Death Stranding 2: On the Beach PC Performance Review
Ray Tracing On VS Off
Taking Death Stranding 2 to the next level with ray tracing – Is it worth it?
Having played Death Stranding 2 with and without ray tracing, all I can say is that the impact of ray tracing is subtle at best. Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion has the largest overall impact, providing more accurate shading when required. That said, the difference is subtle, so much so that it can be hard to spot in side-by-side comparisons.
Below, we can see that the area inside the container is suitably darkened, though the overall image isn’t much different with ray tracing disabled.
Ray Traced Reflections also have a subtle impact. In areas where screenspace reflections fail, the upgrade is noticeable. However, the areas where these reflections break down are fairly rare in normal outdoor gameplay. Honestly, the difference is hard to spot in normal scenes, and practically impossible to notice in running water.
Given how little difference there is between the two images, most PC gamers will be best off disabling ray tracing and avoiding its performance consequences.
