About a couple of months ago, the release of a story trailer for Sony and Santa Monica Studio’s forthcoming game, God of War, caused consternation among some who claimed that there had been a graphics downgrade during development. This was later refuted by the title’s principal artist, Raf Grassetti, as he explained that the difference in visuals stemmed from changes to various light and fog assets during production. Whatever the case may be, it appears as if the next entry in the critically acclaimed action-adventure series will at least look stellar on a PlayStation 4 Pro, as a recent technical analysis from Digital Foundry has praised the game’s graphics on the platform.
As seen below in the video from Digital Foundry, gaming fans can get a look at the 4K output of the visuals on display in God of War on PlayStation 4 Pro, with the outlet stating that the game should “comfortably stand alongside the likes of Uncharted 4 and Horizon: Zero Dawn when it comes to presentation.” Like HZD, God of War manages to achieve such smooth 4K graphics by using a form of checkerboard rendering to reach a 2160p pixel count, with Digital Foundry lauding GoW as “shaping up to be one of the cleanest games available on the platform.”
In addition to Digital Foundry’s commendation of God of War’s 4K visuals, the outlet goes on to express how impressed it is by the high quality of title’s individual assets, with the protagonist Kratos being “extremely detailed and beautifully shaded” with the game’s various other characters receiving equal treatment. Plus, God of War’s environments are apparently gorgeous throughout, with “the texture detail on display [being] first-rate across the board.”
What’s more is that Digital Foundry applauds God of War’s particle effects – which are potentially GPU-driven – its smooth rendering of flowing cloths, its use of high quality volumetric lighting and fog, cleanly rendered shadows, and “robust per-object motion blur.” The only visual element that Digital Foundry can find to criticize so far is GoW’s reflections, as certain water surfaces “[don’t] seem to fully reflect all of the surroundings.”
Digital Foundry also touches on Santa Monica Studio’s decision to alter God of War’s camera system to have a tight third-person over-the-shoulder perspective this time around, which is a feature that was partially implemented to do away with camera cuts, so that cinematics and action will flow seamlessly without loading screens. Unfortunately, though, Digital Foundry notes that it’s still unclear how such a feature will all come together once the title has been released. Nevertheless, when one takes all of this into account, it looks as if God of War is prepared to raise the bar once again when it comes to intense action, epic storytelling, and downright beautiful graphical displays.
God of War is set to release on April 20, 2018 for PlayStation 4.
Source: Digital Foundry
