Nearly two years after its incredibly bumpy launch, Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way. Thanks to substantial patches and new hardware capabilities of current gen consoles, Night City has never looked or played better. However, there is still a major variance in performance and overall gaming experience depending on which platform you play it on. This detailed breakdown will help you understand how to maximize frame rates, visual quality, and gameplay on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC.
Troubled Beginnings Lead to Promising Future
It‘s hard to overstate just how poor of a technical state Cyberpunk 2077 was at launch in December 2020. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles particularly struggled with extremely low frame rate counts, visual artifacts, crashes, and more. CD Projekt Red apologized for mishandling the launch and vowed to fix it with major patches. We are now finally seeing the fruits of their repair labor in 2022/2023.
The biggest change is that PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and capable gaming PCs can now properly run Cyberpunk 2077 at or near full potential 60 FPS frame rates with all graphical bells and whistles fully enabled. However, enhanced features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing do tank performance significantly when turned on. We‘ll break down the ideal settings combos for optimized FPS, resolution, and visual quality on each platform.
Decoding the Matrix of Platform Features and Enhancements
All platforms now offer users a choice between a higher Resolution Graphics Mode that maximizes image quality at a 30 FPS cap and a Performance Mode running at 60 FPS by dynamically lowering resolution. Both PS5 and Xbox Series X utilize machine learning upscaling techniques (AMD FSR 2 and DLSS equivalent) to counter the impact of lowering rendering resolution. Parity in terms of choice and functionality sets the stage for deeper technical analysis between platforms.
Xbox Series X Still Reigns in Visual Fidelity
In terms of pure visual quality, the Xbox Series X still comes out on top according to testing from the Digital Foundry team. With improved ambient occlusion, volumetric lighting, higher quality assets and more, Night City feels most vibrant and realistic on the Series X in Graphics Mode. This does come at the cost of only 30 FPS, but for visual appreciators, it‘s a worthy performance trade-off.
PS5‘s Lightning Fast Asset Streaming Eases Exploration
Is buttery smooth 60 FPS gameplay more your pace? PlayStation 5 utilizes its ultra fast SSD and data decompression to enable faster environmental loading and pop-in while roaming Night City. Where Xbox can occasionally visibly stream textures if you rotate the camera quickly, the PS5 keeps up easily, providing a more seamless open world traversal experience.
PC Power & Flexibility Trump All (If You Can Pay)
As expected, a properly equipped gaming rig provides the best overall Cyberpunk 2077 experience. The raw power and configurability of PC hardware enable ultra high FPS gameplay even with ray tracing lighting and advanced upscaling turned on. SLI/NVLink multi-GPU setups can actually handle native 8K resolution as well.
However, actually finding one of Nvidia‘s flagship 4090 or 4080 graphics cards in stock is difficult to impossible right now, with prices inflated to 2-4X over standard MSRP pricing. If you‘re willing to pay a small fortune and hunt for restocks though, maxed out PC Cyberpunk is an incredible showcase of virtual fidelity and performance.
Cross Generation Support is Dead
One important note – only PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms are officially supported by Cyberpunk 2077 anymore. Patches have ceased for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. These past-gen systems can barely run 20 FPS even on lowest settings. Without future optimizations, last gen is essentially an unplayable experience now.
Ray Tracing: Beautiful But Brutal for Performance
Now that new consoles and graphics cards can actually properly drive the immense ray traced lighting and shadows Cyberpunk 2077 was designed for, playing with it enabled showcases incredible depth, accuracy and mood that screen space effects struggle to match. But there is a massive performance cost for such beauty.
Xbox Series X tacks on ray tracing to Performance and Graphics Modes, but comes nowhere close to 60 FPS when enabled. Even PS5 and PC struggle to maintain 30 FPS with ray tracing maxed, requiring the help of AMD FSR/DLSS to upscale lower rendering resolutions and claw back frames. Still, if you want the pinnacle Cyberpunk 2077 visual presentation right now, Series X with ray tracing enabled (at least til new $1200+ PC GPUs become non-mythical) is the go to.
Optimizing Cyberpunk 2077 Settings on PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S
With all that said, here are the specific recommended settings combos I suggest to maximize frame rate and visual quality potential on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S when playing Cyberpunk 2077:
PlayStation 5
- Graphics Mode with DLSS Quality mode enabled – Hovering around 30 FPS, this provides a great mix of stability and maximized native 4K resolution detail with general graphical settings also set to Maximum quality.
- Performance Mode with DLSS Balanced mode – Targeting 60 FPS cap, lowering rendering resolution and using frame generation techniques provides incredibly fluid gameplay perfect for high speed driving and combat. Visual fidelity takes a hit, but the improved frame rate smoothness is worth it.
Xbox Series X
- Graphics Mode with Ray Tracing enabled – A locked 30 FPS may not seem optimal, but when combined with the overall boost in asset quality, SSRR upscaling, and breathtaking ray-traced lighting, this is the definitive Cyberpunk 2077 eye candy showcase right now on consoles. Use Quick Resume to avoid long loading if experimenting with settings.
- Performance Mode – No other special settings are needed here. The dynamic 4K scaling and consistent 60 FPS gameplay make this a great high action mode for Series X users not as concerned with max graphics.
Xbox Series S
- Performance Mode – Being less powerful than even PS5 and Series X, Series S unfortunately takes a bigger relative hit to visuals from the dynamic scaling required to run at 60 FPS. Ray tracing isn‘t supported at all. But the consistent high frame rate is still recommended for smooth play.
The Path Forward: Phantom Liberty & Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel
While still rough around the edges if you go looking for bugs or flaws, Cyberpunk 2077 has evolved into an impressive technical gaming showcase as platforms properly robust enough to handle its immense graphical demands have launched. The upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023 will provide several more hours of Night City adventures to enjoy.
And based on job listings from earlier this year, we know CD Projekt Red has begun working on an as-yet-unnamed and likely years away sequel. This gives hope that all the lessons learned from developing such an unprecedentedly dense and complex game world will allow the team to launch a sequel on firm technical footing from day one, realizing Cyberpunk‘s true next generation open world potential.
In the meantime, using these optimized settings and performance breakdowns as a guide enable you to experience the most smooth, stable and jaw-dropping Night City immersion possible on your platform of choice today. Have fun and happy gaming!