We’ve been waiting months to see what next-gen games and ray tracing will truly look like on the Xbox Series X. Today, we’re getting a first good look at the next-gen Xbox’s ray-tracing capabilities, thanks to Watch Dogs: Legion. Set in London, the game includes drones, self-driving cars, and lots of historical sites to explore.
As it’s often wet and dark in Watch Dogs: Legion, the game also includes a lot of reflective puddles, shadows, and bright neon signs that are perfect for ray tracing. The Xbox Series X enhanced version of Watch Dogs: Legion will include ray-traced reflections, improved shadow quality, and even variable refresh rates.
The Xbox Series X version of the game runs at full 4K resolution and a consistent 30fps with ray tracing enabled. Ubisoft is promising a “smooth, cinematic gameplay experience” as a result. This same ray tracing will be enabled on the Xbox Series S, too, although obviously at a lower resolution.
We’ve been playing Watch Dogs: Legion on an RTX 3090 with ultra settings and maxed out ray tracing at 1440p / 55fps this week. While it’s hard to compare the brief examples of gameplay from Ubisoft today, and our own capture (below), the Xbox Series X appears to offer some decent ray-traced results either way.
The optimized version of Watch Dogs: Legion will be available on November 10th, the same day Microsoft launches its next-gen Xbox Series X and S consoles.
