Portal's RTX Mode Has Ripped Out Its Soul
Yesterday Nvidia, off of the graphics cards, announced a new version of Portal. It’s essentially an advert for the company’s new 4,000-series GPUs – which are entirely unnecessary anyway thanks to the power of the 3,000-series – in which the new cards give a practically perfect game a makeover. This isn’t a Valve remaster, it’s a button that developers can apparently press to add ray-tracing to their old games. However, by the looks of Portal, I’d be steering well clear of that button if I was a dev.
Before I go in too hard on Portal RTX, it does look impressive from a technical standpoint. The reflections in the glass are crystal clear, the machinery is more detailed, and the portals themselves ripple with glowing energy and flickering sparks. We can only guess at how moist and glossy the cake will look. It’s a remarkable feat and I’m very amazed it was achieved just by clicking a few buttons. What was that, sorry? Oh, they’re “hand-crafted hi-res physically based textures, and new, enhanced high-poly models evocative of the originals.” So it’s just the lighting and shadows that are ray-traced at the click of a button? Well, it’s no surprise they look like that then.
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Look at any of the screenshots of Portal RTX. Now really look at them. Look past the nostalgia and the upgraded textures, and really look at the game. It’s dull and lifeless. Sure, the Aperture Science Laboratories are supposed to look clinical, but even that has been lost in the upgrade.
The original game uses lighting in incredibly clever ways to evoke a clinical, almost hospital-like feeling. But in the RTX remaster, the cold concrete walls have been replaced by some other material.
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