RStudio has just released a new update for its graphics mod for the original Crysis game, Crysis Enhanced. This mod is a must for those who are still playing the original version, and not the remaster. So, let’s see what it brings to the table.
The 2025 Update for Crysis Enhanced makes the game look much better. It improves the visuals in every level, including the lighting, textures, and shaders. Almost all surfaces in the game now have new and higher-quality textures.
Even though the graphics are much better, the mod still keeps the original look and style of the game. It’s like playing the classic Crysis, but with a fresh coat of paint. This update is perfect for players who love the original game but want it to look more modern.
The modder has also improved the game’s baked lighting and the dead body ragdolls. You can also expect some cool and improved real-time reflections. Not only that, but the mod adds Screen Space Shadows on weapons, NPCs, player’s arms. Plus, there are improvements to the shadows on water and the ocean waves.
RStudio has also put a lot of work into the FlowGraph for every level to make sure the game runs better. This means you should see fewer crashes while playing. In the original game, the last level had a big problem with crashing. But now, the game should be more stable and smoother to play. Or at least that’s what the mod’s description implies.
This mod is really cool, but I’m not sure why someone would still want to play the original version of Crysis instead of the 2020 remaster.
Yes, when Crysis Remastered first came out, it had a lot of problems. Back in 2020, I actually told people to try Crysis Enhanced instead.
But Crytek worked hard to fix those issues. In November 2020, they released a patch that made the game run 43.75% in CPU-heavy areas. Then, in February 2022, another patch made the game run 81% faster compared to its launch version.
It took about two years, but now, Crysis Remastered runs great. Oh, and the game no longer has Denuvo. In 2021, Crytek removed it. So that’s another win for PC gamers.
Anyway, if you still own the original Crysis and want to replay it, I suggest downloading and using the latest version of Crysis Enhanced. You can get it from this link. I’ve also included below a trailer from its previous version. For this latest version, there isn’t any. Still, you can find some screenshots on its ModDB page.
Have fun!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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lol I don't want to be that hateful person who is constantly criticizing everything (I am already? Aw man), but well, these pictures are from 2013, and they look at least as good.
They have the old Rygel's textures, some custom lighting mod, etc.
Crysis mods are like Skyrim mods: they always claim to be the ultimate best versions, but well, we already had that more than 10 years ago…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/00c93608e1ac6ab312b364f5699c61d3062311acf361de9bfe726d10ad64d7d6.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a723d142cfd3de699d097081cf1789101a6619b26b44ed349cf42a6d06584374.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4433d4955c1aa580d52ee0205bdab6256b9b14c77f48fa32d475b85a6fa19736.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d2a2048953e83cb504dbe4f368649e07866d10335bdca9125be210774fae099.jpg
man these textures look photo realistic (also the pictures are really high resolution.) I remember running this game on ultra on the 8800 gtx, at 1920×1200 back in 2007. Of course it didn't run at 60 fps, but with motion blur and the textures and lighting back then was jaw dropping. I know games these days look a lot better, but the graphical leap that this game provided??? I've never seen anything like it in almost 40 years of being a video gamer. I'll be honest that most games even today dont have textures as detailed as Rygel's textures!!
That looks too good for a game that's almost two decades old. It's a real shame what has happened to gaming. We don't see these sort of highly ambitious projects any more. Haven't seen a forest in a modern game that looks this good. Perhaps the closest are the Kingdom Come: Deliverance games.
The Remaster has received a good amount of support which is great, but it still has issues like the vegetation not reacting to explosions and wood/crates destruction lacking the details it had in the OG, and maybe it's just my opinion but the lighting feels artificial, the complete opposite of the down-to-earth and more realistic lighting of the original.
The only real aspect in which the Remaster wins is the performance and that's at least something it does better than the original, seeing some of the demanding levels runs at a decent framerate almost feels weird as i always expect these levels to have slowdowns
The gameplay itself is messed up. The nanosuit features behave differently and there are wacky bugs the original didn't have. Hilarious because the original had tons of bugs already but leave it to Crytek to add more in a Remaster.
Hello there.
I am the creator of the mod and I noticed some misunderstanding here after reading.
The video you linked is from a way earlier and outdated version of my mod. I didn't release a video for the 2025 update.
But instead, you can link some pictures you can find here if you want to :
https://www.moddb.com/mods/crysis-enhanced-edition/news/crysis-enhanced-2025-update
The goal was to retain the original look of the game, while outperforming the remaster in any, or almost, visual metric you can think of.
About the CPU performance, the way the levels are reworked allow the mod to perform quite good most of the time compared to the remaster, while delivering more in terms of shadows, vegetations, decals, textures, reflections, probe lights and so on..
An exemple on Village, on the famous hill, with the same view distance ratio for my mod and the remaster : 42 FPS vs 47 FPS in favor of C1R on my 5800X .
Thanks for the article, and have fun to those who are going to try the mod.
Thanks for your input. I'm guessing your mod is not compatible with Crysis Remastered? Only the original from a site like GoG? I was having trouble confirming.
It is for the original game, steam or GoG. I recommend the GoG one though
Ok, good to know. The OG has been delisted on Steam, so GoG it is. I appreciate your work on the mod!
Yup, I know there isn't a video but I wanted to include one (which is why I used your latest video 🙂 ). I've clarified at the end of the article that the trailer is from the previous version.
What Crysis needs more than anything else is a total replacement for the SSAO. GTAO or VBAO would enhance Crysis more than any other effect you could add. The SSAO is so brutally inaccurate and I feel like you increased the radius on it which leads to smaller objects like the plates on a table to be missed entirely. But that's where AO should be the most apparent! Small details is where SSAO techniques actually produce realistic results. For bigger AO you cannot use a screenspace effect. And you already have baked GI so that part should be taken care of.
Keeping SSAO and cranking up the radius are both mistakes. Please look into GTAO.
Kinda fun to see how the textures are more crisp than most of modern game that's so darn muddy and blurry. Taa, upscaling, motionblur & framegen and then slap on a sharpening filter to make it appear it have definition and clarity etc don't do modern gaming much favors when it comes to gfx clarity and definition. Rather have the occasional jaggie than look at a game that looks like its been smeared with vaseline and then desperately sharpened to don't look as bad as the base rendering.