Digital Foundry: Bloodborne 60fps hack tested

• 720p, 900p and 1080p modes tested. Any other resolution crashes.
• 1080p boost mode on PS4 Pro mostly hangs in the upper 30, still bad frame pacing.
• 900p boost mode mostly hangs in the 30-40 range, still bad frame pacing.
• 720p boost mode on PS4 Pro goes all the way up to 60. Minimum recorded 39. Mostly hangs at 50-60.
• Frame pacing issues gone at 720p.
• Many features of the engine are tied to 30fps. Game initially ran at twice the speed at 60fps.
• Reverse-engineered DkSIII code to apply it to Bloodborne to resolve issues at above 30fps.
• Still lots of issues running at 60fps but feels much better to play
• Seems to be a common issue with Japanese devs and their old-school approach to game development

Pro not being able to get to 60fps at 1080p is just a joke.

The boost mode bumps the CPU by about 31% and the GPU by about 15% from the base mode which is the standard PS4. It doesn't fully utilize the GPU's capabilities.

You know this is on From Software, right?

Their original dark souls on PC couldn't go above 30fps. For different reasons, but still: if you want good performance and graphics, you shouldn't be looking at From games.

f*ck these consoles are so bad sometimes. The 60FPS boost is amazing - you can just see it. How can people not care about this? *pixels pixels blah blah console grfx pwns*

The main reason i skipped the so called "upgrade" completely. Not only is it nowhere near capable of 60fps, but in almost all cases its having a hard time running in the same 30fps as the standard ps4. Talk about a joke of an upgrade.

Because now a days no one cares about gameplay in games. It's all about how many pores a character's face has in cutscenes.

Such stupid choice on Sony and they plan to do the same for BC on the PS5.

Just remake the game and be done with it this game really needs 60 FPS

Cows love to buy remakes

@MonsieurX: When they're done right... says something about the quality of the game also. I'd happily spend more money on a remaster of this game. The fps were pretty awful at times but the game was great.

Wonder how it'll run on the PS5.

Should just release it on PC. If Horizon Zero Dawn is headed there no reason Bloodborne can't join the club.

The performance on the OG PS4 is terrible.

Fighting the good fight.

Ugh I don't want to buy a PS4 Pro just for this. Guess I'm still gonna wait to see what the PS5 can do with Bloodborne.

Console exclusives are so lame.

I beat the game twice, it was amazing 30fps and all.

From are a wonder with regards to gameplay, as well as lore. They do need to step up the technical side. I'd be fine with Bloodborne at 30, without that janky-ass frame skipping. That's how much I hate the frame skipping.

@MonsieurX: remakes are good for gaming

really...?

That's a vapid argument. Regardless, I disagree. Unless you get something like FF7R, the results are a mixed bag, and even FF7R was the same with the original crowd.

I'm fine with remakes of really old games. RE2, FF7, Shadow of the Colossus are good examples.

@lundy86_4: Remakes are good On consoles when done right i could write pages of why its good for gaming, just bring older games to new generation that otherwise would be forgotten, people always say its bad but can’t name one good reason

You say people say it's bad, but can't name a reason... So would you write a concise point on why the games are good? You're adding way too many outs for your own argument.

@lundy86_4: oh i can name many reason why people say its bad most common one i read is that’s it a quick money grab from companies, lazy to create new IPs and so on, and than the dumb fanboys or fangirls arguments i am not going to waste my time on that, like i said before people can’t name one good reason why remakes are bad for gaming

Remakes are good for many reasons creates new Fan base, others who have not experienced it get too,

The sad thing is Sony and From didn't want to update the game for PRO. Who knows what gains could we get from original source before being hacked by fans. The game is hugely popular on PS4 too atleast 630,000 out of 11 million players Platinumed Bloodborne as reported in 2018.

Why remake a modern game?

@jaydan: to make it run better on ps 5 genius

This could be an awesome showcase of ps5 BC. The ps5 is made to solve some of the issues there. Some stuff that that we brushed over from the new console reveals could have helped if the old consoles had them. Forget the ssd the dedicated processor for compression work could have helped. Sadly the people who care for these sort of things are gone at sony. The game needs to be freed from there hands.

You don't have to remake the game to make it run better. Do you even know what a remake is?

@jaydan: yes I do there is a reason why i said remake and not remastered, all good games deserve remakes

Seems silly to do something like this now, I would hope a game like this would soon be a showcase of how next system can enhance the PS4's most celebrated games on the new hardware.

The game looks so good when it keeps 60fps, it's just sad how they left it and a crime if there won't be a patch for ps5

And that just brings me back to my question: why? Bloodborne is a modern game. It's not dated, it does not have to be rebuilt. All it needs is a performance boost which does not mean having to remake the game.

I highly disagree with your statement that all good games should be remade. All good games should not have to be remade, and that completely defeats the purpose of remakes in the first place. A remake is supposed to be an attempt to execute the product better than it initially launched.

At the very least a remake is supposed to try to improve on its material, update dated tropes or stand on its own legs. Remaking already good games for the sake of remaking them defeats the purpose.

They should just release it on PC to end the suffering.

@jaydan: good for you, if they remake the game for ps5 would you buy it?

Just gimme the PC version... Or at the very least, a competent PS5 release.

@sheep99: That's not even a question, because Bloodborne won't be getting a remake on the PS5 for the reasons I said. There's no logical sense why it would. It would be 100 times more likely for a Bloodborne sequel to hit PS5.

@jaydan: yes or no? Its a simple question, we all know it won’t be remade or patched or I don’t even know if the servers are shut

For whatever reasons, Japanese devs keep tying game logic to the frame-rate, causing frame-pacing issues when the game doesn't run at the intended frame-rate. This could be due to them being so used to working on consoles with fixed settings, rather than PC where you have options.