God of War Ragnarok graphics modes revealed on PS5 and PS4

God of War Ragnarok offers almost as many graphic modes as there are Norse gods and goddesses, as revealed by developer Santa Monica Studio Wednesday night on Twitter. There are more options available on the PlayStation 5 version than on the PlayStation 4, and if you want the best possible experience you’ll need to connect your PS5 to a state-of-the-art TV. Luckily, a number of Polygon employees played God of War Ragnarok over the last few weeks, so while our full technical analysis is out soon we can give you some quick thoughts on how to choose from the wide array of graphics settings.

Let’s start with the PS5 version, which offers two graphics modes: Preferred Resolution (which prioritizes image quality over frame rate) and Preferred Performance (the default setting which prioritizes frame rate over image quality). There’s also a separate “High Frame Rate Mode” switch, which is only available if your console is connected to a display that has an HDMI 2.1 port and a 120Hz panel. And if your TV also supports variable refresh rate (VRR), this HDMI 2.1 feature will work automatically God of War Ragnarok as long as you have enabled it in the PS5 system settings.

There are fewer options on PS4 as the last generation console doesn’t support VRR or HFR. The above Favor Resolution and Favor Performance modes are only available when playing on a PlayStation 4 Pro. The launch PS4 and the slim model have no graphics settings at all.

Picture: Santa Monica Studios/Twitter

Here’s a full breakdown of the resolution – which has often varied since then God of War Ragnarok uses dynamic resolution scaling to maintain the target frame rate in most modes – and the frame rate for each of the options:

Prefer performance mode (PS5)

• Standard mode: 1440p-2160p resolution at locked 60 fps
• High Frame Rate Mode: 1440p @ unlocked 60 fps
• HFR mode with VRR enabled: 1440p @ unlocked 60 fps

Prefer resolution mode (PS5)

• Standard mode: 2160p (native 4K) at locked 30 fps
• HFR mode: 1800p-2160p at locked 40 fps
• HFR mode with VRR enabled: 1800-2160p @ unlocked 40 fps

Prefer performance mode (PS4 Pro)

• 1080p-1656p @ unlocked 30 fps

Prefer resolution mode (PS4 Pro)

• 1440p-1656p at locked 30 fps

Normal PS4

Technically, there’s one more situation, a Sony rep told Polygon last week after we asked: If you’re playing the PS4 version of God of War Ragnarok On a PS5, backwards compatibility gives you the resolution of the PS4 Pro’s quality mode (1440p to 1656p), but with doubled performance to a locked 60fps.

After spending dozens of combined hours on the PS5 version of God of War Ragnarok Here at Polygon, we can wholeheartedly recommend Favor Performance mode, whatever your TV configuration. In an action game like this, with full-screen boss fights and challenging combat, the fluid and responsive benefits of a 60fps frame rate are undeniable. And although the resolution in Performance mode drops from Resolution mode’s native 4K to at least 1440p, image quality remains nearly as high; The compromise here is a no-brainer.

PS5 performance mode alone is a fantastic way to play God of War Ragnarok, but if you have an HDMI 2.1 display that supports HFR (ie 4K/120Hz input) and VRR, this combination delivers the ultimate experience. Enabling HFR runs the game in 1440p, removing the 60fps cap, and VRR eliminates any stuttering by syncing your display’s refresh rate to the frame rate. This allows you to enjoy the game at frame rates that are typically in the 80-90 fps range – which is the way to go if you can swing it.

For more information see our God of War Ragnarok check it now. And keep an eye out for our in-depth technical analysis comparing the different graphics modes on PS5.