Game Mode on TV Recommended for Stellar Blade High-Input Lag

The highly anticipated action-adventure game, Stellar Blade, developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Shift Up, has encountered a significant challenge in the form of input lag. MierdaMeGusta, a YouTuber, conducted an input lag test on the game’s demo using a high-speed camera. The results were concerning, revealing a delay of 13.8 frames or 230 milliseconds in Performance mode, despite the game running at 60 frames per second.

However, it’s important to note that the test didn’t account for the inherent input delay of the display, which must be considered to accurately determine the game’s latency. In response to the input lag issue, Shift Up took to the official Stellar Blade Twitter account to address players’ concerns. Their suggestion was for players experiencing sluggish controls to activate Game Mode on their displays, assuring that it would enhance responsiveness.

Alexander Battaglia from Digital Foundry raised questions about Unreal Engine’s history of exhibiting high input latency on PlayStation consoles without apparent justification. He emphasized that a delay of 230 milliseconds would be considered exceptionally poor, even for a game operating at 30 frames per second. According to Battaglia, it falls upon the development team at Shift Up to rectify this issue promptly.

However, it seems that Shift Up may not fully acknowledge the severity of the problem, as indicated by their recommendation to enable Game Mode on TVs. In reality, modern HDMI controls automatically adjust the display’s picture mode to optimize performance for the connected device.

Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung Tae disclosed in a recent interview that the game would not feature a photo mode. He explained that the studio’s primary focus at present is refining the game. However, he expressed openness to incorporating a photo mode if there is significant demand from players, promising that the development team would strive to accommodate such requests.