Bloody Hell, Silent Hill f on PS5 Pro? What's the Witchcraft Afoot Here?
AI Gaming News Author · Game Rant ·
Looks like the super-powered PS5 Pro might be casting a dodgy spell on *Silent Hill f*, with Digital Foundry's analysis revealing visual glitches like shimmering grass and flickering reflections thanks to its mandatory 'Enhanced' mode and PSSR upscaling, a problem also seen in other Unreal Engine 5 Konami titles.
Right, so I've been tinkering with this news all morning, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared. You'd think that after shelling out for a fancy new piece of kit like the PS5 Pro – the 'strongest console' as they keep telling us – you'd get the absolute best version of every game, wouldn't you, mate? Apparently, not so much when it comes to the highly anticipated *Silent Hill f*.
Fair warning: this news sounds a bit technical at first glance, but stick with me because it's about to get interesting, especially if you're one of the curious souls (or perhaps a frustrated wizard who just wants their spells to work properly) wondering what's actually going on under the hood of these new consoles. Our pals over at Digital Foundry, bless their pixel-peeping hearts, have been digging into *Silent Hill f*'s preliminary technical analysis ahead of its September 25th launch. And what they've found for PS5 Pro users is, well, a bit of a head-scratcher.
Let's set the scene: *Silent Hill f*, developed by Neobards Entertainment, is poised to be a cracking new entry in Konami's long-dormant survival horror series. Reviews have been, by all accounts, glowing – we're talking layered story, freakish monsters (exactly what we want, right?), and a unique 1960s Japan setting. Sounds like a potent spell, doesn't it? But it seems someone might have added a pinch too much bat wing to the cauldron when optimising it for the PS5 Pro.
See, for us mere mortals playing on the standard PS5, we get a choice: a 'Quality' mode aiming for that cinematic 30 frames per second, or a 'Performance' mode pushing for a smoother 60fps. Nice and tidy, like a well-organised spellbook. But for those with the souped-up PS5 Pro? There's only one option: an 'Enhanced' mode that tries to blend the two. Sounds good on paper, a bit like trying to cast *Fireball* and *Healing Word* at the same time. The problem is, sometimes you just get a soggy sparkler.
This 'Enhanced' mode relies heavily on the PS5 Pro's PSSR AI upscaling. Now, PSSR is supposed to be this magical potion that takes a lower internal resolution and cleverly upscales it to 4K, making things look sharper and keeping that 60fps target largely intact. And largely, it does – but there are some glaring visual issues that pop up like unwelcome spectres in the fog. We're talking shimmering grass, noisy shadows that look like they've seen better days, and flickering reflections that are more distracting than atmospheric. Honestly, it sounds like a bad trip through a digital haunted house.
Even more perplexing, PSSR seems to be having a bit of a tiff with *Silent Hill f*'s ray tracing and ambient occlusion. The result? Some scenes, rather than looking better, actually appear *worse* than they do on the vanilla PS5. What in the name of Eldritch horrors is going on? It's like your super-powered magic staff is actively making your enchantments weaker.
The technical wizards reckon it might have something to do with the resolution PSSR is trying to upscale from. While the base PS5's Performance mode can dip as low as 360p internally (ouch!), the PS5 Pro's Enhanced mode is estimated to be rendering at about 720p before it gets the PSSR treatment to 4K. Upscaling from resolutions that low, even with AI, can lead to graphical oddities. It's like trying to draw a masterpiece starting with a crayon drawing on a napkin – you can enhance it all you like, but the foundations are a bit shaky.
Now, if this sounds familiar, you're not wrong. This isn't the first time we've seen this kind of unexpected chaos on the PS5 Pro. Think back to the *Silent Hill 2 remake* earlier this year – same sort of visual shenanigans on the flagship Sony console. And then there's Konami's *Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater*, which also apparently performed worse on the Pro than the base PS5 just last month. See a pattern forming, mate?
The common thread weaving through these newer, high-profile Konami games? They're all powered by Unreal Engine 5. It's starting to look like Unreal Engine 5 and Sony's PSSR might not be the best of mates, perhaps having a bit of a disagreement behind the digital curtains. Or maybe the spell for perfect optimisation just hasn't been perfected yet for this particular combination.
So, what's a curious gamer to do? Konami hasn't really addressed the matter directly, which is a bit like a wizard pretending their spell didn't just turn the town elder into a newt. But there's a glimmer of cautious optimism on the horizon. Sony is reportedly working on an upgraded version of PSSR, set to arrive in 2026. Until then, we're left hoping Konami can work some of its own magic to rectify these PS5 Pro issues in *Silent Hill f*, and perhaps even go back and touch up the *Snake Eater* and *Silent Hill 2* remakes. It’d be a real shame for the 'strongest console' to be delivering a weaker experience on such promising titles, wouldn't it?
It just goes to show, sometimes the most advanced enchantments come with the most unexpected quirks. Here's hoping the day-one patch, or a future update, casts a proper fix, allowing us all to truly enjoy the freakish wonders of *Silent Hill f* without the visual jitters.
Source: Game Rant
Tags: Silent Hill f, PS5 Pro, Gaming Issues, Unreal Engine 5, Konami
Original article: Game Rant