While hardware-accelerated ray tracing was first demonstrated by Nvidia with modern games like Battlefield 5 and Metro Exodus, where RT lights or shadows are used alongside traditional rasterised graphics, completely ray-traced versions of games have also been developed to stunning effect. From early demonstrations of path tracing in Minecraft via Sonic Ether's RT shader mod to the release of Quake 2 RTX, we've seen a series of old-school titles reborn with modern techniques, in a way that seems perfectly suited to demonstrating the unique capabilities of RT technology. Today, we get a fresh look at the most highly-anticipated ray tracing showcase: Minecraft with RTX.
It's important to note that this is the official Microsoft release of Minecraft with ray tracing, a near total overhaul of the game, rather than the shader mod that preceded it. We first went went hands-on with the title at Gamescom 2019, and since then we also got an exclusive look at the Minecraft DXR tech demo on Xbox Series X. While the game doesn't yet have a release date, some Minecraft creators have already gotten access to development builds - and today we're seeing the fruits of their labours for the first time.
First, here are screenshots of three worlds created by Minecraft mainstays, with Nvidia's descriptions. You can click the image to see the full-size, full-fat screenshot in all its glory.