The Xbox Sequence S is, on paper, each bit as feature-rich because the Sequence X. It is primarily based on the identical basic RAM, storage, CPU, and GPU applied sciences – which in fact implies that it’s ray tracing succesful. You’ll be able to completely get RT acceleration on the system, identical to every other RDNA 2-based {hardware} platform. In observe, it is a bit extra sophisticated. The Sequence S has a modest 4TF GPU paired with a meagre 10GB of RAM, which makes it difficult to implement advanced ray-tracing results on the console. Most up-to-date video games lack ray-tracing on Sequence S, even when they pack a number of results on Sequence X and PS5.
Sequence S ray-tracing video games are so scarce, even two years in, that you would be able to virtually depend significant implementations on two palms. By my depend there are simply 15 titles in complete that use {hardware} or software program ray tracing methods on the platform, although maybe there are some low-profile titles we have missed (and possibly there is a case for Gears 5-style screen-space-based world illumination). Whereas the range of RT titles won’t be there, that is to not say that there is not software program on Sequence S the place ray tracing is not key to the expertise – and by reckoning, there are three experiences the place the know-how is current and proper on the junior Xbox and works superbly.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Version is the standout instance. The per-pixel RTGI may be very prime quality, realistically shading scenes and making certain that every part seems to be grounded and proper inside the recreation world. There is a consistency to the lighting that actually impresses right here, and is a lower above most titles that depend on precalculated options. Dynamic objects like characters significantly impress, with wealthy and grounded lighting. Stacked up in opposition to its last-gen predecessor, the enhancements are vastly apparent. Metro Exodus used a real-time lighting system in prior console variations as effectively, though the {hardware} wasn’t able to handing in something greater than a comparatively fundamental GI go. RTGI is completely transformative to the overall look of the sport – and the actual fact we’re a 60fps recreation (albeit one that may run at a really low inner decision) is one other outstanding side to the sport.
Compromises do not significantly stick out, although if I needed to nitpick there may be some pretty apparent ray-tracing noise in darker spots when you look intently. RTGI scales properly to lower-power platforms, as you do not want a lot decision in any respect to provide a handsome, steady impact. That implies that the ray-tracing on Sequence X would not really look that a lot better right here, despite the fact that technically its RTGI go is working at a number of instances the decision of Sequence S. There’s a small discount in visible artifacts and noise – whereas the upper base decision ensures a much less blurry picture.
The RTGI practice continues rolling with Fortnite. Late final yr Epic’s battle royale title was up to date with Unreal Engine 5.1, and together with it got here massive upgrades to property, foliage, and naturally ray-tracing. On Sequence S, we’re getting help for software program Lumen RTGI – an RT answer that mixes SDF-based ray-tracing alongside a screen-space GI approach to provide convincing real-time oblique lighting.
In observe, it seems to be fairly convincing. Each space is easily and richly lit, which stands out in crevices and inside areas specifically. The colorful world of Fortnite produces loads of fascinating lighting situations, so the RTGI has a heightened however pleasing look. Fortnite’s previous lighting system was simplistic and primarily real-time, with solely probably the most fundamental of GI techniques, and the development stands out in mainly each shot. The first compromise inherent to Sequence S once more comes all the way down to decision. Lumen’s software program RTGI targets simply 1/sixteenth decision on current-gen consoles, which does not appear to be it could play very effectively with Sequence S and its 720p-class inner render targets. However once more, RTGI seems to be strong even at cut-back pixel counts, and the lighting nonetheless feels correct sufficient to provide a superb consequence on Sequence S.
Denoising can solely accomplish that a lot right here, although, so splotchy noise patterns are a typical sight in darker areas that depend on oblique lighting. Plus, the RT reflections which might be current on different current-gen platforms are gone, changed with a much less steady although nonetheless handsome screen-space approach. Sequence S does handle to acquit itself fairly effectively right here on the whole although, producing a vastly satisfying RT implementation.
Unreal Engine 5 acquired its first playable debut on consoles within the beautiful The Matrix Awakens pattern launched in late 2021. This can be a demo, not a full recreation, consisting of an 8-minute cinematic sequence and an explorable open world metropolis space, although the ultimate outcomes are simply too good to exclude from this rundown. Sequence S will get the total ray-tracing therapy – hardware-based RTGI, plus ray-traced reflections, in addition to RT shadows in choose moments. The ultimate visible outcomes look unbelievable, significantly within the opening cutscene section, which must be abundantly clear to anybody who’s seen it. However the consistency and high quality of the ray-tracing is made clear upon getting full management within the open world.
RTGI lends the sport steady, true-to-life lighting, even on character fashions and in robust spots just like the underside of bridges. It is a bit subtler than one thing like Fortnite, but it surely’s nonetheless very efficient. Reflections look nice as effectively, including detailed, perspective-correct reflections that might be very difficult to signify in real-time utilizing different methods. Sequence S takes a step again from the opposite console variations once more right here, although there are not any apparent characteristic cuts. RTGI high quality is considerably decrease although it isn’t too noticeable – noise is not a distraction, although the RT turns into extra detailed as you strategy and you may form of break it momentarily by approaching at pace, although that is additionally obvious on different console platforms.
The reflections are extra visibly downgraded. Stacked up in opposition to Sequence X, the sport illustration within the BVH is scaled again a bit, with simplified textures and fashions. It solely actually stands out on shut inspection although, and solely when screen-space info is absent. Diffuse surfaces present a extra significant high quality hit, with a messy and considerably unstable resolve, although these are principally primarily based on screen-space reflections so the RT is not as a lot accountable.
My second grouping of Sequence S RT titles would possibly look unusual, however basically it’s a quartet of Capcom video games: Resident Evil 2 and three Remake, and Resident Evils 7 and eight. All pack very related ray tracing tech courtesy of the aptly named RE Engine. Basically, these video games provide RT reflections plus a restricted type of RTGI, which basically solves sure lighting errors and points current within the pre-existing baked GI answer with out totally changing it.
Reflection high quality varies fairly a bit relying on the circumstance. Nicely-lit outside areas expose the simplicity of the BVH and might look considerably worse than the screen-space reflection and cubemap methods which might be in any other case used. However indoor areas usually look fairly good. The third individual Resident Evil remakes make higher use of the reflections in my opinion, with their synthetic, city-type environments. RT decision is sort of low and suffers from loads of noise throughout all titles, nonetheless, so the outcomes might be messy.
The GI produces extra delicate however appreciated enhancements to lighting accuracy. Among the mild bleed that’s current utilizing rasterised lighting has been mounted, and lightweight does have extra lifelike propagation by way of sure scenes. That is principally evident on smaller bits of geometry, which might in any other case lack correct bounce or exhibit odd shading. Baked GI seems to be good for probably the most half in these titles and the RTGI does an inexpensive job of fixing its extra noticeable issues, so it is a strong answer.
Sequence S handles the RT fairly successfully in my opinion, taking a average hit to reflections high quality relative to Sequence X however in any other case managing to look pleasing sufficient. This does have some severe efficiency implications, sadly, which make RT a far much less interesting choice in comparison with the opposite consoles, the place the hit to frame-rate will not be so pronounced.
My third grouping consists of Unreal Engine 4 titles. UE4 has easy-to-implement RT options, which implies that fairly just a few titles primarily based on the last-gen Unreal Engine tech use ray tracing on consoles. The overwhelming majority of those drop RT on Sequence S, however there are just a few exceptions. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice acquired an RT enhancement in 2021 that did lengthen the RT olive department to the Sequence S launch as effectively. Ray-traced reflections right here do look fairly detailed and current clear edges freed from screen-space artifacts.
The first subject is that Hellblade makes heavy use of fog and volumetric lighting, which do not appear to get any form of approximation inside the BVH construction used to calculate the RT results. Which means that the screen-space reflections look considerably extra correct loads of the time. The Sequence X suffers from the identical points right here, producing a little bit of a blended consequence for the ray-tracing. Clearly the SSR might be occluded if the digital camera is positioned at an acute angle, however the remainder of the time the screen-space outcomes usually look comparable or higher.
Ship Us The Moon additionally suffers from an unsatisfying RT implementation in my opinion. This indie space-based puzzle recreation makes use of RT shadows on console, in a hybrid implementation that blends ray-tracing primarily based shadows with conventional shadowmaps and baked shadows. The RT shadows do look fascinating, and are clear and detailed in a means that might be very difficult to signify with typical shadowmap methods in real-time. However precise shadows in loads of the lighting conditions within the recreation ought to look extra diffuse, like when forged from an in depth mild supply or a scattered supply like an atmosphere-diffused solar. These stencil-style shadows are comparatively low-cost and do add good bits of shadow protection for some smaller objects, however I principally choose the standard shadow methods.
Plus, there appears to be a bug the place character shadows are basically not forged in any respect with RT turned on, which seems to be ugly. The developer did report that RT reflections are current on current-gen consoles as effectively, however I could not discover any proof of this in my testing, on both Sequence S or X.
Little Nightmares 2 has a pleasant little bit of ray tracing, though it is pretty delicate. Throughout each visible modes RT reflections do appear to be enabled. High quality does take a giant hit within the efficiency mode, however neither of the 2 choices has seen disocclusion artifacting within the reflection itself, indicating an RT approach is in play. The preliminary Xbox Sequence model of the sport solely featured SSR, however RT appears to have been patched in subsequently. This explicit recreation makes use of reflections sparingly nonetheless and options comparatively few shiny surfaces. I needed to play about midway by way of to work out if RT options had been enabled in any respect, as they’re virtually non-existent till the hospital stage. And the digital camera has a semi-fixed perspective, which might reduce typical SSR points.
Observer: System Redux additionally sports activities RT reflections on Sequence S, although they solely appear to use to very shiny surfaces. Scene protection is not nice, although the occasional RT highlights do add to the presentation – and you are still getting 60fps gameplay right here as effectively.
The ultimate grouping consists of distinctive titles which have odd or novel RT implementations. Crysis Remastered leads this pack, with a software-based spin on RT reflections that really debuted first on last-gen consoles. The ray-tracing seems to be first rate in stills right here, although it does are likely to take a second or two to cohere after motion. Each RT vary and protection are fairly restricted, however the outcomes are surprisingly robust for software-based ray tracing.
The 2 most up-to-date Method 1 racing video games – F1 2021 and 2022 – even have ray-tracing options. RT shadows and reflections are current in each titles, however solely within the pre-race warm-up segments and within the “My Place” characteristic in F1 2022. Throughout gameplay, there’s zero RT by any means. Forza Horizon 5, in an identical vein, has ray tracing options in choose moments. By coming into the Forza Vista automotive viewer within the recreation’s high quality mode, you may see correct RT reflections throughout automotive our bodies. The outcomes are chic, although this sadly would not lengthen to gameplay, which depends on a real-time cubemap answer for automobile reflections.
Lastly we’ve Watch Canines Legion, which options an choice for RT reflections. That is really one of many stronger RT implementations on Sequence S, with correct reflections added to shiny surfaces. There are just a few apparent high quality compromises – the reflections do undergo from fairly a little bit of ghosting and aliasing, which is especially noticeable on automotive our bodies. Plus, the RT falls again to a cubemap-based answer for distant element. Normally although, the protection is fairly strong and it does make a giant distinction when traversing the streets of London.
So we have confirmed that RT can work on Xbox Sequence S – and it may be transformative. To see a 4TF GPU produce high quality alongside the strains of Metro Exodus, The Matrix Awakens or Fortnite is sort of the feat. Nevertheless, ray tracing is a really demanding course of and that’s clearly an element on extra restricted {hardware} platforms just like the Sequence S, however the larger subject is the shortage of RAM on the system. With 10GB of RAM – of which round 8GB is out there for builders – there’s little room to retailer the sophisticated acceleration buildings that make real-time ray tracing doable within the first place. BVHs can take up loads of space in reminiscence, which the Sequence S would not have room to spare in loads of instances. RT might be delivered successfully on the console, however clearly loads of work is required to make it occur.
Finally, that implies that most video games I discovered that help ray tracing merely do not help the characteristic on Sequence S. Titles like Management, Cyberpunk 2077, Chernobylite, Doom Everlasting, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Guardians of the Galaxy do not have ray tracing on Sequence S, in contrast to Sequence X and PS5. Ray-tracing is a relative rarity on Microsoft’s junior current-gen machine, with just some standout titles making efficient makes use of of RT methods.
And the video games that do use RT are sometimes greatest loved with out it. The 30fps vs 60fps cut up for RT and totally rasterised modes may be very typical on the console and given the selection, it is uncommon that I might select an RT-based high quality mode over a 60fps efficiency different. The Resident Evil titles undergo significantly from this subject, with a wobbly 30-40fps frame-rate of their ray-tracing modes. There are exceptions in fact – just like the brilliant-looking Matrix Awakens, or the 60fps-targeting Metro Exodus and Fornite – but it surely’s usually a better option to take pleasure in decrease enter lag and extra fluid animation over an implementation of ray tracing that normally would not convey a transformative enchancment to the presentation.
Maybe it will change sooner or later. Some ray tracing methods, significantly RTGI, require loads of work to make use of alongside a non-ray traced fallback for increased efficiency modes, or for weaker {hardware}. If a title is designed round RTGI, the developer actually has to discover a strategy to run that approach on the Sequence S, whatever the effort they need to expend or compromises they need to make. Different RT results, like people who substitute screen-space traced methods like SSR and SSAO, are simpler to strip away for a Sequence S construct if wanted, however a heavy use of per-pixel RTGI can be robust to exchange with out completely ruining the visible presentation on the S or doing loads of duplicate work. So it is best to imagine that video games utilizing RTGI will in all probability retain these results on Sequence S, even when meaning cutbacks elsewhere.
So the place are left on the finish of this complete rundown? The Sequence S is a ray tracing succesful console – however outdoors of some highlights (one in every of which is a demo somewhat than a recreation) it clearly has a mediocre observe document in current software program, principally all the way down to a mixture of a much less succesful GPU and restricted reminiscence and reminiscence bandwidth. With that stated, nonetheless, it is heartening to see each {hardware} and software program RT deployed so efficiently with Unreal Engine 5. Whereas it isn’t a lock for each UE5 recreation in growth, no less than the template is there to reveal that Sequence S can ship on the premier middleware of the approaching era.