Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

Cyberpunk 2077: The best settings to change to improve PS4 performance

By

Cyberpunk 2077’s launch has been quite rocky — due in part to its poor performance, particularly on consoles — so much so that a substantial amount of buyers have been inquiring about refunding the product across all platforms. While there has been a performance patch since the game’s release, it still doesn’t look or run amazingly on consoles. Players have found that on base level previous generation systems (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One), Cyberpunk 2077 takes the biggest hit from a technical standpoint.

However, with the PS4 version, you can alter a handful of settings to improve its quality. These settings won’t fundamentally change the way the game plays — and if you didn’t love it originally, altering these settings likely won’t change your mind — but, at the very least, they offer a noticeable improvement over what’s available by default. These are the best settings to change to improve Cyberpunk 2077’s PS4 performance.

See more

Recommended Videos

The best settings to change to improve PS4 performance

Image used with permission by copyright holder

To alter the game’s visual settings, press the Options button on your DualShock (or DualSense if you’re on PS5) and jump into the Settings. Tab over to Graphics by pressing R1 and you’ll see a list of options you can change. Here are the recommended settings:

  • Film Grain — off
  • Chromatic Aberration — off
  • Depth of Field — on
  • Lens Flare — on
  • Motion Blur — off

It can be tough to tell, but having the settings listed above will make the image look slightly sharper than it is by default. We also highly suggest tabbing over to Video and turning off HDR Mode completely. Doing so will give you a clearer image that would otherwise look dark and muddy.

Related

Here’s a comparison showcasing the difference between default settings and adjusted settings.

Default settings Image used with permission by copyright holder
Adjusted settings Image used with permission by copyright holder

Again, it can be tough to tell, but the image on the bottom is slightly clearer. Look at the pipe on the left side of the screen. The top image is a bit more blurry and muddy.

Oddly enough, disabling HDR improves the visuals, which is counter to what you might think. For some reason, enabling HDR causes much darker-looking visuals to appear on screen, making it harder to read.

Changing these settings will only slightly impact your experience, but until CD Projekt RED issues out a major patch that addresses all of its visual shortcomings, you’ll have to make do with what you have. Keep in mind, the game runs best on PS5, slightly worse on a PS4 Pro, and even worse on a base PS4, so your mileage will vary depending on the machine you have. On consoles, you can only play the game at 60 frames per second if you’re on a PS5 or Xbox Series X, which does look way better than its last-gen counterparts.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Joseph Yaden
Joseph Yaden
Joseph Yaden is a freelance journalist who covers Nintendo, shooters, and horror games. He mostly covers game guides for…
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Relic guide
Songbird in a dress in Phantom Liberty.

The first and only expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 has far more than just a new area and missions to fill your time. Phantom Liberty is part of the 2.0 update that almost completely overhauls the systems introduced in the base game to be more in line with the original vision, It also adds new mechanics to flesh out the experience even further. Once you start the expansion, the first thing you will probably notice is the completely revamped skill system, which now includes a brand new tree called the Relic tree. These skills are all brand new, and alone could be reason enough to start a fresh adventure in Night City. But these Relic skills don't function like the other skills where you simply need to level up to unlock and upgrade them. Don't worry, Samurai, we'll transfer all the data you need on how to get Relic skills and what each of them does.
How to get Relic points
The new Relic skill tree is the only new feature in terms of skills that you need to purchase the Phantom Liberty expansion to access. Once you begin the expansion, the tree and a few starting points will be given to you automatically from a new character. To get more Relic points, you have to track down a new feature called Militech Data Terminals rather than simply leveling up. These points will only pop up on your map once you're close to them, so you will need to search them out for the most part.
All Relic skills

The Relic skill tree is broken down into three branches: Jailbreak, Emergency Cloaking, and Vulnerability. Just like any normal skill tree, you need to unlock each skill in order to gain access to the next one, so planning out which branch you want to invest in before spending your precious points is vital, especially since some trees have many more levels to them than others. Here's what each branch gives you:
Jailbreak
Jailbreak: Unlocks new abilities for your Arm Cyberwear, including the Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms, Projectile Launch System, and Monowire.

Read more
Cyberpunk 2077: How to start Phantom Liberty DLC
A pyramid from Cyberpunk 2077.

The rehabilitation of Cyberpunk 2077 finally culminates in both the release of the 2.0 update and the substantial DLC expansion called Phantom Liberty. Between these two, plus all the changes made in the years since launch, the once unstable and buggy game is finally living up to its potential. While everything up until this point has been free, including the 2.0 changes, Phantom Liberty is the first and only piece of paid content. Giving players an entirely new area in Dogtown to explore, plus a lengthy main story and tons of new side missions, it's the biggest reason to reinstall this ambitious title. But how exactly can you start the DLC since it is meant to slot into the story of the main game rather than take place before or after? We've hacked in and downloaded all the data you need on how to start the Phantom Liberty DLC.
How to start Phantom Liberty
There are actually a few different ways to get into Phantom Liberty depending on your preference and whether or not you've played the base game. The easiest way to get directly into it is through the main menu. With the DLC installed, you will have an option to jump directly into the expansion, even if you haven't played the main game yet. This sounds great for those who want to see the new stuff right away, but it isn't recommended if you haven't played the base game at all. You will be given a character automatically leveled up and placed at the proper point in the story for the DLC to take place with no context or tutorial on how to play. Note that picking this option doesn't lock you out of any of the base game content.

For new players who want to experience Phantom Liberty more naturally, you will need to play the opening hours of Cyberpunk 2077 until you complete the "Transmission" mission before the quest that starts the DLC will trigger.

Read more
Red Dead Redemption is coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4 this month
red dead redemption switch ps4 release date key art

The original Red Dead Redemption is coming to two new platforms, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, later this month. It'll retail for $50 on both platforms.
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare Coming to Switch and PS4
Rockstar Games' open-world western game first launched in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It was critically acclaimed and a smash sales hit, creating a new franchise for Rockstar that could stand alongside the likes of Grand Theft Auto. It received a sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, in 2019, but the original Red Dead Redemption remained stuck on older platforms outside of backward compatibility support on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
That's why fans got excited when a rating for the game from the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea popped up. We've now learned that this rating is for new Nintendo Switch and PS4 ports of Red Dead Redemption by Double Eleven Studios. Red Dead Redemption will release across both of those platforms digitally on August 17, with a physical launch to follow on October 13.

It will cost $50 and includes the base campaign as well as the zombie-infested Undead Nightmare expansion; the Red Dead Online multiplayer is not included. This is the first time Red Dead Redemption will ever be on a Nintendo system, although it doesn't look like the port will have much in the way of Switch-exclusive features. That said, a press release does reveal that this will be the first version of the game to include Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese localizations.
Red Dead Redemption comes out on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17. 

Read more