The developers of the PC port of Horizon Forbidden West explained the reasons why the game does not include Ray Tracing technology.
Guerrilla Games and created by the Nixxes team. Horizon Forbidden WestWhile ‘s PC port was eagerly awaited, the developers answered questions about the lack of ray tracing technology. In an interview with Digital Foundry, the developers explained that the technology was considered but did not make it into the final release.
The Future of Ray Tracing Technology
Nixxes’ chief optimization programmer Michiel Roza and Guerrilla Games’ chief technology programmer Jeroen Krebbers stated that the decision not to use ray tracing in the PC version of Horizon Forbidden West was made due to the game’s large scope and long cinematics. According to the developers, the full lighting pass required to achieve ray-traced shadows in Shadow of the Tomb Raider was also considered for Horizon Forbidden West, but was kept in the background due to concerns that these features could spoil the aesthetics of the game.
Roza and Krebbers stated that the alpha-tested trees and large areas in the game pose difficulties for applying ray tracing technology. The fact that the game spread over a large area of approximately 100 square kilometers and that many surfaces outside residential areas were not suitable for ray tracing limited the use of the technology. It was stated that while working on scalable systems such as PS4 and PS5, the development team focused on features suitable for both systems, which caused ray tracing features to be removed from the PC port of the game.
However, it was also stated in the interview that the development team loved this technology very much and gave clues that it could be used in future projects.