UPDATED ON 2023/04/18 AT 12:49 EST BY KYLE KNIGHT
Since the publication of this story, Capcom has issued a response to the removal of ray tracing from the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3, saying, "We're aware of an ongoing issue with the raytracing option not appearing in the graphics menu and presets. We'll have this addressed in a future update and apologize for any inconvenience!"
Capcom has seemingly removed ray tracing from the PC versions of Resident Evil 2 and 3 Remake for an unknown reason, as reported by many Steam users in the community section. Both Resident Evil games received a new update overnight, but it reportedly caused a downgrade for graphics.
Players also took to Reddit to debate why Capcom has quietly removed ray tracing support for its older Resident Evil remakes, with some claiming that the HDR option is also broken. Although SteamDB does list a slight update for only Resident Evil 2 & 3 Remake, some players claimed that ray tracing has also been removed from Resident Evil 7, although there is no hard evidence of that just yet.
Following yesterday's patch, players noticed that the option to enable ray tracing had been removed without explanation. Some speculated that this could be an error, given that Capcom seemingly had no reason to downgrade the games post-launch. Players have also speculated that both games may have accidentally switched back to DirectX11, which can not support features like 3D audio and ray tracing. The Reddit thread includes screenshots from Resident Evil 2 Remake that showcase the lack of the ray tracing option on PC. Capcom has not made any official statement about the subject of ray tracing removal.
In addition, some players reported that Dolby Atmos headphone support for has also been removed, but there remains the possibility that it is replaced by a generic setting, 3D audio. Capcom had released a next-gen update for these Resident Evil games last year, bringing ray tracing and 3D audio features for a better player experience.
Capcom has recently announced that it will end support for non-ray traced Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7 starting July 12 of this year, which means the company won't be able to guarantee compatibility or operation when using these versions of the games.