Even though Horizon Forbidden West already has one of the nicest looks of any PlayStation 5 title, Guerrilla Games has discovered a way to improve upon it. The most recent release from Forbidden West includes support for variable refresh rate (VRR) and high refresh rate as well as a 40Hz “Balanced” rendering option (HFR).
A very recent addition to console gaming is VRR. It helps to prevent screen tearing whenever there is a performance dip by synchronising the refresh rate of your TV with the frame rate of the game you are playing. By providing a compromise between the two, the new Balanced setting aims to give you the best of Forbidden West’s current Performance and Fidelity settings.
Here is the math behind how rendering a game at 40Hz results in “balanced” graphics if you’re intrigued. Your console needs 33.33 milliseconds to display a new frame at 30Hz. In contrast, it generates a new frame every 25 and 16.66 milliseconds at 40Hz and 60Hz, respectively. In terms of update speed, 40 frames per second fall exactly between 30 and 60, which may seem paradoxical. Additionally, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart includes a 40 frame-per-second mode, which Digital Foundry dubbed “a possible game-changer” for console gaming when Insomniac initially unveiled it.
In addition to these enhancements, patch 1.17 includes the customary slew of bug patches, some of which are intended to fix bugs that might prevent you from completing the game.
Highly-requested features incoming… Introducing Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), High Refresh Rate (HFR) and our new "Balanced" Graphics Mode supporting 40Hz.
🗒️ Read the full Patch Notes here: https://t.co/4ls0b3Par6#HorizonForbiddenWest pic.twitter.com/RDBlUmIEzD
— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) July 6, 2022