Released yesterday on the PlayStation 4, the free demo for Team Ninja’s long-in-development Dark Souls-alike features an option that allows players to select which is more important to them—graphics or a stable frame rate.
Though Nioh’s been in development since 2005, the samurai-flavored action RPG’s game mode feature is pretty progressive. Before loading the game players can choose either movie mode, focused on looking as pretty as possible, or action mode, sacrificing graphical fidelity in favor of maintaining a steady frame rate.
The difference between the two modes is substantial. Movie mode’s frame rate is definitely not consistent. It’s low and occasionally it stutters a bit. Action mode is fluid and fast. Nowhere near Ninja Gaiden fast, but certainly speedy for a game of its ilk.
Check out the screenshots I took below. In movie mode the textures are a bit sharper. The edges of the shrine are relatively smooth.
Movie Mode
The textures are slightly muddier in action mode, the edges of the shrine jaggy as hell.
Action Mode
The difference between modes is most noticeable when the game is in motion. It’s really night and day.
This is an alpha demo for Nioh (it disappears after May 5), so the option may change between now and whenever the full game is released. I certainly hope not. This is an option every console game should include.