God of War
God of War: Ragnarök is built on PS4 tech but features notable PS5 enhancements including overhauled indirect illumination, screen-space directional occlusion, upgraded surface tessellation, faster loading times, and DualSense support. On PS5, performance is remarkably stable across all four visual modes. For 60Hz displays, the 60fps Performance mode is the recommended choice due to its locked frame-rate and negligible visual concessions compared to the 30fps Quality mode. Display owners with 120Hz and VRR support benefit significantly from the unlocked High Frame Rate Performance mode, which averages between 80-90fps for maximum responsiveness.
Graphics modes on PlayStation 5 Pro
God of War Ragnarök's PS5 Pro patch delivers an impressive upgrade by blending Quality Mode visual features—such as ray-traced cube maps—with uncapped performance exceeding 60 FPS on 120Hz VRR displays. While PSSR enhances image clarity over 1440p TAA, it introduces a noticeable ~10 FPS performance drop in CPU-intensive scenes.
Replaces Performance Mode with PS5 Pro Enhanced mode featuring uncapped frame rates for 120Hz VRR displays, Quality Mode ray-traced cube maps, and toggleable PSSR / TAA upscaling.
PS5 Pro Enhanced Mode
PS5 ProFeatures Quality Mode image quality enhancements including ray-traced cube maps. Uses a 1440p base resolution with PSSR anti-aliasing.
Quality
PS5 ProRenders at native 4K with improved distance LOD, contact-hardened shadows, higher quality fur, and additional lighting sources.
Performance
PS5 ProUses dynamic resolution scaling averaging around 1872p with TAA upsampling. Reduced draw distance/LOD, fur quality, light sources, and shadow resolution compared to Quality mode.
High Frame Rate Quality
PS5 ProMatches Quality mode feature set with dynamic resolution scaling between 1800p and 2160p.
High Frame Rate Performance
PS5 ProMaintains 1440p output with temporal upscaling and Performance mode visual settings.
Graphics modes on PlayStation 5
God of War: Ragnarök achieves outstanding technical refinement on PS5 with stable frame rates across all configurations. Though true hardware-accelerated ray tracing is absent, upgraded pre-baked lighting, improved screen-space reflections, and enhanced tessellation refine the visual presentation over the original game.
Quality
PS5Renders at native 4K with improved distance LOD, contact-hardened shadows, higher quality fur, and additional lighting sources.
Performance
PS5Uses dynamic resolution scaling averaging around 1872p with TAA upsampling. Reduced draw distance/LOD, fur quality, light sources, and shadow resolution compared to Quality mode.
High Frame Rate Quality
PS5Matches Quality mode feature set with dynamic resolution scaling between 1800p and 2160p.
High Frame Rate Performance
PS5Maintains 1440p output with temporal upscaling and Performance mode visual settings.
Graphics modes on PlayStation 4 Pro
On PS4 Pro, God of War pushed the system's thermal and power limits, causing high fan noise. Performance varied between a 4K 30fps target with minor slowdown and an unlocked 1080p 60fps mode constrained by hardware bottlenecks.
1080p Mode
PS4 Pro1080p output resolution.
4K Mode
PS4 Pro2160p checkerboard rendering.
Graphics modes on PlayStation 4
The base PS4 provides a remarkably polished experience at a fixed native 1080p resolution and 30fps. Well-tuned shutter-speed motion blur makes gameplay feel unusually smooth, with frame-rate dips occurring only in rare, isolated scenarios.
Standard Mode
PS4Native 1080p rendering without dynamic resolution scaling.
PS5 vs PS5 Pro
Side-by-side comparison of graphics modes, resolution and technical features.
The PS5 Pro update offers a significant enhancement, combining Quality Mode visual features like ray-traced cube maps with uncapped frame rates ranging from 60 to 100 FPS on 120Hz VRR displays.
| Metric | PS5 | PS5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Score | 82Great | 68Fair |
| Recommended mode | Performance | PS5 Pro Enhanced Mode |
| Modes available | 4 | 5 |
| Peak target FPS | 120 | 120 |
| PSSR | No | Yes |
| Ray tracing | No | Yes |
| VRR | Yes | Yes |
| 120 Hz support | Yes | Yes |
| PS5 Pro Enhanced | No | Yes |
- Performance Score
- 82Great
- Recommended mode
- Performance
- Modes available
- 4
- Peak target FPS
- 120
- PSSR
- No
- Ray tracing
- No
- VRR
- Yes
- 120 Hz support
- Yes
- PS5 Pro Enhanced
- No
- Performance Score
- 68Fair
- Recommended mode
- PS5 Pro Enhanced Mode
- Modes available
- 5
- Peak target FPS
- 120
- PSSR
- Yes
- Ray tracing
- Yes
- VRR
- Yes
- 120 Hz support
- Yes
- PS5 Pro Enhanced
- Yes
Known issues
Using PSSR upscaling instead of TAA reduces frame rates by approximately 10 FPS in CPU-intensive areas due to the 2ms per frame processing overhead.
Video analysis
Independent technical videos referenced in our analysis.
God of War on PC - Digital Foundry Tech Review - PlayStation vs PC, Performance, Optimised Settings! Digital Foundry · 588K views ; Cyberpunk 2077 ...
God of War Ragnarök on PS5 - The Digital Foundry Tech Review. Digital ... God of War Ragnarök on PS5 Pro: TAA vs PSSR - Quality and Performance ...
God of War Ragnarök on PS5 - The Digital Foundry Tech Review. Digital ... God of War Ragnarök on PS5 Pro: TAA vs PSSR - Quality and Performance ...
God of War Ragnarök on PS5 Pro: TAA vs PSSR - Quality and Performance Tested! @DFClipsChannel2.2K likes108K views1 year ago
It's finally here! John Linneman presents the DF Tech Review for God of War Ragnarök, focusing on improvements vs God of War 2018, ...
# DF Direct Weekly [#188](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/188): Death Stranding Xbox, God of War Ragnarök PS5 Pro, Switch 2 Back Compat! [](https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalFoundry) [Digital Foundry](https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalFoundry) Digital Foundry
External links open in a new tab. PSFoundry is not affiliated with the linked publications.
Frequently asked
Answers built from the verified data on this page.
What frame rate does God of War run at on PS5 Pro?
On PS5 Pro, God of War offers 4 graphics modes: Quality targets 30 FPS at 2160p; Performance targets 60 FPS at 4K; High Frame Rate Quality targets 40 FPS at 2160p; High Frame Rate Performance targets 120 FPS at 1440p.
What frame rate does God of War run at on PS5?
On PS5, God of War offers 4 graphics modes: Quality targets 30 FPS at 2160p; Performance targets 60 FPS at 4K; High Frame Rate Quality targets 40 FPS at 2160p; High Frame Rate Performance targets 120 FPS at 1440p.
Does God of War support 120 Hz on PlayStation?
Yes. PS5 Pro Enhanced Mode on PS5 Pro, High Frame Rate Quality on PS5 Pro, High Frame Rate Performance on PS5 Pro, High Frame Rate Quality on PS5, High Frame Rate Performance on PS5 run with 120 Hz output on a compatible display.
Does God of War use PSSR on PS5 Pro?
Yes. At least one PS5 Pro graphics mode of God of War uses PSSR, Sony's machine-learning upscaler, according to the sources cited in our analysis.
Is God of War worth playing on PS5 Pro?
The PS5 Pro update offers a significant enhancement, combining Quality Mode visual features like ray-traced cube maps with uncapped frame rates ranging from 60 to 100 FPS on 120Hz VRR displays.
What is the PSFoundry Performance Score of God of War?
God of War scores 82/100 on PS5. The Performance Score measures technical performance only — frame rate, image quality, graphics modes, visual features, responsiveness, loading and stability — not how good the game is.
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