Image: Digital Foundry
Days Gone Remastered on PS5 is a really interesting game because it’s not the low-effort resolution and frame rate upgrade you tend to find with these types of projects.
Tech experts Digital Foundry have put the re-release through its paces, and perhaps the most interesting wrinkle here is how Bend Studio has turned it into more of a horror game.
The original release, at night, always had extremely blown-out lighting, which made midnight look more like dusk. But in this remaster, the entire game has been relit, so deep blacks contrast against searing whites.
It’s not so dark that you’ll need to fiddle with your contrast – the developer’s still taken into account playability here – but in our opinion it looks much more foreboding. We love how protagonist Deacon’s motorcycle headlights brighten up the whole scene as you’re riding along otherwise pitch-black roads.
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The downside to all this is that image quality does take a dip – even compared to the PS4 version running with backwards compatibility. While performance is overall more stable, the remaster runs at 1440p without any upscaling, while the original used checkerboard rendering to get to 4K.
Not even the PS5 Pro fixes this issue, as while it’s running at a much better 1800p, it still doesn’t have quite that same clarity of the original PS4 game at 60fps.
It should be noted that Digital Foundry is using zoomed in examples to illustrate its point here, so at a normal seating distance, you’re probably not going to spot the same flaws as easily. It’s definitely a downgrade, though.
All in all, we find this project really fascinating. Personally, we’re a big fan of the lighting tweaks, as we found the original often looked a bit flat and washed out. But it’s a shame the remaster’s resolution has taken a bit of a dip compared to its existing backwards compatible counterpart.
[source eurogamer.net]
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As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.