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What Series X game is the best ray tracing showcase on Gamepass?

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
My buddy recently snagged an Xbox Series X and was hyped to try out the new features. Notably he was asking me about my suggestion for the best showcase of raytracing, which I told him might be Control: UE. I had played though on PS5 and saw it on Gamepass so I figured it would be a great way to go, but today he tells me the GP version doesn't have that option. I only have a Series S so was hoping that people with an XSX can share their impressions.

To reiterate, it needs to be on Xbox Series, optimized for Series X, currently on Gamepass (February 2022), and have raytracing.

Bonus points if the title shows the benefits of raytracing very noticably. All the reflective surfaces were the reason I recommended Control: UE in the first place.

Thank you for your suggestions!
 

MachRc

Member
You got the Medium and doom to "showcase" ray tracing on gamepass. Few other are noted as ray tracing but if you want maximun ray tracing effects to wow you, you would have to hit up non gamepass games.
Its a shame they never used minecraft to showcase it. Im guessing we're just not there yet.

I purchased watchdog legions just so that I can check out ray tracing on the SX,
I see it regularly on sale for cheap under 20 bucks, even cheaper on ebay.
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
I'll go ahead and recommend Doom Eternal. Thanks everyone. I just noticed the app shows raytracing as a tag, but you can't filter on it unfortunately. Maybe that's just a limitation of the app?
wMqUq5Q.png


Doom as most others have stated. I also hear Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is a pretty good rt showcase as well.
I didn't see Metro on Gamepass just now ...
 

assurdum

Banned
You got the Medium and doom to "showcase" ray tracing on gamepass. Few other are noted as ray tracing but if you want maximun ray tracing effects to wow you, you would have to hit up non gamepass games.
Its a shame they never used minecraft to showcase it. Im guessing we're just not there yet.

I purchased watchdog legions just so that I can check out ray tracing on the SX,
I see it regularly on sale for cheap under 20 bucks, even cheaper on ebay.
Im Not Maya Rudolph GIF by Saturday Night Live

Raytracing in the medium is very limited and ridiculous with terrible compromise in resolution.
 
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kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
It was like a year ago, tho, so you are not entirely wrong.

Metro is best RT showcase on consoles period. 1440p/60 full RT pipeline. Really makes you think with games like Dying Light what the fuck devs are doing.
I haven't gotten to play Metro yet, but I was pretty impressed with Miles Morales and it's hybrid RT+60. I think overall Control: UE was more impressive even though it was only 30fps.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I haven't gotten to play Metro yet, but I was pretty impressed with Miles Morales and it's hybrid RT+60. I think overall Control: UE was more impressive even though it was only 30fps.
The noise in Control and 30 FPS wasn't too hot tho (still one of the best game ever), but it's no match for the Metro: EE. Have you played Guardians of the Galaxy?
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
The noise in Control and 30 FPS wasn't too hot tho (still one of the best game ever), but it's no match for the Metro: EE. Have you played Guardians of the Galaxy?
Not yet, but I've seen the threads here saying it's a a real sleeper hit, so I would like to.
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Not yet, but I've seen the threads here saying it's a a real sleeper hit, so I would like to.
I have to say, it truly is. I am still surprised that people don't hype it more. And there RT mode is superb. One of the best graphics I've seen so far.
 

anthony2690

Banned
Matrix, but let him know ray tracing is worthless, the 30fps trade off isn't worth it, as soon as you rotate that camera!
It's all about the smooth 60fps on consoles.
 
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01011001

Banned
Gears 5 does have an implementation of ray tracing on series X. It’s honestly a really good looking game.
software based ScreenSpace RT GI to be exact, looks good but not really a showcase for RayTracing, it's basically the equivalent of those videos you see online where people use ReShade on PC to give games "RayTracing", which looks nice at times but really isn't what most people would mean when they say RayTracing


on topic: I think Doom Eternal definitely is a great showcase because it has RT reflections on almost every surface you would expect them and does that at 60fps as well with most of the alpha effects being reflected too, which is not a given either in most RT implementations.

I especially like the RT reflections in Doom because it lets you see your own skin outside of cutscenes, and that's kinda cool... I like to use the classic Doom skin usually when I play it and there are a bunch of almost mirror like surfaces in some of the levels, which makes the whole scene look way more dynamic with RT reflections
 
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kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Matrix, but let him know ray tracing is worthless, the 30fps trade off isn't worth it, as soon as you rotate that camera!
It's all about the smooth 60fps on consoles.
He just wants to check it out. People are capable of making up their own minds about what they prefer. If you don't like RT, then why did you enter the thread?

Personally, I feel Control UE at 60fps is worse than the RT mode. It looks flat and gamey even if the gunplay is slightly better at 60fps, versus the rich atmospheric visuals when RT is enabled. Also some games have RT at 60 anyway.
 

Haggard

Banned
I can't really think of an actually transformative RT implementation on consoles in general besides maybe Metro Exodus EE and maaaaybe Control...
This, when implemented right, is still very high end PC territory imho.
 
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01011001

Banned
It does not, it's just good fake. Looks really good tho.

it technically is using ray tracing but a very low end form that doesn't even utilize the RT hardware (which is weird tbh, as that would most likely result in better performance... but i guess they already hit their target and so don't care 🤷‍♂️). like I posted above, it's Screen Space based RT Global Illumination, similarly to the "raytracing" you can enable in something like Reshade on PC.

looks good, but is very limited and has artifacts like other screen space based effects
 

01011001

Banned
Personally, I feel Control UE at 60fps is worse than the RT mode. It looks flat and gamey even if the gunplay is slightly better at 60fps, versus the rich atmospheric visuals when RT is enabled. Also some games have RT at 60 anyway.

the fact that this game still has not gotten an update to unlock the framerate on Series X is such a joke tbh. that would solve both issues at once for many. since the game holds upwards of 45fps a majority of the time, with areas in the 50fps range even, anyone with a decent VRR TV would have a way better experience through this very simple feature... it looks so smooth as soon as you enable photo mode on a VRR TV... it's crazy that's not an option
 
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anthony2690

Banned
He just wants to check it out. People are capable of making up their own minds about what they prefer. If you don't like RT, then why did you enter the thread?

Personally, I feel Control UE at 60fps is worse than the RT mode. It looks flat and gamey even if the gunplay is slightly better at 60fps, versus the rich atmospheric visuals when RT is enabled. Also some games have RT at 60 anyway.
I gave you a suggestion? Matrix is probably the best showcase experience on consoles currently.

There is doom eternal & metro exodus too (metro is 60fps, not sure on doom as never tried the mode)

30fps feels like a slideshow, nothing wrong with honesty.
 

01011001

Banned
I gave you a suggestion? Matrix is probably the best showcase experience on consoles currently.

There is doom eternal & metro exodus too (metro is 60fps, not sure on doom as never tried the mode)

30fps feels like a slideshow, nothing wrong with honesty.

Doom is 60fps and looks great at a dynamic 1800p resolution too (which the Series X holds pretty well thanks to Tier 2 VRS helping out here). has among the best RT reflections on console to date since it reflects most of the alpha effects as well and almost any smooth surface has reflections.

so Doom definitely is the best when you wanna see RT reflections as there are some levels where they are everywhere (especially the underwater level in the first DLC) and it can look pretty spectacular at times

the only real issue is that the game's 3rd person player model is not well synchronized with the first person hand movement
 
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