Quake 2 RTX is a stunning ray-tracing project by Nvidia releasing next month

Nvidia has released a new version of id Software’s Quake 2, complete with RTX support.

Quake 2 RTX will be a free demo for all Windows and Linux users when it releases on June 6th. If you own Quake 2’s original version, you can also get a full version of the game.

Nvidia will also be releasing the source code for Quake 2 RTX so that fans can tinker as much as they want.

Numerous enhancements are also in place alongside the game’s upcoming ray-tracing support. Check a look below.

• Improved Global Illumination rendering, with three selectable quality presets, including two-bounce GI

• Multiplayer support

• Time of day options that radically change the appearance of some levels

• New weapon models & textures

• New dynamic environments (Stroggos surface, and space)

• Better physically based atmospheric scattering, including settings for Stroggos sky

• Real-time reflectivity of the player and weapon model on water and glass surfaces, and player model shadows, for owners of the complete game (the original Shareware release does not include player models)

• Improved ray tracing denoising technology

• All 3,000+ original game textures have been updated with a mix of Q2XP mod-pack textures and our own enhancements

• Updated effects with new sprites and particle animations

• Dynamic lighting for items such as blinking lights, signs, switches, elevators and moving objects

• Caustics approximation to improve water lighting effects

• High-quality screenshot mode that makes your screenshots look even better

• Support for the old OpenGL renderer, enabling you to switch between RTX ON and RTX OFF

• Cylindrical projection mode for wide-angle field of view on widescreen displays

Quake 2 RTX is a gorgeous example of the beauty that ray-tracing can add to a game. Light reacts and bounces realistically with stone textures, in particular, looking absolutely stunning. If you have an RTX-enabled GPU, or a 1080Ti, then you should check this demo out come June 6th.

Those who already own the original Quake 2 will be able to install the RTX version from Nvidia’s website in an easily installable executable.

For more information, check out Nvidia’s website here.