• Saros on PS5 Pro reportedly hits its target 60fps 4K performance
• PSSR 2 offers "exceptional" particle effects, and frame rates are "generally very consistent
• The PS5 version "isn't quite as pristine, but it's perfectly good considering the platform"

Saros reportedly runs incredibly well on PS5 Pro, hitting target frame rates, while the base PS5 version "isn't quite as pristine" but still manages to perform as it should.

The release of Housemarque's sci-fi action game is just around the corner, and the first reviews have given us an idea of what performance we can expect from PS5 and PS5 Pro.

According to Digital Foundry's breakdown, Saros "truly excels" on PS5 Pro with its single 60 frames per second (fps) mode targeting a 4K output, along with Sony's upgraded PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaling technology.

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But it's PSSRs that make Saros' particle effects "exceptional," and while they're not always in "hyper crisp 4K", they appear stable and "acceptably sharp."

DF's Oliver Mackenzie also said frame rates are "generally very consistent on PS5 Pro", hitting its target of 60fps at 60Hz output "the overwhelming majority of the time, save for some one-off drop frames on occasion and some rare larger declines in very intense sequences."

There's also mild tearing when frames "go a little over budget," but DF said it isn't noticeable during normal gameplay when using Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), only in captured footage.

Housemarque has confirmed that cutscenes run at 30fps on PS5 and PS5 Pro, with DF adding that the game's short pre-rendered videos are "encoded at 24fps and typically play at that update."

As for the PS5 version, DF said Saros "isn't quite as pristine, but it's perfectly good considering the platform."

"In place of PSSR, I suspect we're looking at FSR 2 or FSR 3 as an upscaling solution based on certain aliasing and discclusion patterns in motion," Mackenzie said. "It's softer and has a tendency to flicker and break up in some slightly distracting ways, but it's mostly fine."

However, particles like leaves and projecticles, and combat tend to look a "little bit rough" due to FSR, but for a PS5 game, image quality is "fine enough."

"The base PS5 version, while perfectly acceptable, takes an understandable hit to image quality with a ~1224p internal resolution," Mackenzie said. "With no PSSR available on the amateur PS5, the game seems to rely on AMD's FSR 2 or FSR 3 for upscaling, resulting in a soft image that can flicker and break up in motion."

"Most critically, FSR is actually a fairly poor handler of particle effects here, which disrupts the game's key visual identity and makes complex combat scenarios look worse than they should. Performance is good, but not quite as watertight as the PS5 Pro release, with dips below 60fps possible in some intense combat scenarios."

Saros is set to launch on April 30, exclusively for PS5.

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Demi is a freelance games journalist who helps cover gaming news at TechRadar. She's been a games writer for five years and has written for outlets such as GameSpot, NME, and GamesRadar, covering news, features, and reviews. Outside of writing, she plays a lot of RPGs and talks far too much about Star Wars on X.