Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.1 Path Tracing, Ray Tracing Comparisons Highlight Improvements Across the Board

Cyberpunk 2077 starts out with you choosing a Lifepath, which is essentially one of three backstories you get to pick from that will radically alter the beginning of the game. Each Lifepath eventually leads to the same conclusion, allowing you to play through the same story no matter which Lifepath you chose, but it's possible that this might not be the same when it comes to the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel that's currently in development.

Having been originally released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and not having received a current generation update, Red Dead Redemption 2 does not support ray tracing, which is a shame, as it would make the game look even more incredible than it already does.

In a time when just about everything (other than Nintendo games) is coming out on PC alongside the Xbox and PlayStation (eventually), it’s become the great intersectional platform. There are games that are only on PC, games that are on PC and Xbox but not PlayStation, games that are on PC and PlayStation and not Xbox, and games that are on PC and Switch but neither Xbox nor PlayStation. That means there was a terrifically wide range of nominees in the running for PC Game of the Year for 2023 – including quite a few that would’ve easily made this list if they’d come out in any of the past several years instead. What stands out is that, in a conversation that spanned all genres, RPG dominated the top of the list almost entirely – but each of them is wildly different from the others.

A Cyberpunk 2077 lighting mod called E3VR was recently updated to a new version that essentially restores the lighting system used in the game's pre-release versions.

Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red very cheekily congratulated Hello Games on the reveal of its ambitious new fantasy game Light no Fire at The Game Awards 2023, seemingly joking about the two studios' respective controversies and eventual redemption arcs.

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Baldur's Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon has won the award for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2023, and the community is celebrating with him. 

It's me, I'm back. Rock Paper Shotgun's dedicated Cyberpunk 2077 reporter. CD Projekt Red continue to pay my rent by releasing regular patches for the once-borked, now-brill open world so I can write news about them. The latest, Update 2.1, is out now and adds new races, car chases, romantic smooches, and a working metro system.

By Nvidia’s count, there are now 500 games and applications that employ DLSS upscaling and ray tracing visual effects – or "RTX technologies," in GPU superpower speak. While there’s arguably some cheekiness behind that count, as ray tracing in particular is not an RTX-exclusive feature, it is nonetheless quite the feat for a set of tools that launched in subjectively auspicious circumstances back in 2018.

The tale of CD Projekt Red and their futuristic cyberpunk-themed video game is likely well-known to you now. But it’s worth retelling again because of the release of Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition, which is meant to be the “definitive version” of the title in every way that matters. If you don’t know, this “Ultimate Edition” brings together the main game that launched in 2020 and the expansion that was released a few months ago. Plus, all the updates that have helped improve the game over the years are included. They even made a special launch trailer bringing back Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba to narrate why you should “enjoy” Night City as you try to make your way through it.

London is looking absolutely amazing in this new AC Syndicate graphical showcase, showing Ubisoft's title from 2015 running with ReShade Ray Tracing.

Sci-fi RPG Cyberpunk 2077 is an ambitious game with history as up-and-down as its prickly protagonist's mood. The game deflated expectations almost immediately after launch in 2020, disappointing would-be fans with its glitches and fiddly combat. Putting a bow on its comeback arc, developer CD Projekt Red recently released its Phantom Liberty expansion and update 2.0. Now, the game feels deserving of its pre-launch hype, and its unexpected new patch 2.1 happily continues this trend.