After the PS5 Pro upgrade for "Cyberpunk 2077," Night City now feels like a place you could actually move into.

Dusk falls on the glass skin of the skyscrapers, the sky just shifting from blue to purple. In the distance, the holographic ads look as if someone cranked up their saturation, blinking along the edge of the clouds. The car stops at the end of the overpass, and I habitually hit the photo mode button, place my character with their back to the camera in the lower-left corner of the frame, and wait for a car tail light to streak past in the distance, drawing a red line, before gently pressing the shutter. In that moment only one question crosses my mind: if I could, would I actually want to move into this more “Pro” version of Night City.

Back to the game itself: this is a dedicated optimization update for Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5 Pro, which according to VG Chartz officially goes live on April 8. Converted to Beijing time, you should see the update notification at around 3 p.m. today. CDPR’s goal is simple and direct: squeeze every drop of performance out of this new hardware and pack Night City with higher resolution, more stable performance, and ray tracing effects that more closely match their original artistic vision. For someone like me—who takes a screenshot every ten minutes—this is basically the devs personally asking: would you like a better camera.

One of the core changes is the introduction of PSSR, an AI-based image reconstruction technology that analyzes the image pixel by pixel and then “fills in” more refined detail. The official examples are things like thermal katanas, street punks, and speeding cars becoming more vivid, but my first reaction was: will the reflections on rain-soaked pavement at night, the layered colors of neon in puddles in the distance, finally become detailed enough that I want to turn off the HUD completely and stand at a street corner for five minutes. When that kind of image is done right, it makes you subconsciously slow your breathing, afraid that any movement might disturb the delicate balance between lights and smoke.

Another major upgrade is in ray tracing. This PS5 Pro version adds BVH8 support, bringing ray-traced lighting, shadows, and reflections closer to CDPR’s original vision. To put it simply, those indoor scenes that used to feel like “bare concrete room lit by a single spotlight” should theoretically be dressed up to look more realistic. Neon leaking through window cracks should no longer feel like a flat filter pasted on top, but rather bend around table edges, dust motes, and even the side of a character’s face before slowly fading out. If you’re the type who likes to open the camera in random corners—for example, lingering ten seconds under a cold fluorescent lamp in a lab—this update may have you re-planning your entire screenshot route.

Outside of pure visuals, what this update really asks you to do is pick one “version you’d like to live in” among three modes. The most extreme is the Ray Tracing Pro mode, which pretty much turns on every ray tracing feature available: reflections, ambient occlusion, global illumination, shadows, emissive lighting—the whole set. On VRR-supported displays it targets 40 fps; without VRR it drops to 30 fps. For players who like to walk slowly, live in photo mode, and park their car on the edge of an overpass to enjoy the night view, this frame rate is acceptable. The immersion you gain from the visuals can even make you forget you’re playing a game, and instead feel like you’re “staking out for the light” in a real city.

If you care more about how it feels to control, Performance Mode is a completely different lifestyle. On a VRR-supported screen it can go up to 90 fps while still maintaining relatively good image quality. In this mode I’m more inclined to race down the highway or get into firefights in the alleys. The picture might not be as “buttery” as in the extreme ray tracing mode, but the smooth camera motion lends the whole city a slight “documentary realism” vibe, with every signboard sliding past you like raindrops streaking backward across a car window. The third option is the middle-ground Ray Tracing mode, locked at 60 fps while keeping part of the ray tracing effects, presenting the city’s light and motion in a more balanced way. This is likely where most people will eventually settle.

In terms of broader trends, this update is essentially the console world formally putting the “visual fidelity vs. frame rate” question squarely on the table, and for the first time bringing a console city fairly close to high-end PC-level ray tracing effects. The article also notes that both image quality and frame rate see tangible improvements, but whether players can perceive a qualitative leap with the naked eye is still open for debate. My own experience leans on a simple standard: when I’m standing on a rooftop looking down at the city, do I get that illusion of “I really want to rent a tiny place here.” If the answer is yes, then this update is worth it for me.

As for purchase and play recommendations: if you were already planning to buy a PS5 Pro, or you already own one and intend to return to Night City, you can basically treat this update as a brand-new lens—especially for first-time players. Doing your first playthrough in Ray Tracing Pro or the 60 fps ray tracing mode will give you a Night City that’s closer to the “final cut” they originally envisioned than what you saw at launch. If you’re a returning player who just wants to clear a few side quests and occasionally post some screenshots, I’d suggest switching back and forth between 40 fps Ray Tracing Pro and 60 fps Ray Tracing to see what your display supports and which setting makes you most willing to stop, linger, and hit the screenshot button a couple more times. In the end, choosing a mode boils down to a simple question: do you want a city that feels smooth to move through, or a city beautiful enough that you’d happily slow down and live in it.