76 PCWorld JUNE 2020REVIEWS TESTED: MINECRAFT
This scene from Imagination Island looks
much better with ray tracing on—witness the
realistic reflections and shadows around the
boat area, and how much more vibrant the
lava appears. But also look at how much of
the background detail disappears, again
giving this scene a bit of an empty look.
Most scenarios aren’t that bad, though as
someone who plays Minecraft regularly, I felt
the reduced draw distance looking out over
scenes in other worlds as well, particularly the
more open areas in Of Temples & Totems.
Those drawbacks are worthwhile, though.
Those reflections on the water and shadows
dotting the trees in the image above sure look
gorgeous.
Fully path traced Minecraft is a visual feast,
one that makes the game feel much moreYou can really feel the reduced draw distance in some scenarios. This is from a crowded jungle.lively than before, despite the occasional
draw distance concerns.
To get the final verdict, I asked the expert
in my house: my fourth-grader, who spends
hours playing every week and is currently in
the process of creating her own theme park
world to send to her favorite Minecraft
YouTubers. Is ray traced Minecraft cool?
“OH YEAH,” she somehow both whispered
and yelled at the same time, then asked me if
I was almost done working so she could play
in the realistic water world again. Enough
said.
The free beta drops today. We’ll be
streaming it on PCWorld’s YouTube channel
later (go.pcworld.com/ptbe). Don’t hesitate
to give it a whirl. I won’t be playing Minecraft
with RTX off—or DLSS off—ever again.