Genshin Impact: PS5 review, version comparisons and update impressions

Genshin Impact PS5 Review

Of course, that PS4 Pro isn’t mine so I was stuck with my launch PS4. These problems prompted my quest to secure a PS5. Upon loading Genshin Impact on PS5, I immediately felt a sense of exaltation. Genshin Impact is now a joy to play on the PS5.

There’s a PS5 specific optimization for the PS4 version Genshin Impact, as the PS5 is technically running the game on backward compatibility. The game looks as good as it does on PC, with a target 60 FPS and graphical improvements like increased resolution and HDR.

Most importantly, load times are just as fast. Loading is significantly faster, taking only a few seconds instead of tens of seconds. I was greeted with a smooth start-up loading screen that had previously made my PS4 struggle, and I was logged-in in a fraction of the time.

There are still some frame drops, especially in Liyue or against a horde of enemies, but dropping from 60 FPS to 55 FPS is still leagues better than anything sub-30. Framerate isn’t as consistent as PC but is infinitely more playable than the PS4 version. Quick swapping and animation canceling work exactly how they should.

Menus are now snappy and function like any other modern game should. There’s no more hitching when moving between pages and items.

The game now renders at 4K at 60 FPS, making for a delightfully smooth experience.

I’ve noticed things that weren’t present in the PS4 version. There are additional sound effects in cities, bringing the hustle and bustle of Mondstadt and Liyue to life. Lighting is improved, and everything absolutely pops in a way I couldn’t appreciate on PS4.

Genshin Impact PS5 native version announced

It’s going to get even better, as miHoYo just announced a native Genshin Impact PS5 version coming soon. The trailer they released doesn’t give much information, but I have high hopes that the game will take full advantage of the PS5’s hardware. I can’t imagine the game loading faster than it already does, but I’m expecting the framerate to run at a locked 60 or even higher.

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The PS5 is fully capable of running 4K at 120 FPS, but that seems to be a little overkill for a stylized anime RPG. At the very least, I’d love to see ray tracing on the native PS5 version.

Since this will be a fully native version for PS5, I’d also like to see the DualSense’s features used. The most obvious trick would be for the adaptive triggers to give some resistance when using a bow. The haptic feedback could be used to simulate the various environments, but a clever use would be to reflect the elemental status conditions on your character.

If miHoYo can somehow pull off the immediate load times that we saw in Ratchet and Clank’s tech demo, PS5 may become the premier way to play Genshin Impact.