Ray Tracing is an advanced way to render realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections by simulating light rays and the way it refracts. This technology was first introduced to the consumers with the launch of NVIDIA’s RTX 20 series GPU lineup. While the first-generation RTX cards were capable enough, NVIDIA’s 30 Series cards really amped up the experience, introducing faster ray tracing cards to the mid-range market.
While only a handful of ray tracing supported games were available during the 20 series’ launch, the list soon grew over time. And it is clear that ray tracing is here to stay for a while thanks to the launch of AMD’s RDNA 2 GPUs, also found in the next-gen consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X) both of which support ray tracing.
Here are some popular upcoming titles that support Ray Tracing and DLSS.
Far Cry 6 – PC
Ubisoft revealed that ray tracing is a PC exclusive feature, along with AMD’s FSR upscaling technology. While both PC and next-gen consoles will have an almost equal level of visual fidelity, PC users will have the option to enable hybrid raytraced reflections and raytraced shadows. “Ray tracing is a PC-only feature.” Stephanie Brenham, Ubisoft’s Lead Programmer, stated in an interview with wccftech. “On console, our objective has been to take advantage of new hardware capabilities, optimizing performance targeting 4K and achieving 60 FPS, for instance, all while ensuring new game features, like our dynamic weather system, are supported on all platforms.”
Far Cry 6 releases on October 7.
Also Read | Far Cry 6 PC System Requirements
Alan Wake Remaster – PC
The upcoming remaster of Remedy’s popular horror-thriller game, Alan Wake will feature several improvements such as updated models, textures, lighting, HDR, and support for 4K resolution. It was rumored that Alan Wake Remastered will feature raytracing, however, it wasn’t the case as confirmed by developer Remedy who stated that implementing raytracing “would have taken resources away from other critical areas,” but they “are confident the game looks great even without ray tracing / HDR support.”
However, the game does support NVIDIA’s DLSS technology with 4 settings – Ultra-Performance, Performance, Balanced, Quality. DLSS can be a great option for gamers running the game at demanding resolutions such as 1440p and 4K on mid-range RTX graphics cards.
Alan Wake Remaster releases on October 5th, 2021
Battlefield 2042
The long-awaited shooter from DICE will not feature raytracing unlike its predecessor, Battlefield V, which was the first game ever to use ray tracing. Battlefield 2042 will instead take advantage of DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex technologies, which makes sense given how the game is strictly a multiplayer-only title and players would generally prefer better framerates and frame times due to BF2402’s competitive nature.
Players using NVIDIA’s 20 series and 30 series GPU can enable these features when Battlefield 2042 launches on November 19.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Eidos Montreal has been working with NVIDIA to bring RTX in the form of raytraced reflections and DLSS upscaling in the PC version of the game. Olivier Proulx, Senior Producer, Eidos-Montréal stated that “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy combines original storytelling and electrifying single-player gameplay with an edgy aesthetics. With the addition of ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS, PC players will enjoy this stunning universe’s visuals with even higher performances”
Experience Star-Lord’s journey when Guardians of the Galaxy launches on October 26.
Forza Horizon 5
Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 already looks visually impressive but will set the bar even higher with multiple raytracing features. The game’s Forza Vista mode will feature raytracing reflections to make cars look more realistic, but this feature won’t be available in the open world section of the game. However, Forza Horizon 5 has another trick up its sleeve and will utilize raytraced audio, and is probably the first video game to do so.
“Actually we’re sending out ray traces to detect walls, buildings, and ceilings.” Fraser Strachan, Forza Horizon 5’s lead director explains, “which means that you’ll hear your car bouncing off all the buildings around you and that will change with the environment.”
Forza Horizon 5 is set to release on November 9.
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