PS5 Pro Review: A Definite Maybe, Even If You Have GTA 6 In Mind

While the ‘Pro’ moniker is usually associated with the term ‘professional’ thanks to a certain fruit company, there’s nothing too stuffy or sterile about the PS5 Pro despite the name.

Although the PS5 Pro has been available globally for nearly a year, India hasn’t got it officially yet with Sony citing compliance with WiFi 7 standards for the country. This however, hasn’t stopped parallel importers and grey market stores from bringing it in. With a retail price of about ₹75,000 compared to the PS5 that routinely retails for ₹45,000 upwards, is the PS5 Pro worth a purchase? Definitely maybe. Let me explain.

In terms of build quality, the PS5 Pro is pretty much what you’d expect from Sony this generation. Plastic plates on either side, a black centre strip for the power button, and a device whose shape would be more at home in a sci-fi movie than a living room. And that’s before I get to the three lines in the middle that scream Sony’s industrial designer was likely kidnapped from Adidas.

Or the fact that the megacorp that made this cheaped out on adding a disc drive, forcing you to spend an additional ₹11,000 or thereabouts, and said disc drive is an absolute pain to install as it’s flimsily made, but I digress.

The design quirks melt away when you’re in-game. Or at least the right kind of game.

Titles like Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta Snake Eater offer up better visual fidelity and lighting on the PS5 Pro but is still more stable on the normal PS5. Even recent fare like Silent Hill f and this year’s critical darling, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 either perform worse like the former or barely any better like the latter.

Others like Borderlands 4 can’t keep a stable frame rate, negating the very existence of Sony’s highest-end console. Until of course a patch hit a few weeks post-launch that resolved the issue.

Meanwhile others like Battlefield 6 and Ghost of Yotei offer up a cornucopia of modes, allow ing for close to the golden standard of PC gaming — 4K resolution at 60 frames per second — with the help of AI of the non-ChatGPT variety.

Rather, Sony’s solution, called PSSR (short for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) is an AI-enhanced upscaling technology for the PS5 Pro. PSSR boosts games to 4K resolution with high frame rates, providing sharper image clarity. Which is a round about way of saying: games that take advantage of this such as Battlefield 6 and Ghost of Yotei look amazing on the PS5 Pro.

The same applies to older titles such as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Alan Wake 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and even paranormal shooter Control whose Ultimate Edition recently got a PS5 Pro patch. Not bad for a game that originally debuted in 2019 on the PS4.

Nonetheless, PS5 Pro game support is still very much a mixed bag. Not every recent, upcoming, or old PS5 game supports what the PS5 Pro has to offer. To Sony's credit, most of its games including PS5 launch titles like Demon's Souls look better on the PS5 Pro, not all game companies have put in the same amount of effort.

Sure the likes of GTA 6 may flip the script, but I seriously doubt that developer Rockstar and Sony would allow such a mainstream game to be elevated to a point where it’s absurdly better on the PS5 Pro.

Reason being: last generation’s PS4 Pro was around 10 percent of the total number of PS4s sold. Safe to say the PS5 Pro is moving in the same trajectory. You’ll likely be fine on a standard PS5.

So, who is the PS5 Pro for then? It depends on the games you play and of course your set up.

For me it was ensuring most games I play such as the aforementioned Ghost of Yotei and Battlefield 6 to run smoother on an OLED monitor. Visually, they were impeccable on the standard PS5, but on the Pro they’re more fluid experiences. Ditto with Death Stranding 2 which not only looks phenomenal on an OLED screen but takes advantage of the PS5 Pro’s horsepower to deliver a game that feels more responsive and immersive.

That said, if you’ve got an older TV set or just upgraded, the premium for the Pro is for smoother gameplay. Is it worth the roughly ₹30,000 premium over the standard PS5? Not for most gamers. Not yet at least. Most games run well enough right now.

If you have a PS5 already, you can hold off unless, like me, there are specific titles you want to check out in the (sometimes) best possible way their developers intended. If you don’t have a PS5, you rather buy that and put the extra money towards games and accessories.

However, if you don’t want to build a gaming PC and are curious to see how much better already great-looking games can be, and have at least a ₹75,000 hole to burn in your pocket? The PS5 Pro will suffice.