Very important for achieving realistic lighting and reflections in visuals.
Very important for achieving realistic lighting and reflections in visuals.
The latest issue is Diablo 4 introducing ray tracing, which hasn’t improved performance and actually slows down the game. Blizzard seems to have done a similar thing with World of Warcraft by adding ray tracing, likely only updating the backend without real ray-traced textures.
I understand your point, but the concern isn't about the tech itself—it's about how it's applied. Everyone is incorporating reflections wherever possible because they look great. Although more accurate lighting is its real advantage, we often experience a similar cycle with new innovations. Initially, creators and designers throw it into projects without fully grasping its potential. It takes time to learn how to use it effectively. Many current games seem to include it just for show, even when it doesn't add value. Again, this isn’t a flaw in the technology; it’s a matter of usage. If a game isn’t built around it, forcing it later usually leads to poor visual results.
I understand this technology is part of the future, similar to HDR, Ambient Occlusion, Antialiasing, and Directional Lighting. However, I find it disappointing in its present form and the misleading claims around it. It requires significant improvements beyond just shadows. Ray-traced shadows are impressive, but reflections often fall short. Subsurface scattering is missing from most real-time engines I've tested. It makes objects with volume appear unrealistic—windows, puddles, sidewalks, even ice skating rings all become perfect mirrors under rain. This isn't the desired effect. Many developers seem indifferent, just adding RT to games to chase trends without proper execution.
The most problematic version for me is Quake II RTX. In its RTX release it completely loses its artistic flair. It shifts from a gritty sci-fi horror to something more like a cartoonish Fortnite game. Don’t misunderstand—I appreciate good reflections, but perfection isn’t the same as a perfect mirror.
I can run at native ultra at 120 FPS matching my monitor’s refresh rate. On a heavily modified setup with RT and some PT I get 60 frames. XeSS agrees that what’s missing for RT is better software—not just hardware. At least on the Nvidia side, AMD is still one generation behind, while Intel is getting closer but their GPUs remain weak.
For Cyberpunk I I’ve noticed I’ve become quite hooked on the water reflections—especially with a 4070 Super on a 1080p screen. I’ve learned to stick to frame rates between 49 and 60 to get the best ray-traced effects and maintain smooth visuals. I haven’t come across any titles where frame rate isn’t important to you.
It worked well in ROTTR, which is part of Crystal Dynamics' in-house solution. Generally, I really dislike it in most other games, but having a way to disable it is important to me. A nice nod to the Tekken 7 "RTX stage mods" – they were really impressive and some of my top picks.