In context: While gamers are patiently waiting for further details about the recently announced Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, Elden Ring developer FromSoftware has just released a new patch adding ray tracing effects and a host of balance adjustments to its award-winning role-playing game.
The long-awaited ray tracing update for Elden Ring has finally been released, as the Japanese developer FromSoftware has released patch 1.09 for all supported platforms. According to FromSoftware, the new lighting effects are only available on the latest gaming consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X) and PCs, and users can expect a significant impact on the performance of the game, since support for scaling algorithms is not yet available.
The new ray tracing feature can be enabled in the Settings menu, and early tests confirm that the performance impact is indeed quite noticeable. Despite the sharp drop in FPS, ray tracing illumination seems to be very limited (without ray tracing reflections), while the overall effect on graphics accuracy is very subtle. The ray tracing update weighs 200 megabytes on the PC and 5 gigabytes on the PS5, probably due to the precompiled shaders included in the console version.
Despite the boring results, ray tracing effects require new minimum and recommended system requirements listed in the patch notes 1.09. To get (slightly) better lighting in 1080p resolution (low quality, low ray tracing), players will need a Core i5-10600K or Ryzen 5 3600XT processor, 16 GB of RAM and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB or Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB. . Recommended features for high-quality ray tracing in 1080p resolution include Windows 11, Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 3800XT, as well as GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8 GB or Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB.
ELDEN RING update 1.09 is now available.
Full patch notes can be viewed here: https://t.co/Su9mOtjsXj
Please apply this patch to continue playing #ELDENRING online. pic.twitter.com/hsKqa1usku
— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) March 23, 2023
In addition to improved graphics, patch 1.09 also introduces a huge number of balance adjustments to the gameplay of Elden Ring, weapons, skills and spells. Some of these balance settings are only for PvP games, where they mostly reduce the effectiveness of certain skills and spells, but do not affect single or cooperative games. In addition, developers are still fixing bugs and making “several performance improvements” on all supported platforms.
After a major win at the Game Awards event in 2022, Elden Ring also topped the 23rd annual Game Developer Choice Awards. The Soulsborne formula poster earned FromSoftware three more awards at an event held among equals in San Francisco, winning in the categories of “Best Visual Art”, “Best Design” and “Game of the Year”.
During the aforementioned Game Awards, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that his team is still working hard to bring new stories, experiences and mysterious in-game conversations to Lands Between. Shadow of the Erdtree is the recently announced first expansion for Elden Ring, although no further details other than illustrations depicting the demigod Michella riding in a ghostly decaying environment have been provided.
