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Flex your GPU’s power with the best ray tracing PC games
Flex your GPU’s power with the best ray tracing PC games-February 2024
Feb 12, 2026 1:03 AM

  Ray tracing is the lighting tech that defines the look of many modern AAA games. Demanding as it is, most of the best gaming desktops come with ray tracing-capable hardware, allowing you to experience the most graphically demanding technique games currently have access to.

  Just because a game has great graphics doesn’t mean it’s a great showcase of ray tracing, though. For example, Hitman 3‘s ray tracing update was a disappointment. We catered our list toward games that best showcase ray tracing, so you can use them for bragging rights or just to see what your PC is capable of.

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Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Trailer

  76 %

  3/5

  M

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

  Genre Role-playing (RPG), Adventure

  Developer Techland Publishing, Techland

  Publisher Techland Publishing, Spike ChunSoft

  Release February 04, 2022

  Read our full Dying Light 2: Stay Human review

  Read more

  Dying Light 2 Stay Human — Official GeForce RTX 4K Reveal Trailer

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  Dying Light 2: Stay Human might be the most graphically advanced game available today (though our next pick gives it a run for its money). It features ray-traced global illumination, ambient occlusion, shadows, and reflections. You can even apply ray tracing to your flashlight, with light spilling out into dark rooms around you. As our Dying Light 2 performance guide shows, though, ray tracing comes at a steep cost. Even the best graphics cards will be brought to their knees by Dying Light 2. This is a game clearly built for future hardware, so it’s a good idea to turn down a lot of the ray tracing settings if you can.

Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition

Trailer

  M

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

  Genre Shooter, Adventure

  Developer 4A Games

  Publisher Deep Silver

  Release May 06, 2021

  Read more

  Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition with RTX | Available Now!

  Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is a PC exclusive that goes all-in on ray tracing. Literally. Developer 4A Games replaced every rasterized light source with a ray-traced version, as well as improved the ray-traced reflection featured in the first version. Needless to say, all of this ray tracing is extremely demanding, so make sure to turn on Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) for the best results.

Cyberpunk 2077

Trailer

  78 %

  3/5

  M

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia

  Genre Role-playing (RPG)

  Developer CD Projekt RED

  Publisher CD Projekt RED

  Release December 09, 2020

  Read our full Cyberpunk 2077 review

  Read more

  Cyberpunk 2077 | Official 4K RTX Launch Trailer

  For all of the problems Cyberpunk 2077 has, it’s still a downright gorgeous game. Like our top two picks, you’re looking at ray tracing across the board — global illumination, shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, and diffused illumination. Night City comes to life with ray tracing turned on, but it’ll tank your frame rate (even with a GPU as powerful as the RTX 3090 Ti). You’ll need to turn on DLSS for the best experience, and thankfully, the game supports FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) if you have an AMD GPU.

Control

Trailer

  84 %

  3.5/5

  M

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia

  Genre Shooter, Adventure

  Developer Remedy Entertainment

  Publisher 505 Games

  Release August 27, 2019

  Read our full Control review

  Read more

  NVIDIA’s Advanced Ray Tracing Effects in Control

  Control was one of the earliest examples of the power of ray tracing, and it remains one of the best ray tracing games in 2022. The game doesn’t have ray-traced global illumination, but it still comes with reflections, shadows, and even ray-traced debris. It’s demanding, so Nvidia DLSS is a welcome addition. It’s not as demanding as our top picks, however, which is great if you’re sitting on a 1080p graphics card.

Minecraft

Trailer

  84 %

  E10

  Platforms Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac

  Genre Adventure, Arcade

  Developer Mojang Studios

  Publisher Mojang Studios

  Release November 18, 2011

  Read more

  Official Minecraft Trailer

  Minecraft RTX is a novelty — there’s no way around it. Similar to Quake II RTX, ray tracing really shines when put against a game that’s graphically simple. You get reflections, shadows, global illumination, and emissive blocks, bringing the voxel world to a whole new level. You’ll need to install an RTX-capable resource pack to use ray tracing, but the results are stunning.

LEGO Builder's Journey

Trailer

  80 %

  E

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

  Genre Puzzle, Adventure, Indie

  Developer Light Brick Studio

  Publisher The LEGO Group

  Release December 20, 2019

  Read more

  LEGO Builder's Journey Trailer - Apple Arcade

  A mobile game like Lego’s Builder’s Journey doesn’t seem like an obvious choice to show off ray tracing, but that’s why it’s so brilliant; ray tracing elevates the game visually so much that it’s the perfect showcase. Ray-traced shadows and reflections shine with the minor imperfections on the Lego bricks, making each diorama seem like it’s ripped straight from the real world.

AMID EVIL

Trailer

  87 %

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows)

  Genre Shooter, Adventure, Indie

  Developer Indefatigable

  Publisher New Blood Interactive

  Release June 20, 2019

  Read more

  AMID EVIL with RTX | Available Now

  Amid Evil is among the increasingly popular genre of boomer shooters — retro-styled FPS games modeled off of 90s classics like Quake. Amid Evil has all of the retro trimmings, but the developer brings in some modern flare with ray-traced reflections and shadows. It doesn’t look like a retro game with ray tracing overlayed on top; Amid Evil is instead a masterclass in style. You don’t need much to get ray tracing working, either, but Nvidia DLSS is available in case you’re running into performance issues.

DOOM Eternal

Trailer

  84 %

  4.5/5

  M

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia

  Genre Shooter

  Developer id Software

  Publisher Bethesda Softworks

  Release March 20, 2020

  Read our full DOOM Eternal review

  Read more

  DOOM Eternal | Official GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 4K Ray Tracing Gameplay – World Premiere

  It took a year from release for Doom Eternal to receive its ray tracing update, but the wait was worth it. The game doesn’t have all of the fancy ray tracing tech as some of our higher picks. Instead, it perfects ray-traced reflections. The game has so many bright, vibrant surfaces for light to bounce off, and flipping the reflections on brings the hellscape to life (or death, I suppose).

Bright Memory: Infinite

Trailer

  59 %

  RP

  Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

  Genre Shooter, Adventure, Indie

  Developer FYQD-Studio

  Publisher AGM Playism

  Release November 11, 2021

  Read more

  Bright Memory: Infinite | Launch Trailer

  Bright Memory: Infinite isn’t a great game. It’s a relatively basic shooter with a few unique melee mechanics thrown into the mix, and you’ll have it beaten in a couple of hours. More than anything, Bright Memory: Infinite is a tech demo. It shows off ray tracing at its best, with reflections, global illumination, shadows, and a world design that seems purpose-built for the light tech.

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