I need to take a break from getting bodied by those evil fire golems and talk to you about what's going on with the ray tracing in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
How does ray tracing look in FromSoftware's latest critically acclaimed DLC? Well, that's complicated. Below, you'll find a series of photos comparing the ray tracing, on and off, at three different locations at three different times of day, both on PC and PS5. Yeah, it's a lot.
Now, let me preface this by saying that this was hard. Elden Ring's dynamic weather system made capturing one-to-one screenshots incredibly challenging. However, we took some pretty good shots, and I think I have an answer to the question.
The question is: Which ray tracing is better for the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PC vs. PS5? And should you even use ray tracing?
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PC vs. PS5: Gravesite Plain
Of course, our first location is the first Grace you'll find in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. Below, I'll explain the difference between the PC and PS5's ray tracing disabled and enabled.
As you can see above, Elden Ring's dynamic weather system creates wildly different visual landscapes. However, looking at the Morning shots gives us an idea of what's happening.
The ray tracing is so subtle that I need to squint to see it. But I can see it. The grass to the left of the Grace presents a faint glow when ray tracing is off. That glow isn't present when ray tracing is enabled. The grass to the right of the character's feet is also brighter when ray tracing is off. That difference in brightness continues in parts of the armor.
Ray tracing attempts to capture an accurate depiction of lighting, but some detail is lost as a result. I prefer ray tracing disabled.
The best ones to compare here are the Night shots. Ignoring the wildly different colorful skies, the answer is again in the grass. It's similar to the PS5, where the PC's ray tracing provides more light to objects when it's disabled and more accurate light when it's enabled.
However, the most exciting difference is in the white armor. When ray tracing is disabled, the cloth looks flat. When enabled, it's more detailed, the shadows highlighting the curves and threads. Even the bottom layer is much more pronounced when ray tracing is enabled due to the high contrast.
Oddly enough, I prefer ray tracing enabled.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PC vs. PS5: Scorched Ruins
Our second location is, again, arguably the second Grace you'll find on your journey. See? I'm keeping it spoiler-free. Let's go over the difference between the PC and PS5's ray tracing disabled and enabled.
Mind in rain in the Night shots. But overall, you can once again see that with ray tracing off, the grass around the Grace features a subtle glow. Weirdly, we do not see that when ray tracing is on. It's like the light emitted from the Graces isn't programmed strong enough to provide that same level of warmth.
The armor here is interesting as well. When ray tracing is off, you get a bright character model, but it does look out of place. However, when on, the character blends into the environment more. You see the shadows in the tails of the cloth and even a more pronounced shine in the helmet.
This is a mixed bag. Ray tracing looks more realistic, but I wouldn't say I like how some of the light is presented. However, the character model looks so much more immersive in ray tracing. So, I prefer ray tracing enabled.
Here we go. The Morning shots were so close that I struggled to tell which was which, but the armor was a dead giveaway.
It's the same situation as before. The grass and armor offer conflicting perspectives. I like the grass more when ray tracing is off, but the armor looks better when it's on. But let's turn our attention to the weapon for a moment.
When ray tracing is off, the sword's glow is more consistent across the blade. However, when on, the base of the blade is darker and grows brighter the closer it is to the tip. Which looks better?
The ray tracing makes the weapon look duller. Overall, I prefer that ray tracing is disabled in this instance.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PC vs. PS5: Three Path Cross
Ride down the road from the Scorched Ruins, past the fire golem of death, and you'll find yourself at Three Path Cross. Here's the difference between the PC and PS5's ray tracing disabled and enabled.
Once again, the Noon shots are so tight that I struggled to tell the difference. Thankfully, one of them had a message at my feet so that I could verify.
You see most of the same differences in the grass and armor areas, but there are some stark differences in the columns ahead. If you look at braziers, you'll see that the surrounding area is brighter when ray tracing is on. However, as a result, the ray tracing image loses a lot of detail and contrast in the brickwork.
It's much more evident when looking at the collection of stones near the right column. When ray tracing is off, a deep shadow is above that section, highlighting the smaller three pillars. When it's on, it's just bright and flat.
Ray tracing might be more realistic in this instance, but I prefer ray tracing disabled.
We'll use the Noon shots for this one, too, because they're incredibly close. The armor and grass differences are present, but the results when looking at the stonework were a bit different.
The contrast is still higher when ray tracing is off (as far as the stonework is concerned), but the difference isn't as stark. It's so subtle that I had a double-take. But the contrast is still highly prevalent in the stonework at the bottom right.
However, another significant difference not present on PS5 is the collection of rocks on the left. With ray tracing, they have a certain glean to them, reflecting the braziers near them. That luster isn't present when ray tracing is off, as the rocks are defined by their specifically designed lights and shadows.
This test has been the biggest difference I've seen in the environment between PCs and PS5. So, this time around, I prefer ray tracing enabled.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PC vs. PS5: Which ray tracing is better?
So which is better? If you want to experience ray tracing, should you play Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree on PC or PS5? This is a loaded question.
PC is superior because you can operate at a higher frame rate (depending on your GPU) than on PS5, which hovers at 30 fps. Despite the performance aspect, I preferred ray tracing on PC more than PS5 when looking at all the images we took.
As stated above, the differences at Three Path Cross were the most obvious. But at Scorched Ruins, you could see more foliage on PC because of the graphics settings, which created more objects for light to be scattered across. Gravesite Plain is more mixed, as the armors were different.
Overall, turn off ray tracing on PS5, turn on ray tracing on PC, and if you have the choice between them, play on PC.
