The console market has always been pretty rigid over its generational cycles – the console you started the generation with is usually the one you finish with. Sure there have been different models, such as slimmer versions and various colours over the journey, but never any real fundamental changes under the hood – until recently. Last generation (Gen 8) saw a significant shift in how the modern major console manufacturers approached mid-gen hardware refreshes, with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X offering significant hardware bumps from their progenitors. Some (possibly us) would say that the four years we’ve had of the PS5 have been underwhelming and that we haven’t seen the console pushed to its capabilities. Despite this, Sony has decided to grace us with the PS5 Pro – a beefed-up model with new hardware and features that come at a significant cost.
We’ve been dabbling with the PS5 Pro since its release, and although it’s impossible to judge a device’s worth like this in its first few weeks, well, we’ve made the impossible happen and bloody gone and done just that.
Curve Your Enthusiast Console
I don’t know about you, but the change from the PS4’s black to the PS5’s bulky white design took a little to get used to, especially when the latter was positioned atop your TV cabinet looking like the eye of Sauron. Eventually, PlayStation refined the look by slimming it down and dropping the disc drive option altogether, making it more appealing and space friendly than its chonky predecessor.
With the Pro, PlayStation has built on its achievements in refining the PS5’s design language for the Slim. It’s essentially retained the more cohesive lines and svelte curves of last year’s base PS5 revision, adding only a touch more girth and enough added height to include those black ‘racing stripes’ that help differentiate it at a glance. It’s a similar philosophy to what PlayStation did with the PS4 Pro, where it took the PS4 Slim’s layered design and simply added another layer.
The result is a machine that is unmistakably a PS5, only a lot less bulky and awkward looking than the original model. It manages to come in smaller than the OG as well (if only a little), and around 800 grams lighter to boot.
Being based on the PS5 Slim’s design has other advantages too, like the optional disc drive being compatible across both models. I was shocked at how easy it is to swap/install one of these, with the cover plate that holds it in just popping off of the console with a small amount of force, and the drive itself not bound by any screws or locks – it just lifts in and out!
Even though I’m still not ready to surrender myself to the digital exclusive lifestyle, I understand Sony’s reasoning for not including a disc drive in the base unit. However, I do find it incredibly stingy that they didn’t include a stand in the box, forcing owners to shell out another $49 for the privilege of having it vertical when they’ve just handed over $1199 for the console and potentially $159 for the disc drive.
The updated design language makes this a pretty sexy number compared to the OG PS5
Whenever we eventually get to experience Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophecy, or whatever Santa Monica Studio and Insomniac are cooking up next, there’s no doubt that PS5 Pro will be the premier place to play this side of the PS6
The Future Is Later
I’d hazard a guess that most of the folks picking up or planning to pick up a PS5 Pro are doing so for similar reasons as I did – not to experience instant gratification with mind-blowing experiences on day one, but to feel content knowing they’ll have the best experience in future titles. Especially anything from PlayStation Studios.
Whenever we eventually get to experience Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophecy, or whatever Santa Monica Studio and Insomniac are cooking up next, there’s no doubt that PS5 Pro will be the premier place to play this side of the PS6. While most of what we’re getting now is slight increases in fidelity or performance in Pro-enhanced games, it seems inevitable that most big ticket titles in 2025 and beyond will include whole new visual features not available on the base models. Is that reason enough to drop $1200 on the thing right now? Probably not. But again, early adopters know who they are.
PS5 Pro Enhanced Could Mean Anything…Or Nothing
For a lot of PS5 owners, the fact that we’re still having to choose between performance and quality modes is frustrating. With the PS5 Pro, developers have access to a bunch of additional power to utilise, and games that take advantage of this are ‘PS5 Pro Enhanced’, which could mean improved framerates, resolutions or a combination of both in some cases, alleviating some of the frustrations with having to sacrifice one for the other.
It should be pretty straightforward. Owners of the shiny new console can look to the PS5 Pro Enhanced label to find games that have been updated specifically to take advantage of the increased power on board. And for the most part, that’s what we’ve got. The initial cohort of titles carrying the label include the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Alan Wake 2 and Star Wars Outlaws, all of which offer increased visual fidelity and performance and (in some cases) completely new features and settings.
For example, Naughty Dog has updated both The Last of Us Part I and Part II with a Pro rendering mode that sees the games render at 1440p bumped to 4K using PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR, more on this in a bit), while targeting 60fps. It’s not the 4K, 60fps that players want (at least not yet), but it looks great and at least shows that developers are trying to bridge the gap between Performance and Fidelity modes.
The Last of Us Part II’s Pro mode is a nice balance between fidelity and performance
One particular title I spent some time with that has benefitted from the PS5 Pro enhancement is 2023’s Lords of the Fallen from, which now looks and runs a lot better when using the improved Performance Mode that offers the same output as Naughty Dog’s Pro mode. Quality Mode (4K, 30fps) did see the game chug a bit though.
The remake of Resident Evil 4 is another game that uses the tech of the PS5 Pro to offer players 120fps (albeit at the cost of resolution), and it was here that I really understood why players are excited to have a machine that can offer framerates smoother than Leon’s hair.
The issue is that it’s not easy to find what PS5 Pro Enhanced means for each game. In fact, I think it should be easier for players to know what games are enhanced from the PS5 menu, because right now it’s only labelled on the PS Store.
Folks jumping on right at launch were treated to a bit of confusion around what games were and were not PS5 Pro Enhanced, with many previously promised updates missing the launch period while the games still proudly displayed the label on the PlayStation Store.
More than that though, titles are being advertised as PS5 Pro Enhanced right now that can be markedly worse on the new console than on a base PS5. Silent Hill 2 was a popular example in the early weeks, with the game exhibiting some severe visual bugs and artifacts that prevented most players from actively playing the game for fear of having the experience and atmosphere ruined. Similar stories came from titles like Star Wars Outlaws, Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Alan Wake 2, where PlayStation’s much-touted PSSR technology actually introduced new visual artifacts and issues.
I can feel the frames
Taking the PSSR
One of the PS5 Pro’s biggest selling points is the aforementioned PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR for short, which is basically Sony’s version of NVIDIA’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) feature. What does that mean and why is it a selling point? Essentially, PSSR’s purpose is to enhance a game’s visual fidelity using AI-powered technology, meaning that supported games should look and run better on the PS5 Pro.
Right now the results are a little mixed though. As expected, first-party games like Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West, and The Last of Us Part I and Part II have benefitted from PSSR, providing players with detailed and gorgeous upscaled visuals, but not all third-party titles have seen the same rewards, with some actually faring worse and having to patch the feature out, such as Silent Hill 2
PSSR is a new technology, to be fair, and will no doubt get better over time, but the way it’s being implemented just doesn’t always make sense in the context of spending nearly double the cash on what should be a more powerful console. Some studios have begun to re-patch their titles to offer the choice of PSSR or no PSSR, which is great in some ways but further muddies the whole PS5 Pro Enhanced thing. The badge should be there to help prospective purchasers understand at a glance that a game has added features, but based on the experience of myself and others with the launch selection it’s going to be hard to blindly trust that PS5 Pro Enhanced actually means something, or means good things.
Thankfully, once you do wade through all of the Pro Enhanced games on offer and attempt to parse their actual benefits, the news is generally more good than bad. There are some stellar looking experiences to be had here, with games like Stellar Blade and Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West offering absolutely pristine presentations, or previously-problematic titles finally showing in more positive light. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘s Performance Mode option, for example, no longer looks softer than Man United’s players this season, while the PS5 version of Black Myth Wukong finally looks and runs at a level that isn’t uncomfortable after more than 15 minutes.
The PS5 Pro also includes a bonus bit of upscaling for PS4 games, which can be optionally enabled from the Screen and Video settings menu, and while it’s seemingly a more primitive solution than PSSR, it does do a good job of cleaning up last-gen titles to look a touch sharper than before. I’ve played everything from Shadow of the Colossus to Team Sonic Racing and the results are definitely worth toggling on the setting – though don’t expect any actual framerate benefits or to notice a difference on anything less than on the biggest TVs.
Give me that boost
The issue is that it’s not easy to find what PS5 Pro Enhanced means for each game. In fact, I think it should be easier for players to know what games are enhanced from the PS5 menu, because right now it’s only labelled on the PS Store.
Where’s The Excitement?
Oddly enough, I think the biggest sticking point for me with the PS5 Pro right now is that it’s easy to forget I have one. For a bit of kit that commands the price tag it does, there’s really very little to differentiate it from the PS5 that costs almost half as much.
I’m not talking in terms of game performance, or even looks – though that’s a close race. It’s the experience that’s too similar. Right from the moment that the person behind the counter at your local EB, JB or Marketplace seller hands you the box, there’s a sense of playjà vu, if you will. You’ve brought this box home before, you’ve opened and unpacked it before. I’m not asking for plumes of smoke and laser lights to burst out when I lift the cardboard lid, but give me something.
I’ve also recently come into owning one of the 30th Anniversary PS5 Slim consoles, and that does have a pretty special unboxing experience with a bespoke packaging design and a ton of bonus goodies packed inside to make it feel special. Different context, sure, but unboxing it felt much more like a special occasion than my Pro.
It’s more than the packaging, too. Once you’ve plugged everything in and turned it on, it’s the exact same experience as your old PS5. The same boot sequence and setup, the same front-end menu, and the same DualSense controller to drive it all. Sure, there’s exactly one extra dynamic wallpaper for the new ‘Welcome’ section of the home screen, but if you were to put the console itself out of sight you’d have almost no way to tell you’d upgraded just by firing it up. I know I’m being picky here but something, anything to remind PS5 Pro owners that they’re rocking the cool new shit would be welcome. A fancier start-up beep, some chrome trims around the UI, an inscription on the DualSense that reads “You Are The Best Gamer,” these are ideas.
A look at the size difference to the 30th Anniversary PS5 Slim. Not pictured: The excitement difference
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt that the Pro will give you the best PS5 experience, but the fact that Sony really hasn’t made a big song and dance about the Pro shows that the company knows a $1200 console isn’t for everyone, especially when the perks of owning it are marginal compared to the base PS5, at least for now. Of course there’s an audience for the Pro – those with HDMI 2.1 TVs who want higher framerates and have the disposable income to drop on the newest console, and honestly there’s nothing wrong with that. But for the average player, right now, the PS5 Pro isn’t worth the investment. That being said, any console purchase is an investment in potential and hopefully the Pro will make good on its promise to take the PS5 lifecycle to the next level.
Review unit supplied by manufacturer // Review unit purchased by writer
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