Cyberpunk 2077: PC-Exclusive Ray-Tracing Effects Revealed

The PC-exclusive ray-tracing effects coming to Cyberpunk 2077 have been revealed by Nvidia. As part of the graphics card manufacturer's technical partnership with CD Projekt Red, Nvidia is bringing four immersive ray-traced effects to Cyberpunk 2077, which will enhance the game's performance and fine-tune its fidelity. You check out screenshots of the effects in action below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=cyberpunk-2077-pc-ray-tracing-screenshots&captions=true"] These immersion-bolstering effects include Ray-Traced Diffuse Illumination, which "captures sky radiance" and emissive lighting to ensure that the sun and moon "realistically illuminate Night City." The game will also feature Ray-Traced Reflections which as you might have guessed, make reflections more realistic in how they simulate the way light affects surfaces. Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion will also affect the game's shading tech on PC, further darkening objects with ambient lighting. Finally, Ray-Traced Shadows have allowed CD Projekt Red to bring "pixel-perfect shadows" to the game, as well as "directional shadows from sun and moon light" to further increase your immersion. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/25/cyberpunk-2077-braindance-gameplay-trailer"] Cyberpunk 2077 will also utilise Nvidia's DLSS 2.0 technology, an AI Rendering system that uses a deep learning neural network to boost frame rates "while generating beautiful, crisp game images," which should in theory allow you to crank the settings on launch. Nvidia also revealed that the game will land on its cloud streaming service, GeForce NOW, at launch, with support for ray-tracing effects baked in. It's possible that these ray-tracing effects could make it to the upgraded PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game arriving post-launch, but there's no confirmation of that right now. For more on Cyberpunk 2077, check out our article covering the four hours of gameplay we experienced during a recent preview. If you missed yesterday's slew of announcements via CD Projekt Red's Night City Wire, you can catch the full broadcast here.  [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.