Metro Exodus was one of the first AAA-style experiences to implement real-time ray-tracing in a big way back in 2019 -- leveraging NVIDIA's GeForce RTX line for a look at what next-gen will bring. With the PC Enhanced Edition out May 6 as a free standalone update bringing DLSS 2.0 support and enhanced ray-tracing.

Here's the skinny.

It offers additional Ray Tracing features including Advanced Ray Traced Reflections and support for the much requested DLSS 2.0 on NVIDIA hardware, which offers sharper image details and increased framerates and display resolutions. Further collaborating with NVIDIA, this update improves our existing Ray Traced Global Illumination tech innovated with the original release of Metro Exodus to make every light source fully Ray Traced, and implements our Ray Traced Emissive Lighting tech from The Two Colonels throughout the game.

And this is why Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition is being released as a standalone install and not a simple update to the based game. Metro Exodus's ray-traced Global Illumination is being updated to take into account all light sources, meaning this version of the game not only requires a GPU that can handle ray-tracing (like a GeForce RTX 3080) but won't run without it. Especially when you throw in ray-traced reflections.

Here's a lengthy Digital Foundry deep dive into the update, and the results are stunning to say the least.



The PC Enhanced Edition will be available across Epic Games Store, Steam, Windows Store and GOG. And in terms of install size this version will weigh in at 80GB (Base Game: 72.2 GB, The Two Colonels: 1 GB, Sam’s Story: 6.4GB).