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Digital Foundry || Deathloop on PlayStation 5: The Digital Foundry Tech Review

ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

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Oct 25, 2017
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Prior to the publisher's acquisition by Xbox, Sony tied up a console exclusivity deal for Bethesda/Arkane's Deathloop. The end result is a triumph and while two of its three graphics presets have some issues, we can highly recommend the game overall. Alex Battaglia and John Linneman share their experiences with the game.
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there's no article (yet) so I'll summarize it in a bit
  • it's more an immersive sim/rogue-like
  • has a more compelling story
  • has elements from The Crossing (2008), an old, canceled Arkane game
  • performance mode targets 4K for 60fps
  • average res 1296-1440p
  • goes higher if looking at the sky etc
  • visual quality mode has a higher lower resolution bound (1836p), targets 60fps but doesn't hit it
  • pc dynamic scaling goes as low as .85 scale, min res 836p
  • RT mode targets 30fps and 4K (dynamic)
  • lowest res is 1836p
  • RT sun shadows, RT AO
  • game looks different with RT mode on, seems to be designed with RT on
  • performance mode is 99% locked at 60fps, keypads cause a small drop
  • there's a time of heavy stutters but it hasn't been reproducible
  • visual quality mode is almost always below 60fps, 40-50fps
  • RT mode is locked 30, BUT
  • FRAME PACING (issues)!
  • PC version has a framerate cap that has perfect framepacing
article
www.eurogamer.net

Deathloop PS5's graphics modes compared: which is the best way to play?

Arkane is back - and it's no secret that Digital Foundry enormously admires the kind of immersive sim experience this s…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net
 
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Equanimity

Equanimity

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,990
London
Prior to the publisher's acquisition by Xbox, Sony tied up a console exclusivity deal for Bethesda/Arkane's Deathloop. The end result is a triumph and while two of its three graphics presets have some issues, we can highly recommend the game overall. Alex Battaglia and John Linneman share their experiences with the game.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

www.eurogamer.net

Deathloop PS5's graphics modes compared: which is the best way to play?

Arkane is back - and it's no secret that Digital Foundry enormously admires the kind of immersive sim experience this s…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net
 
S1kkZ

S1kkZ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,386
i feel there is a pretty big spoiler at the 5 minute mark? its from the tutorial but i would consider it a spoiler.
 
Gero

Gero

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,207
raytracing mode is awful and the fps in quality mode is bad too. I also had some weird fps issues in performance mode on a night map. The game is just not optimized well at all and the PC version is bad too.
 
Haikira

Haikira

Member
Dec 22, 2017
1,290
Northern Ireland
Just finished watching the video. Seems like a solid release, with some small areas open for improvement.

I've played for two hours, and my only real complaint is the lack of FOV slider on PS5. It's become such a standard for FPS games these days, so it's really disappointing to see it missing. The default isn't dreadful, but it still makes me feel slightly queasy when playing. If Sony allowed for refunds after download, I'd have swapped to the PC version.

S1kkZ said:
i feel there is a pretty big spoiler at the 5 minute mark? its from the tutorial but i would consider it a spoiler.
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I'm fairly sensitive to spoilers, but it's a scene from the first twenty minutes. I'd say it's probably fair game.
 
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SunBroDave

SunBroDave

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,135
What a masterpiece of a game.

Also, those massive hitches that Alex encountered after leaving the apartment in Updaam - on PC I experienced those in that one spot too, and never had them again, in any area, in the several hours I've played since. Very peculiar.
 
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ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

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finished the summary. performance mode has little to no drawbacks, RT mode needs a patch to fix frame pacing
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

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Oct 25, 2017
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Played a while last night and had some weird freezes/stutters in performance mode. It would straight up lock up for a few seconds. Only happened in one encounter so I assume that was a but it was odd
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,353
I assume "FRAME PACING!" from the bulleted synopsis refers to a problem with frame pacing?

Edit: Just saw the above comment. Changing it to something along the lines of "Problems with frame pacing in RT mode" might be more clear. "Frame pacing" is just a thing, good or bad. If frame pacing is inconsistent, that's where you have the problem. Sort of like saying a game has "frame rate" when intending to convey it has "frame rate problems".

Edit 2: Nice!
 
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flyinj

flyinj

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Oct 25, 2017
10,937
What does "FRAMEPACING!" mean? Does the exclamation point mean it has good framepacing?
 
No Depth

No Depth

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Oct 27, 2017
18,257
Been using RT mode on PS5 and don't at all mind the 30fps, but wasn't aware the frame pacing issues.

Ugh...I do think the game looks better on RT as well and given exploration is more prominent and the action is not that demanding, 60fps isn't as necessary for me in such a game, compared to what DF says...but I will likely swap back to Performance mode knowing frame-pacing is prominent. I just assumed any dips and jerks were due to conditioning to 30fps, but meh.
 
platocplx

platocplx

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Oct 30, 2017
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No Depth said:
Been using RT mode on PS5 and don't at all mind the 30fps, but wasn't aware the frame pacing issues.

Ugh...I do think the game looks better on RT as well and given exploration is more prominent and the action is not that demanding, 60fps isn't as necessary for me in such a game, compared to what DF says...but I will likely swap back to Performance mode knowing frame-pacing is prominent. I just assumed any dips and jerks were due to conditioning to 30fps, but meh.
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Yeah or wait for a patch. I bet they prob will be patching this month as well. I only really get a day with the game today and I'm gone a few weeks so by the time I come back or begining of next month maybe there will be a patch. Or just play through on perf mode.
 
Beer Monkey

Beer Monkey

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,308
Both versions are in need of patching (though obviously the issues are more YMMV on the PC side, but that's PC versus console). Let's be honest. This isn't unusual in 2021.
 
JJD

JJD

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Oct 25, 2017
4,499
SunBroDave said:
What a masterpiece of a game.

Also, those massive hitches that Alex encountered after leaving the apartment in Updaam - on PC I experienced those in that one spot too, and never had them again, in any area, in the several hours I've played since. Very peculiar.
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Serious question, why do you think that?

I really liked past Arkane titles but for some reason I have been pretty uninterested in Desthloop…

Maybe I should try it…is there a demo on any platform?
 
Edge

Edge

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Oct 25, 2017
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I really, really don't like how this game looks. I know I'm alone with it but it looks like someone artificially raised the blacks/brightness to a point where it almost has a gray veil over the whole screen.

It looks so clean and high res, but this ruins the whole game for me.
 
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ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
Ghostsonplanets said:
Am I reading this right? PC min resolution is 836p? Interesting....... I wonder what the prospects of SteamDeck are if more taxing games start to do that, as lowering the resolution is the trick for its performance.
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honestly, I don't know. I had to replay that part multiple times to make sure I heard right, and I'm still unsure.
 

dedge

Member
Sep 15, 2019
2,429
No Depth said:
Been using RT mode on PS5 and don't at all mind the 30fps, but wasn't aware the frame pacing issues.

Ugh...I do think the game looks better on RT as well and given exploration is more prominent and the action is not that demanding, 60fps isn't as necessary for me in such a game, compared to what DF says...but I will likely swap back to Performance mode knowing frame-pacing is prominent. I just assumed any dips and jerks were due to conditioning to 30fps, but meh.
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If you weren't aware of them then does it matter?
 
MoosetheMark

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May 3, 2019
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Edge said:
I really, really don't like how this game looks. I know I'm alone with it but it looks like someone artificially raised the blacks/brightness to a point where it almost has a gray veil over the whole screen.

It looks so clean and high res, but this ruins the whole game for me.
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Same, everything seems very washed out and overall it's pretty underwhelming for a next-gen title, the performance is precarious and there's a strange vignette effect that leads to frequent glitching and flashes on the borders of the screen. Also the load screens were kind of a surprise after pretty much every other PS5 game eliminated them.
 
Ghostsonplanets

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Akronis

Akronis

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Eferim said:
According to the Art Director for Arkane, it's based on id Tech 6, although they rewrote most of the code.

Source : "With this engine based on Id Tech 6 we've rewritten quite everything that's 70% of the engine. And it allows us to push the boundaries in every corner."
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It's truly impressive how they managed to code back in the horrendous framepacing from id Tech 5 then. Unless id Tech 6 started out with the same problem and Tiago Sousa managed to fix it all up before Doom 2016 released.
 
Gero

Gero

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Oct 28, 2017
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Edge said:
I really, really don't like how this game looks. I know I'm alone with it but it looks like someone artificially raised the blacks/brightness to a point where it almost has a gray veil over the whole screen.

It looks so clean and high res, but this ruins the whole game for me.
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Yeah. You playing in HDR? I might try it without HDR and see if that helps, but that grey shit ruins the vibrant image
 
SunBroDave

SunBroDave

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Oct 25, 2017
13,135
JJD said:
Serious question, why do you think that?

I really liked past Arkane titles but for some reason I have been pretty uninterested in Desthloop…
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To be absolutely clear, Deathloop is 1000% in the gameplay style of previous Arkane games, in fact it is basically a mission-based Arkane game just like Dishonored. The impressive thing is all of the gameplay and story, mechanics and structure, that they've built around that core Dishonored experience, that really take that experience to the next level.

JJD said:
Is there a demo on any platform?
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Steam has a no-questions-asked refund policy as long as you don't play more than 2 hours. So it's risk-free to buy it on Steam, try it out for yourself, and refund within the 2 hour window if you are not feeling it. However, I will tell you that Deathloop has a very long tutorial section, during which the experience is very different compared to when the game really starts - we're talking like 2 hours on the low end for the tutorial, and it actually took me like 4-5 hours to complete. So you might not actually be able to get to the real game in time to still be able to refund. Just a heads up.
 
JJD

JJD

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Oct 25, 2017
4,499
SunBroDave said:
To be absolutely clear, Deathloop is 1000% in the gameplay style of previous Arkane games, in fact it is basically a mission-based Arkane game just like Dishonored. The impressive thing is all of the gameplay and story, mechanics and structure, that they've built around that core Dishonored experience, that really take that experience to the next level.


Steam has a no-questions-asked refund policy as long as you don't play more than 2 hours. So it's risk-free to buy it on Steam, try it out for yourself, and refund within the 2 hour window if you are not feeling it. However, I will tell you that Deathloop has a very long tutorial section, during which the experience is very different compared to when the game really starts - we're talking like 2 hours on the low end for the tutorial, and it actually took me like 4-5 hours to complete. So you might not actually be able to get to the real game in time to still be able to refund. Just a heads up.
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Thanks for the answer! I didn't know about Steam refund, I'm new to PC gaming. I'm going to give it a try! One of the reasons I was not that interested was because of the pricing...the game is more expensive than most PC releases on my region. But being able to refund it no questions asked up until 2 hours of game time is amazing and something that I'll keep in mind when in doubt about a game.

Can't go wrong with a mission based Dishonored, and I have never seem it pitched like that (truth be told I have not been following the review thread that much!)

Thanks again!
 
SunBroDave

SunBroDave

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Oct 25, 2017
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JJD said:
Thanks for the answer! I didn't know about Steam refund, I'm new to PC gaming. I'm going to give it a try! One of the reasons I was not that interested was because of the pricing...the game is more expensive than most PC releases on my region. But being able to refund it no questions asked up until 2 hours of game time is amazing and something that I'll keep in mind when in doubt about a game.

Can't go wrong with a mission based Dishonored, and I have never seem it pitched like that (truth be told I have not been following the review thread that much!)

Thanks again!
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No problem. Hope you end up liking it as much as I do!
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

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A big swell of appreciation out of me for Arkane for finally locking in a really solid 60fps on the console side. It takes their game design, which has consistently been brilliant to my tastes for over a decade, and makes it playable on console. Well done the the Lyons team on the technical and artistic accomplishments of Deathloop, can't wait to play it tomorrow!
 
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StrikeFirst117

StrikeFirst117

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disparate said:
yikes
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Did I miss something because UE4 is so damn mature and familiar to use right now. Obsidian is using UE4 for Avowed as well and they have the connections to the Coalition which know the engine inside out.
Ain't gonna be getting many UE5 game releases until 2023 onwards as developers work to transfer all their plugins/other work into UE5.
 
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ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

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StrikeFirst117 said:
Did I miss something because UE4 is so damn mature and familiar to use right now. Obsidian is using UE4 for Avowed as well and they have the connections to the Coalition which know the engine inside out.
Ain't gonna be getting many UE5 game releases until 2023 onwards as developers work to transfer all their plugins/other work into UE5.
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Avowed is UE5, if I remember correctly. don't know if Redfall is 5 either, but I'm assuming it's UE4
 
StrikeFirst117

StrikeFirst117

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ILikeFeet said:
Avowed is UE5, if I remember correctly. don't know if Redfall is 5 either, but I'm assuming it's UE4
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Outer Worlds 2 is using UE5, I wouldn't bet on Avowed being UE5 as it'd require rewriting all their customisations/plugins from UE4 to UE5 which will take a fair bit of time to do.

I remember job listings stating that Redfall was also using UE4 as well.
 
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