Hogwarts Legacy is now available on PS4, and if you’re wondering how it stacks up against the PS5 version, read ahead.
In terms of visual fidelity, the PS5 version of Hogwarts takes a significant lead over the PS4 and PS4 Pro in all graphical areas, with draw distance and lighting affecting the visual setup the most. PS4 and PS4 Pro also remove some assets from the environment, including vases, paintings and other furniture, in order to reduce the graphical load. In general, the visuals of the PS4 version are of a lower quality than PS5’s performance mode. The PS4 version also has trouble loading textures or assets on time when transitioning from one area to another.
In terms of image quality, the PS5 version runs at a native resolution of 1800p in Quality, dynamic 1800p in Balanced mode, 1440p in Performance and Ray Tracing mode, and 1080p in High Frame Rate mode. Meanwhile, the PS4 Pro runs the game at a native 1080p, and the base PS4 version runs at a native 900p.
With regards to performance, Hogwarts Legacy targets a frame rate of 30 fps in Quality, Balanced, and Ray Tracing modes. In Performance mode, the game targets a frame rate of 60 fps. Meanwhile, in High Frame Rate mode, it targets a frame rate of 120 fps, averaging out at around 80 fps. Both the PS4 and PS4 Pro target a frame rate of 30 fps by default, with the option to set the frame rate cap to 60 fps. However, when targeting 60 fps, the frame rate hovers between 30 to 50 fps on PS4 and 30 to 60 fps on PS4 Pro.
In terms of load times, the PS5 takes a significant lead over the PS4 and PS4 Pro, loading around 8 times faster than the previous-gen version.
All in all, the PS5 version of Hogwarts Legacy offers a significant graphical upgrade over the game running on PS4 and PS4 Pro. That said, given their hardware limitations, the previous-gen versions look and run well. Avalanche Software has done a fine job with the PS4 version, and the months of delay for the previous-gen version has been worth it.
