Digital Foundry || Sifu - PlayStation 5 vs PC - Digital Foundry Tech Review

ILikeFeet · Feb 12, 2022

Sifu has attracted positive reviews for its uncompromising, highly stylised martial arts arcade action. In this tech discussion, Audi Sorlie joins Alex Battaglia to talk about the game's origins and influences, its intriguing concepts, its limitations - and of course its performance, as tested on PlayStation 5 and PC.

no article yet, summary forthcoming

chinese localization fixes language errors of the english version
combat mechanics are focused on 1v1, crowd control is difficult
camera can be wonky
visual and audio cues do little to assist the player in gameplay
UE4
targeting 1080/60 on PS4, leading to technical design choices
no screen space reflections, some planar reflections
barely any SSAO, largely baked lighting
PS5 is 2160p, no evidence of dynamic resolution
dualsense not implemented well
PC shown in the video is 8K
no dualsense on pc
ps5 running at custom settings
shadow cascade is lower than PC low
PS5 has a very fast load
60fps, pretty much no stutter on ps5
there's a stutter in a specific scene (not recorded)
PC supports DLSS (footage is on balance mode, so 6K natively)
GTX 1060 30% faster than RX 580 at ultra/1440p
1060 rarely dipped below 60fps
580 dipped in cutscenes
PC has stuttering issues in screen transitions (opening doors), looks to be loading stutter

Miker · Feb 12, 2022

Will pick up on Steam down the line for the 120 fps experience. Seems to run really well overall if you're hitting 1440p60 with a GTX 1060 in gameplay.

Mars People · Feb 12, 2022

Another PC game with stuttering problems.
It keeps happening.

JahIthBer · Feb 12, 2022

Dictator

Bunzy · Feb 12, 2022

Looks like easy choice to go ps5. High/ultra settings for almost everything 4K/60 and dual sense with no stutter on frame rate

Although I do want to put my new 3090 through it's paces

Patitoloco · Feb 12, 2022

Dualsense not implemented well? Hmm

I was AWED at that hallway in the club. I don't understand it.

pswii60 · Feb 12, 2022

Is this a UE4 game?

Bunzy · Feb 12, 2022

pswii60 said:
Is this a UE4 game?

I believe so

Wollan · Feb 12, 2022

Mars People said:
Another PC game with stuttering problems.
It keeps happening.

This was one of the main reasons I ended up buying a XsX recently even though I own a RTX 3080 PC. PC porting/device issues happens too often and I really can't be bothered spending my time on deeper configurations. I mean, even in Microsoft 1st party titles like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

pswii60 · Feb 12, 2022

Bunzy said:
I believe so

Well that explains the stutters on PC then. UE4's shitty shader compilation strikes again. Frustrating when devs don't set it to pre-compile shaders on the title screen or during initial load.

Manta_Breh · Feb 12, 2022

I thought the dualsense was excellent.

Deleted member 30077 · Feb 12, 2022

pswii60 said:
Well that explains the stutters on PC then. UE4's shitty shader compilation strikes again. Frustrating when devs don't set it to pre-compile shaders on the title screen or during initial load.

Stutter with opening doors and entering zones is not because of shader compilation. Sounds more like stutter from assets loading.

Field · Feb 12, 2022

They only mention dualsense for the rain and the sound coming from it. Are the haptics not used while actually fighting?

Bunzy · Feb 12, 2022

bongowongobro said:
I thought the dualsense was excellent.

So do I, I actually think the speaker implementation isn't bad and the quality of the dualsense speaker is a lot better then the ps4 speaker

TooBusyLookinGud · Feb 12, 2022

Wollan said:
This was one of the main reasons I ended up buying a XsX recently even though I own a RTX 3080 PC. PC porting/device issues happens too often and I really can't be bothered spending my time on deeper configurations. I mean, even in Microsoft 1st party titles like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

3090 and I have a Series X and a PS5 for the same reason. When it's no well optimized on PC, I get it on console.

Doomguy Fieri · Feb 12, 2022

Runs and looks great on my 1070.

EduBRK · Feb 12, 2022

Its trully baffling how UE4 and Unity has problems on PC, most of the time... the performance is great BUT stutters on shader compilation and asset loading...

Begs the question if the default function to these are simply bad, and devs need to customize the engine to bypass this. Like, shader compilation JIT is the default, if you want to pre compile, you need to write the whole function, it's not trivial, etc...

Still waiting for a DF Tech Deep Dive on these problems.

MegaSackman · Feb 12, 2022

Look at that, this video mentions exactly my gripes with the gameplay, while I think the fundamentals are excellent, some attacks are very hard to read or anticipate.

That said, everything is possible of course, you can get really good at the game.

s y · Feb 12, 2022

I like the dualsense implementation. Especially in the club level

pswii60 · Feb 12, 2022

napata said:
Stutter with opening doors and entering zones is not because of shader compilation. Sounds more like stutter from assets loading.

Entering new areas is exactly when a lot of shader compilation would occur. UE4 doesn't suffer from asset loading stutter (at least with a SSD).

flyinj · Feb 12, 2022

EduBRK said:
Its trully baffling how UE4 and Unity has problems on PC, most of the time... the performance is great BUT stutters on shader compilation and asset loading...

Begs the question if the default function to these are simply bad, and devs need to customize the engine to bypass this. Like, shader compilation JIT is the default, if you want to pre compile, you need to write the whole function, it's not trivial, etc...

Still waiting for a DF Tech Deep Dive on these problems.

The most frustrating aspect of this is 75% of the time the developers eventually release a patch that fixes stutters if enough people complain about it.

So it is a fixable and avoidable thing, it's just these days developers just seem to think people won't care and they release the game anyways.

Very happy to see DF calling this out. It makes it much more likely that the devs will fix it

jroc74 · Feb 12, 2022

Like some hear...I thought the Dual Sense use was fine.

Not sure if he means all the Dual Sense features but what it does use felt...fine.

RoboPlato · Feb 12, 2022

Patitoloco said:
Dualsense not implemented well? Hmm

I was AWED at that hallway in the club. I don't understand it.

Their criticism is about the sound from the speaker, not the haptics

Deleted member 30077 · Feb 12, 2022

pswii60 said:
Entering new areas is exactly when a lot of shader compilation would occur. UE4 doesn't suffer from asset loading stutter (at least with a SSD).

If it was shader compilation it wouldn't keep happening with every single door.

MegaSackman · Feb 12, 2022

Patitoloco said:
Dualsense not implemented well? Hmm

I was AWED at that hallway in the club. I don't understand it.

I don't think it was that good honestly. It's fine. That hallway you mention might be the best segment. Rain feels like rocks falling from the sky when in Astro or Returnal feels more accurate.

I do appreaciate them implementing these features tho, it addes another layer of immerssion but it's not top class imo.

jroc74 · Feb 12, 2022

RoboPlato said:
Their criticism is about the sound from the speaker, not the haptics

That's the thing, that's the first thing I said was cool, lol. The rain in the opening area.

The PC at 8K and the stuttering is interesting. Anyone think we will see some 6K-8K modes in games on consoles before this gen is over?

Qudi · Feb 12, 2022

Is 8k@60 or 4k@120 with DLSS Quality/Balanced possible on a 3080 🤔 also which version of DLSS is used in here?

vixolus · Feb 12, 2022

jroc74 said:
That's the thing, that's the first thing I said was cool, lol. The rain in the opening area.

The PC at 8K and the stuttering is interesting. Anyone think we will see some 1080p 6K-8K modes in games on consoles before this gen is over?

What do you mean by 1080p 6K-8K...?

Miker · Feb 12, 2022

Bunzy said:
Looks like easy choice to go ps5. High/ultra settings for almost everything 4K/60 and dual sense with no stutter on frame rate

Although I do want to put my new 3090 through it's paces

It seems like the stutter is momentary during area transitions and smooth otherwise.

I'd easily take 120 fps with minor stutters that don't affect gameplay over everything else.

jroc74 · Feb 12, 2022

vixolus said:
What do you mean by 1080p 6K-8K...?

lol, I just realized I said it wrong.

Was in the middle of saying something else and left it in.

vixolus · Feb 12, 2022

jroc74 said:
lol, I just realized I said it wrong.

Was in the middle of saying something else and left it in.

ah. Well, I would not expect it to happen often. You get a few games like Ori and the Will of the Wisps at 6K on XSX and The Touryst, but these are graphically simple games that can push those resolutions. Otherwise, there's hardly any point to go above 4K as a target due to TV displays. 8K TVs are probably like 0.01% of the market, and going over solely for supersampling is pretty dumb. It's only feasible here in Sifu because of DLSS + its simplicity in asset quality.

Bunzy · Feb 12, 2022

Miker said:
It seems like the stutter is momentary during area transitions and smooth otherwise.

I'd easily take 120 fps with minor stutters that don't affect gameplay over everything else.

Yeah 120 is nice to have, the pc isn't hooked up to the oled where PS5 is, need to move it or get a better monitor

Chamon · Feb 12, 2022

Dualsense is ok, what they talk in the video is about the audio programming.

Lukemia SL · Feb 12, 2022

HDR yeah or nah? Doesn't seem like DF mention it in their videos that much these days.

iconoclast · Feb 13, 2022

clicked for the performance comparison but i'm cringing listening to the complaints about combat vs groups of enemies in the first couple minutes.

Iron Eddie · Feb 13, 2022

Awesome video, now I can blame any performance issues on why I suck at this game :)

GwyndolinCinder · Feb 13, 2022

Wollan said:
This was one of the main reasons I ended up buying a XsX recently even though I own a RTX 3080 PC. PC porting/device issues happens too often and I really can't be bothered spending my time on deeper configurations. I mean, even in Microsoft 1st party titles like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

Loading stutter fuels my nightmares, the number 1 issue that plagues my PC gaming experience. I have a beautiful 3080 rig ready for Elden ring...but still preloading a PS5 version just incase it has stuttering issues.

Its not too bad in SIFU, and I cant recall it happening after the first level...

Smokey · Feb 13, 2022

Guess they didn't mention the surround sound being messed up? Sound only comes out of the rear speakers, on the PS5 version at least.

jett · Feb 13, 2022

I wanna this is a great review/overview of the game, technical analysis aside. Audi pinpoints on the some of the issues I have with the game's design, and him dropping his knowledge of martial arts movies is really insightful.

Lukemia SL said:
HDR yeah or nah? Doesn't seem like DF mention it in their videos that much these days.

I don't think it has HDR. It certainly doesn't support HDR on PC.

Lukemia SL · Feb 13, 2022

jett said:
I wanna this is a great review/overview of the game, technical analysis aside. Audi pinpoints on the some of the issues I have with the game's design, and him dropping his knowledge of martial arts movies is really insightful.

I don't think it has HDR. It certainly doesn't support HDR on PC.

Thanks for letting me know.

Yudoken · Feb 13, 2022

GwyndolinCinder said:
Loading stutter fuels my nightmares, the number 1 issue that plagues my PC gaming experience. I have a beautiful 3080 rig ready for Elden ring...but still preloading a PS5 version just incase it has stuttering issues.

Its not too bad in SIFU, and I cant recall it happening after the first level...

Ironically enough with Elden Ring and generally From Soft the console version always get the short end of the stick with some sort of framepacing/fps issues or forced effects like chromatic aberration console. Even their worst release which is DS PTDE (which was just the 360 without even a working resolution setting) got upgraded and enhanced thanks to Durante and community mods.

Very disappointing that Sifu suffers from these loading stutters which is really something it should've been fixed way before launch. The fps without the drops is fantastic, you can push the game with a 3080 to dsdr 5120x2880p with DLSS quality and max settings at 100fps (or lower settings/resolution for 120fps and above). The minimalistic design and usage of very few demanding effects result in a game that runs pretty well.

Musubi · Feb 13, 2022

Wollan said:
This was one of the main reasons I ended up buying a XsX recently even though I own a RTX 3080 PC. PC porting/device issues happens too often and I really can't be bothered spending my time on deeper configurations. I mean, even in Microsoft 1st party titles like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

Yup its the reason I almost exclusively game on console. For as streamlined as modern PC gaming is now with clients like steam there is still enough fiddily work that needs to be done sometimes that it just turns me off from playing even if there are upsides like mods.

CHC · Dec 9, 2022

Sorry to bump but it's not worth its own thread... how is PC now after updates with regard to stuttering? I'm not SUPER sensitive to it or anything, but if it's bad I'd prefer to avoid.

Better to buy on a capable PC or PS5?

Digital Foundry || Sifu - PlayStation 5 vs PC - Digital Foundry Tech Review

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