Digital Foundry's Thomas Morgan recently put Bloodborne through its paces using the ShadPS4 emulator, analyzing its performance and the impact of community-created enhancements.
Morgan's tests utilized ShadPS4 build 0.5.1 by diegolix29, a build stemming from raphaelthegreat's custom branch. After evaluating multiple builds, this version proved optimal on his system (AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU and GeForce RTX 4080 GPU).
He strongly suggests installing the Vertex Explosion Fix mod to mitigate graphical glitches manifesting as distorted or misplaced polygons. While this mod disables pre-game character face customization, it effectively resolves these visual bugs. No other mods are necessary; the emulator incorporates a comprehensive menu for managing various performance enhancements, including 60fps support, resolution scaling up to 4K, and chromatic aberration toggling.
While occasional stutters were present, Morgan reported a largely stable 60fps experience at 1080p. Experiments with 1440p and 1800p yielded improved visuals but resulted in performance drops and frequent crashes. Therefore, he recommends sticking to 1080p (native PS4 resolution) or 1152p for optimal stability.
Morgan concluded that the very existence of functional PS4 emulation for Bloodborne via ShadPS4 is a remarkable feat. While acknowledging remaining technical imperfections, he highlighted the emulator's impressive performance and overall success in running the game.
