The Witness to get a PS4 Pro patch
"Sometimes Sony even surprises developers!"
The developers of The Witness will patch the game to make the most of the PlayStation 4 Pro when it comes out on 10th November.
Developer Jonathan Blow announced that the patch will enhance the overall visual quality of the game.
The Witness already runs at 60 frames per second on the original PS4, so the patch is designed to improve visual quality.
When playing on a PS4 Pro, two modes will be available, depending on the telly you're using.
If you have a 4K TV, The Witness renders at 1440p or possibly higher, while keeping a consistent 60 frames per second. This image is then upscaled to 4K. Text, menus and other user interface features are native 4K.
If you have a telly that is 1080p or lower, the game renders at 1080p instead of the old 900p, with increased antialiasing quality from 2x to 4x MSAA, again while keeping a solid 60 frames per second.
"We are exploring additional visual quality increases, like increased streaming distance for high-resolution meshes, or decreasing the noticeability of the fade-in between faraway LODs and high-res close-up meshes," Blow said.
The developers are also working on HDR support for the game running on PS4 Pro and the original PS4, although it sounds like Sony's announcement of a patch to make all PS4s HDR capable took Blow by surprise.
"We thought we were working on HDR support only for the PS4 Pro, but yesterday Sony announced that they will be enabling HDR support on all PS4s via a firmware update," Blow said.
"Sometimes Sony even surprises developers! (Back when the PS4 was originally announced, we were surprised by some of the final specs too... and I was on stage in that show!)
"We think it's great that Sony are doing this. We don't know the technical details of how it will work, yet, but provided that nothing prevents us, the Witness patch will use HDR on all PS4s when available. (You will, of course, need an HDR TV or monitor for HDR mode to kick in!)"
Oli reviewed The Witness for Eurogamer and loved it. "Big, beautiful and rewarding, Jon Blow's enigmatic puzzle epic is virtuoso game design - and only a fraction too clever for its own good."