PlayStation 5 Pro review: PS5 upgrade delivers few compromises at a cost

Let’s be honest: From a technical perspective, this generation of consoles has been a dud.

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have given us plenty of standout games that look great, but a lot of the lofty promises they made never quite materialized. The dream of 4K resolutions at 60 frames per second has become a cruel joke with each major release. But after four years of letdowns, this console generation may finally be reaching its potential thanks to the PS5 Pro. Better late than never, I suppose.

Sony’s pricey new console uses some technical magic tricks to finally deliver a system capable of playing games at the peak performance we expected four years ago. To accomplish that, it delivers an updated GPU, advanced ray tracing, and — most impactful — AI-driven upscaling in the form of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). That powerful tool alone might just be the key to salvaging the PS5 for serious techies.

The PS5 Pro mostly delivers on the 4K/60 fps dream, even if it comes with some PSSR eccentricities that PC players should be all too familiar with by now. Aside from that feature, though, the system’s finer upgrades can often be so subtle that you need a telescope to spot them. It’s a definite step up, but whether it’s one that’s worth the $700 price tag will ultimately hinge on how many developers are willing to create Pro modes for their games.

Design and features

For its design, Sony didn’t stray too far from its playbook for the PS5 Pro. It uses the base PS5’s iconic black-and-white design, with the only real difference being that it has black gills across either side. It’s about as tall as the original base model, which is a shame considering that the slim refresh is a much more manageable size, but it’s at least not as deep as the 2020 model. It’s smaller overall, though part of that is due to the fact that no version of it comes with a disc drive.

From left to right: PS5 (slim), PS5 Pro, PS5 Giovanni Colantonio / Digital Trends

That omission continues to be a thorn in the PS5 Pro’s side considering its price. For $700, you’d expect the console to feel like a premium version of the PS5. Instead, it feels like you’re getting less. You’ll have to spend extra to get a disc drive and a vertical stand, and your old faceplates aren’t compatible with it either. $700 is just the starting price, but you’ll have to spend at least a hundred more to get it up to par with your base version if it has a disc drive and a stand. Even Sony’s decision to include a standard DualSense here instead of throwing in a DualSense Edge feels like corner-cutting.

The one perk you do get here — and it’s a big one — is that the Pro model comes with a 2TB hard drive. That’s 1TB larger than the one available in the slim model, which is a legitimate value. Trust me, as someone who downloaded over a dozen games to test them for this review, the extra space is a huge improvement.

I won’t spend much time talking about what’s inside beyond that, because it’s just about identical to the PS5. Even its menus often say “PS5” instead of “PS5 Pro.” If you want to know the ins and outs of the console, read our PS5 review. But the bottom line is simple: The PS5 is an excellent system, and nothing here changes that.

Upgraded GPU

What’s really important here is what the PS5 Pro can do for performance and visual fidelity. The system uses a three-pronged approach to tackling those. Let’s start with its upgraded GPU. It includes 67% more Compute Units than the one used on current PS5s, and has 28% faster memory. Sony claims that adds up to 45% faster rendering, but numbers don’t really mean much out of context. It’s better, but does that make a difference?

The short answer is yes, though whether you’ll notice it is up in the air. When playing games that had not been specifically enhanced for the system, I did begin to notice some consistent upgrades. Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a clearer resolution in performance mode compared to it running on the base model, something that became apparent when I was looking closely at foliage. You can expect increased sharpness in games, though that can often be very subtle.

Sony

Only speaking anecdotally, Black Myth: Wukong did feel a little more stable on the PS5 Pro. Comparing a mid-game boss on both old and new hardware, I caught more frame hiccups and slowdowns on the base PS5. Granted, Wukong is a bit of an unstable game on PS5 so it’s hard to say for sure what was the Pro at work and what was just a stray flaw. What I could say for sure was that the GPU isn’t a cure-all that fixes up all games. Wukong is still loaded with frame tears, pop-in, and more issues even on the Pro. Similarly, it doesn’t do much to clean Sonic Frontiers’ muddy textures or egregious pop-in.

Sony does still offer some tools to get more out of games that aren’t getting updates, though. The most mysterious of these is PS5 Pro Boost, a new feature that enhances PlayStation’s game catalog. Sony has not explained how it exactly works and I’ve seen mixed results so far, which ultimately come down to the games themselves. Bloodborne, for instance, is locked at 30 fps, so it doesn’t get any real boost that I’ve noticed. Shadow of the Colossus (a game that was once a mess on PS5), on the other hand, does have sharper textures, particularly with objects off in the distance.

The full extent of Boost mode’s power will likely come out over time, but it’s the same story as what we found with the GPU: For games that do not explicitly have a new graphics or performance mode built for PS5, the differences ultimately come down to how well optimized the game is in the first place. How useful the console will be ultimately will come down to the creators developing for it.

PSSR upscaling

The much bigger upgrade here comes from the system’s flagship feature, PSSR. The idea here is to bring the world of AI-upscaling to consoles, allowing Sony to make a 1080p image look like 4K while maintaining 60 fps. It’s a bit of a trick, but if you can’t tell the difference, what does it matter? The goal is to essentially make it so players no longer have to choose between Fidelity and Performance mode, and the Pro delivers on that front — but only for supported games.

Not every game just gets PSSR upscaling by default. It’s on developers to create specific modes that enable it. In the supported games I tested, that usually meant a Performance Pro option, or a separate toggle. You can expect Sony’s first-party games to take advantage of this across the board moving forward, but the jury is out on if everyone else will fall in line. Though at launch, we’re already seeing Square Enix, Ubisoft, Capcom, and most of the major players adopting it already. That’s a good sign for its future.

For those who are tired of making compromises … PS5 Pro is the best option.

The headline here is that PSSR is the real deal. In the games I’ve tested that utilize it, the differences between Performance Pro and Fidelity Pro (which utilizes advanced ray tracing instead of upscaled visuals) is often negligible. Both Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart look fantastic while holding a steady 60 fps. It accomplishes exactly what Sony claimed it would do: You no longer need to choose between Performance and Fidelity, because PSSR puts both modes into one. That fact alone sells the console; everything else is an extra.

While Sony’s first-party games are built to take full advantage of PS5 Pro, it’s actually third-party titles that benefit the most so far. Dragon’s Dogma 2 gets the biggest upgrade here. With PSSR enabled, the game gets a significant frame rate increase, even if it’s not quite 60 still. I’ve also seen more detailed textures in it compared to the PS5 version. When I look at a buffalo-like creature in the latter, the fur around its back can look a little blurry with little defined detail. On PS5 Pro, I can see the individual hairs on it in crisper detail. Expect games that weren’t very well-optimized for PS5 to begin with, like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s once blurry Performance Mode, to get the biggest boosts while Sony’s already well-optimized games won’t be as immediately apparent.

While PSSR is a game-changer for Sony, it comes with all the usual flaws of AI-upscaling. You may be getting the illusion of 4K, but the trade-off is that the image isn’t entirely stable. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, I noticed some fairly heavy artifacting around yellow grass as it swayed in the wind. You’ll also occasionally notice moments where the upscaled resolution needs to settle into place after a fast movement; the textures often need a split second to snap into place after I spin the camera. Visual flaws like that popped up consistently in testing, but none of it is too surprising for the current state of AI upscaling. They’re just the tiny moments of disappointment where you’ll be able to see through the magic trick.

Taking PSSR as a whole, though, the good outweighs the flaws. While I was zipping over the water in Spider-Man 2, I had a brief moment where it all clicked. The smooth, fast movement and the high resolution momentarily made me feel like I was looking at a movie. For those who are tired of making compromises to get that experience, the PS5 Pro is the best option on the market when it comes to home consoles.

Advanced ray tracing

What I’m less sold on so far is the PS5 Pro’s advanced ray tracing. This is the clearest feature in theory: It’s meant to improve lighting. That means better reflections, crisper shadows, and more nuances that you might not have even considered when it comes to how real light works. You also may never notice it.

More than any other feature, advanced ray tracing is one you really need to be looking for to see it at play. Remedy has done a great job at selling it with an Alan Wake 2 trailer that shows how lighting changes what players see in windows or on the surface of water, but there’s a reason it’s showing them off in contextless, quiet shots. When you’re actually moving through a game, all those little details are hard to actually catch. In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, I had to pop into Photo Mode to zoom in on shadows. After a lot of back and forth testing, I could tell that Fidelity Pro mode had darker, crisper shadows versus the softer, AI-upscaled ones in Performance Pro. If you have to pull out a magnifying glass to see details like that, do they really matter?

The answer is yes and no, which makes the PS5 Pro such a complicated console to break down for console players used to pronounced technical leaps every generation. On one hand, advanced ray tracing can make some big differences once you know what you’re looking for. In Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, I hit an early scene where Aloy is in a dark cave surrounded by candles. For some reason, the image felt brighter on Pro, but that didn’t make much sense. After some sleuthing, I deduced that the image only looked that way because Aloy’s skin was reflecting light in a more realistic way on Pro, as if she were getting illuminated with a bounce light. That’s one of the ways that ray tracing can make an image look much better even if you can’t put your finger on why.

All of the features and upgrades I’ve described here may sound small — and they are. Who cares if I can see the fibers of a buffalo’s hair? But you have to consider that none of these details exist in a vacuum. If you notice one tiny tweak somewhere, there’s hundreds more like it happening too. This all adds up to a stronger and more stable image, even if you’re not conscious of it. Remember that when you inevitably find yourself rolling your eyes at ultra-zoomed-in comparisons proving the PS5 Pro’s power through minutiae.

This isn’t a necessity for your average player; it’s a pricey perk for high-level enthusiasts.

All that said, if you truly can’t see a difference and feel like none of these upgrades matter, you’re not wrong either. I wouldn’t call the PS5 Pro a quantum leap over the base model by any stretch. This is an incremental improvement that mostly benefits those with giant monitors or 8K TVs. I truly believe that most players will be left playing spot the difference when trying to find what makes the PS5 Pro’s image better. I wasn’t even convinced until I started combing over my captured footage and spotting resolution differences; I’m still skeptical that some of the things I spotted are simply a placebo effect.

You need to trust your instincts on this one. If making games run as perfectly as possible is your priority, the PS5 Pro is unquestionably an improvement. PSSR alone will make the $700 worth it if you’re the kind of person who has that money to spend on tech. On the other hand, if you’ve seen Sony’s videos of the console in action and truly don’t believe you can tell the difference, save your money. This isn’t a necessity for your average player; it’s a pricey perk for high-level enthusiasts. So long as you understand that and make an informed purchasing decision based on it rather than feeling pressured to buy the hot new thing, everyone wins. You either get the souped up PS5 you’ve wanted since 2020 or you get to hold onto $700 with no negative impact on your life. Either way, you’ll be playing the same games — and that’s what really matters.