In November 2025, we informed you about a mod that aims to add real-time Path Tracing to Dark Souls 2. And today, we can share some videos, showing off over an hour of gameplay footage from this mod.
From what we know so far, a new version of the DS2LightingEngine Mod will add support for real-time RTGI and Path Tracing. This will greatly overhaul the game. And, since Dark Souls 2 was never a graphical powerhouse, this mod will be a must for those who wish to replay it.
Thanks to Path Tracing, the lighting in Dark Souls 2 will look better and more consistent. Naturally, this mod will also increase the game’s PC requirements. Still, this is a mod that will please a lot who were disappointed by the visual downgrade of Dark Souls 2.
It’s also worth noting that DS2LightingEngine has already added support for Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR 3.1. So, once its upcoming version adds support for Path Tracing, you will be able to use them to improve your performance.
Sadly, there is still no ETA for when this new version of DS2LightingEngine will come out. Naturally, though, we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Speaking of Dark Souls 2, you may also be interested in this other mod for it. The First Sin InfiniDetail is a mod that aims to eliminate texture LOD pop-in. It will also greatly increase the game’s draw distance. In theory, it should work with the Renewal Project.
Dark Souls 2 Renewal Project upgrades every texture in the game to 4096×4096 resolution. It also adds roughness maps to every texture, along with fixes to missing/low-quality normal maps, vanilla displacement maps, and the occasional texture seam present on the vanilla files.
If you want more free content for the game, you should try the Firelink Edition Mod. Dark Souls 2 Firelink Edition adds new weapons, shields, armor pieces, and two whole new miracles. It will also allow players to sell the Soul items at their actual soul value. Soul items display their soul value in the descriptions, and we get some buffed ring effects.
These three mods are for the Scholar of the First Sin version. If you are still playing the first/vanilla version of DS2, you can use this mod to overhaul its graphics.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
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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