Returnal is one of the PlayStation ports where the move to PC shows most: PC wins on everything you can see.
The jump is not just resolution. Textures, particles, post-processing, lighting and shadows all improve, and ray tracing is added for some shadows and reflections. That setting also adds puddles that simply are not there with ray tracing off. The analysis calls it the PlayStation Studios game with the biggest gap between PC and PS5.
The analysis runs at 3840x2160 with everything maxed on an i9 12900K, testing from an RTX 4080 down to a 3050. With 16 GB of memory the result is already satisfactory; the 32 GB Housemarque recommends only matter for max settings at 4K with ray tracing.
PS5 outputs 1440p at 60fps reconstructed from 1080p, and the independent test puts the native render at 1920x1080 with temporal upsampling to 2880x1620. Performance is described as quite variable, which is no surprise in a game with this much on screen.
The PC analysis is from 2023 and the PS5 test from 2021: the PS5 figures belong to version 1.003.000 of the game.
The best live offer for each version, every price with its format.
Resolution, modes and FPS come from the video analyses above. The rest is published by each platform's official store and by the game's technical sheet on PC. Where nobody publishes the figure we put a dash, not a guess.
| Feature | PC | PS5 |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Up to 3840x2160 | 2560x1440 reconstructed from 1080p |
| Measured resolution | — | A native 1920x1080 reconstructed to 2880x1620 |
| Frame rate target | Unlocked | 60 |
| Frame rate stability | — | Quite variable |
| Ray tracing | Yes, on some shadows and reflections, and it adds puddles | — |
| Textures, particles and post-processing | Above PS5 | — |
| Lighting and shadows | Above PS5 | — |
| Recommended memory | 16 GB already gives a satisfactory result · 32 GB only for max settings at 4K with ray tracing | — |
| Cards tested in the analysis | RTX 4080, 4070 Ti, 3080, 3070 Ti, 3060 Ti and 3050 | — |
Xbox is the Series X column unless Series S is stated. Resolution, modes, FPS, VRR and download size come from the videos; HDR, ray tracing and PC features from the technical sheet and the official Xbox catalogue.
PC, comfortably. Textures, particles, post-processing, lighting and shadows all improve over PS5, and ray tracing is added for some shadows and reflections. The analysis itself flags it as the PlayStation Studios game where the PC version pulls furthest ahead.
It outputs 2560x1440 at 60fps reconstructed from 1080p. The independent test confirms a native 1920x1080 render upsampled to 2880x1620, and describes performance as quite variable.
It covers some shadows and reflections, and turning it on also adds puddles that do not appear with the option off. It is the clearest visual difference against PS5.
Housemarque recommends 32 GB, but the analysis gets a satisfactory result with 16 GB of DDR4. The 32 GB are only advised if you plan to play maxed out, at 4K and with ray tracing.
The PC analysis was run at 3840x2160 with an i9 12900K and RTX 4080, 4070 Ti, 3080, 3070 Ti, 3060 Ti and 3050. We do not publish per-card frame rates because the analysis does not list them.
Video analysis by El Analista de Bits. The videos play from their own channel. PC data according to PCGamingWiki and our own FPS measurements; Xbox features according to the official Microsoft catalogue.
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