Shadow of the Tomb Raider shows what Ray Tracing can do

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be one of the first games to implement ray tracing technology. Nvidia announced during their announcement at Gamescom that there will be 21 games to implement Ray Tracing (Nvidia RTX), including the new adventure of Lara Croft.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider with the exclusive’Ray Traced Shadows’ effect from Nvidia RTX

Crystal Dynamics showed a trailer that focuses exclusively on the graphic effects available in the PC version, including’Ray Traced Shadows’, which allow the game to accurately simulate area lights and a larger number of light points.

This feature is enabled by Microsoft’s DirectX Ray Tracing (DXR) API, which is exclusive to DirectX 12 and enhances Square Enix support for the industry’s latest graphics APIs. This also means a significant change for Nvidia, which was not previously known for its good’ DirectX 12 support, a relatively weak point for Nvidia’s older graphics architectures.

The trailer describes the features used in the PC version of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, including Ray Traced Shadows, HBAO+, high-quality anti-aliasing, tessellation, CHS (Contact hardening Shadows), HDR support and SSCS.

Please note that Ray Traced Shadows is not supported by Shadow of the Tomb Raider when the game is released, but will be added later with an update. The game will be released on the PC on September 14th, almost a week before the Nvidia RTX series graphics cards will be on sale.