Horizon Forbidden West: Breaking Down the Balanced and Performance Graphics Modes

Horizon Forbidden West gives players the choice between a 40fps Balanced mode and 60fps Performance mode, catering to those who prefer visual splendor or buttery smooth frame rates. But what exactly do these options offer under the hood, and which one provides the better experience? As a hardcore PlayStation fan and graphics enthusiast, I‘ve tested them extensively on both PS5 and PS4 Pro to help you decide.

At a Glance: Resolution and Frame Rate Targets

Here‘s a quick overview of the modes‘ technical targets:

So in a nutshell, Balanced prioritizes higher native rendering resolution while Performance favors peak frame rate. But there‘s more to the story, including the effects of each mode in different display scenarios. Let‘s dig deeper!

Balanced Mode: Hitting the Sweet Spot at 4K40?

Offering a middle ground between visual quality and high frame rate, Balanced mode runs at a 40fps target, a unique number that provides much smoother animation than 30fps while enabling advanced graphics options like ray tracing.

In their extensive tech analysis, Digital Foundry described Balanced mode on PS5 as hitting a "sweet spot" between the original 30fps and 60fps modes, making excellent use of the new 40Hz output introduced in firmware update 4.50. Motion looks far more fluid and gameplay feels markedly more responsive versus basic 30fps.

Balanced mode enables nice visual touches like ray traced shadows andreflections at 40fps. Credit: Digital Foundry

On displays with 40Hz/VRR support, Balanced mode can sustain its 40fps target quite well, only periodically dipping when the on-screen action gets extremely heavy. This makes for a great experience overall.

However, those playing on non-VRR 4K60 TVs will encounter occasional screen tearing. Using Balanced mode here means either enabling V-Sync (introducing some input lag) or putting up with the tearing when the frame rate dips under 40fps in demanding scenes.

So in summary, Balanced mode offers an excellent blend of visual splendor and fluid performance if you have a supporting 40Hz/VRR-capable display. Without VRR it‘s still a big jump over 30fps, but occasional tearing is the trade-off.

Performance Mode: Blisteringly Smooth 60fps Gameplay

For gamers who care about one thing and one thing only – frame rate, Horizon‘s Performance mode is the best choice, pushing up to a blisteringly smooth 60fps during gameplay. This translates to much more immediate control response and buttery smooth motion in all scenes.

To hit 60fps Performance mode does sacrifice some graphical flourishes though, most notably dropping to a 1440p-1800p internal rendering resolution, enabling dynamic scaling to optimize fluidity. Certain visual effects like ray tracing ambient occlusion are also disabled.

The end result is a crystal clear, incredibly fluid experience that feels extremely responsive, sacrificing just a bit of base image quality – a fair trade in this gamer‘s opinion!

In their testing, Digital Foundry found that on PS5‘s Performance mode, frame rates now hold at 60fps much more reliably following patch 1.17‘s optimization improvements. Only certain fog and alpha effect-heavy scenes see minor blips. This excellent level of performance makes current-gen consoles finally feel worthy of their "60fps target" designation in Horizon Forbidden West‘s case.

Performance mode exchanges visual splendor for a slick 60fps frame rate – a worthwhile trade for many gamers. Credit: PCMag

So if you have a high refresh rate display and value frame rate above all else for super responsive controls, Performance mode is definitely the way to go. You get crisply-animated 60fps gameplay with only relatively minor visual downgrades.

1080p Considerations and Optimizing Each Mode

It‘s also worth discussing Horizon‘s graphics modes when playing on a 1080p display. How does each one stack up here versus 4K?

In Performance mode, the lowered 1440p-1800p rendering resolution won‘t be as apparent on a 1080p screen. Image quality remains crisp, while the fluid 60fps is still a boon to responsiveness. In this scenario, Performance offers obvious advantages for 1080p players with minimal trade-off.

Balanced mode presents some more complex trade-offs at 1080p however. The 40fps fluidity boost is still nice, but you won‘t benefit from the full 4K clarity anyway at 1080p. However, other visual features like improved shadows and reflections still shine at 1080p when using ray tracing. Ultimately, it‘s a matter of preference around fluidity vs graphics here.

Gamers playing on base last-gen PS4 consoles also face considerations around each mode‘s strengths at a native 1080p. Patch 1.17 improved Performance mode substantially on PS4 base models. And while 40fps Balanced provides fluidity, the base PS4 does struggle to fully capitalize on its graphics advantages like ray tracing. So the clarity of 1080p30 with PS4‘s Resolution mode is compelling in its own right too.

The Verdict? Choose Based On Your Priorities

At the end of the day, Horizon Forbidden West impressively caters to both crowds, offering a balanced graphics mode focused on maximizing visual splendor at 40fps, plus a blistering 60fps performance mode sacrificing some graphical bells and whistles in service of lightning-fast response and buttery smooth animations.

If you have a high refresh rate display and crave speed above all, Performance mode is likely the best fit, making the most of 60fps gameplay. However, the 40fps Balanced mode also provides excellent fluidity considering the visual quality it retains.

So weigh up your own priorities around graphical beauty, frame rate, and overall presentation to make the right choice! Both modes have pros and cons that lend themselves to certain displays and preferences. We‘re fortunate Horizon Forbidden West gives players options to customize their desired experience.

I hope breaking down the nuts and bolts of each graphics mode helps you decide how to best enjoy Aloy‘s adventures! Let me know which one you prefer in the comments below. And as patches continue improving things, I‘ll revisit my testing to provide updates. Happy gaming!