Modders show us what Bloodborne would look like at 4K/60FPS
Do you really want to see Father Gascoigne in 4K though?
A new video shows Bloodborne running at 60FPS with 4K upscaling, giving us a glimpse of what a PS5 upgrade of Bloodborne might look like.
The footage comes from Digital Foundry, and considering Bloodborne was one of the best PS4 games to hit the Sony console last generation, but it never received a performance update for either the PS4 Pro or PS5, which has left fans of the game clamoring for a next-gen upgrade. What Digital Foundry is showing here is not that upgrade, but it does give us a look into what Bloodborne would look like in glorious 4K/60FPS. So, how was this achieved?
The video shows a modified version of Bloodborne running on a development or debug PS5 kit, which explains how the creators of this upgrade were able to modify a PS4 exclusive game and get it running. The modification actually dates back to last October, when modder Lance McDonald revealed his unofficial 60FPS patch for Bloodborne.
At the time, the impressive mod could get Bloodborne to 60FPS but it needed to bring the resolution down to 720p due to the PS4’s aging hardware. The mod came with a patch note that said you could make it run at 1080p/60FPS, but that it was “not recommended for 8th generation consoles, may be useful in the future though”.
Well, the future is here, and the PS5 is perfectly capable of running Bloodborne at 1080p/60FPS. But hold on, didn’t we say 4K in the title? Well that’s where Digital Foundry came in. The team took the original 1080p footage that was sent over by Lance McDonald and used AI upscaling to bring the footage up to 4K. As you can see from the video footage, this gave pretty impressive results, though Digital Foundry did run into some issues with aliasing during the transition, which it goes through in the video.
So, while Bloodborne 4K/60FPS technically exists, there is no way for you to play it. You can get the 1080p/60FPS version running if you happen to own a PS5 development kit though. Remasters and remakes are coming thick and fast this generation, with plenty of next-gen upgrades for games previously released on the PS4 and Xbox One, so it’s not impossible that we’ll see a Bloodborne PS5 edition down the line that can bring the grizzly gothic horror of Yharnam up to today’s visual standards.
Bloodborne developer From Software has its hands full at the moment though, as it’s working on Elden Ring, an open-world RPG created in conjunction with Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin. This video will have to suffice for Bloodborne fans in need of that 4K fix for now then.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
While you’re waiting for the Bloodborne PS5 upgrade, why not check out the best PS5 games to play right now. You might be waiting for a long time, but luckily it's a long list.
Ian Stokes is an experienced writer and journalist. You'll see his words on 12DOVE from time to time, and he works as Entertainment Editor at our sister site Space.com.