'Metro Exodus' 'fully ray traced' version to arrive on PC possibly before the PS5, Xbox Series X/S upgrades

The launch of the new-generation consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S last year led to a wave of game upgrade announcements in recent months. However, "Metro Exodus" developer 4A Games surprised fans by announcing that PC gamers are getting the same treatment.

4A Games announce the 'Metro Exodus' PC Enhanced Edition

4A Games offered updates about the free upgrades for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in a blog post on Monday. The developer also used this as a venue to announce it will release a PC Enhanced Edition of "Metro Exodus."

Like its promise for new-gen console players, the "Metro Exodus" PC Enhanced Edition is going big on the ray tracing aspect of that upgrades that will be applied on the base game and DLCs. Ray tracing technology has also been one of the main focuses of the latest graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD, so the developer confirmed it is using its new Fully Ray Traced Lighting Pipeline to upgrade the game.

Unlike the developer's plans for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the "Metro Exodus" PC Enhanced Edition appears to be such a big project that they need to release it as a separate game and not a mere upgrade. The good news, however, is the ray tracing-focused version will still be launched for free to existing players through Steam, GoG, and Epic Games Store.

Another indication that the improvements in "Metro Exodus" PC Enhanced Edition will be so comprehensive that players might need to upgrade their PC. "It will require a Ray Tracing capable GPU as the minimum spec," 4A Games said.

Another good news is that "Metro Exodus" PC Enhanced Edition is confirmed to launch soon, maybe even sooner than the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrades. 4A Games said the standalone PC upgrade will be available "later this spring," while the upgrade for new-gen consoles is promised to arrive "later this year."

'Metro Exodus' PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrades: What to expect

Ray tracing also appears to be the focus of 4A Games for the "Metro Exodus" new-gen console upgrades. But there are other things to expect made possible by the consoles' hardware improvements. The game will run at 4K@60FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X, while the developer said it is aiming for 1080p on Xbox Series S.

4A Games is also making the best out of the new controller features of the new-gen consoles. This means the upgraded "Metro Exodus" will be compatible with the PS5 DualSense controller's haptic feedback feature, and the Xbox version will support Smart Delivery and spatial audio. A gameplay improvement that will allow players to change the field of view (FOV) for the first time is also in the works. The upgrade will be available for free for existing console players.