GDC 2018: Book of the Dead - Running on PlayStation 4 Pro

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

When this demo running on the latest version of Unity engien was released in January, some cried next-gen only and you will be lucky if late-gen PS5 games would run such graphics. Few days ago, PSU talked about this demo running on PS4 Pro which was amazing and how Unity said how this is representative of gameplay.
Neverthless, some were still doubting it:

Here is the demo with those latest grpahics running on PS4 Pro:

More infos about the demo: http://unity3d.com/book-of-the-dead

The demo uses Quixel Megascans which offer the highest PBR photogrammetry textures in the market yet, that we are longing to see for next-gen, let alone for current gen. But Unity did a great job and were able to port it to PS4 Pro.

While I don't think a PS4 port has been developed yet for this demo and the latest engine and I doubt this could run on base PS4 to start with, since this is mostly developed for the ground on PS4 Pro. This gives an idea how games could look if they target PS4 Pro as base platform instead of being ported to it. We may also witness similar experiences with TLOU2 and Death Stranding were those games are supposed/rumored to be developed for PS4 Pro then ported to PS4, that is why they look beyond what current PS4 look.
Don't get surprised if late gen games are cross-gen games between PS4 Pro and PS5 (when it gets released or nearing release). No one would blame Sony or the devs if they do so at the end of 2020.

II JumPeR I · Mar 25, 2018

I mean its only impressive when you keep in mind that there is no AI and other interactions...

Equanimity · Mar 25, 2018

Wow, that tech demo looks amazing.

Targeting a single plarform can do wonders. I remember when people thought the Uncharted 4 Madagascar demo and Horizon Zero Dawn E3 presentation were running on high end gaming PCs.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

II JumPeR I said:
I mean its only impressive when you keep in mind that there is no AI and other interactions...

And whe have many types of games that could be with this concept like The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter and others. Why rule out getting games looking that good?

Equanimity said:
Wow, that tech demo looks amazing.

I remember when people thought the Uncharted 4 and Horizon Zero Dawn E3 presentation were running on high end gaming PCs.

And TLOU2 and Death Stranding look beyond what is current now, almost next-gen (and probably better than some early next-gen games would look even worse). I mean both look so real and have intricate details.

Elfotografoalocado · Mar 25, 2018

If this is running at 1440p or checkerboard 4K or whatever on the Pro, (As it probably is) then it can run at 1080p on the base PS4 just fine.

Equanimity · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
And TLOU2 and Death Stranding look beyond what is current now, almost next-gen (and probably better than some early next-gen games would look even worse). I mean both look so real and have intricate details.

That's right. I would put Spider-Man in your list too.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

Equanimity said:
That's right. I would put Spider-Man in your list too.

Some instances in Spider-Man loook so real especially the train section where you play Mary-Jane but as a whole package TLOU2 and Death Stranding are the pinnacle of current-gen.

BrickArts295 · Mar 25, 2018

Elfotografoalocado said:
If this is running at 1440p or checkerboard 4K or whatever on the Pro, (As it probably is) then it can run at 1080p on the base PS4 just fine.

Im honestly worried that my base PS4 might fly out of my living room if the graphics get even better this gem XD

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

Elfotografoalocado said:
If this is running at 1440p or checkerboard 4K or whatever on the Pro, (As it probably is) then it can run at 1080p on the base PS4 just fine.

This beyond just resolution upgrade that we are seeing right now from PS4 ro PS4 Pro like I explained but rather intensive techs like Megascans or other lighting techs that probably the base PS4 doesn't have enough brandwidth, or TFlops to run. Otherwise they would have shown the PS4 version like many do. they probably coudl run it on PS4 but they have to cut some features and assets and it won't look as good, not just resolution wise.
You aren't asking yourself why TLOU2 and Death Stranding look so great and they always showed the PS4 Pro version?

Deleted member 5725 · Mar 25, 2018

Let's hope Horizon Zero Dawn 2 on PS5 can capture some of those visuals.

TitanicFall · Mar 25, 2018

I'm sure they can make great walking simulators without a big hit to performance, but I don't see something with that level of graphics running well in an action game.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

Astrochelys said:
Let's hope Horizon Zero Dawn 2 on PS5 can capture some of those visuals.

TitanicFall said:
I'm sure they can make great walking simulators without a big hit to performance, but I don't see something with that level of graphics running well in an action game.

I wonder why some tend to forget TLOU2. The game look sublime and if you are talking about vegetation and trees, the trailers began with them to wow us all, how real they look. But if you mean having such fidelity in open world games, then your comment stands but next-gen will look much better than both.
We still haven't seen how the full open-world sections of Death Stranding look, but from what we saw the game looks much ahead of Horizon. Plants look very realistic, textures seem from photogrammetry with highest details possible.

Equanimity · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
Some instances in Spider-Man loook so real especially the train section where you play Mary-Jane but as a whole package TLOU2 and Death Stranding are the pinnacle of current-gen.

Spider-Man E3 presentation blew me away last year - the lighting, motion blur and animations are better than anything I've seen on a game of its scale.

TLoU and Death Stranding are going to look amazing, I'm just reserving my judgement until I see some gameplay footage.

mario_O · Mar 25, 2018

Didn't know Unity could look this good. I thought it was mostly cartoonish games.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

Equanimity said:
Spider-Man E3 presentation blew me away last year - the lighting, motion blur and animations are better than anything I've seen on a game of its scale.

TLoU and Death Stranding are going to look amazing, I'm just reserving my judgement until I see some gameplay footage.

Well I won't doubt how they will look tbh.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

mario_O said:
Didn't know Unity could look this good. I thought it was mostly cartoonish games.

Unity used to not be very optimsied on PS4. Now not only they ported their latest engine on PS4 Pro but also they used Quixel Megascans, something I have never expected to see this gen. Those scans weigh many gigabytes.

ApeEscaper · Mar 25, 2018

This is likely built from the ground up for the Pro making more use out of the hardware

get2sammyb · Mar 25, 2018

This looks ridiculous.

Equanimity · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
Well I won't doubt how they will look tbh.

I don't doubt the visual output of Decima+Kojima and Naughty Dog either.

I just want to reserve my opinion until I see some gameplay. That said, the in-engine stuff looks great.

Deleted member 5725 · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
I wonder why some tend to forget TLOU2. The game look sublime and if you are talking about vegetation and trees, the trailers began with them to wow us all, how real they look. But if you mean having such fidelity in open world games, then your comment stands but next-gen will look much better than both.
We still haven't seen how the full open-world sections of Death Stranding look, but from what we saw the game looks much ahead of Horizon. Plants look very realistic, textures seem from photogrammetry with highest details possible.

Indeed, open-world games would be very resource heavy in that fidelity. TLOU2 looks phenomenal in that trailer, I agree.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

apeAsnake said:
This is likely built from the ground up for the Pro making more use out of the hardware

Exactly. Otherwise they would have shown the PS4 version. Alas, the base console would probably not run it at all.

Auctopus · Mar 25, 2018

Whilst the demo looks great, I don't think we can start claiming this how games are going to look until you have a game with mechanics, systems, AI and an reasonably expansive world WITH these graphics.

dobahking91 · Mar 25, 2018

This is very impressive.

Snake Eater · Mar 25, 2018

Astrochelys said:
Let's hope Horizon Zero Dawn 2 on PS5 can capture some of those visuals.

probably a PS4 title

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

Auctopus said:
Whilst the demo looks great, I don't think we can start claiming this how games are going to look until you have a game with mechanics, systems, AI and an reasonably expansive world WITH these graphics.

Don't be surprised if you see this demo ending up as a full game in the future. I think no one seems to release how they could port megascans to the PS4 Pro with those graphics. they did the impossible. You think adding AI or characters, or gameplay mechanics is harder?
In the previous demo they showed characters moving and behaving which seems they have AI already. That is why I said expect to see this as full game some day.

shoemasta · Mar 25, 2018

Auctopus said:
Whilst the demo looks great, I don't think we can start claiming this how games are going to look until you have a game with mechanics, systems, AI and an reasonably expansive world WITH these graphics.

But thats what tech demos are for. They are showcase pieces that make a statement about what is achievable and about how far we've come.

etta · Mar 25, 2018

We have gameplay footage of TLOU II and Death Stranding????

Wollan · Mar 25, 2018

What Remains of Edith Finch looks like this right now on PS4 Pro. Running on Crytek.

I'm way more impressed with the big titles like Horizon that has tons of dynamic stuff happening while still offering high quality environments (see the Tree thread).

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

etta said:
We have gameplay footage of TLOU II and Death Stranding????

We are doubting ND and Kojima now? Or the trailers were CGI?

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

shoemasta said:
But thats what tech demos are for. They are showcase pieces that make a statement about what is achievable and about how far we've come.

Unity said this is representative of gameplay and in the demo we saw that he is moving and playing.

RoboPlato · Mar 25, 2018

Do we know what res this runs at? I assume it's closer to 1080p than 4K.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

RoboPlato said:
Do we know what res this runs at? I assume it's closer to 1080p than 4K.

Check the video quality. The maximum is 1080p. That is why I said the PS4 Pro is lucky to run this tech, even at 1080p. So no one should expect this to be ported to PS4.

v_iHuGi · Mar 25, 2018

apeAsnake said:
This is likely built from the ground up for the Pro making more use out of the hardware

Of course, those consoles will not have games that can´t run on base systems though.

RoboPlato · Mar 25, 2018

Wollan said:
What Remains of Edith Finch looks like this right now on PS4 Pro. Running on Crytek.

I'm way more impressed with the big titles like Horizon that has tons of dynamic stuff happening while still offering high quality environments (see the Tree thread).

Edith Finch runs on UE4

It looks damn good but not quite as dense and full as this. There's a lot of foliage variety, high density, and all with advanced lighting going on here.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

RoboPlato said:
Edith Finch runs on UE4

It looks damn good but not quite as dense and full as this. There's a lot of foliage variety with advanced lighting going on here.

And every tiny leaf moves and has physics and every tiny bit casts shadows.

etta · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
We are doubting ND and Kojima now? Or the trailers were CGI?

Excuse me?
You're proclaiming those two are already the best visual powerhouses and when I'm asking what you base it on your response is "don't dare doubt them"?
Pffft. For all you know Cyberpunk 2077 is gonna outclass both, but CDPR isn't a Sony dev right

ED_209 · Mar 25, 2018

PLASTICA-MAN said:
We are doubting ND and Kojima now? Or the trailers were CGI?

I think there's no reason to doubt them. Both TLOU2 and Death Stranding are looking like a natural evolution (from U4 to TLOU2 and from Horiozon to DS)

nelsonroyale · Mar 25, 2018

assert quality, variety and movement in that demo is awesome.

Yerffej · Mar 25, 2018

Man I could picture playing Witcher 4 with that kind of good looking environment.

Hey Please · Mar 25, 2018

PS4 did melt trying to run this demo.

KrigareN- · Mar 25, 2018

I don't think this is that impressive considering Horizon ZD already delivers something close to this while being a busy game.

This is easily achievable come next gen, we're already close to it.

ApeEscaper · Mar 25, 2018

v_iHuGi said:
Of course, those consoles will not have games that can´t run on base systems though.

That's why this game won't release on console it's a tech demo so they get a pass so they only develop the game on the Pro and not the Base PS4. Instead of developing it ground up for Base PS4 first then enhance it to Pro. You can get more out of the Pro if a game/tech demo is built from the ground up for Pro first ignoring Base

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

apeAsnake said:
That's why this game won't release on console it's a tech demo so they get a pass so they only develop the game on the Pro and not the Base PS4. Instead of developing it ground up for Base PS4 first then enhance it to Pro. You can get more out of the Pro if a game/tech demo is built from the ground up for Pro first ignoring Base

v_iHuGi said:
Exactly, that's why you won't see those games coming to Ps4 base neither Pro.

I agree but don't be surprised like I said, that late gen games will be cross-gen between PS4 Pro and PS5 (when it gets released). Many gaming analysts are expecting this to happen and no one can blame the devs or console makers for that at that time.
Personally, I expect this demo to turn into a full game and be released on PC, then later when PS5 announced on PS5 and PS4 Pro with PS5 offering higher resolution like Native 4K and higher features like better shadows or other stuff.

HighspeedRefleX · Mar 25, 2018

etta said:
Excuse me?
You're proclaiming those two are already the best visual powerhouses and when I'm asking what you base it on your response is "don't dare doubt them"?
Pffft. For all you know Cyberpunk 2077 is gonna outclass both, but CDPR isn't a Sony dev right

Current-gen Cyberpunk2077 technically shouldn't outclass TLOU P2 as it is an open world game. If thats what you meant

v_iHuGi · Mar 25, 2018

apeAsnake said:
That's why this game won't release on console it's a tech demo so they get a pass so they only develop the game on the Pro and not the Base PS4. Instead of developing it ground up for Base PS4 first then enhance it to Pro. You can get more out of the Pro if a game/tech demo is built from the ground up for Pro first ignoring Base

Exactly, that's why you won't see those games coming to Ps4 base neither Pro.

Hey Please · Mar 25, 2018

So given this was running on Pro's 4.2TF and Jaguar cores @~~1.8GHz~~ as baseline with default physics engine running for wind related animation and collision physics, then it would not be outlandish to expect this level of fidelity @30fps at resolutions of above 1080p in SP games running on next gen consoles.

Edit: 2.1GHz Jag cores

RoboPlato · Mar 25, 2018

i-Lo said:
So given this was running on Pro's 4.2TF and Jaguar cores @1.8GHz as baseline with default physics engine running for wind related animation and collision physics, then it would not be outlandish to expect this level of fidelity @30fps at resolutions of above 1080p in SP games running on next gen consoles.

I think the Pro's CPU is 2.1 Ghz.

PLASTICA-MAN · Mar 25, 2018

i-Lo said:
So given this was running on Pro's 4.2TF and Jaguar cores @1.8GHz as baseline with default physics engine running for wind related animation and collision physics, then it would not be outlandish to expect this level of fidelity @30fps at resolutions of above 1080p in SP games running on next gen consoles.

2.1 GHz.

Hey Please · Mar 25, 2018

RoboPlato said:
I think the Pro's CPU is 2.1 Ghz.

PLASTICA-MAN said:
2.1 GHz.

Yep, you're correct. Thanks.

MilesQ · Mar 25, 2018

Doesn't look any better than the wooded areas in Ethan Carter to me.

GDC 2018: Book of the Dead - Running on PlayStation 4 Pro

GOTY Tracking Thread Master

Editor at Push Square

Self-requested Ban

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account

The Wise Ones

Mostly Positive

Prophet of Regret