Editor’s Note: During game onboarding for the Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition, we discovered that the update requires a version of Windows Server that isn’t currently supported on GeForce NOW. The required version is scheduled for release later this year; at which time we’ll begin upgrading our servers. We’ll provide additional information and timing as we know more. The base version of Metro Exodus will still be playable, including RTX for Founders and Priority members, as we work to upgrade the service.
GFN Thursday reaches a fever pitch this week as we take a deeper look at two major updates coming to GeForce NOW from Deep Silver in the weeks ahead.
Catching Even More Rays
Metro Exodus was one of the first RTX games added to GeForce NOW. It’s still one of the most-played RTX games on the service. Back in February, developer 4A Games shared news of an Enhanced Edition coming to PC that takes advantage of a new Fully Ray-Traced Lighting Pipeline.
Today, we can share that it’s coming to GeForce NOW, day-and-date, on May 6.
The PC Enhanced Edition features significant updates to Metro Exodus’ real-time ray tracing implementations. Players will see improvements to the groundbreaking Ray-Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) featured in the base game, as well as new updates for the Ray-Traced Emissive Lighting techniques pioneered in “The Two Colonels” expansion.
The PC Enhanced Edition also includes additional ray-tracing features, like Advanced Ray-Traced Reflections, and support for NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 on NVIDIA hardware — including GeForce NOW.
The list of RTX features coming to the PC Enhanced Edition is massive:
- Fully ray-traced lighting throughout — every light sources is now ray traced
- Next-gen ray tracing and denoising
- Next-gen temporal reconstruction technology
- Per-pixel ray-traced global illumination
- Ray-traced emissive surfaces with area shadows
- Infinite number of ray-traced light boundaries
- Atmosphere and transparent surfaces receiving ray-traced bounced lighting
- Full ray-traced lighting model support with color bleeding and for every light source
- Advanced ray-traced reflections
- DX12 ultimate support, including DXR 1.1 and variable rate shading
- GPU FP16 support and thousands of optimized shaders
- Support for DLSS 2.0
- Addition of FOV (field of view) slider to main game options
In short, the game is going to look even more amazing. And, starting next week, members who own Metro Exodus will have access to the update on GeForce NOW. But remember, to access the enhanced visuals you’ll need to be a Founder or Priority member.
Don’t own Metro Exodus yet? Head to Steam or the Epic Games Store and get ahead of the game.
A Strategic Move
Iron Harvest, the classic real-time strategy game with an epic single-player campaign, multiplayer and coop, set in the alternate reality of 1920+, is getting a new DLC on May 27. Dubbed “Operation Eagle,” the update brings a new faction to the game’s alternate version of World War I: USA.
You’ll guide this new faction through seven new single-player missions, while learning how to use the game’s new Aircraft units across all of the game’s playable factions, including Polania, Saxony and Rusviet.
“Operation Eagle” also adds new multiplayer maps that RTS fans will love, and the new USA campaign can be played cooperatively with friends.
Iron Harvest’s “Operation Eagle” DLC will be available on GeForce NOW day-and-date. You can learn more about the update here.
Don’t Take Our Word for It
The team at Deep Silver was gracious enough to answer a few questions we had about these great updates.
Q: We’re suckers for beautifully ray-traced PC games, on a scale from 1-to-OMG, how great does Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition look?
A: We’re quietly confident that the Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition will register at the OMG end of the scale, but you don’t need to take our word for it – Digital Foundry declared that, “Metro Exodus’ PC Enhanced Edition’s Global Illumination produces without a doubt, the best lighting I’ve ever witnessed in a video game.”
Q: What does it mean for the team to leverage GeForce NOW to bring these new real-time ray-tracing updates in Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition to gamers across their devices?
A: We believe hardware-accelerated ray-tracing GPUs are the future, but right now the number of players with ray-tracing-capable GPUs is a small, albeit growing, percentage of the total PC audience. GeForce NOW will give those players yet to upgrade their gaming hardware a glimpse into the future.
Q: How does “Operation Eagle” build on the story in Iron Harvest? We’re excited to try this new faction.
A: The American Union of Usonia stayed out of the Great War and became an economic and military powerhouse, unnoticed by Europe’s old elites. Relying heavily on mighty “Diesel Birds,” the Usonia faction brings more variety to the Iron Harvest battlefields. Additional new buildings and new units for all factions will enhance the Iron Harvest roster to give players even more options to find the perfect attack and defence strategy.
Q: How do you see GeForce NOW expanding the audience of gamers who can play Metro Exodus and Iron Harvest?
A: We’re committed to bringing the Metro Exodus experience to as many platforms as we can without compromising on the quality of the experience; GeForce NOW puts our state-of-the-art ray-traced version of Metro Exodus into the hands of gamers regardless of their own hardware setup.
Q: Is there anything else you’d want to share with your fans who are streaming Metro Exodus and Iron Harvest from the cloud?
A: Watch out for the jump scares. You have been warned.
GFN Thursday
In addition to rolling with a pair of Deep Silver announcements this week, members get their regular dose of GFN Thursday goodness. Read more about that and other updates this week here.
Getting excited for more ray-traced goodness in Metro Exodus? Can’t wait to get your hands on “Operation Eagle”? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments below.