Extremely anticipated: As Bethesda and id Software program begin the ultimate hype cycle earlier than the launch of Doom: The Darkish Ages on Could 15, the official PC system necessities reveal that ray tracing, a once-optional function that dramatically reduces body charges, is more and more turning into obligatory in main sport releases. Notably, the sport additionally requires an NVMe SSD.
Doom: The Darkish Ages, the upcoming prequel to id Software program’s 2016 revival of the traditional FPS franchise, is now accessible for pre-order and is about to launch on Could 15 on Steam, the Microsoft Retailer, Recreation Go, Xbox sequence consoles, and PlayStation 5. Prospects who pre-purchase the premium version can start enjoying on Could 12.
The system necessities verify that the sport requires a GPU able to hardware-assisted ray tracing, even on the lowest graphics settings. Different examples of this development embody Star Wars Outlaws, Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle, and the upcoming Murderer’s Creed Shadows.
Gameplay at 1080p and 60fps with low settings requires an Nvidia RTX 20 sequence, AMD Radeon RX 6000 sequence, or newer graphics card with at the least 8 GB of VRAM. For greater graphics settings at 1440p, 32GB of RAM and 10GB of VRAM are advisable, whereas maxed-out 4K gameplay will increase the VRAM requirement to 16GB.
After showcasing the sport at this week’s Xbox Developer Direct, id Software program additionally confirmed that Doom: The Darkish Ages helps path tracing. Titles like Indiana Jones, Alan Wake 2, and Cyberpunk 2077 have used path tracing, often known as full ray tracing, to render extraordinarily complete lighting and shadows, albeit with a considerable efficiency price. Additional particulars on Doom’s implementation of the function are forthcoming.
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One other new mandate that may concern customers with older PCs is 100GB of NVMe storage. Excessive-end video games now generally require SSDs however sometimes additionally help SATA drives, and plenty of will nonetheless launch on laborious disk drives.
In a roughly 10-minute demonstration (watch under), id showcased new weapons and different options from Doom: The Darkish Ages. The chainsaw seems to have been changed with a mace, flail, electrified gauntlet, and a throwable defend. New weapons embody a rail spike launcher, cranium chipper, and a double-barreled plasma cannon. Moreover, the brand new entry boasts the biggest and most densely populated ranges within the franchise’s historical past.
Doom: The Darkish Ages additionally provides gamers extra granular management over the problem settings than prior titles. The choices menu consists of sliders for participant harm, enemy harm, the parry window, total sport velocity, and extra.
