The graphical, playable, and even narrative leap from Observer to Observer System Redux in its move from old consoles to next-gen platforms is significant. We met with Anshar Studios, those responsible for this remastering, to explain what challenges they have had. It sure helps us understand what the future of horror games may be on Xbox Series X and PS5
The update patches to Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, the best graphics and performance of an old title that now seems new, and the technical possibilities of the new machines have us all excited ; But the limitations of the new systems and the challenges that developers now have to face also bring us headlong: will 60 fps with ray tracing and 4k be possible on the console? This graphic power, what new possibilities does it open to the narrative and the gameplay? ¿ What is the limit of these machines ? In how long will the PCs we have at home eat with potatoes what the PS5 and Series X can do?
To answer all these questions I chat with Anshar Studios . This team has been responsible for making the next gen version of Observer , the Bloober Team video game, the author of Layers of Fear and the highly anticipated future The Medium . The transformation they have made of Observer has been graphic , but with changes that have ended up affecting the performance of the game, its staging, the way the scenarios are expressed and the gameplay itself. It is not the first time that we have seen that the use of new console technology changes a game in this way. The remake of Demon’s Souls executed by Bluepointhas done the same with the original game. Modifications to the light offer new guides to the player . They allow you to open your eyes more to previously imperceptible elements of the environment, and that changes everything. Joanna Plaszewska, Associate Producer, told me about this: “Some of the changes we made to the gameplay of Observer were motivated by improvements to its visual appearance. We were able to build a better ambient narrative thanks to the new lighting, making it easier for the player to navigate our buildings “.
The new consoles are an excellent tool to generate an intense sense of terror in the playersTomasz BentkowskiThis topic is not bullshit and we may be overlooking it or we are not evaluating it in its fair measure. The ray tracing, the highest quality textures, the best camera controls, etc., not only serve to see “graphics” on the screen, but also so that the scenes, environments and elements that populate them are loaded with more information . Thanks to the new use of light and these new qualities, will all those annoying screen prompts disappear, insisting on what we have to do? Could the very place we inhabit guide us in a more natural and immersive way? Layers of Fear, remembered and great horror game by Bloober Team, stood out for the transformations that its scenario underwent. With them, the altered mental state of its protagonist was reflected. Tomasz Bentkowski, lighting artist at Anshar Studios told me: “With the Playstation 5 and Series X SSD we can move and change scenarios at full speed and without the player noticing, which was key for us to achieve that the player was fully immersed in Observer. ” Adding the new use of light and this rapid alteration of what we see, we have an interesting generation in terms of horror games . Personally, I start to think about what Hideo Kojima could do if he took up PT with these possibilities, but also other indie studios.
Problems and technical challenges of developing on PS5 and Xbox Series
Observer System Redux.
It is not a question of just enjoying improved loading times, but of changes in real time, of guiding the player with the light forward and making everything that he leaves behind transform in real time, for example. Tomasz adds: “being able to add more detail on screen, and being able to combine it all with quality lighting, make the new consoles an excellent tool for generating an intense sense of terror; not to scare gamers, but to make them feel uncomfortable” .
The PS5 controller can help create suspense in horror games.
In the new generation it is also important to talk about the controls . In Observer System Redux , to open a door, you have to press the R2 button if you are playing on PS5. Once the knob is grasped, you have to advance the stick to open the door. The associate producer at Anshar Studios explained to me that “we used the DualSense to achieve a more tactile interaction with the world. You can feel the doors close or how it takes some effort to push an object. With DualSense it was also possible to emphasize the unpleasant and uncomfortablewhich is to be the protagonist of the game. We added haptic effects to accentuate panic attacks, overdoses, and to give neural interrogations more context. We believe that it is a tool to emphasize suspense, which makes it very useful for a horror game. “This statement was interesting to me. Observer is not an exclusive video game for Sony, and there is a doubt whether the benefits of the DualSense will use them not just his first party studies, but all of them.
From Anshar they did not point out any problem to me to work with it, so I hope its use becomes general and it does not remain as another of the many great ideas of Sony, unused, as seen in PSVita or PS3, or Nintendo with its 3DS. The truth is that playing a horror game, wanting to open a door with R2 and not being able to because the trigger locks, scares and creates a lot of discomfort, because who is on the other side? But that also brings me to another question about this generation, will the action button be moved from X to L2 and R2 to take advantage of the possibilities of the controller? Be careful because this may mean a paradigm shift in the mapping of controls.
The terror of Resident Evil: Village also points to ray tracing.
We have talked about the possibilities of the new generation, but what about the challenges that lie ahead? The main one is the coexistence of ray tracing with performance options. Miichal Gawron, technical artist told me: “Ray tracing is something new on consoles, so its perfect implementation is still in development, something that you cannot predict how it will end, and so there is some instability with the FPS when enable this option. Because of it, sometimes a single object on the Stage can negatively affect the performance of the entire level. But now that we know more about ray tracing, we are developing new patches to improve its use. Mateusz Malek, programmer, added: “We are fully aware of the performance issues when activating ray tracing in Observer System Redux, but it absolutely depends on what is in the scene.
The Medium.
For example, in locations with puddles or mirrors, using ray tracing is more expensive than in scenes without so much reflecting. Our tests show that Playstation 5 has a much harder time rendering with ray tracing than it does on next-gen PCs, so getting a stable framerate on PS5 is more of a challenge than it is on PC. “I ask about performance on Xbox Series X because there it is a little better: “in Series X the framerate is more stable because we do not incorporate ray tracing. We are now working on it, but without ray tracing, the rest of the rendering phases have more time to run. In many scenes, ray tracing eats up a huge chunk of the rendering. Today’s console hardware is ready to handle wonderful visual effects using ray tracing techniques, but it is a new technology. As developers, we need a little more time to learn how to handle it and get the most out of it. “This statement makes a lot of sense if we combine it with those of Bluepoint talking aboutthe absence of raytracing in Demon’s Souls . Gavin Moore, creative director of the studio, said that trying to bring it into the game would add unanticipated costs, but also a lot of extra time. Now we can assume that that extra time would not only be to add it to the game, but to investigate how to do it right. It seems like we have a long way to go before we see perfect ray traces and working at competent performances and resolutions.
Despite the fact that Mateusz recognizes that today there are already PCs capable of moving games at 4K, 60 frames of images per second and with ray tracing, he is motivated by what the new machines can do. Finally, they have been able to “reduce the quality difference between consoles and PC” and know from the beginning of development that “they would be able to offer something that looked and worked much better than in past generations (…), they would no longer have that simplify the visual effects designed for the PC version of Observer System Redux. ” He also assures me that the change from developing from the last generation to this one has been smooth thanks to Unreal. Michael Gawron explained to me that “Unreal Engine provided them with the necessary tools to comfortably scale the quality of the graphics,
Bringing Observer: System Redux to Xbox Series S wasn’t a difficult task.
But, yes, it still takes a lot of work on the part of the developers to get everything fine. And how was the port to Series S? Has it been a problem, has it been an added challenge? “We treated Series S as if it were just another version of the new consoles. It forced us to make concrete changes to the code, add extra options to scale the graphics and an independent test, but, in general, it was not difficult since most of the changes to be made are already covered by the graphics engine that we have used: Unreal “. It’s great to know that Unreal Engine, the Epic Games engine, has put the batteries together and made it easy for creators to port and scale games from one platform to another. It seems that Series S is in good hands.
We are in for a promising 2021, full of stories to play and new worlds to visitWhat Anshar Studios has told me is promising. I like to know that development studios are already considering how to use the technical improvements of the consoles for gameplay, narration and navigation, not just to make everything look more beautiful . Also very promising is the use of DualSense and the ease that seems to exist to transfer a game from one console to another and to PC, at least using Unreal. Of course, its members have also made it clear to me that the main challenge ahead is in the use of raytracing and its coexistence with the rest of the performance options. We are in for a promising 2021, full of stories to play and new worlds to visit. With or without ray tracing, see you in the future.
