PlayStation 4 emulation is picking up steam, but you'll have to wait a while to play Bloodborne

by
url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url url

Key findings

  • PlayStation 4 emulation has made significant progress with ShadPS4 and despite some technical challenges, games like Bloodborne have been able to be brought to market.
  • Spine and fpPS4 were previous PlayStation 4 emulators, but ShadPS4 has gained momentum with a continuously improving compatibility list.
  • Although ShadPS4 is still in development, it promises to improve gaming compatibility like Skyline did with Super Mario Odyssey on Android.



It usually takes a few years for consoles to be emulated, and some are significantly harder to crack than others. PlayStation 3 emulation is still in constant development thanks to that console's special architecture, and Xbox 360 emulation is also in a constant development cycle. With both consoles, some games are still unplayable in certain situations. Given this, PlayStation 4 emulation was considered difficult to get up and running by many, but ShadPS4 is up and running and already releasing games.


Spine was the first PlayStation 4 emulator to be teased, but it was unveiled back in 2022 and its development was stopped pretty early on. It couldn't launch more complex titles, but it still provided a starting point for any aspiring developers who wanted to try and get the job done, even if it wasn't an open source emulator. After that came fpPS4 and despite its sporadic development, it managed to build up quite an extensive compatibility list. With ShadPS4, there are already many games booting and launching on it, including the PlayStation 4 exclusiveBlood transfused.

However, you are still quite far from playing most games

Many games cannot be played for long


While it's been impressive to watch ShadPS4's rapid improvement from the sidelines, it's still a long way from being truly playable on many titles. Blood transfused still looks messy with many textures failing to load, and several hacks and changes have been made to allow the game to launch without crashing. These hacks prevent the game from being properly playable, but show that the emulator is on its way to playing one of the most demanding PlayStation 4 titles.


There are currently a lot of big improvements in 0.2.1 of the emulator focused on Bloodborne, but the latest official version available for download is 0.2.0. The emulator is completely open source, so you can compile it with the latest changes if you need to. There's also a full list of compatible games on GitHub that you can check out. Development started over a year ago, so it feels like this emulator came out of nowhere, but in fact it's been around for quite a while. It's only recently been able to launch larger games, and there's still a lot of work to be done.

If you want to try it out, there's a full quick guide on how to get ShadPS4 up and running. We don't recommend actually trying it just yet, as the amount of work required to get it up and running is significant compared to what you actually get out of it, especially as you also need a number of PlayStation 4 system modules to launch games. Very few games are fully playable at the moment. Only 44 titles are listed as playable, most of which are 2D games. fpPS4 has a larger compatibility list, but development is sporadic.


At the moment, ShadPS4 follows the typical path that emulators take in development. Like Skyline on Android, the developers focused on getting a game to run, Super Mario Bros.because it was a complex game and the problems discovered and fixed would affect other games. It is the same here, and all the work that was done to Blood transfused The work will improve things for other games as well. It's an exciting time for emulation fans and we recommend keeping an eye on this project.

Emulator Hero Image

Related

Best Emulators for Android in 2023

One of the best ways to play retro video games is not with a used console, but with an Android emulator. Here are some of our favorites.

Leave a Comment