Watch Dogs Legion Video Shows Awesome Ray Tracing Detail
Watch Dogs Legion is the latest big game to enthrall fans with its stunning graphics and attention to detail, and now one fan has noticed yet another impressive feature. The game supports ray tracing, a lighting technique used to create more realistic environments, and found the perfect location in game to show off just how much of an effect it has.
Ray tracing isn't new by any means, but it is steadily becoming a more common feature. Due to the technical requirements, many games don't have this function, but some are opting to include it as an optional feature. Watch Dogs Legion does just that, allowing players to use it if they wish or if their hardware allows it.
In this instance, Redditor Niklasgunner shows his character doing the exact same thing twice in a row, once with ray tracing off and then again with it on. The differences are staggering, as the player character's reflection can be clearly seen in the mirror only when ray tracing is activated.
The first portion of the clip is nothing particularly special. The graphics are still impressive, but fans are already used to this level of realism within gaming. The second portion of the clip almost seems like a completely different game, as the mirrored building Niklasgunner is flying next to shows the reflection of not just his character, but even the environment behind him that is not currently on the screen. The lighting in general looks a lot more pleasing, especially on the character model itself.
At the end of both clips, Niklasgunner flies into a junction of three mirrors. During the standard gameplay clip, it looks no different than anything else, but with ray tracing on it's actually possible to see three separate reflections of the player all from different angles. Players had already experienced ray tracing in Minecraft and a number of other games, but it seems that discoveries like this still make jaws drop even today.
As hardware available to standard consumers (especially inside consoles) becomes more advanced, it's only a matter of time before ray tracing becomes a standard feature in every game. Before long, gamers will likely look back at current generation graphics in disbelief that they ever used to play games without ray tracing, but until that day the select games that offer it will have to suffice. Reflections like this are easily where ray tracing shines the most, but developers will surely find other great uses for it in the future as well.
Watch Dogs Legion is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, and later on PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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