Horror adventure game with ray-tracing in mind
Stay in the Light is a free adventure game for PC by indie developer Richard Cowgill. It is a first-person horror title that has players explore an ancient temple in search of hidden secrets and treasure. It also features randomly generated levels for a unique and varied gameplay every time.
Just like Control and Cyberpunk 2077, Star in the Light was developed to incorporate and take advantage of ray tracing for more realistic and immersive graphics. It shows what can visually be achieved with PCs that have graphics cards and hardware that support this new technology.
Showcase piece
If you’re an avid gamer, you’ve already heard all about ray tracing and what it does to games. It’s basically a rendering method for light and shadows that makes the graphics more realistic and lifelike. Thanks to powerful modern graphics cards, you’re now able to enjoy this eye candy in some recent releases. Stay in the Light is one that was specifically made to showcase this technology.
In this game, you find yourself inside an ancient temple and being hunted by a creature referred to as Him. Armed with nothing more than a mirror, a torch, and some chalk, you will need to escape and survive your deadly pursuer. There are various puzzles to be solved, clues to be found, and even hidden treasure to be discovered—kill two birds with one stone.
The reflections on your mirror are pin-sharp in replicating what’s behind. Light sources and shadows play a big role as you explore and they’re showcased beautifully in the intricate level designs. It does come with a heavy toll, though. You will need a beefy system and powerful PC hardware to be able to run the game at high frame rates and graphical settings to really enjoy the experience.
Light in the darkness
Ray tracing is starting to take off since it was first introduced to the gaming industry a few years ago. More developers are incorporating it into their games, and Stay in the Light is a nice example with great execution. You will need a capable PC to run it properly, but once that is set, you get to enjoy all the visual goodness this technology has to offer.
