PS5 games are set to get a big boost in processing power on the next-gen console, and the benefits of this are starting to become clear – as in this gameplay video of Godfall, a launch title for the upcoming Sony console.
We've heard much already about how the SSD (solid state drive) is going to make it far faster to load specific levels within a game, or even to jump from one game to the other (as with the Xbox Series X's Quick Resume). But there's one big benefit that should be felt by any player who tends to die a lot – and that's the speed of respawning.
One of the biggest irritations in modern-day games is the loading screen. No one wants to stand in an elevator or watch a projection screen play out when they could be getting on with exploring the world of the game they're in – and the PS5's horsepower is set to banish overly-long loading screens for good.
But long load times are especially frustrating when you have the humiliation of defeat to reckon with too – and this Godfall clip posted on Twitter shows just how swift and painless your death and resurrection will be on the PS5.
Fight. Fall. Respawn almost instantly.How Godfall utilizes PS5’s ultra-high speed SSD: https://t.co/wJjcrQi21x pic.twitter.com/8JHXohQ6q3October 28, 2020
The video shows off a battle in the hack-and-slash action game, with some kind of bi-tailed dinosaur-esque monster taking the last of the player's hit points. What's stunning about this clip isn't the visuals, or the combat, so much as how quick it is to get back up again, whizzing back to your most recent checkpoint so you can rush into battle once again without delay.
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Super speed
In my own experience, long load times are something I continually have to reckon with to decide when and for how long I can turn on the console for a play session. I have to factor in a few minutes whenever I load up The Last of Us 2, for the PS4 console startup, the load time for getting to the game's home screen, and the load time for loading the level I'm currently progressing through. Dying in this game, too – clickers – means I have to wait just that little bit too long to get stuck in again.
Not so on the PS5, it seems. We imagine PS5 games will be able to make the most of this, being optimized for the hardware, but even older games should get something of a boost across the board.
And with the console launching in mid-November, there's very little time left to wait.
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