Sony has confirmed that Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will include a Performance+ Mode that targets 120fps on compatible 120Hz displays. This makes it the first title published by PlayStation Studios to support higher frame rates on PS5, even though the console has been on sale for over a year.
And, while it’s great to see that Sony is hopefully now embracing 120fps modes for its first-party titles, it does beg the question as to why it’s taken so long for 120Hz support to arrive, especially when you look at what’s available on Microsoft’s consoles.
When it comes to 120Hz-compatible games, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have numerous first-party titles that allow players to game at 120fps. Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears 5’s multiplayer mode, and Psychonauts 2 all feature a 120Hz mode.
"C'mon, we've got a treasure to find."New Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection trailer showcases remastered visuals, plus details on graphics options: https://t.co/0yeEou9iVA pic.twitter.com/KNk6vgePmgDecember 7, 2021
The only existing PS5 game that takes advantage of 120Hz displays is Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart – but not in the way you’d expect. Insomniac’s title uses its 120Hz mode to allow Ratchet and Clank to run at 40fps, which provides a smoother experience than its 30fps option.
Similarly, the PS4 versions of God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us 2 were all updated to support 60fps on PS5, and both Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding even received PS5-specific Director’s Cut releases. Neither includes a 120Hz option.
Opinion: there’s no reason more PS5 games shouldn’t include 120Hz support
Even though 120Hz displays are still something of a luxury item, the majority of the best gaming TVs for PS5 and Xbox Series X, like the LG C1, do support 120Hz at 4K resolution. Still, 120Hz support is one of the PlayStation 5’s most appealing next-gen features, and it’s surprising that it hasn’t been utilized at all in Sony’s first-party titles.
120fps support is a huge plus in competitive games as it significantly lowers input latency, meaning your button presses register faster. Running games at a higher frame rate also makes games look incredibly smooth in motion, which can help offset motion sickness and will generally make games look cleaner overall.
Even though the PlayStation 5 is more than capable from a technical perspective, games with 120Hz support are still few and far between. There are now just 21 games that include 120Hz support on PS5, compared to 97 titles on Xbox Series X, eight of which are Microsoft first-party titles.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which includes remastered versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, will be released on PS5 on January 28, 2022, with a PC release to follow at a later date. It’ll cost $49.99 / £49.99, but those who own either Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End or Uncharted: The Lost Legacy on PS4 will be able to upgrade for $10 / £10.
However, Sony will soon delist both games from its PlayStation Store on PS4 and PS5, which means players will have no choice but to buy the remastered Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and will be unable to take advantage of the free upgrade path unless they purchase physical copies of either PS4 title.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will hopefully kickstart the arrival of more 120Hz compatible games on PS5, because right now, Sony clearly isn't servicing a growing market of consumers who want the option to play games at 120fps.
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