Black Myth: Wukong gets a PS5 Pro patch - and the base console code is improved too
Changes are welcome - but don't go far enough.
Black Myth Wukong was a phenomenon. The UE5-powered action epic sold millions of copies when it launched earlier this year, impressing with its fast gameplay and sophisticated visuals. However, its configuration on PS5 left something to be desired, employing bizarre frame-rate locks and frame generation with a 30fps base frame-rate. Developer Game Science has addressed at least some of those issues as of the latest patch - and the studio has also added PS5 Pro support, using PSSR to improve image quality for Pro players. So is the console version finally in reasonable shape? And should we expect any issues from the Pro upgrade?
Let's start by taking a quick look at the patched PS5 code. The most obvious superficial change here is that there is a sharpening slider now. With no sharpening applied, the image looks soft but relatively free of aliased edges. Dialing it up to five, which is the default, gives the image a look that is pretty typical for lower-res current-gen console titles. Ramping up the slider to 10 provides maximum crispiness, for players who want to max out on local contrast. Compared to the launch code, a value of about seven matches the base PS5 in its performance configuration.
Outside of the sharpness tweak, the most obvious visual change is that the game's Lumen GI presentation is slightly altered. There's more obvious occlusion present in certain parts of the game world, essentially. The shadow maps sometimes appear slightly different as well. The other modes also have some GI differences relative to the launch code, though they are affected less obviously.
Other visual settings appear similar, at least in my tests. That includes resolution, which remains at 1080p internally, with no apparent upsampling to a higher output resolution. Frame-gen is, unfortunately, still a reality here, and performance is generally similar in my tests as well, usually holding 60fps fairly well. The game's intro runs with frame-gen disabled and mostly hangs in the 40s and 50s, and there are some occasional dips during other segments as well. I suspect the game may be disabling frame-gen during especially sudden changes in camera position, which is likely the source of some of these dips. Whichever way you slice it, basing a performance mode on frame generation - which impacts input lag - is not a great fit for a fast action game running at only 60fps - and it's likely not even necessary for 60fps gameplay, as we demonstrated in tests a few months ago. Lean more heavily on FSR or TSR and a reasonable 60fps experience should be achievable, even on the PS5's CPU and GPU.
Performance mode is similar then - but the other two modes differ more dramatically. The quality mode takes an obvious hit to image quality, with less definition and detail in foliage and fine geometry. It's a substantial loss relative to the earlier code. A quick pixel count reveals the issue: the quality mode appears to be rendering at 1080p, down from roughly 1440p on average before. The old quality mode was upsampling to 4K, while the new quality mode looks more like 1440p or 1620p. It's a baffling choice.
Other visual settings do seem to have been bumped though. Shadows are obviously of a higher resolution and have less aggressive cascades, while the draw distance for foliage is improved somewhat. Essentially, you're trading a higher resolution in the launch version for better visual settings in the current version. Frame-rates are improved over the base game, at least in a sense. The original quality mode ran with an unstable frame-rate, often running in the low-to-mid 30s. Now, the quality mode has a more sensible straight 30fps cap, producing an evenly frame-paced experience without dips.
Balance mode gets a very different visual treatment though. The new image obviously has more detail, and finer geometric lines manage to present without artifacting. A pixel count reveals a similar setup to quality mode: a 1080p internal resolution, with a subjectively 1440p-like output. Performance-wise, it spends most of its time at or close to 45fps, which remains - bafflingly - the default frame-rate cap in this mode. That means an unsteady procession of frames at 60Hz output, with a mix of 16ms and 33ms frame-times in typical play.
New in this patch is an alternative version of the balance mode. With the PS5 set to automatically enable 120Hz output, the balance mode now aims for a flat 40fps reading, with each frame essentially tripled to evenly fit a 120Hz refresh. In my experience, this actually holds a stable 40fps, with relatively rare - and small - dips. This small change makes this mode highly useful in my opinion. The other modes can also run at 120Hz output with a compatible display, but they still target 60fps and 30fps respectively.
To wrap things up, the quality mode and balance mode look very similar now, though the quality mode has a higher setting for shadows. However, the quality mode and balance mode have a very similar Lumen GI presentation, with the performance mode appearing a little coarser. Then there are the expected image quality differences: the performance mode is visibly 1080p-like, while the quality and balance modes have greater clarity. Of these modes, I really think the 40fps balance mode at 120Hz is best. It has good input response, consistent frame pacing, and feels reasonably smooth. The quality mode is fine, though the hit to frame-rate is a little steep, and the performance mode's frame-gen is still a bit too much for my tastes. I might prefer a non-frame-gen 60fps targeting mode though, if one was available.
On PS5 Pro, let's start with the quality mode. The biggest change here is the introduction of PSSR, which works from roughly a 1296p input resolution typically, but produces a 4K-like final image. It's perceptibly sharper, especially during movement, and holds up really nicely on a 4K TV set. Some elements that weren't effectively anti-aliased with FSR are cleaner here, like the noisy hair on the first boss and recently disoccluded detail in general. There is a bit of that signature PSSR noise if you look closely, though it's not obvious from normal viewing distances.
Despite the fact that this is a UE5 game, the lighting is generally stable and consistent here with PSSR, without Silent Hill 2-like shimmer. That said, the lighting was already pretty stable with FSR, so perhaps that's just less of an issue in general for the content in this title. I did note some Lumen changes again between the PS5 code and PS5 Pro, though these seemed more substantial than the tweaks I noted between the various PS5 versions. Performance is in line with the base console at a locked 30 frames per second in my tests, which feels all right on a controller with motion blur maxed.
The balance mode is quite similar to quality mode, with a roughly 1296p typical internal res taken to 4K using PSSR. The most conspicuous visual difference here comes down to the shadows, which are of a higher resolution in the quality mode. The setup is similar to the PS5 split then, with a fairly conservative upgrade for the 30fps-targeting mode variant. There are some Lumen tweaks though that do mirror the quality mode a little as well. Frame-rates hovering around 45fps are typical at 60Hz output, and the game delivers a more or less straight 40fps at 120Hz output. I'm not a fan of the way the game looks on a 60Hz panel in this mode, but at 120Hz you get steady frame pacing and consistent controller response.
The performance mode hasn't changed much. It's still a 60fps-targeting mode using frame-gen and still runs at a 1080p resolution. Compared side-by-side, it appears very similar to the old performance mode, minus some Lumen discrepancies. This mode still appears to use FSR 3 as well. It also performs very similarly to the base console performance mode. Again, we see the same procession of 33ms frames if the camera position changes rapidly and non-linearly, suggesting frame gen may be turned off in these moments.
It's unfortunate that this mode hasn't been substantially revised, because this is probably the mode on the base console that I find most lacking. Between the PS5 Pro's larger GPU and boosted CPU, I'd hope the resources would be there for a decent 60fps-targeting mode without frame-gen. Perhaps this is something Game Science can consider for a future update though we're still baffled as to why frame generating from a 30fps baseline can be considered a good idea at all.
All told, I'm reasonably pleased with Black Myth: Wukong's technical evolution on PS5 since launch, as both the quality and balance modes feel like they make reasonable trade-offs and can achieve stable frame-rates. There are still some unusual elements in the mix - like frame-gen at 60fps, and 45fps frame-rate targets - that do mar the game and make certain mode and refresh rate combinations difficult to use. That's not a death sentence for more sophisticated players, but it will negatively affect the vast majority of players who leave the game on its defaults, or who don't understand what the mode toggles are meant to achieve.
The Pro upgrade is on the conservative side, but does represent a clear improvement from the base game. The quality and balance modes go from a 1440p-like image to a 4K-like one, with PSSR providing a nice upgrade for Pro users. There are no wild settings bumps here or attempts at extra ray tracing, but the image quality does look clearly better in typical play, which is something we can't always say for Pro upgrades. So, Black Myth: Wukong has taken several steps in the right direction, even if I think a few configuration calls remain misguided. I'm pretty comfortable recommending the PS5 and Pro versions of the game now, just with a few caveats.