Sony knows how to make good-looking games. The company’s platform architects/magicians working behind the scenes know their stuff, and whatever black magic they work on in getting all the silicon and metal to communicate and conjuring the graphics we have in PS5-exclusive games is serious business. In fact, the best in the business – the only one I’ve seen that even comes close to Sony’s first-party game is the yet-to-be-announced Final Fantasy XVI (we’ll have to wait until June).
The downside to PlayStation’s foray into graphics superstardom is the PS4’s grindstone. Yes, of course, the PS4 Pro is still a powerful toolkit, but it’s aging. The base PS4 can barely keep up with the games it was designed for, let alone the current concessions, as a global component shortage threatens Sony’s profit margins.
Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, Forbidden West—games that were once considered major PS5 exclusives are also launching on PS4. Sony was also wary of announcing it during development, as it knew people wanted “real” next-gen games. To be fair, those first-party PS4 games are pretty awesome, and I’d go as far as to say they’re even the highlight of the console’s library, but it feels like their presence might be holding things back.
But, as Herman Hulst of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios puts it: “You can’t build a community of more than 110 million PS4 users and then walk away from it.” The PS4 sits on the tail of the PS5. Only now are we starting to see the gap between generations widening again. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is the first major PS5-focused first-party content since Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
do you know? It’s amazing.
Whether you’re spending a few minutes at a time getting lost in the dense, highly detailed textures of Aloy’s new California environment, or firing up photo mode again to study the way her face reacts when talking to her crush (yes, really – she’s no longer some weird sexless player bots!), the game looks great on the PS5 and looks great.
Of course, one of the major new mechanics in the base game revolves around water – so there’s more underwater spelunking (with a thoughtful new “sea phobia mode” for those afraid of deep water) to keep your Teeth sink into it. In the depths of the water, the way light scatters on the surface and onto the flora beneath the waves is unlike anything I’ve seen in games so far – even specialized underwater ones like Subnautica and Below Zero The game also doesn’t have the engine art present in Horzion and its Decima.
I really can’t point to anything better than the base game. Aside from feeling warmer and richer in the tropics (like how does summer vacation feel compared to your gray old hometown, you know?), the DLC packs feel more premium. It’s like drinking a premium imported beer instead of the local 4% piss. Or savor precious chocolate from a chocolate boutique instead of the greasy, grainy sludge of Dairy Milk’s latest recipe. Maybe it’s the sunshine of the DLC, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve included Aloy in some new threads, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve shot sharp arrows into the vulcanized rubber chests of different robot beasts, but overall it feels a lot better. richer. more dense. more dynamic. I think that’s the power of the PS5.
We already know that Sony is trying to phase out first-party PS5 games by 2025. Sony itself says that by fiscal 2025, “50% of its games will be available on PS5, 30% on PC, and 20% on mobile,” with PS4 nowhere to be found. If the result is more of a Burning Shores-like experience (graphically, if nothing else) then I’m happy: there’s a time and place for cross-generational gaming, but not three years after console release.
The PS4/PS5 transition period is a good one, seeing God of War Ragnarok running on a base PS4 makes me believe that magic is indeed real, but after seeing what Guerrilla and PlayStation can do when they put all their resources into Burning Shores A platform I’m finally ready to see a PS4-shaped albatross slip off a publisher’s neck and sink into the sea like lead. We have waited long enough.
