The video clearly showed how ray tracing changed the graphics in the next-gen version of The Witcher 3 on the RTX 3080

Before the release of the next generation version The Witcher 3 has very little time left, which is why more and more videos are appearing on the network, showing how much the project’s graphics have changed compared to the 2015 original.

In the first video, the author compared the game’s graphics with and without ray tracing enabled. The game launched on a PC with an NVIDIA RTX 3080 graphics card.

In the second video you can see a comparison of the next-gen version on PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.

Here are the conclusions of the author of the video:

• The ray tracing mode on consoles only applies to the global illumination of the sun, moon, and fire. Xbox Series S does not support ray tracing. This mode also improves the quality of SSR reflections;
• PS5 has better performance mode SSR reflections in some areas compared to Xbox Series X;
• Xbox Series S has lower settings. Performance mode reduces drawing distance, quality of vegetation and shadows;
• Ray tracing on PC shows a noticeable difference. This is the only version with ray tracing for global lighting, shadows and reflections;
• On PC, ray tracing has some visual bugs in shadows and reflections. These are expected to be fixed in future patches;
• Xbox Series X performs better with ray tracing, but PS5 offers better performance in speed mode;
• PS5 has the best loading times;
• In some areas, the Xbox Series X’s resolution is higher than the PS5’s and vice versa, but overall both versions have the same average resolution;
• On Xbox Series S I recommend Quality mode, while on PS5 and Xbox Series X I would choose Performance mode;
• Hairworks still has an edge over the PC version in fur on some models. However, this method does not work correctly with global illumination and ray tracing.

In the third video, the author focused on comparing the original version of The Witcher 3 for PS4 (as well as PS4 Pro) and the updated version for PS5.

These are his conclusions from this comparison:

• The ray tracing mode only applies to the global illumination of the sun, moon and fire. No RT for reflections and shadows;
• This ray tracing improves the shadow area contrast, the luminance contrast and the ambient shadow of some elements;
• The ray tracing mode also improves SSR reflections;
• Performance Mode forgoes these lighting improvements and offers medium resolution and a steady 60 FPS;
• Ray tracing mode has problems with distant shadows at the start of the game. This is expected to be resolved;
• Load times have been improved on PS5 with load times reduced to under 15 seconds and fast travel from 5 to 10 seconds.

Notably, CD Projekt RED also recently published their comparison of the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game using Skellige as an example.

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Recall that the next-gen version of The Witcher 3 will be released on December 14. The exact release time in Russia can be found here. The update is free for all owners Full Edition. Results of The Game Awards 2022