• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Digital Foundry || Kena: Bridge of Spirits - PS5/PC/PS4 Pro - Digital Foundry Tech Review

ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987


First revealed in depth at the PlayStation 5 gameplay reveal showcase, Kena: Bridge of Spirits has just launched. Alex Battaglia takes a look at both PS5 gameplay modes and stacks them up against PC and PlayStation 4 Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
  • the game uses the base UE4 features, art direction sets it apart
  • consistency in object quality
  • Ember Lab's professional animation chops are on full display
  • PS4P 1188p-1440p/30fps
  • lower vegetation density and lods
  • lower shadow res
  • no signed distance field AO
  • PS5 Performance TAAU 4K (1296p-1440p)/60fps
  • different filtering on PS5 compared to Windows
  • PS5 Quality is TAAU 4K (1944p-2160p)/30fps
  • higher foliage density
  • PS5 has high texture quality (step below ultra)
  • low texture setting
  • low texture filtering
  • low-medium fog quality
  • PC does not default to TAAU; ini file needs to be modified
  • bugged settings, medium volume fog turns off SDF AO
  • PS4P has near locked 30fps
  • streaming can lag if you move too fast
  • PS5 is locked 30fps in quality mode
  • performance mode has drops to just under 60fps
  • drops in real time cutscenes are heavier
  • drops while running around, might be loading issues
  • optimized settings are PS5 performance-like settings
    • medium motion blur (to taste)
    • ultra textures
    • low volume fog
    • low ssao
    • high shadows
    • high veggies
    • high post processing
    • 70% - 83% TAAU (through ini edit)
  • near 30% perf improvement over straight ultra at 68% 4k on a 3600/2060S
  • DX11 is better is better in gpu limited (cutscenes), DX12 is better in gameplay
  • better frame time in DX12
  • DX11/12 has shader compilation issue
  • pre-rendered cutscenes are 24fps
  • load times has short load times (12 secs on PS4P)
 
Last edited:
dock

dock

Game Designer
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
1,370
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,679
Western Australia
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Everything else was designed to run above 24fps, whereas Frozen was a 24fps project from its very inception. The idea that a frame rate mismatch between cutscenes and gameplay might make for a jarring experience is neither new nor unique to this game.
 
Last edited:
Alexandros

Alexandros

Member
Oct 26, 2017
17,815
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Switching between 24 fps for movies and 60 fps for gameplay is very jarring, I would imagine it's not the same for movies.
 
Bunzy

Bunzy

Banned
Nov 1, 2018
2,205
Great video as always Alex. Even with the few bad spots in PS5 performance mode and pc I feel like it was a phenomenal effort by the devs knowing it's their first game and a small studio. Hopefully further performance patches come to pc and consoles to touch up a few blemishes
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,375
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Frozen doesn't run 90% of the time at 60fps and then drop to 24fps for its key scenes.

It's really jarring.
 
Dictator

Dictator

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
4,932
Berlin, 'SCHLAND
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
^^ what ghostcrew and Alexandros said

But also the fact that 24 is not divisible on a 60hz panel. And it would not be at all anyway even on a 120hz panel since this game is presenting 24fps files in a XX fps container (whatever the framerate is).

Films in the cinema actually run at 24hz and 24 fps, so at least the frames are even.
 
Cerulean_skylark

Cerulean_skylark

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,408
From my understanding, This was an animation house that moved to games (this is their first).
Which makes me believe they were planning a film before transitioning to a game. They've got a film-first approach to the cutscenes rather than video games.
Hence, why we have 24fps cutscenes. They were building a movie first and decided to transition to a game.
 
fourfourfun

fourfourfun

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,695
England
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

In a game it must be weird though. Frozen doesn't snap to 60fps when a song sparks up, only to dial back to 24fps for some exposition.

On the flip - I like the "we're trying to look animated" artistic decision, but you have to get it right. I remember playing Forgotton Anne and liking how that did it.
 
Elandyll

Elandyll

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,829
I think, to explain the 24fps scenes with black bars, the only thing I can come up with (and it's of course tales from my ass) is that at some point in the future we will see an animated movie "Kena: Bridge of Spirits" showing up in Netflix, Amazon Prime or the likes.
It would make sense for a small studio with a backdrop in animation to dedicate time to build such high quality models and animations for what would essentially be a multi format multimedia project.
Thus when having to produce pre-rendered high quality scenes, why not spend the $$ on scenes you will be able to re-use?
I would have preferred real-time in-engine scenes personally, but I guess (emphasis on guess) that's the choice that was made.
 
TooBusyLookinGud

TooBusyLookinGud

Graphics Engineer
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
7,983
California
dock said:
Seeing Digital Foundry complain about 24fps movie files is really interesting. It makes sense, but it also makes me wonder how DF staff feel when watching Frozen on Disney Plus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It was a little strange to me. I complained about it in another thread because I thought there was a problem with them. They seem out of place due to how well the game looks and run in real-time.
 
Serious Sam

Serious Sam

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,354
DX11/12 has shader compilation issue
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This has become such a big issue in PC gaming lately, I hate this so much. Usually it used to be DX12 problem, but in this game it's also in DX11. So there is no way at all to play without shader computation stutters on PC, unless you play through the game once, and then play it again with shader cache already generated for your PC.
 
FuturaBold

FuturaBold

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,525
Why is the PS5 using low textures? Geeze I was amazed with the texture quality in Ratchet so the ability for very high or ultra textures would seem possible, no?
 
Tahnit

Tahnit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,965
Wait it says ps5 uses high texture setting but right below that it says low textures and af? I'm confused
 
Tyaren

Tyaren

Character Artist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
24,801
Why are some of the settings on PS5 so unusually low? Must be an error, hopefully?
 

Deleted member 17289

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,163
Bought the game on PC already having it on ps5, the frame rate hitches and drops were very evident even with settings set to low, refunded the game and kept playing on ps5, it has been great, with the few frame drops Alex mentioned everything else has been solid.
 
Psychotron

Psychotron

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,683
Great video. Wish the issue with Kena randomly stopping would have been mentioned. It's not a loading stutter, she just stops her full stick run randomly. There's also a big dead zone on the left stick and the walking doesn't switch to a run until the stick is basically fully engaged. All those things together make it feel crappy to control.
 
JahIthBer

JahIthBer

Member
Jan 27, 2018
10,383
Dictator said:
^^ what ghostcrew and Alexandros said

But also the fact that 24 is not divisible on a 60hz panel. And it would not be at all anyway even on a 120hz panel since this game is presenting 24fps files in a XX fps container (whatever the framerate is).

Films in the cinema actually run at 24hz and 24 fps, so at least the frames are even.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So even on 144hz it would be bad? don't own the game yet so got no idea.
 
Andromeda

Andromeda

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,847
Real-time cutscenes at 60fps actually do look better than those pre-rendered 24fps ones for me.

Psychotron said:
Great video. Wish the issue with Kena randomly stopping would have been mentioned. It's not a loading stutter, she just stops her full stick run randomly. There's also a big dead zone on the left stick and the walking doesn't switch to a run until the stick is basically fully engaged. All those things together make it feel crappy to control.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Indeed this can be annoying. I hope the devs are going to patch it.
 
Pottuvoi

Pottuvoi

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,065
SunBroDave said:
The much more likely explanation is that the cutscenes are rendered at 24 fps just for stylistic reasons, i.e. to imitate the look of an animated film.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
At such case they should have tried 60fps interlaced video, so they could do proper pull down. ;)
Sadly it seems that consoles or PC cannot switch from 60hz mode to 24hz without a pause.

On Ps5 it would be nice for them to allow 120hz mode which would show those 24fps video files properly. (PC on 120 or 240hz monitor or mode should be fine already.)
JahIthBer said:
So even on 144hz it would be bad? don't own the game yet so got no idea.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
144hz monitors should be able to handle 120hz just fine, but it must be selected from options.
This is also true for any game with fixed time step of 60fps.
 
Last edited:
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,731
It's not that the cutscenes are rendered at 24 is inherently bad, it's just that causes the game to switch between 24 and 60, which is pretty jarring. And there are a handful of real-time cutscenes that run at 60, sometimes right alongside one that runs at 24.

I think consistency would be better, in including versions of the cutscenes that run at 30/60 depending on what mode you're in. Install size would go up, but not by much, and that's not really a concern with the game to begin with, it's pretty small all things considered.
 
Izzard

Izzard

Banned
Sep 21, 2018
4,606
Only real issue I have is when you enter photo mode, if character is in motion, she has strange moving marks on her.
 
Lashley

Lashley

<<Tag Here>>
Member
Oct 25, 2017
60,048
Surprised the loading is quicker on PC tbh

Wonder if anyone will complain about this comparison not being "fair" because it isn't PS5 specs or a PC for the same price 🙄
 
TooBusyLookinGud

TooBusyLookinGud

Graphics Engineer
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
7,983
California
dEvAnGeL said:
Bought the game on PC already having it on ps5, the frame rate hitches and drops were very evident even with settings set to low, refunded the game and kept playing on ps5, it has been great, with the few frame drops Alex mentioned everything else has been solid.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm on PC and it's been pretty solid. For me, I gotta have that native 4K 60fps juice. But if you were having major problems, I'd sacrifice too.
 
Diogo Arez

Diogo Arez

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 20, 2020
17,683
Andromeda said:
Real-time cutscenes at 60fps actually do look better than those pre-rendered 24fps ones for me.


Indeed this can be annoying. I hope the devs are going to patch it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think they already did with today's patch, today for the first time since the game came out I played 3h straight without it happening
 
Andromeda

Andromeda

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,847
Lashley said:
Surprised the loading is quicker on PC tbh

Wonder if anyone will complain about this comparison not being "fair" because it isn't PS5 specs or a PC for the same price 🙄
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Because of traditionnal loadings limited by the CPU. This game on PS5 (~4 sec) has small loadings improvement compared to Pro (~15sec). Look at Death stranding improvement on the pS5 version to see how big the improvement should have being if the devs had properly used the custom I/O. Pro ~1mn30, PS5 ~4sec.
 
dmix90

dmix90

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,885
Serious Sam said:
This has become such a big issue in PC gaming lately, I hate this so much. Usually it used to be DX12 problem, but in this game it's also in DX11. So there is no way at all to play without shader computation stutters on PC, unless you play through the game once, and then play it again with shader cache already generated for your PC.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's kinda mind boggling that some(most) studios are OK with releasing PC versions with stuttering issues... just pre-compile shaders on the first launch if you can't figure out how to do it during gameplay smoothly.

Literally console emulator experience.... even those have pre-compiled shader packs as separate downloads though....
 

Deleted member 17289

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,163
DumpsterJuice said:
I'm on PC and it's been pretty solid. For me, I gotta have that native 4K 60fps juice. But if you were having major problems, I'd sacrifice too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
My experience was similar to what Alex had and showed on the DF video, i think i have an okay system to run the game but these issues were definitely annoying for me.

i7 8700k OC @ 4.9
2080 Ti OC @ 2.1
32 gigs DDR4 @ 3600
 
Bunzy

Bunzy

Banned
Nov 1, 2018
2,205
Lashley said:
Surprised the loading is quicker on PC tbh

Wonder if anyone will complain about this comparison not being "fair" because it isn't PS5 specs or a PC for the same price 🙄
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

some games don't take full advantage of PS5 ssd. Xbox series x had multi platform games that load faster then PS5. Can't really extract a lot of info from a loading test from a small studio. Plus as a dev, why do I care as long as my game is loading fast
 
Skyebaron

Skyebaron

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,416
Do i need to add

r.ScreenPercentage=83

to the engine.ini so TAAU works?

Edit: Nevermind, i forgot you have a screen percentage option in the menus.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 87246

Banned
Dec 2, 2020
2,520
Dictator said:
^^ what ghostcrew and Alexandros said

But also the fact that 24 is not divisible on a 60hz panel. And it would not be at all anyway even on a 120hz panel since this game is presenting 24fps files in a XX fps container (whatever the framerate is).

Films in the cinema actually run at 24hz and 24 fps, so at least the frames are even.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I take it that why movies tend to jerk on a panning shot because 24 isn't half of 60 and this is why modern tv's have "smoothing" options that make movies look 60fps?

Great video as always.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.