FromSoftware’s Bloodborne is easily one of the best PlayStation 4 exclusives, and it shouldn’t be. Best, sure! Exclusive? Not to just the haggard PS4!
On PlayStation 4 hardware, Bloodborne often falls below 30fps, has issues with frame-pacing, and runs at a very aliased 720p. While it still looks and plays great, it’s a game that shows almost every limitation of the last generation, and it deserves to be played on more powerful systems.
While it seems that a port of the game will never come to PC or other platforms, especially considering PlayStation’s recent renewed focus on PS5 exclusives, a basic PlayStation 5 remaster has been at the top of fans’ minds since the launch of the new console.
As it turns out, all PlayStation, FromSoftware, or whoever, needs to do is just raise the resolution and unlock the damn framerate. Why? Because modded PlayStation 5 consoles run the game extraordinarily well.
Through some official testing by Digital Foundry, a modded PS5 that treats the PS4 game like a native PS5 app, therefore using an additional 4GB of RAM and boosting its CPU and GPU clock speeds, can run the game at a native 4K at 30fps with no frame-pacing issues. Additionally, running the game at its original resolution can see the game reach 120fps with VRR support accounting for drops.
Of course, the sweet spot is a configuration that runs the game at 1440p with an unlocked framerate, running around 70fps with great image quality. Additionally, fan-made mods for the game can include optimisations for its global illumination, improved anti-aliasing, and even removing its dismal chromatic aberration.
This is all done via the use of a modded PS5 and some basic config files, and that’s all fans are asking for. In fact, right now, those using the very early PlayStation 4 emulator on their Steam Deck can already play Bloodborne above 720p 30fps, but PlayStation 5 owners just aren’t allowed. Unless they mod their system, of course, which PlayStation doesn’t want them to do.
In game development, there often aren’t easy ports, but fans simply aren’t even asking for a port anymore. At this point, some config changes—similar to how Xbox 360 games run on Xbox Series X—would suffice for fans, but PlayStation is bizarrely disinterested in providing a better version of one of its best games to its actual users.
There is an easy version of Bloodborne that could be provided to PlayStation users. In fact, it could be quickly packaged with a new trophy list and a shiny new box and lobbed out at full price. Fans would undoubtedly buy it. It’s here for those who don’t want to play by PlayStation’s rules. So why shouldn’t it be available for those who will?
