Dead Island 2, a game that overcame a troubled development history to reach over ten million players, recently received a free PlayStation 5 Pro update along with a new Horde mode and New Game Plus mode. We asked Dambuster Studios' Core Technology Director, Andrew Mitchell, about the studio's experience with Sony's new mid-generation console.
Q&A with Dambuster Studios
Here are the key takeaways from our Q&A:
PS5 Pro Update Preparation
It took about one month for the Engineering and QA teams to prepare the PS5 Pro update. They leveraged existing scalability options developed for gen8/gen9 consoles and high-end PCs to optimize the game for the PS5 Pro. Extensive manual QA and automated performance testing were performed to ensure 60fps performance wasn't compromised.
Impressions of PS5 Pro Hardware
"The Pro offers a significant improvement over the base console, primarily in the domain of GPU performance. The improved GPU power was something that DI2 could really lean into..."
PS5 vs. PS5 Pro Improvements
Like previous mid-gen upgrades, the PS5 Pro provides enhanced GPU performance. Dambuster used this to improve both the visual fidelity and resolution of Dead Island 2, including:
- Shadows
- Draw Distances
- Contact Shadows on All Objects & Lights
- Motion Blur
- Depth of Field
- Texture Filtering
They also unlocked the dynamic resolution upper bound to native 4K, which is generally achieved during gameplay.
PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR)
Dambuster is not using PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) for the PS5 Pro version of Dead Island 2.
PS5 Pro vs. Maxed-Out PC
The PS5 Pro version of Dead Island 2 features the same visual settings as the 'High' preset on PC. The PC version has an 'Ultra' preset which goes beyond that. Dambuster chose to prioritize a solid 60fps experience over maxing out graphical fidelity.
