In my review, I called DOOM: The Dark Ages my favorite of the modern DOOM trilogy, and on July 7, PlayStation 5 Pro owners are getting upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) support for it. id Software is adding the improved upscaler as part of Free Update 4, which arrives the same day as the paid Revelations campaign expansion. And in case you didn’t know, PSSR is exclusive to PlayStation 5 Pro, so the base PlayStation 5 still runs the game without it.
This is the upgraded version of PSSR, the enhanced upscaler Sony rolled out to PlayStation 5 Pro owners in March after previewing it in late February. It uses machine learning reconstruction to rebuild a higher quality image from what idTech8 renders, drawing on motion, depth, exposure, and sub-pixel data to keep the picture stable. id Software says that means fine detail like snow, chains, sparks, and thin geometry holds together more consistently when the Slayer is sprinting, parrying, and throwing the Shield Saw through a screen full of particles.
DOOM: The Dark Ages now joins a growing line of PlayStation 5 Pro titles running the upgraded PSSR, after Resident Evil Requiem shipped with it first and games like ARC Raiders and Crimson Desert picked it up since. id frames the benefit as a motion clarity upgrade rather than a paused-screenshot one, since the game is packed with high frequency detail, from the Slayer’s scratched armor to its layered Sentinel architecture.
I played through DOOM: The Dark Ages on PC by way of Game Pass, so I haven’t seen the PlayStation 5 Pro version in motion myself. For anyone already running it on the hardware, though, PSSR comes free with Update 4 on July 7, the same day Revelations adds its new campaign chapter and the Chain Spear.
