CD Projekt Red has just released a big old update for Cyberpunk 2077 — but only on PC. So why are we writing about it? Well, we think it's worth sharing the above video from Digital Foundry, because what we're seeing here is pretty much the future of visual fidelity in video games — at least to some extent.
Indeed, the aforementioned update adds a new graphical mode to the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077. Dubbed 'Ray Tracing Overdrive', this is "full" ray tracing, according to CDPR. That basically means every light source can cast an accurate shadow, and every reflective surface can provide accurate reflections. It results in some outstanding environmental lighting, often to the point of photorealism.
Both out in the open and in enclosed spaces, this new mode looks incredible — assuming you've got the high-end rig to actually run it.
It's hard to gawk at the footage and not think this is the next big push in graphics, especially for open world titles like 2077, which rely on dynamic lighting and weather effects. The PS5 isn't really capable of this kind of thing given its internals, but this could be the sort of technology we see tied to the PS6. Or maybe the rumoured PS5 Pro...? It'd certainly be a nice bullet point, but we wouldn't get your hopes up!
If you're interested in how all of this ray tracing business works, it's worth watching this official preview:
How long do you think it'll be before we see consoles capable of ray tracing like this? Try not to melt your graphics card in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 28
I hope not to be slated for this, but... I'm not that impressed.
@frabbit That's why the whole RTX thing hasn't taken off yet in the mainstream. The tech itself is cool, but to the average consumer it means nothing. I think that devs benefit the most because they can light their games easier.
@frabbit Same. It would be more impressive if it were a more modern game with higher poly assets and textures. The lighting does look great with the reflections but everything else visually doesn't excite me.
They almost created something VERY special with this game, the city itself is very well realized and the RT patch does look "pretty " Good. They came close- after 10 patches-, will be interesresting to see what this looks like with mods 10 years from now
@AinsleyE I agree.
The lighting looks amazing but the assets themselves look dated already.
When you can combine lighting such as this with assets like in the Unreal Engine 5 demo in an actual game then I think we'd all be blown away.
@Dloki
At true 4k with a 4090 it was well below 30 fps.
This type of upgrade won't be coming to consoles anytime soon.
Maybe a PS5 Pro with upscaled 4k might be able to pull it off at 60 FPS.
My PC already explodes by only looking at this
It's all cool until you are in tunnel bubble vision mode after playing the game for 5+ hours, grinding the game out, we forget about everything surrounding us when going from a to b then z, especially when having a few beers or smokes 😂
Great and all, but as long as the worlds inhabitants behave in the exact same manner as they do on an Xbox One what's the point? They still move in the same unrealistic way and behave just as dumb as in almost any other open-world videogame. GTA5 and RDR 2 did that already better many years ago. Bottomline: You can bump up the resolution and reflect as many assets as you want, as long as the AI and animations stay well behind it will never look like real life.
My main issue with this update is that CP2077 is loosing its vibrant colours at daytime, a key part of its visual identity. A game developed directly with this „path tracing light“ lighting also needs a fitting colour palette.
I'll check it out when the story DLC comes out. Day 1 for me
Always great to see the industry moving forward. Give artist the best digital canvas possible.
Ray tracing is obviously the future standard at some point, but imo nowhere near there yet, and the implementations on current gen consoles aren't worth the sacrifices in resolution or detail for me.
I just go for the 60fps and I don't miss not having ray tracing. Even with insomniac games, I tried the Performance RT modes but soon went back to regular Performance mode because I didn't enjoy the drop in world detail and resolution for it.
Maybe PS6, certainly PS7, not PS5.
This is a long, long way off for consoles. Realistically, this is a long, long way off for PC, too. We're at a point where you need a TOTL $1800 video card for it to kind of chug along this way. It's going to be years before even average high end normal PC gamers get kinda sorta chugging along performance this way, and at least a full generation, maybe 2 before it's on console beyond "tech demo options mode" everyone turns off other than screenshots.
I don't think this offers anything of meaning to normal players yet, or for quite a while. It's more a tech demo sponsored by hardware mfrs for whats going to be possible much later in the mainstream.
What it will do is offer a whole new era of bullshots for a whole new generation. "Captured on PS5!" (in a mode that runs at 3fps but the statement is true.)
I means, RT is cool and all, but I prefer "normal" lightning and 60 fps, RT effects are not worth the framerate sacrifice.
@wiiware Yeah, i started out with resolution mode enabled on PS5, played for a bit, switched out of curiosity to performance mode and never went back. I will always prefer what feels better over what looks better.
I'll get excited about full RT lighting when developers can build the whole game around it from the ground up.
Of course there are different levels to this, things like Fortnite UE5 and Metro Exodus EE at one end and Minecraft RT or Portal RT at the other.
Until the average gaming PC can handle this full path traced RT with no backup solution we won't see the real benefits of it, not least quicker development. At the moment it takes longer as they have to do BOTH. Sadly that is a long way off.
@Trousersnake Heck, even my friend that rarely play games realize the difference between 30 and 60 fps, the difference in camera smoothness in games is huge.
While RT is cool, in the end it didn't means anything for players whether the lightning in games is "real" (RT) or fake (normal lightning).
Problem is NVIDIA is so far ahead consistently, but the consoles use AMD internals.
If this is only for PC why we talking about it?
I’ve only noticed Ray tracing in a few games while playing them. It has yet to be worth the frame rate drop. Maybe once it doesn’t chew up the frame rate so significantly it’ll be more promising, but I can’t think of anything I’ve played where I left it on.
Yeah I mean it looks nice but I think we’re past the days where I get excited to see new gen graphics as we’re at such a high standard already.
Also an i9 with rtx running this I can imagine will need some artic glacier type cooling?!
Given that Moore's law is dead, I don't see 4090 performance level in consoles any time soon. At least I don't such a performance can be squeezed out of 200W. Unless somebody has a really good idea how to do more with less.
@Dodoo I thought we were past the days where ultra realistic graphics mattered in the first place. They could make this game look like real life itself, that still wouldn't deal with all the gameplay or design flaws and Tears of the Kingdom will still outsell the game and be considered "the greatest game of all time" like numerous Zelda titles before it.
Hell even Deus Ex 1 is still the better game with still far more advanced gameplay. Maybe CD Projekt should focus on making playable and good games because with how they're currently going, they remind me of Bethesda.
Game still sucks lol
@Phornix true, they don’t make the best playable games. Witcher 3’s looting drove me bananas how poor it was. They should take a leaf out of insomniac’s book in the playability department.
I've been playing this update and it does look truly amazing, the tech has huge potential but it could be a while before it's in a console, particularly powered by AMD. It does look really good, even if the differences over the current RT psycho aren't always so noticable but over the standard raster it's night and day.
Overall I've been having a lot of fun replaying the game and trying out some different abilities amd it's great fun but I may turn it back to RT psycho as it feels a bit heavy using DLSS3. I'm on a 4070ti but wouldn't recommend playing it on anything lower, even with the upcoming 4070 and certainly nothing from AMD
The tech that have really impressed me in the last couple of years has been in the UE5 showcases. Not just the photorealistic lighting or assets, but facial animations and true to life body movements.
I can totally see them remastering Cyberpunk for the PS6, adding in all of these new features.
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