The PS5 Pro is here, and it’s the underwhelming mid-gen refresh we all expected it to be. It’s still an impressive console, and the most powerful one that money can buy right now, but it has so much to prove before anyone other than hardcore enthusiasts decides to pick one up.
I’m a part of that camp, so when my console arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon I wanted nothing more than to pull the box open and put a bunch of my favourite games to the test. When I booted up the system and logged into my profile, however, I was greeted with an unmistakable wave of familiarity.
Aside from a snappier user interface, a unique dynamic background, and a few other extra bells and whistles, this is the PS5 console experience millions of us are familiar with. If you put a controller into the hands of an average Joe and stuck on a game of Fortnite, I doubt they’d notice the fact they were playing on an upgraded console at all.
That’s part of the problem, but also one reason why I know the PS5 Pro is a console I will come to appreciate over time.
Is The PS5 Pro Worth $700?
That’s a tough question, and for the majority of console gamers, I would say a definitive ‘no’. Mainstream consumers who only play Fortnite, Call of Duty, FIFA, or their live service game of choice alongside a handful of other blockbusters each year will be fine sticking with the base console, and will likely settle on performance mode and call it there. That’s fine, but the PS5 Pro is aiming for a different crowd altogether.
Gamers who watch Digital Foundry videos and keep on top of the biggest triple-A releases, or those with extensive libraries of older games they dip into and still play. After ten long years in the nightmare that is video game journalism, I’ve amassed a digital library of 1,000+ that is begging to be pilfered and explored on the Pro. Some are officially supported, some aren’t, but I’m the sort of loser who will get excited over less aliasing in Bloodborne and a stronger framerate in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth even though I’ve already played both of these games to death. Ever since pre-ordering a Pro I’ve been umming and ahhing with myself about whether I was making the right decision or not. Financially, it was unwise, but I can’t lie that I’m having lots of fun toying around with everything.
The absence of a disc drive despite already costing $700 is still unforgivable. I refuse to believe that Sony couldn’t have accounted for that in the Pro’s design somehow.
If you’re salivating at the thought of 4K/60fps in Horizon Forbidden West or higher res font in the original Knack then the PS5 Pro is for you, but otherwise, I think you’ll survive until the next generation arrives. For me though, there is a well of things to experiment with and look forward to, even if it’s just to spend a couple of hours scoping out the smallest of visual differences. In a twisted way, it’s kinda fun. But what exactly has proven most impressive?
The PS5 Pro Is All About Giving The Player More Choices
One of the first games I booted up on the PS5 Pro was Demon’s Souls. A PS5 launch title that still looks great on the base console, but like many other first-party exclusives, offers players a choice – Fidelity or Performance. One offers a 4K image but locks the framerate down to 30 frames per second, and is considerably more juddery to play. While the other is lowering the resolution to 1440p in exchange for a higher framerate.
Both modes are perfectly playable, but to me, it has always felt I was never getting the optimum experience that my OCD mind so desperately craved. Now, for a very high asking price, the Pro delivers both and looks and feels incredible. How it was always meant to be played, or how a theoretical PC version may present itself with everything cranked up to the max.
I’ll never get over the unusually cheap approach PlayStation takes to packaging its products. Very little about the unboxing experience felt premium, which is a big shame.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a more recent example of this at play. The performance mode on the base console is infamously blurry, and considering how visually gorgeous Rebirth is, the extra performance sadly wasn’t worth the graphical sacrifice. So you opted for fidelity, but in doing so got stuck with a framerate that didn’t lend itself well to the active battle system. Something was missing, and now it’s back.
I understand that to most people I sound like an absolute tool, but as someone who refuses to play on PC because all the extra settings prove overwhelming, the PS5 Pro is a lifesaver. At least, for the time being. Developers can push their games further without being hamstrung, and I’m pretty excited to see how that support pans out in the coming months. Not to mention there are still a bunch of existing games in need of updates.
All the upgrades I’ve sampled so far are noticeable improvements to my experience, since I’m the exact sort of hardcore enthusiast this console is targeting. That doesn’t stop the PS5 Pro from being largely overpriced and unnecessary, but it has allowed it to become my main driver from now on.
