CD Projekt RED and Nvidia have shown off just what Cyberpunk 2077 is capable of on PC, and we're impressed. In a mind-melting new trailer, the upcoming sci-fi RPG shows off all the ways in which advanced ray tracing techniques will make the world of Night City come to life.
The trailer, which you can see for yourself below, gives us a quick look at a number of techniques that have all been designed to make Cyberpunk 2077 look as gorgeous as possible. Diffuse illumination, ambient occlusion, reflections and shadows all come together to make the RPG look absolutely stunning. Marvel's Spider-Man fans will be glad to know that the puddles in Cyberpunk 2077 on PC have a genuinely reflective quality that's really quite something.
"In Cyberpunk 2077, ray-traced reflections are used on all surfaces," Nvidia explained. "These reflections can trace ranges for up to several kilometers, enabling realistic reflections across vast view distances. They are present on both opaque and transparent objects and surfaces to simulate the way light reflects from glossy and metal surfaces by tracing a single bounce of reflection rays against the scene."
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The tech giant also touched on ray-traced diffuse illumination which, when enabled, will allow billboards and other illuminated surfaces to brighten their surroundings with naturally coloured lighting. Nvidia also claims that the sun and moon will "realistically" light up Night City, which sounds super cool. Also something I'll probably never see because I can't afford a gaming PC, but whatever.
Nvidia also boasts of ray-traced ambient occlusion and shadows, which work together to allow for richer, more realistic shadows and lighting. The company explained that "in Cyberpunk 2077, directional shadows from sun and moon light are added to the game, based on the strength of light, scattering of light through clouds, and other factors."
It's all very tech-heavy, but the bottom line us that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be an absolute stunner on high-end PCs. This brief demo came as part of Nvidia's big announcement of its new range of GeForce RTX Graphics Cards. The RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and a new high-end RTX 3090 all differ wildly in terms of price, but they're capable of some monstrous specs that put the next-gen consoles to shame.
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The RTX 3090, in particular, is packing enough power that it can run games in 8K 60fps, which should make a title like Cyberpunk 2077 look absolutely unbelievable. The only catch is that such a GPU would set you back £1400. I'm not that impressed by ray tracing.
Featured Image Credit: CD Projekt REDTopics: PC, Cyberpunk 2077, Nvidia, CD Projekt Red