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DOOM developer id Software says 'ray tracing is the future' and DLSS is the key

DOOM: The Dark Ages developer id Software is all in on ray tracing and AI-tech like DLSS, says it's the future of gaming and game development.

DOOM developer id Software says 'ray tracing is the future' and DLSS is the key
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TL;DR: id Software's upcoming game, DOOM: The Dark Ages, will leverage NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series and DLSS 4 for advanced AI and Path Tracing. The game promises enhanced visuals and performance, with ray tracing features available across platforms. Collaboration with NVIDIA has been crucial in pushing the graphical fidelity forward in the highly anticipated game.

id Software's Doom (1993) helped birth the first-person shooter, and the original Quake (1996) introduced fast-paced movement and action in a fully 3D world. Since its inception, developer id Software has been creating its own tech to help push the genre forward, and with DOOM: The Dark Ages (2025) on the horizon, its next game will take full advantage of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware and advanced AI capabilities.

DOOM developer id Software says 'ray tracing is the future' and DLSS is the key 01

During NVIDIA's announcement of the GeForce RTX 50 Series at CES 2025, led by the new flagship GeForce RTX 5090 and the brand-new AI-powered DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, we learned that the next DOOM is set to ship with Path Tracing and support for DLSS 4 on day one.

During a subsequent NVIDIA Editor's Day event, Bethesda and id Software presented a closer look at the game. The presentation opened with a statement on the two companies' close relationship, where id said that NVIDIA's vision of leveraging AI to push visual fidelity and performance "closely aligns" with its own and that in recent years, NVIDIA and id Software's collaboration on technology and graphics has only increased.

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Although ray tracing debuted in DirectX, id Software used the more efficient Vulcan API and its powerful id Tech engine to introduce real-time ray tracing in a post-launch patch for DOOM Eternal. Designed for the GeForce RTX 30 Series, the studio also added DLSS support to boost performance while maintaining a high level of visual fidelity.

This was the superior DLSS 2 version of NVIDIA's AI upscaler, which quickly became a popular feature for developers and PC gamers during the RTX 30 Series generation. In fact, id Software sees the arrival of DLSS as an "inflection point" for PC game graphics because "ray tracing is the future." Similar sentiments were shared by the PlayStation 5 Pro's lead architect, Mark Cerny - which is why much of the focus for the PS5 Pro has been placed on improving the console's ray tracing capabilities.

With DLSS 4 - which includes Multi Frame Generation, Ray Reconstruction, and a new Transformer model to improve the DLSS image quality for all GeForce RTX gamers - DOOM: The Dark Ages is set to feature some genuinely incredible Path Traced visuals. And it's already running silky smooth on GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware.

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The studio has been giving builds of DOOM: The Dark Ages to NVIDIA for many years, sometimes multiple times a week, and even though the game is months out from release, the GeForce RTX 50 Series drivers and Game Ready Drivers are already "rock solid."

id Software confirmed that all DOOM: The Dark Ages players will be able to enjoy the game's ray tracing features, which would include PS5, Xbox, and PC gamers rocking an AMD GPU. However, when it comes to Path Tracing, which is every lighting effect in a game - from shadows to reflections to emissive lights and global illumination - you'll probably need a high-end GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU or something like the GeForce RTX 5080 or RTX 5090.

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We were shown an early look at the game's many different environments, and they all looked incredible running on the GeForce RTX 50 Series.

Now, you might be planning on picking up DOOM: The Dark Ages on PC and planning to play the game with RT off. The studio also extensively uses ray tracing for development - from creating levels to new characters. This means that even if you play the game with ray tracing turned off to improve performance, much of what you'll see is only possible thanks to the arrival of real-time ray tracing. DOOM: The Dark Ages even uses ray tracing to enhance gameplay for per-pixel hit detection for complex materials like leather, fur, and various metals. Very cool.

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Kosta is a veteran gaming journalist that cut his teeth on well-respected Aussie publications like PC PowerPlay and HYPER back when articles were printed on paper. A lifelong gamer since the 8-bit Nintendo era, it was the CD-ROM-powered 90s that cemented his love for all things games and technology. From point-and-click adventure games to RTS games with full-motion video cut-scenes and FPS titles referred to as Doom clones. Genres he still loves to this day. Kosta is also a musician, releasing dreamy electronic jams under the name Kbit.

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