It has been six months for the reason that launch of Cyberpunk 2077’s 1.5 replace – the milestone patch that lastly added native assist for present technology consoles. CD Projekt RED has not been idle although, the brand new 1.6 ‘Edgerunners’ replace arrived final week, tying in with the brand new anime. A raft of recent content material options are added, however the focus of this piece is on a brand-new Xbox Sequence S efficiency mode, together with optimisations to the 30fps ray tracing mode on PS5 and Sequence X, the place long-standing complaints about excessive enter lag are lastly addressed. Going into this one, we had two separate targets – to place Sequence S’s new 60 frames per second mode by way of its paces and likewise to quantify the latency enhancements on the extra highly effective consoles.
Till the arrival of the brand new patch, Sequence S solely ran at a capped 30fps at a dynamic 1440p decision, taking place to 2304×1296 lowest through dynamic scaling. There was no mode toggle like on PS5 or Sequence X – no possibility to decide on between high quality and efficiency. Including to the frustration, Sequence S had no possibility for ray-traced shadows both. Patch 1.6 would not add the RT options, however not less than the choice to modify between constancy and frame-rate is there.
High quality mode on Sequence S as we speak works just about simply because it did earlier than the patch, in its default mode: it runs the gamut from 1440p all the way down to round 1296p, with a fairly tight 30fps lock with constant frame-pacing. The brand new efficiency mode – inevitably – degrades some settings. When it comes to pixel metrics, we’re a variety of 1080p at peak, taking place to 800p lowest, most blatant within the areas the place the sport cannot persist with its 60fps goal. As ever, CDPR’s engine additionally makes use of a type of TAA and reconstruction to provide a ultimate 1080p resolve.
In the end, it seems softer than the 1440p high quality mode but it surely nonetheless holds up, with the rise to fluidity an apparent win. The largest blemish to the presentation comes from wonderful sub-pixel components, like wire fences, for instance. The TAA upscaling would not have sufficient knowledge to work with, leading to a shimmering mesh – most notable on the outback space. Inside the metropolis although, that is much less of a difficulty.
General, first impressions are sturdy. Picture high quality takes successful, however we’re locked to 60fps normally and in our stress take a look at eventualities, the sport nonetheless acquits itself fairly nicely – with any efficiency drops nicely inside the VRR window. I believe Sequence S is in good condition with this replace. We get parity from a efficiency standpoint with PS5 and Sequence X, even when decision does take successful to 1080p and under.
Past decision, there are another compromises made to get Cyberpunk 2077 working at 60fps. There are strategically focused drops in high quality to shadows, and textures. Inside lighting typically flags extra pixellated, tough edges, relying on the angle, and the sunshine’s distance to an object. The second large change for the Sequence S efficiency mode is its lowered NPC counts, with the density of crowds considerably dialled again. The identical issues occurs on PS5 and Sequence X, with this transformation reducing the burden on each CPU and GPU. This finish result’s so efficient on Sequence S that it makes you surprise what additional challenges the group at CDPR had in reaching 60fps, and why it took so lengthy for this function to reach.
The opposite key space of testing for this patch is in enhancements to enter lag within the Sequence X/PS5 ray tracing mode. I used a 240fps digicam to document myself taking 50 pictures with a handgun, measuring the time taken from button press to muzzle flash when firing the weapon. On patch 1.6, Sequence X has a median latency of 136ms. That is nonetheless on the excessive aspect, actually, however positively an enchancment over patch 1.5’s remarkably excessive 163ms. That is an enter lag discount of 27ms on common throughout the 50 measurements. On PS5, the common got here in at 135ms on patch 1.6 – one other 27-28ms enchancment. That is simply noticeable and an excellent enchancment over the older model of the sport. If you happen to’re in search of essentially the most responsive expertise although, efficiency mode remains to be an enormous enchancment, with my consequence on Sequence X coming in at simply 51ms – a superb consequence.
In abstract, I am delighted to say that the Edgerunners replace brings solely excellent news all spherical. Bettering enter lag in PS5 and Sequence X RT mode is welcome, after all, however the addition of 60fps to Sequence S is a superb addition. It is actually strong and the sacrifices to attain it really feel honest too I believe. The res drop, lowered shadows, and decrease NPCs are all trades I am glad to make. Cyberpunk 2077 is among the most technically demanding video games on the market, so the thought of a £250/$299 console delivering that have at 60 frames per second is sensible.
In the meantime, work continues on the sport with the Phantom Liberty enlargement coming subsequent 12 months – and just for PC and the present technology consoles. We have at all times felt that the sport was held again by the necessity to assist older consoles. Hopes are excessive that the sport will proceed to push its know-how going ahead, unencumbered by the necessity to accommodate older {hardware}.
