Sony has officially launched its upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology, dubbed “Enhance PSSR,” with its debut in the newly released Resident Evil Requiem. The enhanced upscaling technology, developed in partnership with AMD through the “Project Amethyst” initiative, aims to deliver a significant improvement in image quality on the PlayStation 5 Pro, according to a statement from Sony.
The core of the upgrade lies in a refined algorithm and neural network, building upon the foundations of AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4 and FSR Redstone technologies. Sony confirmed that PSSR remains exclusive to the PS5 Pro. “With the updated PSSR, we are delivering the latest version of this jointly developed technology to PS5 Pro players with an additional six months of refinement,” Sony stated.
The rollout of “PSSR 2.0” is expected to extend to additional titles throughout March that already support the original PSSR. Users will also gain the ability to enforce the use of the enhanced upscaling in games currently utilizing the older version of PSSR through a system software update. This update will introduce an option in the PS5 Pro settings labeled “Enhance PSSR Image Quality.”
Resident Evil Requiem is the first game to natively support “PSSR Enhance” at launch. Capcom, the developer of Resident Evil Requiem, focused on enhancing the visual fidelity of the protagonist through an updated version of the RE Engine. Masaru Ijuin, Senior Manager at Capcom, explained that the team rendered individual strands of hair and beard as polygons, allowing for more realistic movement in response to body motions and wind. “The way light falls through his hair also changes depending on how the strands overlap. This precise depiction of textures is one of the many details we are particularly excited for our fans to see,” Ijuin said. “The updated PSSR has enabled us to improve our expressiveness by successfully processing these details and structural features, which are typically difficult to upscale due to their complexity. We hope you will experience an unprecedented level of horror and visual fidelity and the accompanying gameplay feel.”
Sony plans to upgrade the first 50 games supporting PSSR to PSSR Enhance in March, with new titles incorporating the technology through developer implementation. The upgrade to PSSR is rolling out today, coinciding with the release of Resident Evil Requiem, according to reports from Digital Foundry, IGN, Video Games Chronicle, and HotHardware.
