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black myth Wukong was a phenomenon this
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ui5 powered action epic sold millions of
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copies when it launched earlier this
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year impressing with its fast gameplay
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and sophisticated visuals but its
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configuration on PS5 left something to
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be desired employing bizarre frame rate
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locks and frame gen with a 30fps base
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frame rate developer game science has
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addressed at least some of those issues
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as of the latest patch and they've also
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added PS5 Pro support using pssr to
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improve image quality for pro players so
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is PS5 finally in reasonable shape and
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should we expect any issues from the pro
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upgrade let's start by taking a quick
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look at the patched PS5 code the most
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obvious superficial change here is that
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the PS5 has a sharpening slider now with
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no sharpening applied the image looks
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pretty soft but relatively free of Alias
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edges dialing it up to five which is the
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default gives the image a look that is
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pretty typical for lower res crun and
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console titles 10 provides maximum
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crispiness for players who want to max
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out on local contrast compared to the
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launch code a value of about seven
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matches the base PS5 in its performance
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configuration though I've dialed it to
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five for the rest of my PS5 comparisons
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to best represent the default experience
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outside of the sharpness tweak the most
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obvious visual Chang is that the game's
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luming GI presentation has been altered
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slightly there's more obvious occlusion
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present in certain parts of the game
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World essentially the shadow Maps
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sometimes appear slightly different as
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well the other modes also have some GI
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differences relative to the launch code
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although they are affected less
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obviously other visual settings appear
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similar at least in my tests that
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includes resolution which remains at
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1080p internally with no apparent
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upsampling to a higher output resolution
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frame gen is unfortunately still a
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reality here and performance is
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generally similar in my tests as well
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usually holding 60 FPS fairly well the
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game's intro runs with frame gen
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disabled and mostly hangs in the 40s and
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50s and there are some occasional dips
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during other segments as well I suspect
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the game may be disabling frame gen
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during especially sudden changes in
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camera position which is likely the
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source of some of these dips it's not a
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great fit for a fast action game running
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it only 60f PS and it's likely not even
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necessary for 60fps gameplay for the
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most part as Rich demonstrated in some
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tests a few months ago lean more heavily
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on FSR or TSR and a reasonable 60fps
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experience should be achievable even on
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the PS5 CPU and GPU performance mode is
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pretty similar then but the other two
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modes differ more dramatically the
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quality mode takes a pretty obvious hit
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to image quality with less definition
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and Detail in foliage and fine geometry
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it's a substantial loss relative to the
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earlier code a quick pixel count reveals
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the issue the quality mode appears to be
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rendering at 1080p here down from
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roughly 1440p on average before the Old
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Quality mode was upsampling to 4K while
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the new quality mode looks more like
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1440p or perhaps 162p other visual
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settings do seem to have been bumped up
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though Shadows are obviously higher res
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and have less aggressive Cascades and
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the draw distance for foliage has has
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been improved somewhat essentially
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you're trading a higher resolution in
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the launch version for better visual
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settings in the current version frame
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rates are improved over the base game at
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least in a sense the original quality
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mode ran with an unstable frame rate
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often running in the low to mid-30s now
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the quality mode has a more sensible
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straight 30fps cap producing an evenly
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frame paced experience without dips
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balance mode gets a very different
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visual treatment though the new image
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obviously has more detail
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and finer geometric lines manag to
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present without artifacting a pixel
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count reveals a similar setup to Quality
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mode a 1080p internal resolution with a
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subjectively 1440p like output
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performance-wise it spends most of its
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time at or close to 45 FPS which is the
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default frame rate cap in this mode that
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means a pretty unsteady procession of
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frames 60 HZ output with a mix of 16 and
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33 millisecond frames into typical play
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but new in this patch is an alternative
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version of the balance mode with the PS5
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set to automatically enable 120 HZ
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output the balance mode now aims for a
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flat 40fps reading with each frame
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essentially tripled to evenly fit a 120
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HZ refresh in my experience this
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actually holds a pretty stable 40fps
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with relatively small and rare dips this
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small change makes this mode highly
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useful in my opinion the other mode can
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also run at 120 HZ output with a
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compatible display but they still Target
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60 FPS and 30 FPS respectively to wrap
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things up I thought I'd quickly compare
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the patched modes together the quality
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mode and balance mode look very similar
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now though the quality mode has higher
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settings for Shadows which is pretty
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obvious in this scene but the quality
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mode and balance mode have a very
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similar Lumen GI presentation with the
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performance mode appearing a little
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coarser than there are the expected
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image quality differences the
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performance mode is visibly 1080p like
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while the quality and balance modes have
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greater Clarity of these modes I really
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think the 40fps balance mode at 120 htz
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is best it has good input response
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consistent frame pacing and feels
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reasonably smooth the quality mode is
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fine though the hit to frame rate is a
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little steep and the performance Mode's
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frame gen is still a bit too much for my
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taste I might prefer a non-frame gen 60
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FPS targeting mode though if one was
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available on PS5 Pro let's start with
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the quality mode the biggest change here
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is the introduction of pssr which works
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from roughly a 1296p input resolution
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typically but produces a 4K like final
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image it's perceptibly sharper
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especially during movement and holds up
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really nicely on a 4K TV set some
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elements that weren't effectively
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anti-alias with FSR are actually a bit
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cleaner here like the noisy hair on the
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first boss and recently discluded detail
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in general which tends to look a bit
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blurred instead of fizzly like with FSR
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there is a bit of that signature pssr
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noise if you look closely though it's
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not obvious from normal viewing
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distances I've turned off sharpening for
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my Pro comparisons so you should be
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getting a good impression of the detail
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in underlying image here despite the
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fact that we are looking at a u5 game
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the lighting is generally pretty stable
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and consistent here with pssr without
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Silent Hill 2 like Shimmer but the
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lighting here was already pretty stable
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with FSR so perhaps that's just less of
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an issue in general for the content in
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this title I did note some Lumen changes
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again between the PS5 code and PS5 Pro
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though these seemed more substantial
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than the tweaks I noted between the
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various PS5 vers versions performance is
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in line with the base console at a lock
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30 frames per second in my tests which
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feels all right on a controller with
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motion blur maxed the balance mode is
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quite similar to Quality mode with a
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roughly 1296p typical internal res taken
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to 4K using pssr the most conspicuous
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visual difference here comes down to the
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Shadows which are higher res in the
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quality mode the setup is pretty similar
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to the PS5 split then with a fairly
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conservative up upgade for the 30fps
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targeting mode variant there are some
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Lumin tweaks here though that do mirror
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the quality mode a little bit as well
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frame rates hovering around 45 FPS are
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typical at 60 HZ output and the game
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delivers a more or less straight 40 FPS
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at 120 HZ output I'm not a fan of the
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way the game looks on a 60 HZ panel in
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this mode but at 120 HZ you get steady
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frame pacing and consistent controller
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response the performance mode mod hasn't
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changed much it's still a 60fps
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targeting mode using frame gen and still
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runs at a 1080p resolution compared side
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by side it appears very similar to the
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old performance mode minus some Lumin
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discrepancies this Mode still appears to
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use FSR 3 as well it also performs very
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similarly to the base console
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performance mode again we see the same
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procession of 33 millisecond frames if
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the camera position changes rapidly and
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nonlinearly suggest ing frame gen may be
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turned off in these moments it's
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unfortunate that this mode hasn't been
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substantially revised because this is
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probably the mode on the base console
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that I find most lacking between the PS5
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Pro's larger GPU and boosted CPU I'd
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hope the resources would be there for a
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decent 60fps targeting mode without
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frame gen perhaps this is something game
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science can consider for a future update
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I'm reasonably pleased with black myth
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wukong's technical Evolution on PS5
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since launch as both the quality and
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balance modes feel like they make
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reasonable trade-offs and can achieve
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stable frame rates there are still some
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unusual elements in the mix like frame
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gen at 60 FPS and 45 FPS frame rate
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targets at 60 HZ that do Mar the game
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and make certain mode and refresh rate
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combinations difficult to use in my
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opinion the pro upgrade is on the
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conservative side but it does represent
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a clear improvement from the base game
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the quality and balance modes go from a
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1440p like image to a 4K like one with
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pssr proving a nice upgrade for pro
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users there's no wild settings bump here
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or attempts at extra rate tracing but
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the image quality does look clearly
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better in typical play which is
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something we can't always say for Pro
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upgrades so black myth Wukong has taken
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several steps in the right direction
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even if I think a few configuration
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calls remain misguided I'm pretty
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comfortable recommending the PS5 and pro
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versions of the game now just with a few
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caveats if you enjoyed this video please
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like subscribe and press the bell for
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00:10:48
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