Cyberpunk 2077, the first-person open-world game developed by CD Projekt Red, is about to become an even better-looking game next week with Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, and today NVIDIA showcased the new technology which will bring path tracing to the game.
A new trailer, which was shared on YouTube today, provides an overview of the game’s path tracing implementation. This GPU-intensive form of ray tracing, for which NVIDIA recommends an RTX 40 series GPU, simulates light accurately like none of the base game’s ray tracing techniques. Needless to say, the end results look amazing.
Alongside the new trailer, NVIDIA also shared a couple of Cyberpunk 2077 comparison screenshots which better highlight the huge jump in quality that Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode will bring. Among the most impactful additions of the new tech preview is RTX Direct Illumination which allows developers to replicate the appearance of light with multiple light sources. In combination with full ray tracing, it is finally possible for all light sources to cast physically correct soft shadows.
Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is only one of the additions coming to Cyberpunk 2077 this year. While the new ray tracing features will only be available to a small number of players, the Phantom Liberty expansion will be available on current generation consoles, as well as on PC. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game will not get the expansion, which was somewhat expected, considering how much CD Projekt Red struggled to get their game running on the outdated hardware of the older consoles. A final release date has yet to be announced.
Cyberpunk 2077 is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One worldwide. The Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode will be coming to PC with a free update going live on April 11th.
