I was excited to hear that Green Hell was finally getting a proper release on home consoles. No shade toward the Switch version, but that port left much to be desired in the graphics and performance category. So, when I fired up Green Hell – Console Edition for the first time on my PS5, I had to take a moment to process what I was seeing.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be something odd going on with the depth of field; there is a strange, almost fish-eye effect that makes everything look strange while in motion. It looks fine when you’re standing still, but who’s going to stand still when there are things in the forest that want to kill you?
When pitching the camera up and down in a straight trajectory, it feels like there is an invisible hump in the center of the screen that causes everything to sort of roll over it, giving the top and bottom of the screen an almost bended effect. It’s a little faint, but it’s pronounced enough that it gave me pause for a bit. In fact, the footage I shared below was literally from the first 30 seconds of my first gameplay session.
I feel like I am in a pop-up book when the pages are turning, and everything is sort of folding in before the next page springs to life. It’s a little distracting. Thankfully, it’s not enough to induce any nausea or hinder my enjoyment of Green Hell itself — which, it should be stated, I am rather enjoying. And there are certainly worse sins that a console port can commit.
And thankfully, the more I play Green Hell – Console Edition, the more I become adjusted to this presentation and all but fail to register it, which is good. No one wants to play a game that is difficult or physically uncomfortable to look at. I haven’t come across any options in the menu that would let me adjust this either, so it’s a good thing the effect isn’t a game-breaker.
But then again, maybe it’s just me.
I just painfully spent €25 to be stuck with a wide-angle view. I’m mad.