Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2020]

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Interesting that we may be looking at 4k/30 and 1440/60 modes. Either way, looks gorgeous.
I mean, considering that I kept Shadow of the Colossus at 30fps - shocker - simply because the 1440p image looked so much crispier than 1080p/60, I will be a very happy bunny next gen.
 
This is the second time ND performs magic and makes a game that seems to be a bridge between current and next gen. Of course if you take a closer look, you can see a clear deference between current and next gen, but the combination of art direction, that attention to detail, being able to squeeze the PS4 until it can give no more... makes these games look better than they really do.
 
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I've flicked through that vid, and I gotta say, I think that lighting the best I've seen this gen.

I would agree, though it doesn't have much in the way of dynamic lighting at all. A game like Control is hard to compare to a game like this which appears to be very static. That said, it just looks very natural. There aren't any glaring image quality issues, and everything kind of blends together seamlessly. The art direction is amazing. The forested areas and the grass look top notch. The way the areas are overgrown looks like real density. You can see pop-in on the trees, but that happens in every current-gen game. The density of the trees and foliage is very believable, where many games just look kind of sparse, or the pop-in for grass is too near.
 
Static TOD with well done baked lighting is more an artistic than an technical archievement. With static lighting and a high budget it is much easier to make the lighting beautiful since it requires rather time and money than programming performance.
 
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Red Dead Redemption 2 is still a bigger technical achievement. Multi-platform, gigantic world & biomes, full dynamic lighting with TOD, Volumetric clouds, atmospheric simulation, etc etc...

It’s the best looking game this gen overall. And i dont doubt they will pull it off again coming gen. Eternal is a second close, their id tech engines are really amazing.
 
Yeah I agree, RDR 2 deserves the title of the best looking game of the generation.
Best looking and most technical is different tho. You can have all the techs but what if you sacrifice on density, asset quality, character models and the full blown result of a baked GI image where no dynamic lighting can dream of achieve without hardcore ray tracing? The overall visual impact and density is far greater in Tlou2 despite not using dynamic GI.
 
Best looking and most technical is different tho. You can have all the techs but what if you sacrifice on density, asset quality, character models and the full blown result of a baked GI image where no dynamic lighting can dream of achieve without hardcore ray tracing? The overall visual impact and density is far greater in Tlou2 despite not using dynamic GI.

Technology aside I personally prefer the look of RDR2. There were definitely some wow moments in the TLOU2 video though. The wet car and a couple of forested moments jumped out at me. I also like the deformation of the long grass. But the dramatic lighting, particle effects (e.g. dust blowing through the streets of Rhodes) and at times near photorealistic countryside clinch it for RDR2 IMO. TLOU2 looks to have better interiors though.
 
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