Unveiling the Truth: Every PS5 Game Explored on the PS5 Pro

PlayStation and Final Fantasy have had a strong connection throughout most of the history of Sony’s gaming consoles. The 1997 release of Final Fantasy 7 was a pivotal moment in narrative and visuals on PS1, and nearly every major Final Fantasy title since then has debuted exclusively on a PlayStation system. This tight connection carries over to Sony’s PS5 Pro, as this year’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been redesigned for the new advanced system. Furthermore, Game Enhance is expected to provide a boost to older Final Fantasy titles, including games that haven’t been specifically upgraded for PS5 Pro. So how does Rebirth perform on PS5 Pro? And could the PS5 Pro potentially surpass frame-rate limitations in Final Fantasy 14 and 16?

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has received widespread acclaim, but it is also known for significant image quality issues. The game experienced softer imagery on a 4K display, particularly in performance mode, leading to a somewhat unsatisfactory 60fps experience. This isn’t the case on PS5 Pro. In static images, the clarity difference is quite substantial. We transition from visuals that appear somewhat 1080p-like—despite technically operating at a notably higher resolution—to a sharp, detailed 4K output on the Pro. When viewed from a standard distance on a 4K screen, the older performance mode appeared notably blurry and lacking in detail, while the PS5 Pro delivers a razor-sharp image, at least by the standards of modern temporal AA techniques.

A lot of this was observable during our pre-release preview a few months ago, but it is particularly evident in the final product. If you closely examine the footage, you clearly see the benefits of PS5 Pro for this title. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth features large, expansive environments, and the original console just didn’t succeed in rendering distant details effectively.

Pixel counts indicate a significant Pro advantage, although that’s not entirely pertinent: the new system employs Sony’s novel PSSR upsampling technique to achieve a full 4K resolution, while the original machine uses Unreal Engine’s TAA with a basic upscale to 4K. This means that the Pro is genuinely rendering 4K-like details despite having an overall lower pixel count. The game also looks quite impressive during motion, clearly resolving more details. However, it’s not without imperfections, with some minor sub-pixel shimmer and moiré patterns visible on certain surfaces.

These issues are also present to some extent on the original console, so the fact that PSSR isn’t entirely free of flaws isn’t a major criticism in itself—however, there are concerns that seem to arise specifically on PS5 Pro. For example, the foliage displays some odd scanline-like patterns at a distance on the Pro. At closer proximity, it can sometimes blur excessively, leaving a kind of smear effect behind. Additionally, the image when still can appear slightly unstable, with a certain type of PSSR noise that we often observe in many titles utilizing this technique.

The major critique is that Square-Enix hasn’t addressed some graphical issues that are inherent to the game itself. The primary concern relates to draw distance, as pop-in for elements like trees and ground clutter can be quite pronounced, and this is a nearly consistent problem in many natural environments. This issue makes Rebirth appear somewhat unstable in those scenes, even with effective anti-aliasing methods. PSSR tends to make this problem more noticeable, as you can more clearly see the bits of foliage and model details that are transitioning to more detailed versions. The game’s established lighting and texture work issues remain unchanged as well, alongside all other major visual settings.

Overall, it is certainly a significant improvement over the performance mode, providing an adequately detailed image for a 4K television setup. The balance of the anti-aliasing methods is generally acceptable, especially in comparison to the pristine visuals we’ve come to expect from the Horizon PS5 Pro patches, for example. It also significantly outperforms the outdated graphics mode. The higher internal resolution—which typically operates at or around 4K—yields a notably clear result with TAA. The graphics mode usually avoids visual issues like those with foliage, shimmer, or noise. In some specific instances, the graphics mode offers a considerably better output.

Nonetheless, the PSSR-enhanced PS5 Pro does produce a clearer, sharper image, both in static scenes and during action. The game’s previous TAA often blurred the visuals noticeably, even at 4K resolution, which isn’t an issue with PSSR. There are specific trade-offs then, although I’d generally prefer the graphics mode overall. Everything I have mentioned so far applies exclusively to the PS5 Pro’s performance mode, the new mode option available on PS5 Pro. However, the previous modes are still accessible on Pro. A quick comparison suggests they are significantly similar to those on the original PS5, without significant visual improvements.

I find that Square-Enix’s naming conventions here are somewhat peculiar, and there’s little guidance in-game to indicate that performance mode is the most preferred option for PS5 Pro. The in-game descriptions could definitely be clearer, or they might direct the player towards the mode using a startup prompt like Naughty Dog does for their Last of Us titles. On the other hand, omitting the alternative modes from the PS5 Pro code could also be reasonable, since the older modes are clearly inferior in my opinion.

This is because the performance mode manages to maintain a consistently locked 60fps, in addition to its reasonably good image quality. I tested the game during a variety of demanding encounters and it did not drop a single frame, outside of a few missed frames during camera transitions. I did manage to provoke a couple of brief dips during this boss fight, but elsewhere the game felt like a consistent 60fps experience. Naturally, Rebirth is a grand game and I don’t have time to scrutinize every aspect, but I genuinely believe performance is generally quite solid. Essentially, the performance mode tackles image quality issues with superior upscaling. It’s likely the best way to play—at least until the PC version arrives.

Final Fantasy 16 is next in line, Square-Enix’s 2023 action-RPG tale. Technically, this is not specifically a PS5 Pro enhanced title, but Game Enhance yields some impressive results. A quick side-by-side comparison shows significantly more detail on PS5 Pro in both frame-rate and graphics modes. FF16’s TSCMAA and FSR 1 combination effectively preserves much of the underlying pixel structure of the image, allowing for less aliasing on Pro. Certain fine details appear more distinctly in the final output. Internal resolutions seem to be higher on Pro, unsurprisingly, although the difference is generally more pronounced in graphic mode than in performance mode. FF16 would likely benefit…