CEO of Level-5 Studios, Akihiro Hino, managed to answer a couple of questions about the upcoming Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, and addressed some of the technical specifications for the game running on the PlayStation 4 Pro.

WCCF Tech asked about the game’s resolution and frame-rate specifications, and Hino confirms that the game will run in dynamic 4K along with supporting high-dynamic range on the PS4…

“Players could play the game in dynamic 4K mode on PS4 Pro. Also, resolution and
framerate will be dynamic 4K and 60fps. […] HDR will be available on PS4.”

Before PlayStation fanboys get too excited, let’s break this down a bit.

“Dynamic 4K” usually refers to the checkerboarding tactic, where every other frame is scaled up to the supposed native resolution, or certain pixels are given higher resolution rendering priority to imitate a native 3840 x 2160 resolution.

Oftentimes for PS4 Pro games, the native resolution has been 2880 x 1800 and then upscaled to 4K, but a slightly different method is used for dynamic resolutions.

For dynamic resolutions oftentimes this means going from the lowest base resolution up to the highest scaled resolution to keep within the performance range of a set target frame render. Xbox One games use this method often, going from a base of 720p up to 1080p. The resolution dynamically scales based on the frame-rate performance that the hardware is targeting. So in this case of Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, when Hino refers to a dynamic 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, what this means is that the game will attempt to scale up to 4K at 60fps when the resource budget permits.

So if the game is in a section where there’s not a lot going on and there’s a fairly simple scene, expect it to hit 4K. During busy moments where the game is throwing a lot at you on-screen, the resolution will scale down so that it can accommodate the 60fps standard.

Luckily, PC gamers won’t have to worry about losing any performance if they have a PC that can handle native 4K at 60fps.

You can look for Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom to launch on March 23rd for PS4 and PC.