Digital Foundry's Thomas Morgan recently put Bloodborne through its paces using the ShadPS4 emulator, analyzing performance and the impact of community-created enhancements.
Morgan's tests utilized ShadPS4 build 0.5.1 by diegolix29, a build based on raphaelthegreat's custom branch. After experimenting with various builds, this version yielded optimal results on his system (AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU and GeForce RTX 4080 GPU).
He strongly suggests installing the Vertex Explosion Fix mod. While this mod disables pre-game character face customization, it effectively eliminates distracting visual glitches stemming from distorted or misplaced polygons. No other mods are strictly necessary; the emulator incorporates a comprehensive menu for managing performance tweaks. This includes enabling 60fps, scaling resolution up to 4K, and disabling chromatic aberration.
While occasional stutters were present, Morgan observed a mostly stable 60fps framerate. Experiments with 1440p and 1800p resolutions resulted in enhanced visual fidelity, but at the cost of significant performance drops and frequent crashes. Therefore, he advises sticking to 1080p (matching the PS4 original) or 1152p for the best balance of performance and visuals.
Morgan concluded that the very existence of playable PS4 emulation via ShadPS4 is a remarkable feat of engineering. While Bloodborne runs impressively well, he acknowledges the presence of ongoing technical challenges.