Nvidia Just Released Games List Support RTX Ray Tracing In 2020

With Nvidia‘s new RTX 30 Series finally here, knowing what PC games actually support RTX-based ray tracing is important to help take advantage of all that new powerful hardware. This lighting technique is the closest approximation we have for modeling the way light behaves in the real world, and it looks beautiful on both RTX cards and some GTX cards, too.

Unfortunately, only 14 games support RTX-based ray tracing. Even though graphics cards are sold in desktops and laptops alike, and Nvidia enabled ray tracing on GTX graphics cards without dedicated RT cores, the currently-announced list of existing and upcoming games is surprisingly short — even in 2020.

Here are all the current and upcoming games that support Nvidia’s RTX-driven ray tracing technology.

Games with ray tracing

Amid Evil

Considered as the spiritual successor to Heretic and Hexen from the 90s, Amid Evil throws players into a retro-yet-modern dark fantasy world as a former heretic only known as the Champion. His mission: To cleanse the sacred lands using a holy battle axe and other magical weapons. New Blood Interactive added ray tracing support as a beta in December, however, the developer is still asking for feedback and performance information given this feature is an ongoing implementation.

Battlefield V

Arguably the most established series to adopt the new ray tracing technology, Battlefield V was showcased right alongside Nvidia’s new cards at Gamescom in 2018 with reflections of explosions in everything from car doors to eyeballs. It arrived on October 11, 2018, and has since been repeatedly used as the de facto demo of ray tracing. We tested the game’s ray tracing capabilities and found it to be effective, but a bit of a performance hog, even with further optimizations.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

The next iteration of the intensely popular Call of Duty franchise is the first of the series to feature real-time ray tracing. Following in the footsteps of its fast-paced shooter counterpart, Battlefield V, CoD: MW brings real-time lighting for shadows, producing a more realistic and believable game world. It launched to rave reviews on October 25, 2019.

Control

Control would be a striking game with or without ray tracing, but its lighting and reflections look hauntingly otherworldly. The third-person action-adventure title has many PC-only graphical improvements as well.

Control was previously used as a showcase for a number of ray tracing’s pretty lighting effects in the lead up to its release, and now it’s proving popular with reviewers and gamers alike. Not just for its pretty lighting, but it certainly helps.

Deliver Us the MoonDeliver Us the Moon is a sci-fi thriller where players make their way around space stations and moon outposts in an attempt to save mankind from a dying Earth. It only employs a light dusting of ray-traced effects to shadows and reflections, but it isn’t particularly taxing on the hardware. It could be a great starting point for those just getting to grips with the beautifying effects of ray tracing, or for those with older GTX graphics cards.

Fortnite

Fortnite doesn’t need an introduction. It’s one of the most-played games on the planet. However, Epic’s free-to-play shooter received an update in September 2020 adding ray tracing, Nvidia DLSS, Nvidia Reflex, and a custom RTX map. Nvidia provides slider examples in a separate article, showing the difference ray tracing makes in reflections, illumination, and so on. The game still doesn’t look realistic — it’s not meant to — but now that fun, cartoony world is all the more prettier and immersive. It’s like shooting friends in a CGI movie!

Justice Online

Justice Online is China-based NetEase’s attempt at a WoW-killer with a martial arts flair. It might not get the most traction in the West, but the already pretty game should look even better with a dose of ray-traced lighting. You can download a demo of what its ray tracing support looks like from Nvidia’s website.

JX3

JX3 is an HD remake of the original JX3 from 2009. It’s another martial-arts-themed MMO straight out of China, and though it’s unlikely to generate a huge player base here in the West, it’s still one of the first to adopt the new ray tracing technology.

Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries

The next entry in the iconic Mechwarrior series, Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, features plenty of raw and scraped metal for ray-traced lighting to cast realistic reflections, making it a great example of the technology’s early implementation. The game arrived on December 10, 2019, but didn’t enable ray tracing until Patch #04 released in early April. Ray tracing is currently in beta, according to the patch notes.

Minecraft

Everyone and their dog knows and has likely played Minecraft. It’s been available for more than a decade and is still one of the world’s most popular games.

But its lo-fi graphics now have the option of a major overhaul in the form of ray-traced lighting. The Minecraft RTX Beta is available now for Windows 10. Simply install the Xbox Insider Hub app on your PC and join the Minecraft for Windows 10 beta program.

Ultimate Ray Tracing and AI

There is little doubt ray tracing is the future of gaming:

• Ray tracing and DLSS support is out in beta in what is the most popular game, Minecraft
• Ray tracing support was in at launch in the biggest blockbuster in gaming, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Ray tracing is coming to one of the longest running MMORPG of all time, World of Warcraft
  Ray tracing and DLSS is available in the pop culture sensation, Fortnite
• And ray tracing and DLSS support is launching in what could be the most anticipated game ever, Cyberpunk 2077

This holiday season there is no shortage of RTX enhanced games, from AAA blockbuster’s like Watch Dogs: Legion and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, to indies such as Pumpkin Jack.

Be sure you are experiencing each game the way it’s meant to be played with ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS on GeForce RTX GPUs.