Crimson Desert PS5 Pro Performance Mode “Surprised” Digital Foundry With “How Good it Was Overall”

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With the March 17th release of the open-world game Crimson Desert approaching, Digital Foundry has shared a detailed look at how well it runs on the PlayStation 5 Pro. In a nearly 30-minute video, they explore the game’s performance on the console and all the settings players can adjust to optimize both how it looks and how smoothly it plays.

Okay, so I’ve been reading up on how Crimson Desert is going to run on the PS5 Pro, and it’s looking pretty cool. Basically, we’ll have three graphics options to choose from. If I want super smooth gameplay, I can pick ‘Performance’ mode – it’ll aim for 60 FPS (or even higher if I have a VRR display), with great ray tracing, but it’ll be rendering at 1080p and then upscaling it to 4K. ‘Balanced’ mode is a middle ground – it’ll upscale from 1440p to 4K, still have good ray tracing, and try to hit around 40 FPS (or over 48 with VRR). And if I really want the best possible visuals, there’s ‘Quality’ mode. That one locks the frame rate at 30 FPS, runs at native 4K, and maxes out the ray tracing. The upscaling tech in ‘Performance’ and ‘Balanced’ is handled by Sony’s PSSR, which should look pretty sharp.

In a recent video, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman described Crimson Desert as “visually stunning.” Regarding performance, Digital Foundry is waiting until the full game is released before offering a final assessment. However, they’ve observed that the game’s Performance mode performs surprisingly well, often reaching the targeted 60 frames per second. Linneman noted he was impressed overall, but frame rates can dip in areas with many characters, like large crowds of NPCs or enemies—one particularly crowded area caused the frame rate to fall to around 30 FPS.

Digital Foundry’s testing revealed that the game currently uses an older version of its image upscaling technology, PSSR, resulting in some visual imperfections. Linneman explained that Pearl Abyss intends to launch with a newer version, PSSR 2, but the current build shows typical PSSR issues like blurry details on plants and noticeable noise with ray tracing. He believes the visual quality will likely improve once the upgraded PSSR is implemented.

Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter told IGN that Pearl Abyss gave them full access to test the PS5 Pro, allowing them to review any aspect of the console without restrictions.

I was less worried about how the game looked and more focused on how much it would strain the computer’s processor,” he explained. “While it can be quite demanding, the game runs surprisingly well in all three modes. But what really stands out is the game’s massive scale, expansive world, and the complex systems that drive it. The experience on a powerful PC translates well to the PS5 Pro, and we’re excited to see how it performs on other consoles.

The highly anticipated game, Crimson Desert, is launching on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Here are 15 things we’re looking forward to in the game.

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2026-03-13 18:42