One of more original games of the last generation, Death Standing's focus on traversal and delivery over combat was a welcome alternative take to the open world concept - and it was also one of the most beautiful games on PlayStation 4. So where does Kojima Productions go next for this inevitable upgrade to PS5? The answer is the Director's Cut, which delivers a range of options, improvements and additional content. Rest assured, you're getting your money's worth from £5/$10 upgrade fee in this case.
Of course, this isn't the first time Hideo Kojima has revisited his games - releases dating back to Snatcher, Policenauts and the first three Metal Gear Solid games all received similar re-releases back in the day. Death Stranding: Director's Cut is essentially Death Stranding: Subsistence or Substance, if you will. New elements like the firing range, for instance, offer a lot more than what the name would suggest - this is effectively equivalent to the VR Missions from those first three Metal Gear Solid re-releases. There are also new story sequences and areas to explore along with a subtle revamp to the open world itself.
However, in terms of tapping into the PS5's horsepower, a number of options are available. Quality and performance modes are available - both targeting 60fps - while both options can also be paired with a 21:9 ultrawide presentation. By default, the game boots with its standard 16:9 aspect ratio in performance mode, which runs the game at 1800p resolution, upscaled to 2160p. Image quality wise, it looks comparable to the PS4 Pro's checkerboard rendering mode - sharper in some areas, softer in others, but similar. Obviously, the main improvement to this is frame-rate, which is now 60fps, and in performance mode it is entirely locked in my experience. Quality mode is also available, raising the resolution to 2160p - so it's very sharp indeed - but there is a performance penalty. Both exhibit a slight softness suggesting some sort of reconstruction (though it's difficult to say) but it differs from the checkerboard rendering features used on PlayStation 4 Pro. Cutscenes and combat can see frame-rates drop from 60fps, mostly into the mid-50s but also into the high 40s too. I'd consider this to be a great option for variable refresh rate display support, if and when this function comes to PlayStation 5.