Michiel van der Leeuw, the Technical Director at Guerrilla Games, has detailed some of the advantages of playing Horizon Zero Dawn on Sony’s new PS4 Pro hardware.
Though still some months away from release Leeuw was ready to share information, via the PlayStation blog, on what specifically will be better on the PS4 Pro. The team’s approach is geared toward making a beautiful game period, and Leeuw stressed: “We’re dedicated to making a game that looks great regardless of the model it’s played on; it will look beautiful on PS4, and will look even better on PS4 Pro.”
For starters, those with 1080p HDTVs will have the benefit of super sampling. Leeuw detailed the process, saying:
“We internally render at a higher resolution (close to 4K) before shrinking it down to the final 1080p resolution. As our internal calculations are done at a resolution much higher than 1080p, more detail survives before we shrink it down to 1080p, resulting in smoother edges — virtually no jaggies — and a more stable image.”
Those that have 4K televisions are in for something quite special. Leeuw stated that Horizon Zero Dawn will “fully support users with 4K TVs, outputting at a much higher resolution. We’re rendering 2160p checkerboard, which is a special technique that looks incredible on a 4K TV.” He then went on to emphasize the exquisite level of detail possible with 4K:
“You’re going to notice a ton of subtle details, from stitching on Aloy’s outfit, individual leaves and branches swaying in the wind, kilometers away in the distance, and more detail in all the machines and NPCs in the world.”
Finally, Leeuw noted that HDR (High Dynamic Range) support will mean a great deal for the game – especially given its rich color palette: “You’re looking at the image in its full glory, with brighter and deeper colors, more contrast and vibrancy, in its pristine state.”
The advantages of the Pro are becoming clear, then, and although developers will be supporting both the standard model PS4, and the Pro, the advantages of the latter may well tip the scales over – though that will require people to adopt 4K television as well. The future’s bright, or at least more colorful.
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