PS4 versus PS5, without invented numbers

✚ Checked 2026-11-15 · PS5 1.005.000 / PS4 launch build · 2 sources

What is published

The PS4 version of God of War Sons of Sparta arrives on 16 November 2026, and the free patch that adds Hermes Mode and Erebus Mode ships for both PS4 and PS5 on the same day. Those are the facts Sony has put on the record.

That is also, essentially, the whole published comparison.

Why the missing numbers matter more than usual

The PS4 is a 2013 console. A 2D pixel-art action game is a favourable workload for it — that is exactly the kind of game the hardware handles well — but "favourable" is a judgement, not a measurement, and the difference between assumptions and data is precisely what makes a comparison page useful or useless.

So what can responsibly be said:

• The art is high-definition pixel art, which does not demand the fill rate of a 3D title.
• The game is a 2D side-scroller, so the frame budget is dominated by sprites and effects rather than geometry and lighting.
• The PS4 version ships the same content on the same day with the same patch, so nothing is being withheld to make the comparison flattering.

Anything beyond that — "it runs at X", "it holds Y fps", "it loads in Z seconds" — is not available and this page will not pretend otherwise.

What the PS4 version does include

Everything that matters in terms of content:

That last row is worth stating plainly, because "digital only" is often read as "always online". It is not: the trophy list has zero online trophies, the game is single-player, and the Pit of Agonies challenge mode is an offline couch co-op mode.

The decision, for a player who owns both consoles

The "nine months of patches" point is real and separate from resolution: the PS5 version has been live since 12 February 2026, and the trophy-tracking problems that existed before patch 1.005.000 are fixed there. Whether the PS4 launch build carries those fixes is a reasonable assumption — it ships after them — but it is still an assumption.

The one thing to check on day one

If you are buying on PS4 on 16 November, the thing worth confirming before you commit 20 hours is whether saves and trophies carry between the PS4 and PS5 versions. That is not published either. The upgrade-path page collects what is and is not on the record about it, which is currently: nothing definitive.

What this page is not

It is not a performance analysis. It is a record of what has been announced, with the missing measurements named as missing rather than filled in. When Sony publishes figures — or when measured tests exist — this page is the one that should be rewritten, not the one that guessed.