Elden Ring patch points to upcoming expansion and ray-tracing update

Late last year, From Software revealed that it was planning to bring ray-tracing features to Elden Ring, but they wouldn't be there at launch. We haven't had an update since then, but that finally changed this week. The latest Elden Ring patch includes new strings for ray-tracing support. 

As spotted by From Software games dataminer and modder, Lance McDonald, the latest Elden Ring patch adds new menu strings for ray-tracing. The strings are simple menu messages that will appear as you adjust the settings, so unfortunately we don't know what specific features will be implemented. Ray-tracing can be used in a variety of ways, from shadow casting and reflections to global illumination and even audio.

The update also includes references to two new maps that do not yet otherwise exist in the game data.

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) October 13, 2022

The patch also includes references to two new maps that do not exist yet in-game. This is more evidence that From Software is working on an expansion of some sort. Previously, players have also managed to find an unused Colosseum area in-game, which could be used for a new PvP mode.

Given that Geoff Keighley has been involved in other Elden Ring reveals, we'd guess that From Software is planning to announce new Elden Ring content for 2023 during The Game Awards in December.

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KitGuru Says: Evidence points to new Elden Ring content on the way. Hopefully, the upcoming ray-tracing update is substantial too and doesn't just add Shadows due to their lower performance impact. 

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