I'm finally playing a game that makes my PS5 Pro feel worth it

I've written repeatedly about the doubt that's been plaguing me ever since I dropped hundreds of pounds to upgrade to a PlayStation 5 Pro, selling my launch PS5 in the process. Part of my outlook has been that while existing games might not be proving the console's worth overwhelmingly, 2025 will be the year that brings a glut of new titles that make the most of its boosted power.

Well, we're just over a week into the new year and I've played a good number of hours in one such game, by my own reckoning. I've been able to play the opening hours of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II ahead of its release in early February, and its visuals are just what I want from an new on the platform.

A few weeks ago Warhorse Studios, the game's developer, laid out the three graphical options available to PlayStation gamers at launch. If you're on the base PS5, you'll have two graphical options; first is performance, which upscales the game to a resolution of 1440p at an unlocked 60FPS; the alternative is fidelity, which upscales it to 2160p at 30FPS. Both use the existing AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution system for that upscaling.

On the PS5 Pro, though, there's just a single option, called "pro". It runs the game at an upscaled 2160p, like the fidelity mode, but it does so at an unlocked 60FPS and makes use of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, one of the console's flagship features.

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On paper, then, this is the definition of what Mark Cerny laid out when he unveiled the PS5 Pro months ago – a "best of both worlds" sitution where you get the visual features of a fidelity mode, without compromising on either resolution or frame rate.

Based on the start of the game, which I've been exploring slowly and carefully (since this is a game with some brutally harsh learning curves to accommodate), it's felt broadly like a major step in the right direction, too. This is a game set in deep forests and rolling fields, and I can't remember seeing vegetation density like this in a long time. In fact, it's got me extremely excited for the heavily rumoured Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake that might be on the way – if its forests and paths look anything like these, it'll be straight out of my teenage dreams.

Everything I've seen makes me suspect that there are big battles and sieges to come as the game unfolds, and I can't comment on how it'll fare in performance terms when things scale up. The leafy skirmishes I've scraped my way through have been really smooth, though, and I also haven't noticed a huge amount of pop-in, which can often plague grassy areas in some games.

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From the gameplay side of things, as someone who never had time to dip into the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, it's been a bit of a cold-water shock. Warhorse Studios leans towards authenticity and realism a lot more than some fantastical rivals, which means you can't just charge into your first fight and expect to slash people up.

I've already had to abandon optional rewards by taking stealthier approaches a few times, and learning how to craft a potion to actually let me save the game took me ages – something that might be off-putting to more casual players. I'm really coming around to it, though, as a mechanic that forces you to actually take risks and adapt your play style.

The game picks up Henry of Skalitz's story as the bodyguard to his impetuous and imperious friend, Hans Capon, but you're quickly torn asunder when a simple messenger mission goes wrong. I won't spoil any details, but the introductory sequence is fairly long and acts as a very solid tutorial for those like me who have no idea how anything works.

Writing as someone who hasn't even successfully found a pair of boots to stop my feet from getting injured from all the walking I'm doing, though, I can't claim I've mastered even a portion of the systems on offer yet. Still, there's plenty more game to get through, and the promise of bigger and more detailed locations to really stretch my PS5 Pro.

With lighting that keeps surprising me at different times of the in-game day, character models that have real detail to them, and facial animation that holds up, it's a visual feast on first impressions. Hopefully, this is a sign that the PS5 Pro is becoming less of an indulgence and more of a canny investment.