Control Resonant PS5 performance review exposes frame rate drops and poor image quality

Remedy Entertainment’s latest project is a stark departure from the confined spaces of Control. The sequel is set in Manhattan, where Dylan Faden explores urban environments with open-world freedom. Unfortunately, in its Control Resonant PS5 performance review, Digital Foundry highlights how the Northlight engine struggles to adapt.

Image clarity concerns

On the base PlayStation console, gamers can choose from performance and quality modes. With the performance option, the game renders at a native 864p and upscales to 1440p via FSR 2 or FSR 3. Shimmering on objects and artifacts hamper image quality. The site believes longer draw distances expose shortcomings like lower-resolution shadows.

Control Resonant PS5 performance mode targets 60 fps. The close-to-release date build mostly hovers near this mark, although traversal stutters during fast motion are noticeable. Frame rates again dip amid melee attacks against the first boss.

The quality preset upscales 1260p to 4K and boosts visual sharpness considerably. That said, while shadows and reflections benefit, the lack of ray tracing is apparent. The cost of the added fidelity is a 30 fps goal, and the same boss encounter sends readings into the 20s.

PS5 Pro advantages

PS5 Pro enhanced upgrades for Control Resonant do mitigate some issues. Performance mode upscales a native 864p to 2160p, thanks to an effective PSSR. Steadier 60 fps frame rates are also observed as Dylan confronts paranormal phenomena.

At a native 1224p and 30 fps, quality mode on the flagship PlayStation console introduces ray-traced reflections and shadows. Image quality improves, and shadows are much more defined on the pricey hardware.

If players prefer smoother 120 Hz gameplay, balanced mode on the PS5 Pro may be an appealing compromise. Resolution drops to 1080p to reach 40 fps, but ray tracing effects survive. On the other hand, the Digital Foundry review reported less consistent frame rates than the other settings.

Does Remedy need a new engine?

Remedy Entertainment followers will remember that Alan Wake 2 suffered from similar problems. Post-release date patches could optimize Control Resonant PS5 performance. It’s also possible that Northlight isn’t suited for games with open-world level design.

In the same video, Digital Foundry compared the performance on Xbox consoles. Meanwhile, Notebookcheck shared initial impressions of the PC version of Resonant.