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Cyberpunk 2077's massive Phantom Liberty expansion has arrived, its current-gen only nature allowing CD Projekt RED to push visual fidelity harder than the core game on release. In this tech review, Oliver Mackenzie assesses visual quality and performance in the expansion content, before circling back to the 2.0 update to the core game to see if that has improved over the older code.

00:00 Overview
01:08 Phantom Liberty visuals and performance
07:06 Patch 2.0 changes and performance
11:45 Final thoughts

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[adamsapple]

TL-DR

- Only supported on new-gen consoles and PC, dropped support for PS4/XBO
- Dogtown has more open and 'car friendly' layout for traversal

Visuals:
- Perf and RT on PS5/SX, and Perf and Quality on Series S

- Perf mode:
- PS5: 1080p~1440p upscaled to 1800p
- SX: 1152p~ 1440p upscaled to 1800p
- SS: 648p~900p upscaled to 1080p

- RT/Quality mode:
- SX|PS5: 1440p upscaled to 2160p
- SS: 1080p upscaled to 1440p

- All 3 consoles have lowered the performance modes max resolution ceilings in the latest patch
- Xbox consoles show signs of hardware VRS
- FSR2 can sometimes 'breaks and re-resolve' image, seen in Quality mode and mostly on Series S
- PS5|SX still have FSR2 related shimmering resolve in some areas, and the peak resolution is lower so they can look a little bit less defined in stills

Performance:
- Dogdown is heavier on resources than most Night City
- All consoles drop from 60fps in open world traversal, mostly pronounced on SS
- Driving can cause performance to drop to 50s or below. Combat also drops but is less intrusive
- 30 FPS Quality mode is also prone to drop frames here and there during fast traversal
- DF thinks it's better to stick to 60FPS even though the FPS dips can be annoying

- Older areas:
- Performance is notably better in Patch 2.0 compared to previous patches in older areas
- SX prone to drop more frames when driving in Night City
- 30 FPS modes are mostly locked 30 with minimal drops

- Most other changes in patch are artistic, eg more notable vignetting in some places, difference in camera placement when driving etc
- Changes here and there in textures, color grading, lighting in some areas also seen
- No notable bugs during DF testing

 

[RedC]

Glad I waited to finally jump in and start playing.

 

[GymWolf]

How many video can they milk from a single game?

I think starfield had like 3 videos? How many for CP already?

 

[Snowdonhoffen]

Resolutions found

Apparent VRS implementation on Xbox versions

Resolution in performance mode dropped to 1800p from 2160p, makes the game look slightly blurrier on both consoles

 

[Horseganador]

It seems that PS5 has better framerate when driving and no problems with VRS.

 

[TxKnight7]

PS5: 1008p
SX: 1152p

 

[Chuck Berry]

- DF thinks it's better to stick to 60FPS even though the FPS dips can be annoying

Well DF can suck my balls.

If John offered you crack would you smoke it?

"Only if the rock has FSR 3.0 and is at native 4K" - Most GAF plebs

 

[solidus12]

 

[Darsxx82]

The new area Of Phanton Liberty look excelent. More NPCs, geometry and I could say a step up artistically.


One of the games with the best graphics section on the console. A shame that the CDRedengine graphics engine is no longer used.

We will see what CDP offers with UE5, I think it may be one of the studies that can offer the best results.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Did PS5 get a visual upgrade or is it pretty much the same?

 

[Chuck Berry]

Did PS5 get a visual upgrade or is it pretty much the same?

Its been getting visual updates for awhile starting all the way back with 1.6

2.0 made it even prettier.

 

[TVexperto]

Resolutions found

Apparent VRS implementation on Xbox versions

Resolution in performance mode dropped to 1800p from 2160p, makes the game look slightly blurrier on both consoles

why would they recommend performance mode than on ps5? makes no sense

 

[balls of snow]

Good shit.

 

[adamsapple]

Did PS5 get a visual upgrade or is it pretty much the same?

No, based on the video just looks like some artistic changes to textures, lighting in some places etc.

Doesn't look like much in terms of visual enhancements.

They did reduce the resolution ceiling though, likely because the new area would have tanked even harder, it already drops to 50s even with the lower ceiling.

 

[Flabagast]

Did PS5 get a visual upgrade or is it pretty much the same?

Yes, there are visual upgrades all over the board that are pretty strongly noticeable imho.

 

[Dr.D00p]

Playing Cp 2077 without Path Tracing....Urrrgghh, go away,go away...no.

 

[Hugare]

Did PS5 get a visual upgrade or is it pretty much the same?

It actually got a resolution downgrade, but still looks really crisp (1800p)

But artistically I've been noticing tons of little differences that adds to the visuals: some models have been tweaked (Silverhand's, for example), textures, lighting and etc (as seen on the analysis)

I've played tons of Cyberpunk over the years, on my PS4, than PS5 and PC with RT.
I used to play on PC 'cause the lack of RT was too much, but now, I'm playing it on my PS5 and I dont feel like I'm loosing much in terms of visuals.

Also, I'm running on RT mode 'cause the 30 FPS is basically perfectly locked (havent tested the DLC yet). Much better than an unstable 60, imo.

Game looks and plays extremely polished at the moment

 

[DeepEnigma]

Apparent VRS implementation on Xbox versions

Vaseline Rendering Solution hideously strikes again.

 

[Skifi28]

Playing Cp 2077 without Path Tracing....Urrrgghh, go away,go away...no.

It's a nice demo mode, but it's a pretty bad experience if you're actually playing like that. From visual artifact and glitches galore to half the missions being too dark to actually see anything as it was never balanced around PT.

 

[GHG]

Apparent VRS implementation on Xbox versions

I don't understand, what's the point of making the game run at a higher resolution if you're just going to ruin it with this shoddy VRS? The numbers/letters to the left behind the pyramid aren't even legible due to how much it butchers the IQ.

 

[Thirty7ven]

So what’s the point of VRS if it looks worse and doesn’t make Xbox perform noticeably better?

Hell apparently it runs worse, so what the hell is the point?

 

[Bojji]

PS5: 1008p
SX: 1152p

But looks worse thanks to VRS.

 

[DeepEnigma]

So what’s the point of VRS if it looks worse and doesn’t make Xbox perform
noticeably better?

Hell apparently it runs worse, so what the hell is the point?

Remember when the buzzword was talked up like the second coming of XSX power by a certain someone? VRS is trash.

 

[drotahorror]

Can't wait for 8k TVs to be mainstream...

 

[Thirty7ven]

Remember when the buzzword was talked up like the second coming of XSX power by a certain someone? VRS is trash.

4 holidays on the market and I’ve yet to see any of these silver bullets hit the mark. Don’t want to hear none of the “wait for the tools” bs either, Series X is standard off the shelf AMD.

 

[Thief1987]

Hell apparently it runs worse, so what the hell is the point?

To not run much worse.

 

[Darsxx82]

So what’s the point of VRS if it looks worse and doesn’t make Xbox perform
noticeably better?

Hell apparently it runs worse, so what the hell is the point?

You get a sharper image in general even though at certain points outside the player's field of vision they lose definition.... That capture does not show the general IQ.

Then, performance in the new Phantom Liberty zone is the same in both versions. It is in the old area where it seems that performance has worsened while driving in XSX compared to patch 1.6 when, in principle, only the average resolution has been reduced and the result should be the opposite...

Then, it is strange that in the preview that DF analyzed a month ago the performance was better in Phantom Liberty zone and even the XSX version performed better.... although no difference in resolution was detected.

 

[Flabagast]

That's what I call a gen apart basically

 

[shamoomoo]

How many video can they milk from a single game?

I think starfield had like 3 videos? How many for CP already?

The video is about the DLC and the minor improvement for the base game with latest patch. If I'm not mistaken, Cyberpunk DLC is the biggest game this month.

 

[GHG]

You get a sharper image in general even though at certain points outside the player's field of vision they lose definition.... That capture does not show the general IQ.

What?

The whole screen is in vision. What the hell are you talking about?

 

[Bojji]

That's what I call a gen apart basically

And cp was like that even on last gen.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

It actually got a resolution downgrade, but still looks really crisp (1800p)

But artistically I've been noticing tons of little differences that adds to the visuals: some models have been tweaked (Silverhand's, for example), textures, lighting and etc (as seen on the analysis)

I've played tons of Cyberpunk over the years, on my PS4, than PS5 and PC with RT.
I used to play on PC 'cause the lack of RT was too much, but now, I'm playing it on my PS5 and I dont feel like I'm loosing much in terms of visuals.

Also, I'm running on RT mode 'cause the 30 FPS is basically perfectly locked (havent tested the DLC yet). Much better than an unstable 60, imo.

Game looks and plays extremely polished at the moment

Is RT mode new? Haven’t payed in a year or so

Is it reflections or shadows?

 

[DenchDeckard]

Big oooof.

My pc never drops under 100 fps and looks insane compared to this. we need pro consoles now!

 

[Kilau]

How do I uninstall VRS on my Xbox?

 

[Hugare]

Is RT mode new? Haven’t payed in a year or so

Is it reflections or shadows?

Nah, its there since day one on next gen versions

Its just RT shadows. Reflections use Ultra Quality preset, but no RT.

RT shadows received a bump tho from being only indoors to indoors/outdoors in the last patch (not this one)

 

[shamoomoo]

I don't understand, what's the point of making the game run at a higher resolution if you're just going to ruin it with this shoddy VRS? The numbers/letters to the left behind the pyramid aren't even legible due to how much it butchers the IQ.

I think this the affect of having the Series S being the better selling console where it holds back the Series X depending if a developer targets the S or X first.

 

[Darsxx82]

What?

The whole screen is in vision. What the hell are you talking about?

You can listen again to what is being said.... VRS helps to raise the average resolution which is important when scaling from FSR2.

The possible "artifacts" for VRS are not constant, they do not always occur. In fact, it does not apply to daytime scenes or with luminosity . Nor to all the elements of the scene, only to certain points where its use can "go unnoticed"
That specific scene may become more evident due to the circumstances (darkness and bloom of lights), but it is not even remotely a constant situation. And I wouldn't rule out that the union with the scaling of FSR2 has somewhat accentuated its visibility in that scene.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

What?

The whole screen is in vision. What the hell are you talking about?

The only beneficial scenario for VRS is when it is combined with some kind of gaze tracking to intelligently change the IQ depending on where the user is looking a.k.a. VR with gaze tracking. It makes no sense for a flat screen TV when all the ugliness is always in your field of view.

 

[Windom Earle]

It's a nice demo mode, but it's a pretty bad experience if you're actually playing like that. From visual artifact and glitches galore to half the missions being too dark to actually see anything as it was never balanced around PT.

lmao wut. Calibrate your shit and stop fake news.

 

[GHG]

You can listen again to what is being said.... VRS helps to raise the average resolution which is important when scaling from FSR2.

The possible "artifacts" for VRS are not constant, they do not always occur. In fact, it does not apply to daytime scenes or with luminosity . Nor to all the elements of the scene, only to certain points where its use can "go unnoticed"
That specific scene may become more evident due to the circumstances (darkness and bloom of lights), but it is not even remotely a constant situation

So overall you get wildly inconsistent IQ as a result. Great.

The way you previously worded it made it seem as if the system is supposed to be able to account for where the player is looking, which it can't because the whole screen will be in focus when playing on a regular TV/monitor.

The only beneficial scenario for VRS is when it is combined with some kind of gaze tracking to intelligently change the IQ depending on where the user is looking a.k.a. VR with gaze tracking. It makes no sense for a flat screen TV when all the ugliness is always in your field of view.

Exactly what I was thinking, the only time it would make sense to apply something like that is in VR with foveated rendering.

 

[Nankatsu]

As someone who played the entire game at launch on a potato PC, the PS5 version feels like a sweet cup of tea to me.

 

[Skifi28]

lmao wut. Calibrate your shit and stop fake news.

I gave my opinion after playing with PT on for over 10 hours. "Fake news", what is this, Twitter?

 

[Windom Earle]

I gave my opinion after playing with PT on for over 10 hours. "Fake news", what is this, Twitter?

Seems hyperbole or just misinformation. PT + RR has amazing iq. Would rather stick with DF than with random Gaffer who is probably playing with 10fps on a potato.

 

[Horseganador]

I never understood why there was so much hype about VRS, gaining a little performance at the cost of destroying image quality in some parts doesn't make sense.

 

[Skifi28]

Seems hyperbole or just misinformation. PT + RR has amazing iq. Would rather stick with DF than with random Gaffer who is probably playing with 10fps on a potato.

You can believe whatever you like, I simply gave my opinion. Also, If you watch the DF video to its end many of the current and past PT issues are mentioned.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Finally put American sized streets in the game? I shook my head constantly driving around in the original game wondering who thought that was a good idea using alleys as main roads.

 

[GHG]

It's a nice demo mode, but it's a pretty bad experience if you're actually playing like that. From visual artifact and glitches galore to half the missions being too dark to actually see anything as it was never balanced around PT.

Turn off ray reconstruction and just use DLSS with frame gen. Ray reconstruction is botched, at least in my experience it has been.

 

[Cdbaksul]

Dead game.