the PS5 Pro. Number one on my list is the way the console's UI (which is the same as the PS5 by the way) doesn't tell you which games in your library are updated for Pro. There's no visual indicator and no filters in your library. It's infuriating! You can check the PS Store for a list of games supported by the PS5 Pro, but even these are not guaranteed to have been updated, and the helpful patch notes present on PS4 have disappeared on PS5. For games that haven't had new modes added in the visual settings menu, it makes you wonder if what you see is improved Pro or just improved brute force. Wonderful stuff all the way, Sony. Thank you!
In terms of the physical console itself, it's surprisingly smaller than I expected, but not compact. There is some fan noise, but it's not noticeable when you're actually playing something, and the 2TB of storage is extremely welcome. I made a long list of games to install and still had some room left, which feels like I've unlocked a trick for the console. I upgraded my Xbox Series X to 2TB last year and it's one of the best decisions of my gaming life. I feel the same about the storage offered here. It's a real game-changer if you struggled with what the original PS5 offered. I initially thought that Sony should offer less storage and reduce the overall price of the system, but it was absolutely the right choice.
Finally, and this might sound picky, but everything from unboxing to installation just doesn't feel prestigious enough. The Xbox Series Inside is a tiny bag containing two plastic feet that I almost threw away, which strangely fit right into the center of the console so it can sit horizontally. It's not sturdy by any means, but at least it sits there. This doesn't exactly make you feel special.
Congratulations, you've reached the end. I leave you with some final thoughts. If, like me, you're someone who overthinks things, chances are you'll spend a lot of time pondering the PS5 Pro purchase. You'll be playing next year's graphics powerhouse from Sony and you'll resent all those Pro owners who are gaming same game, just a little better. You will slowly come to hate these people and potentially lose long-time friendships. These types of thoughts consume my free time and prevent me from enjoying things. Remember that rambling part of the introduction where I talked about tweets? That's all. This is the PS5 Pro. If you're the kind of person who cares about a console like that, it's for you. As I think Margaret Wolff Hungerford said, value is in the eyes of the card holder. If you can buy a PS5 Pro, I don't think you'll regret it for the rest of the time that the PS5 is Sony's primary platform. If not, own brand coke is fine… I promise.