Your wish has been granted. A Plague Tale: Requiem released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S in late 2022 – a true…
Your wish has been granted. A Plague Tale: Requiem released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S in late 2022 – a true next generation project with a huge leap in visual quality over the original 2019 game. A game that pushed developer Asobo Studio’s in-house engine with vastly higher quality materials, lighting, and scene detail – even boosting the number of rats from 5,000 to a tidal wave of 300,000. It remains a real showcase for newer consoles, but for many, the discourse online was side-tracked by the fact it ran at just 30 frames per second on PS5 and Series X. Or, at 40fps if you happened to run the game with a 120Hz display connected. Still, it’s 30fps for a majority of people and crucially a step back from the original game’s 60fps performance when played on these consoles.
Enter patch 1.5 then, and Asobo finally has a response. This new update adds a 60 frames per second performance mode, next to the existing 30fps resolution mode – and it genuinely works. At last, the game’s action, its combat, the camera motion all flow at a silky smooth 60fps. In fact on both PS5 and Series X I’ve barely spotted a single drop underneath on this new performance mode. As an aside, Series S sadly receives no upgrade here whatsoever, and that version sticks to 30fps as usual. But there is a catch for the two premium consoles as well.
There is a trade-off. The clue to just how 60fps is achieved is in Asobo’s patch notes, where on PC there are new options as of patch 1.5. Crucially, players are now able to adjust the refresh rate for rats and NPCs – as well as reduce the number of rats on-screen. All of this saves hugely on CPU performance. And yes, to cut to the chase, both PS5 and Series X make use of these ‘low rat and NPC refresh rate’ options. The result being? While we get 60fps gameplay in the performance mode, the catch is the swarms of rats – and characters around towns – still update at 30 frames per second.
The most obvious example of Asobo’s reduced animation trick is in Requiem’s dark crypt areas. We get 60fps animations on Amicia as she lights a path through the shadows – but here the rats at her feet scurry around at 30fps. It creates an otherworldly effect, a disconnect between the player motion – the camera – running at 60, and then the swarm of rats updating at half that rate. Honestly for any scenes where rats dominate the screen space to such an extent, it begs the question: can the game always truly claim to be running at 60? The good news is, this doesn’t represent most of gameplay. Entire missions go by without seeing any half-refresh elements, rats or otherwise, and you might get used to it too. Either way, it’s a clear demonstration of just why A Plague Tale Requiem was fixed at 30fps in the first place on release.
Curiously, it’s difficult to spot an obvious reduction in the number of rats on PS5 or Series X – as per the PC option. I’ll be honest, I haven’t counted all 300,000, but what we do have in the 60fps performance mode is still an overwhelming amount. No complaints. The more standout change however is in the NPC refresh rate on PS5 and Series X.
