Crimson Desert PS5 vs PS5 Pro: Differences explained

With so much hubbub swirling around Pearl Abyss’s upcoming does-it-all single-player RPG, some players became quite suspect about the fact that we were only being shown PC and PS5 Pro gameplay right up until the launch was imminent, but we finally have footage of the base PS5 version, and as such, we’ll go over all the Crimson Desert PS5 vs PS5 Pro differences.

If console land is a barren waste you wish to never set foot in, then perhaps we can interest you with the Crimson Desert PC specs. And seeing as Pearl Abyss has traditionally made MMO games, you might be curious to find out if Crimson Desert is multiplayer or not.

The game is certainly shaping up to be a big deal and will no doubt have a huge player count, but if you would rather wait for the dust to settle and for patches and post-game content to roll out, then you can always check out all the upcoming games in 2026 and beyond!

But as for how the base PlayStation 5 version of Crimson Desert stacks up against the PlayStation 5 Pro’s, read on!

Crimson Desert PS5 vs PS5 Pro: Differences explained

The main differences in Crimson Desert between PS5 and PS5 Pro are resolution, ray-tracing and image quality, with the PS5 Pro offering players a much sharper image with better lighting.

For a deep dive into the PlayStation 5 Pro version of Crimson Desert, the video above from Digital Foundry highlights the visual features of the game. This can be compared with Crimson Desert running on a base PS5, as shared by the PlayStation Japan YouTube account.

As noted by the Crimson Desert console specifications sheet shown below, the PS5 and PS5 Pro both share three different quality settings: Performance, Balanced and Quality, and these differ between the two.

For raytracing, the PS5 gets the low setting for Performance and Balanced, with the Quality mode getting the high setting, whereas the PS5 Pro has the high setting for Performance and Balanced, with Quality getting ultra settings.

This means that on the PS5 Pro, lighting looks better, as more light bounces are calculated, and at a higher resolution.

Image quality is arguably the biggest difference, as PS5 Pro can make use of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which was recently updated. This upscaler works in a similar fashion to Nvidia’s DLSS, AMD’s FSR4 and Intel's XeSS, and results in a much crisper and cleaner image.

The PS5 either runs at 1080p in Performance mode, 1280P upscaled to 4K with FSR3 in Balanced mode, or 1440P upscaled to 4K with FRS3. FSR3 does not offer nearly as good of a final image as PSSR 2, but the base resolution is still high enough that image quality should be perfectly sufficient at a normal television viewing distance.

The PS5 Pro uses PSSR to upscale from 1080P and 1440P for Performance and Balanced, respectively, and renders at a native 4K resolution at Quality, though there is no mention of what anti-aliasing is used to smooth out jagged edges.

Frame rate differs across modes too, and it depends on how capable your display is. For screens that cannot do variable refresh rate (VRR) and have a PS5, you get 60FPS for Performance or 30FPS for Quality. If your TV is capable of VRR and a refresh rate of 120Hz, you can run the game unlocked at Performance, meaning it can go above 60 and 40FPS in balanced mode.

If you have a PS5 Pro, Performance is at 60FPS or above if you have a VRR display, 40FPS or 48FPS+ in Balanced or 30FPS in Quality.

Safe to say, no matter which console you have, you're bound to have a good experience with Crimson Desert!

Crimson Desert launches 19 March 2026 and is available for PC, PlayStation 5, MacOS and Xbox Series X/S.

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