Horizon Forbidden West - PS4 and PS5 Differences Explained

development on Horizon Forbidden West has used the PS4 console, and so it’s designed with that hardware in mind. “A lot of the development has taken place on the PlayStation 4, and a lot of playtesting has been done on PlayStation 4,” said de Jonge. “So we are ensuring that owners of that console have a great experience and the game will look fantastic on that console.”
“For the PlayStation 5 we can go much further, of course,” he added. “Visually we can add a lot more detail. Graphically, the rendering technique for the underwater scenes is special for the PlayStation 5, it has extra details and extra systems, like the wave technique is better on that system.”

As well as improved water and environmental details, the PS5 version is able to make use of a cinematic-grade lighting system that the PS4 can only use in cutscenes. “The lighting on Aloy on PlayStation 5 has much more definition,” said de Jonge. “We use a special cinematic lighting rig, that on the PlayStation 4 is only used in cutscenes, because the game is not running and we have more processing power in those scenes. But with the PlayStation 5 we have plenty of processing power, so we can have that lighting rig always available, so she always looks great with that lighting setup travelling with her anywhere.”
the PS5 version supports a 60 frames-per-second Performance Mode. It’s unclear what sacrifices will be made to achieve that 60FPS, but - based on Sony’s other games - it is likely to be reduced resolution and the absence of hardware-intensive lighting effects.