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First gameplay video for Return to Castle Wolfenstein Path Tracing

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In June 2022, we informed you about a Path Tracing Mod from Dihara Wijetunga, AMD’s Senior Graphics R&D Engineer, for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. And today, we are happy to share its first gameplay video.

Similarly to Quake Path Tracing, Doom Path Tracing, Half-Life PT and Serious Sam Path Tracing, this mod will introduce full real-time path tracing effects to the game.

Now before continuing, we should note that this is still a WIP project. As such, this gameplay video does not represent the quality of its final version.

For example, the path-traced version has some really sharp shadows right now, and the reason behind this is quite simple. According to Dihara, the mod does not currently have any indirect lighting (there is only direct diffuse and specular lighting). Dihara is still working on the GI denoiser, meaning that the mod will look way better.

Regardless of that, you can easily see the visual improvements that path-tracing can bring to the table. Thanks to these path tracing effects, Return to Castle Wolfenstein can look truly amazing. In a way, this mod reminds me of the first time I saw the Tenebrae Mod for Quake. Oh man, what an amazing experience that was back in 2002.

We should also note that this mod won’t be using NVIDIA’s RTX Remix. Instead, Dihara will implement native path tracing effects in the game. Basically, this will be identical to the mods that we’ve already gotten for the aforementioned classic first-person shooters.

For those wondering, there is still no ETA on when this Path Tracing Mod for Return to Castle Wolfenstein will come out. As always, though, we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Enjoy!