One of the initially highly marketed features for next-gen consoles was the addition of hardware ray tracing, an advanced way of displaying light and reflections. With this past week’sPlayStation 5 reveal event, fans got to see whether or not PS5 game developers were following up on that ray tracing promise. And while Sony hasn’t proffered an official list or anything, the team at Digital Foundry’s analysis has found that six of the showcases dozens of games featured ray tracing.
The list of PS5 games with ray tracing, or at least visually recognizable ray tracing in their trailers, includesDemon’s Souls,Gran Turismo 7,Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,Pragmata,Ratchet and Clank, andStray. The list includes visible examples of ray tracing, as well as spoken. For example,Demon’s Soulsapparently did not have recognizable examples of ray tracing, but specifically says that it’s being utilized. Other PS5 games are likely also using ray tracing, but it’s not recognizable or otherwise known.
RELATED:Former Sony Developer Says PS5 Might Struggle in Some Ways
Gran Turismois said to be using ray traced reflections on surfaces including metal surfaces, shiny paint surfaces, and glass.Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apartis also using ray traced reflections, including on Clank’s own metallic body.Strayis the third game with ray traced reflections and may also have ray traced shadows.
Pragmatais the game that Digital Foundry acknowledges uses ray tracing perhaps in the strongest ray. The video notes the reflections shown off of the child character’s eye. But there also appears to be some sort of ray traced global illumination at work, as well. This is shown in how the color of nearby objects, like a yellow taxi, can reflect off of the astronaut character.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Moraleswas added to this list not because its trailer showed any specific examples, but because Insomniac has said it’s doing so. Unfortunately, fans won’t be able to easily verify it in the shortMiles Moralesteaser. One funny example, however, is a developer saying that puddles inMiles Moraleswill be ray traced, referencing a “controversy” where some gamers saidInsomniac downgradedSpider-Man’s puddlescompared to the game’s announcement trailers.
It’s important to acknowledge that ray tracing is not an easy thing to implement. It’s an incredibly power-hungry technology, though when it’s used for reflections and lighting it does look very good. Many games, even onnext-gen consoles, won’t use it just so those resources can be used in other ways. But developers that go out of their way to implement ray tracing deserve to be recognized for it.
Expect to hear more about the PS5 and games with ray tracing in the months to come.
