Rumor: Source 2 game engine may get ray tracing

A new addition to the Steam database hints that Source 2 may be getting RTX support and ray tracing. A developer discovered this in the beta database of Source 2 game Artifact.

Developer Pavel Djundik discovered the strings ‘Raytracing shaders’ and ‘RTX’ in Artifact’s Steam database. The developer, who is also behind the Twitter accounts @steamDB and @steamstatus closely monitors changes in the database. According to him, the addition of the strings could indicate that Source 2 is being prepared for RTX support and ray tracing. Valve’s game engine is used by VR hit Half-Life: Alyx and Dota 2, among others, and thus by Artifact, a game originally from 2018.

DSO Gaming writes that this does not mean that ray tracing is also coming to Half Life: Alyx. It could indicate that if Artifact supports the features, another Source 2 game can also add support for ray tracing.