Resident Evil: Requiem is the primary within the horror franchise to be launched solely for current-generation consoles, however what actually makes it particular is the engine that runs it. The RE Engine was constructed initially for Resident Evil 7, and Capcom has since used it to energy the whole lot from Monster Hunter: Wilds to Exoprimal – keep in mind that one?
However whereas the engine has had points in open-world video games, it’s nonetheless unimaginable for the franchise it was created for. Consequently, Resident Evil Requiem seems to be beautiful on the PS5, and runs easily regardless of which model of the platform you’re utilizing.
I used to be notably to see how the primary Resident Evil sport designed firstly for the present era of consoles would carry out throughout all its platforms, however I solely obtained pre-release code for PS5 and PC. So whereas I’ll be trying on the Xbox Sequence X and Nintendo Swap 2 after launch, I went forward and dove into the PS5 and PC variations to see how they evaluate.
The Show Modes
Whereas it’s change into the norm for console video games to have a number of show modes that prioritize high quality or body charge, the bottom PS5 solely has one mode. That can get you a 4K picture upscaled from roughly 1080p, however working at an extremely steady 60 fps. Capcom most likely might have scaled the sport down a bit extra so as to add a excessive body charge mode to the essential PS5, however it actually does strike a pleasant steadiness between decision and efficiency.
The PS5 Professional is a bit more versatile. There are two show modes right here, revolving completely round ray tracing, or the dearth thereof. With out ray tracing, the PS5 Professional seems to be very just like the bottom PS5 model of the sport, however it does seem like upscaling from a better decision – 1300p from my depend.
As an alternative of adjusting an excessive amount of in regards to the visible high quality, the ‘RT off’ mode as a substitute focuses on delivering a excessive body charge, focusing on as much as 120 fps – although it didn’t fairly attain that mark in my testing.
The ray tracing preset takes the place of a “favor high quality” kind of preset in Resident Evil Requiem on the PS5 Professional. The underlying high quality settings and determination don’t appear to vary an excessive amount of right here, however ray tracing is turned on, which boosts the lighting, reflections and shadows. And whereas early ray tracing modes on the PS5 dropped efficiency right down to 30 fps, Resident Evil Requiem nonetheless targets 60 fps with the flamboyant lighting enabled.
What’s notably spectacular about this mode, although, is how shut it seems to be to the PC model with ray tracing set to “excessive”. Whereas a gaming PC with a high-end GPU will get higher efficiency with these high quality settings, it’s nonetheless superior {that a} console can ship this stage of visible constancy whereas nonetheless hitting a strong 60 fps.
Performance
Greater than something, it seems to be like Resident Evil Requiem is constant the pattern of 60 fps gaming being the ground. Even on the bottom PS5, the sport doesn’t drop under 60, and the PS5 Professional takes these high quality settings and pushes for even increased efficiency.
With the non-ray tracing preset on PS5 Professional, Capcom is focusing on high-refresh shows, with efficiency hovering between 99 and 110 fps in the course of the opening scene right here. There are some high quality variations between this model and what’s working on the bottom PS5, however they’re extraordinarily minor, and principally come right down to the marginally decrease decision.
The minor variations in presentation right here make it much more spectacular that Capcom was in a position to elevate the body charge by a lot. Within the worst case situation, the place the PS5 Professional drops below 100 fps, it’s nonetheless getting round a 40% increase to border charge.
The ray tracing preset drops the body charge again right down to 60, however it seems to be a lot higher, particularly in darker scenes. You may debate all day lengthy whether or not or not 60 fps is sufficient, however with how necessary lighting is in Requiem, having that additional constancy is completely well worth the tradeoff – particularly in case you don’t have a show that may truly output a better body charge.
On PC I examined the sport with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, with ray tracing set to excessive, together with graphics high quality and lighting high quality additionally set to the excessive preset. This isn’t totally maxed out, however with DLSS set to ‘Performance’ it seems to be remarkably just like the PS5 Professional’s ray tracing preset.
With the RTX 5080, which is admittedly dearer than the PS5 Professional by itself, Requiem runs at round 110-120 fps at 4K, with out body era. Nonetheless, there are some scenes with quite a lot of NPCs, like this road scene that we’re utilizing for testing, the place efficiency can drop right down to round 95-100 fps, however that’s nonetheless greater than sufficient.
Requiem additionally helps path tracing on PC, which seems to be unimaginable, however will completely intestine your efficiency. In the identical scene, the body charge dropped right down to 55 fps. That’s not nice, however that tends to occur whenever you take ray tracing and switch it as much as 11. I used to be additionally in a position to activate body era, which noticed the body charge shoot all the way in which as much as round 200 fps – greater than my seize card can truly seize. Body era does add additional latency, however it wasn’t sufficient to truly be noticeable when enjoying the sport.
Picture High quality
Regardless of the way you’re enjoying Resident Evil Requiem, it seems to be unimaginable, even when it’s exhibiting you fairly gnarly scenes.
Proper at the start of the sport, after you get out of some cinematics, you’ll end up on a metropolis road. What’s stunning is that, at the very least on PC, this was one of the crucial demanding sections of the sport that I’ve performed via thus far, probably because of the NPCs strolling alongside the road, on prime of the rain making a ton of reflective surfaces.
Nonetheless, because of the considerably random assortment of NPCs that seem right here, it’s best to have a look at this cinematic that triggers as soon as Grace will get to a criminal offense scene. Simply pausing at the start of the scene and zooming in on her jacket, you possibly can inform the distinction in decision between the bottom PS5 and PS5 Professional – it’s delicate, however it’s there.
What’s much less delicate, although, is the variations ray tracing makes to the identical scene. Swapping to this mode on the PS5 Professional, and the button is a little bit reflective, which supplies it rather more depth. Then, zooming out a bit, you possibly can see much more depth and shadow in Grace’s hair. Then, in case you zoom in behind her, you possibly can see that on the ray tracing mode, the cop automobile within the scene tasks its emergency mild on the subway’s help beam – the place it simply seems to be like flat metallic on the bottom PS5.
This scene additionally illustrates how shut the PS5 Professional is to the PC model on the subject of picture high quality. The shadows are a bit extra pronounced on the PC model, which supplies some extra depth to Grace’s character mannequin, however the variations are minor.
Quick ahead a little bit bit, although, and you’ll see one of many greatest variations between ray tracing and path tracing. As soon as the cop lifts the tarp to let Grace into the crime scene, most variations of the sport present the alley behind it as darkish, dropping quite a lot of element. Activate path tracing, although, and the sunshine naturally illuminates what’s on the opposite facet of the tarp. Once more, a reasonably minor element within the grand scheme of issues, however this stuff add up over time.
Ray tracing actually shines in Requiem’s darker scenes with quite a lot of reflective surfaces. Fortunately, you additionally spend a lot of the primary hour of the sport in a darkish, wet metropolis. Just a little in a while, you achieve management of Leon, the place there’s a zombie outbreak of types within the metropolis.
On this scene there’s nearly no distinction between the PS5 and the PS5 Professional past body charge, so I’m simply going to give attention to the 2 efficiency modes on the PS5 Professional. With out ray tracing, the scene seems to be alright, however quite a lot of the reflections within the varied puddles are a bit muddy, with imprecise shapes of sunshine exhibiting up. That’s a side-effect of utilizing display screen area reflections, that are lots much less exact than ray tracing.
With RT enabled, although, you can also make out the shapes of the road lights within the puddles, and Leon’s leather-based jacket additionally displays mild, which makes it appear to be, properly, a leather-based jacket.
The PC model, after all, takes it to a different stage. You may zoom in on the lodge signal right here, and the small print on the lodge wall are rather more clear, because of improved international illumination. That’s one thing that you just’d need to zoom in a bunch to truly see, however it’s a pleasant element regardless.
Then, in case you allow path tracing, the reflections are particularly enhanced right here. Simply have a look at this van, with common previous ray tracing, you can also make out some small reflections of lights. However with path tracing, you possibly can see the total reflection of the road sign behind it, whereas additionally making the rear view window truly appear to be a clear glass panel. It seems to be unimaginable.
The care middle additionally reveals big gaps between the ray traced and the non-ray traced variations of the sport. Whenever you get to this spooky trying hallway, with its flickering lights, have a look at how the lighting behaves. With the non-RT mode, the sunshine cuts off virtually prefer it hits a tough boundary. Nonetheless, with ray tracing, the ray traced international illumination takes the sunshine from the lamp on the finish of the hall and makes it lengthen rather more naturally down the hallway, petering out the additional away it will get from the supply.
You can too see alongside the sides, the place the photographs on the wall are in full darkness only a few ft into the hallway, the place the sunshine bounces extra naturally when ray tracing is enabled. It’s a small contact, however it actually does do lots to make the sport a bit extra atmospheric.
Although, to be honest, even with out ray tracing, I used to be rather more anxious about what was lurking across the subsequent nook than I used to be about barely unrealistic lighting.
On the finish of the day, the identical age-old recommendation applies to Resident Evil Requiem. When you have a excessive refresh show and you want the additional visible smoothness that comes from a excessive body charge, flip ray tracing off if in case you have a PS5 Professional. The sport seems to be nice regardless, and going as much as 100-ish fps will make an enormous distinction whenever you’re panicking.
However in case you don’t have a high-refresh show, or in case you identical to having your video games look pretty much as good as potential, go forward and switch ray tracing on. Yeah, you’ll take a success to efficiency, however it nonetheless will get a strong 60 fps on PS5 Professional and it seems to be unimaginable.
Jackie Thomas is the {Hardware} and Shopping for Guides Editor at IGN and the PC elements queen. You may observe her @Jackiecobra