Although the PlayStation 5 full backward compatibility with the PlayStation 4 is a very welcome feature to have, Sony Interactive Entertainment seems to have neglected it significantly, as previous-generation games cannot take advantage of the system's power to deliver enhanced gameplay out-of-the-box. This missed opportunity has always felt baffling, even more so this week when it's been discovered that very little developer intervention would be required to get a game like FromSoftware's Bloodborne to run at native 4K resolution with none of the known frame pacing issues of the vanilla game and even at above 100 FPS at a lower resolution.
In a new video shared this week on YouTube, the tech experts at Digital Foundry showcased what's essentially the Bloodborne remaster on PlayStation 5 that Sony and FromSoftware don't seem interested in developing. Modded by Christina and running on an exploitable retail unit, the hardcore action RPG has been patched to use the extra RAM of the system and make it so that CPU and GPU clocks are always boosted to max frequency, something that normally doesn't happen in a backward compatible game.
The results speak for themselves. Thanks to the extra 4GB of RAM, Bloodborne can run at native 4K resolution and locked 30 FPS, with none of the horrible frame pacing issues of the vanilla game. With mods introducing light grid global illumination optimizations, and removing chromatic aberration, the visual artifacts stemming from the impossibility of improving anti-aliasing are far less aggravating, resulting in an experience that feels as close to an official remaster as possible.
Things get even more interesting by dropping the resolution to 1440p and enabling 120Hz VRR. In this scenario, with an unlocked framerate, Bloodborne generally runs above 60 FPS, reaching the 70 FPS range as well for reduced input lag, which is always important to keep low in a game such as this. With volumetrics, framerates can dip below 60 FPS, but they remain above the 48 FPS and so in the PlayStation 5 VRR window. At 1080p resolution, the game runs in the 100 FPS range, resulting in the smoothest gameplay possible on console.
As all of the above was achieved with minimal modding and obviously no developer intervention, it is baffling how backward compatible games cannot tap into the PlayStation 5 power to deliver enhanced gameplay at higher resolution and smoother framerates. With the current generation coming to an end, it is unlikely Sony will make this happen at a system level, but hopefully, for the PlayStation 6, the Japanese company won't settle for simple backward compatibility, and deliver something more to make their next-generation system more enticing, especially if it launches at a very high price.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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