With the promise of improving graphics rendering, ray tracing was introduced back in 2018 as a core feature for gamers. While that part remains true, technology has not advanced as much as one would have liked. Well, before I start criticizing the state of ray tracing in 2024, I want to point out that we are talking about the most impressive implementations of ray tracing in modern games as well.

To fully find out if ray tracing is worth it in 2024, I went ahead and selected some of the best PC games out there with high fidelity graphics. These include Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Alan Wake 2, The Finals and Avatars: Frontiers of Pandora, to name a few. So let's dive in and understand how far ray tracing has come in the last half decade.

Starting with Avatar ( review ), Ubisoft's new entry expanded James Cameron's universe. I went to one of my outposts located on higher ground, which also had interesting foliage and a waterfall. Then I looked for a sunny spot to, well, take some screenshots for comparison. The graphics were fully maxed out except for ray tracing.

I looked at the reflections in the water, and parts of the game world were actually shown in the reflection. However, after turning ray tracing down to the minimum setting, the same reflections didn't make as much of a difference as I expected. Note that ray tracing (RT) does not only work for reflections. The advantages of RT can also be seen in light and shadows.