4A Games has revealed what you can expect if you pick up Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on PC. It'll add support for advanced ray tracing features and DLSS 2.0 and will be free if you already own Metro Exodus on a number of PC platforms.
What will Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition bring to PC?
This news comes via an official announcement on the Metro Exodus Steam community. In the announcement, 4A Games says it's overhauled its engine to create a new ray traced lighting pipeline. As a result, the PC version of the game will have advanced ray traced reflections, so you'll be able to see light shimmer in the water or people in glass with pin-sharp clarity. In addition, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition will also support Nvidia's DLSS 2.0 technology, which should help you run the game at a reasonable framerate if you don't have a top-of-the-range graphics card.
There's a catch, though. If you want to play Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on PC, 4A Games says you'll need a ray tracing-enabled graphics card as part of the minimum spec. That means RTX 2060 and above for Nvidia cards, or AMD's new Radeon 6000 range. Bear in mind, too, that if you're playing Exodus on an RTX 2060, you probably won't be able to get the best performance and visual clout from it. Make no mistake: 4A Games is setting up Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition as a PC gaming experience for serious rigs. This won't be a simple patch, either; you'll need to download it as an entirely separate game due to the extensive graphical upgrades.
What about Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on next-gen consoles?
4A Games has also revealed more info about Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on consoles. The game was announced to be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S back in November last year, but 4A has now confirmed additional details. Exodus will boast a lot of the same features as the PC version on PS5 and Xbox, but it won't have support for DLSS 2.0 or advanced ray traced reflections. Part of that is simply due to the fact that DLSS isn't available on console right now. AMD is working on an open-source alternative that's expected this year, but Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition won't be able to take advantage of it at launch, as it's not out yet. Whether an update in the future will, is something yet to be foretold.
Lastly, 4A also revealed that Metro Exodus will be arriving on Mac and Linux platforms this year. The Mac version should launch via the Apple Store in March, and it'll also be hitting Steam and the Epic Games Store on Apple's OS. The Linux version will be following a little later in the year and will be available only on Steam. 4A hasn't revealed specific dates for these launches yet. This isn't the Enhanced Edition of the game, though, so it won't have the above features on Mac or Linux.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition will launch on PC in Spring 2020. It'll be free to all owners of Metro Exodus on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. The game is also arriving on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S sometime in 2021, with a free upgrade to those versions if you already own Metro Exodus on PS4 or Xbox One. If you want to check out a full list of all the new features in the Enhanced Edition, you can do so right here.
Are you looking forward to checking out Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition? Let us know in the comments below!