Traveling through Time, Dreamer Edition brings the PS1 masterpiece from 23 years ago to the modern console. However, according to the reviews of Digital Foundry, this remake is not doing well, and in some respects it is even worse than the original on PS1.
First, let's take a look at what improvements the Dreamman edition has compared to the original version: upgrading some character models, redrawing character diagrams, and using AI technology to enlarge the background screen. All of the above changes can be switched by button, but unfortunately there is only one button that switches from classic to new version, and cannot be switched individually. In addition, the opening animation was replaced with a higher resolution version, but the subsequent animations remained as is.
And the actual effect, because the 2D background is enlarged with AI technology, it seems to use the PS1 original background as a source, sometimes the effect is good, but sometimes it will bring some ripples, not always the ideal solution. The native resolution of the 3D model is about 900p to 936p. The interface HUD is 1080p. Classic mode uses the original model and background directly, with a resolution of 240p.
The most serious problem with the Dreamer Edition is performance. Games on PS5 and Switch have the same low frame rate as the original PS1 version, and sometimes worse when choosing the new mode. This problem was evident from the beginning, with the frame rate of the first hallway game dropping to 20fps, compared to 30fps in the original PS1. The remake will even drop to 10fps in some scenes, and while the original PS1's frame rate fluctuates greatly between 10 and 30fps, the remake will perform worse in some of the same scenes.
Classic mode is better, but stability at 30fps is not guaranteed. Choosing this mode seems to bring the game's frame rate on par with the original PS1 version, but the frame rate will still drop to 15fps or even lower during combat, and there will be some problems that are not in the original PS1 version.
Tested by Digital Foundry, even on PCs equipped with Titan RTX, frame rate degradation is experienced, which appears to be unrelated to device performance. One possibility is that the game is actually running on the PS1 emulator and not actually rewriting the code. Digital Foundry thought there were some details to verify their conjecture: a virtual PS1 memory card was present in the save menu, and there were even two files in the PC installation directory for each physical disc.
Ultimately, Digital Foundry thought the performance of Dreamer Edition was disappointing. If you have a PS1, CRT monitor, and original game, the experience may be better than the pre-production version. Or use an HDMI amplifier like the Retrotink 5X Pro to provide a great experience on modern displays. The biggest value of the remake is that it is easier for people to play this classic game.