The wizards at Insomniac Games have added another graphics mode option to Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, allowing PlayStation 5 players to enjoy a compromise between 60fps and ray-traced light and shadows. Since launch, the new Spider-Man adventure has boasted two different graphics mode settings that take advantage of Sony's new console: Performance and Fidelity.
With Performance Mode, players were able to swing around New York at dynamic 4K and 60fps, but without the bells and whistles of ray tracing support. Meanwhile, the Fidelity Mode unlocked Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales' full graphical power while sacrificing frame count, running at true 4K, locked 30fps, and ray tracing on full display. Since launch, these two very different settings have forced players to make a rather difficult binary choice between Insomniac's swinging mechanics and frenetic combat being enhanced by a smoother frame rate or prioritizing the game's stunning, ray-traced visuals. Fortunately, players will have to choose between the two options no longer.
Today, Insomniac is rolling out a brand-new patch for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales on the PS5's latest update. It seems a rather small update, too, clocking in at a mere 260MB or so. However, as spotted by Twitter user ax_zer0, this latest patch packs in a game-changing new feature. When going into the game's settings, players who have downloaded and installed the update should notice a third graphics mode option, "Performance RT." This extra mode allows the title to run at a smooth 60FPS with ray tracing enabled. Of course, this compromise likely results in a hit to graphical fidelity, but one that some players may find more acceptable. According to TechRadar, it's possible that Performance RT turns the onscreen action down to a much lower resolution of 1080p, but the practical specifics are not yet clear.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales' Performance RT patch introduces a remarkable middle ground for players who want access to the best of both worlds. And if the new mode does drop the game's resolution to 1080p, it doesn't seem as though it's negatively affecting the overall experience for all but the most ardent in the fidelity-over-all camp.
Hopefully, console games will one day be able to consistently offer better visual output options and higher frame rates simultaneously. Spider-Man: Miles Morales' new visual setting could have been assisted greatly by broader PS5 resolution support for, say, 1440p monitors. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see what other creative ways developers are able to work to maximize console horsepower and push consoles to the limit as this generation carries on.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is available now on PS5 and PS4.