Elden Ring finally gets ray-tracing as new map rumours return

Elden Ring – ray-tracing probably isn’t worth the performance hit (pic: Bandai Namco)

A rumour that predicted ray-tracing for Elden Ring has been proven correct and that means talk of two new DLC maps may also be accurate.

Nobody knows what’s going on with Elden Ring DLC. It’s been announced and apart from a very ambiguous piece of artwork, that could be representing one of a half a dozen different things, it’s still a mystery as to what it’s about or when it’ll be out.

What we do know though is that a new update has been released that finally adds ray-tracing to the game, along with a number of other minor changes and fixes.

Interestingly, just such an update was rumoured back in October and as well as predicting ray-tracing it also suggested that the game would be getting two new maps… along with new hairstyles.

We think for most people the new maps are going to be more interesting than a new hairdo but since neither are a part of this new update that does suggest that they’ll be something from the paid-for expansion.

How big the maps are, whether they’re small dungeons or massive additions to the open world, are impossible to tell at this stage.

Update 1.09 only supports ray-tracing for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC and is probably going to impact performance for all three formats.

Ray-tracing is a more realistic way to do lighting and reflections and was generally too processor intensive to be viable on last gen formats. It’s still difficult for current gen consoles, so if you feel it’s taking too much of a toll on performance you can just switch if off.

Other changes brought by the update include a number of balance challenges to the game’s PvP options, which where themselves only added to the game via a free update after launch.

You can read the full patch notes here but here’s also some other minor bug fixes and assorted balance changes to the main game.

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A rumour that predicted ray-tracing for Elden Ring has been proven correct and that means talk of two new DLC maps may also be accurate.