![\"Silent](\"https:\/\/images.digitalfoundry.net\/394ad47bfc90c\/silent-hill-townfall-performance-is-generally-a-locked-60fps-on-ps5-or-ps5-pro-but-traversal-stutter-is-apparent-a-common-ue5-sore-spot.large.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Silent](\"https:\/\/images.digitalfoundry.net\/d0afbd788fa26\/silent-hill-townfall-performance-is-generally-a-locked-60fps-on-ps5-or-ps5-pro-but-traversal-stutter-is-apparent-a-common-ue5-sore-spot.large.jpg\")
<\/a>Silent Hill: Townfall performance is generally a locked 60fps on PS5 or PS5 Pro, but traversal stutter is apparent – a common UE5 sore spot. <\/p>\nDespite the impressive lighting tech, there are minor curiosities in the presentation. The player character remains absent from reflections, likely a pragmatic choice to avoid the complexities of third-person animation in a first-person title, or alternatively to sidestep the visual limitations that often arise when rendering character models at high levels of detail in reflective surfaces.<\/p>\n
Performance on PS5 is generally solid, though there are some minor, irritating instances of traversal stutter, which remains a common complaint with Unreal Engine 5 titles. These drops are mostly confined to cinematic cutscenes and are often subtle enough that they can be mitigated by using system-level VRR support, though they remain an unwelcome distraction.<\/p>\n
Resolution metrics reveal a clear hierarchy across the Sony hardware. The base PS5 in quality mode has an internal resolution between 1080p and 1152p, while the performance mode dips to roughly 792p to 864p, leading to noticeable shimmering in high-contrast scenes. Conversely, the PlayStation 5 Pro offers a significant boost, with quality mode at ~1620p and performance mode at ~1215p. With PSSR enabled, we get a fixed 1440p base resolution in quality mode and 864p in performance mode, slightly lower internal resolutions that nonetheless resolve into greater detail, less noise and better temporal stability, thanks to the advantages of PSSR over the default TSR used elsewhere.<\/p>\n
On the PC front, the experience is initially impressive before awful technical problems manifest. While a mid-range card like the RTX 4060 can achieve a respectable frame rate at 1440p settings – and even runs reasonably well at 4K in DLSS performance mode with RT off – the title is marred by egregious shader compilation stutter, alongside a worse rendition of the traversal stutter we spotted on console. This technical friction is particularly detrimental to a horror game, where the constant flow of atmospheric dread is easily shattered by sudden, jarring frame-time spikes. This isn’t the sort of scare that I signed up for.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the PC version lacks integrated frame generation, which is a bizarre omission for an Unreal Engine 5 title given that support is baked into the engine. It also looks like older DLSS CNN-based Model F is being forced, despite the game shipping with the Transformer-based DLSS 4.0 DLL file. FSR 3 frame generation can be enabled via third-party mods. It’s also necessary to edit configuration files to disable film grain or chromatic aberration, with no menu options for these marmite effects. There are also ReShade add-ons to disable cutscene letterboxing and mods to adjust FOV settings, if desired; PC Gaming Wiki<\/a> and NexusMods<\/a> are good resources to see additional PC options.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Silent Hill: Townfall is an aesthetically masterful game that captures the essence of the series with great care, priced fairly for its scale (\u00a345\/$50 puts it well below usual triple-A fare). However, the recurring technical issues – especially the performance issues and limitations on PC – need urgent attention. Until these patches arrive, the game doesn’t quite deserve a full-throated endorsement.<\/p>\n Will is website editor for Digital Foundry, specialising in PC hardware, sim racing and display technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Silent Hill: Townfall is the second story in this week’s DF Direct, episode #283. The latest release in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[242,59,1180,112,113,129,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-786062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-features","tag-gb","tag-pc","tag-ps5","tag-ps5-pro","tag-reviews","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>Silent Hill: Townfall PC performance is initially good, even on the modest RTX 4060, but the shader compilation stutter and traversal stutter sour the experience considerably – and improvements must be made. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n