PlayStation 5 Pro review: Pricey future-proofing

On November 7, 2024, Sony launched the higher-level refresh of its PlayStation 5, the PS5 Pro. Featuring a more compact design, better tech, greater storage, and an overall more powerful machine. The PlayStation 5 Pro offers a gaming experience that should take Sony fans easily through the current generation and likely a decent way into the next. Just be prepared to pay an eye-watering price that could easily go a long way in building a decent PC.

What’s in the box?

The standard PlayStation 5 Pro will run you $699.99 USD and contains the PS5 Pro console, a single DuelSense Wireless Controller, a built-in SSD with 2 TB of storage, two plastic stand feet to hold the console up horizontally, an HDMI cable, an AC power cord, and the Astro’s Playroom game, which is pre-installed digitally on the console. All of that is packed into a console that’s also notably smaller, lighter, and easier to stow in your shelf than the original. Under the hood, the marquee features it packs in are Spectral Super Resolution, which uses AI tech to enhance your picture quality on compatible 4K TVs. It also features optimized console performance meant to offer up to 120Hz display support and enhancement of PS5 and various backwards compatible games and advanced ray-tracing capabilities meant to take advantage of the feature in game where it’s available.

The nicest thing to have right out of the box is the 2TB of storage. About 1.8 TB of it is available for your use, but that’s vastly better than the nearly 850 GB that could be used on the base PS5’s SSD. Even then, it still has the port that allows you to install an extra SSD storage stick. You don’t even have to do anything special to make the swap outside knowing how to open up the base PS5 and PS5 Pro to access those ports. Having personally made the swap, I found it an easier process to access the PS5 Pro’s storage port and install the extra SSD. Once it was in, I turned on the PS5 Pro, it recognized the extra storage, and I could access it right away.

The layout of ports is almost the same with one annoying exception. Instead of having a USB-C and USB-A port on the front of the console, it’s got two USB-C ports. Most things operate on USB-C these days, but that means you have nowhere on the front of the console to connect something like the Victrix BFG controller transmitter. That’s just kind of annoying, and it’s not like they were hurting for space. I would have preferred two USB-C’s and one USB-A port on the front, but I’m glad they didn’t ditch USB-A ports entirely.

What’s missing entirely without a separate purchase is the disc drive, and I’m not a fan of the reasoning for it. You have to buy the PS5 Pro disc drive separately for about $80 USD, and then install it. It’s not hard to open that slot and install the hardware, but it’s still an extra $80 cost on top of the already hefty $699.99 price. I’m not crazy about the finances on this in general. The PS5 Pro has decent bells and whistles. It works great and features convenience the base PS5 doesn’t have, but I maintain that for $780 plus tax, you could start building a good PC that will keep you in good gaming shape for about 3-5 years. That said, if you get past that price tag, this is a sturdy package for current and future PS5 games.

How does it play?

Simply put, the PlayStation 5 Pro plays great. I tested it with a variety of new and demanding games, and it came out splendidly in most cases. I was going back and forth between the likes of Monster Hunter Wilds and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 a lot. I also played Split Fiction on the PS5 Pro when I was reviewing that game. vast and cinematic experiences, I played a lot of fast-paced fighting games like Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 8, and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

In pretty much all cases, the PlayStation 5 Pro brought the most out of these games and made it easier for me to choose Quality Mode over Performance Mode. The sandstorms, lightning, and other weather effects in Monster Hunter Wilds looked outright gorgeous, as well as the deep caverns where light would break through the ceiling, sending luminous beams running through the splintered cracks. Truly a gorgeous sheen on the cutscenes as well.

Split Fiction was also a visual smorgasbord that performed with perfect beauty and grace throughout my playtime with it. Loading times were as short as ever, and games that still have long lives on current gen like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 got me to the gameplay faster than expected, where I marveled in the constant beauty of its verdant countryside.

The fighting games are where strong and accurate visual feedback matter, and I was happy with PS5 Pro’s performance here. It’s not hugely obvious, but when performance of the game is as smooth and accurate as I was getting on the Pro, it makes it easier to react to opponents at every stage of the fight and make good decisions that win matches.

Generational safeguard

The PlayStation 5 Pro does what it claims to do: It’s a better PS5, all around. It’s got better storage for more games, is easy to transfer to from another system, easy to upgrade, and generally brought more out of my games than the original. I’m not thrilled about the inconveniences of the port placement or the extra cost to have a disc drive, and it’s hard for me to say this is worth $700 compared to the $449.99 price of the PS5 slim (which also comes bundled with the more recent Astro Bot at that price).

The caveat is that this console feels future proof for a few more years. It should be enough to handle your PS5 gaming needs through the end of the console’s main cycle and probably even a decent stretch into the next generation. If future proofing yourself for everything that comes to PlayStation in the next few years is appealing, then this might be the package you’re looking for, but I think they should put Astro Bot in there for that much money.

This review is based on a sample model sent by the manufacturer. The PlayStation 5 Pro is available for $699.99 USD on PlayStation’s website, as well as through participating retailers.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.