Today is a big day for DOOM Eternal fans because the game is getting its big next-gen upgrade today. The upgrade is going live on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, bringing graphics upgrades in the form of new fidelity modes. On top of that, we’re also seeing ray tracing coming to the PC version, along with an update that’s bringing new content to the game on all platforms.
The next-gen versions of DOOM Eternal for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will offer three different graphics modes. There’s a ray tracing graphics mode that will run at 1800p/60 FPS on both consoles, along with a balanced graphics mode that will run at 4K60. There’s also a 120 FPS graphics mode that will run at 1800p on Xbox Series X and 1584p on PlayStation 5. Both platforms will also offer Ultra-quality graphics settings too.
On Xbox Series S, we’ll see just two graphics modes: a 120 FPS mode running at 1080p and a balanced graphics mode that runs at 1440p60 (unfortunately, there’s no ray tracing mode for Xbox Series S). All three platforms will support HDR10 across all their graphics modes, along with variable refresh rate and variable rate shading. On PlayStation 5, we’re also getting new support for the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, while on both PS5 and PS4, we’re getting added support for the DualSense and DualShock 4’s integrated speakers.
These next-gen versions are available for free to anyone who bought DOOM Eternal on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, though you’ll need to stick to the same console family when upgrading. Those with a PS5 and Xbox Series X|S also have the option of buying the upgraded version of DOOM Eternal digitally through their platform’s store and Xbox Game Pass subscribers with a current-gen console will also be getting upgraded visuals.
Ray tracing support is also going live on PC today. In a post to the DOOM Eternal website, Bethesda outlines three different ray tracing specifications that range from 1080p60 on low settings to 2160p60 on Ultra-Nightmare settings. On the low end, you can enable ray tracing in your game with an RTX 2060 (6GB) or an AMD Radeon RX 6700XT and either a Core i5 clocked at 3.3 GHz or a Ryzen 3 clocked at 3.1GHz (or higher).
To hit that Ultra-Nightmare 4K spec, however, you’ll need a lot of top-end hardware, including an RTX 3090/3080 Ti or a Radeon RX 6900XT with an Intel Core i9-9900K/Ryzen 7 3700X. Unfortunately, those cards are all hard to come by at the moment, so we’re guessing there aren’t that many players who be able to run this 4K Ultra-Nightmare ray tracing spec.
There’s also some new content shipping along with these graphics upgrades in DOOM Eternal Update 6, though sadly, Switch owners will have to wait a bit longer for this bonus content to arrive. We’ll see the addition of a new master level called Taras Nabad, along with a new Battlemode arena called Corrosion. There are also several balance updates and changes coming to both the campaign and Battlemode, so for more on those, check out the Bethesda blog post we linked above.
Keyword: DOOM Eternal PS5 and Xbox Series X versions now live with this new content