Your PC in instalments (up to 12x)
By the FlowUP team, gaming PC builder in Genappe (Belgium) · Updated 29 September 2026
In brief: in September 2026, the most beautiful and most realistic PC games are Resident Evil Requiem, Death Stranding 2, Crimson Desert, 007 First Light and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, followed by references like Cyberpunk 2077, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Their common point: path tracing or highly advanced global illumination, plus upscalers such as DLSS 4 to keep them playable. GTA VI, due to release on 19 November 2026, launches only on consoles.
Why PC games have never looked so realistic
A game’s realism depends less on textures than on lighting. Path tracing simulates the path of every light ray, including its bounces and reflections: that’s what makes a room lit by a single window finally look like a photo. In 2026, more and more games offer it on PC, often alongside console versions.
This level of rendering comes at a cost. Without DLSS 4 (NVIDIA) or FSR 4 (AMD), which render the image at a lower resolution and then reconstruct it, even high-end graphics cards struggle.
A good monitor and a recent graphics card: the two requirements to enjoy path tracing.
The 2026 ranking of the most realistic PC games
| Game | PC release | Engine | Graphics technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident Evil Requiem | 26 February 2026 | RE Engine | Path tracing, DLSS 4 |
| Death Stranding 2: On The Beach | 19 March 2026 | Decima | NVIDIA, AMD and Intel frame generation, 32:9 |
| Crimson Desert | 19 March 2026 | BlackSpace Engine | Ray tracing, DLSS 4 |
| 007 First Light | 27 May 2026 | Glacier | Path tracing (patch dated 15/09/2026) |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | 4 February 2025 | CryEngine | SVOGI global illumination, DLSS 4 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2020 (path tracing since 2023) | REDengine | Path tracing “Overdrive”, DLSS 4 |
| Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | 9 December 2024 | Motor (id Tech 7) | Ray tracing mandatory, path tracing |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 | 20 November 2024 | Unreal Engine 5.5 | Nanite, Lumen, FSR 4 (update 2.0) |
| Black Myth: Wukong | 20 August 2024 | Unreal Engine 5 | Full ray tracing |
| Assassin’s Creed Shadows | 20 March 2025 | Anvil | RTGI, ray-traced reflections, DLSS 4 |
Sources: Wikipedia game pages, NVIDIA GeForce announcements, PlayStation Blog, Warhorse / Deep Silver, The FPS Review (22/08/2026). Cross-referenced with GamingBolt (08/07/2026) and GG.deals (07/08/2026).
Resident Evil Requiem: path tracing in the service of fear
Released on 26 February 2026, the ninth main episode in the series runs on Capcom’s RE Engine and offers path tracing on PC, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, and Ray Reconstruction. In a horror game, light does everything: a torch that bounces off a damp wall, shadows that move for real. This is the game to launch to understand what path tracing changes.
Official trailer, Resident Evil channel (Capcom).
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach: Kojima finally on PC
After the PS5 in June 2025, Hideo Kojima’s sequel arrived on PC on 19 March 2026, powered by Nixxes. The Decima engine shines especially through its landscapes, its changing weather, and faces captured from real actors, with Norman Reedus in the lead. The PC version adds upscalers and NVIDIA, AMD and Intel frame generation, an unlocked framerate, and ultra-wide 21:9 and 32:9 formats.
“No Rain No Rainbow”, PC launch trailer, PlayStation channel.
Crimson Desert: an open world that blows you away
Pearl Abyss released Crimson Desert on 19 March 2026 with its own engine, the BlackSpace Engine. GamingBolt places it among the most beautiful games of 2026, thanks to its panoramas and the density of its world. On PC, it handles ray-tracing effects, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction. Its Steam page asks for an RTX 2080 or an RX 6700 XT in the recommended configuration: a superb game that still stays reasonable.
Official trailer, Crimson Desert channel (Pearl Abyss).
007 First Light: the James Bond of IO Interactive
Released on 27 May 2026, the IO Interactive game uses the Glacier engine, the one behind the Hitman series. A patch dated 15 September 2026 added path tracing and DLSS 4.5’s Ray Reconstruction on PC. The luxury environments, materials (glass, metal, fabrics) and evening lighting directly benefit from this update.
Official trailer, 007 First Light channel (IO Interactive).
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: the most credible Middle Ages
Warhorse Studios released its sequel on 4 February 2025. No hardware ray tracing here: CryEngine uses voxel-based global illumination (SVOGI), which works on all graphics cards. The results are stunning in the forests of Bohemia and wooden villages, with dense vegetation and very accurate natural lighting. DLSS 4 has been available since launch.
On Steam, the publisher recommends an RTX 4070 or an RX 7800 XT and 32 GB of RAM, worth noting if your PC only has 16.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II recommends an RTX 4070 and 32 GB of RAM.
Official launch trailer, Warhorse Studios channel
References that remain at the top
Cyberpunk 2077
Its path tracing mode, “RT Overdrive”, added in 2023, remains the benchmark. Night City in the rain, its neon reflections everywhere, still serves as a benchmark. DLSS 4 and its Multi Frame Generation arrived on 30 January 2025.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
One of the first big games to require a ray tracing-capable graphics card, released on 9 December 2024. Its path tracing mode transforms torch-lit temples and caves.
Black Myth: Wukong and Assassin’s Creed Shadows
The first (Unreal Engine 5, full ray tracing) impresses with its natural environments; the second with its feudal Japan and seasons, with global illumination using ray tracing.
The path tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 remains one of the best tests for a graphics card.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: The Zone revamped by update 2.0
Released on 20 November 2024 on PC, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl received update 2.0 on 22 August 2026: a switch to Unreal Engine 5.5.4, revamped lighting, shadows, reflections and vegetation, plus the official arrival of FSR 4. The game, already very realistic thanks to Nanite and Lumen, becomes even more refined, and the “Cost of Hope” expansion launched two days earlier.
Official launch trailer, GSC Game World channel
“Bodycam” realism: Bodycam and Unrecord
Another form of realism comes from staging: a police camera mounted on the chest, jerky movements, a grainy image. Bodycam has been playable in early access on PC since 7 June 2024 (Unreal Engine 5) and received its “Locked & Loaded” update on 2 September 2026. Unrecord, the project from the Rennes studio DRAMA that started the trend in 2023, still has no release date in September 2026.
Ultra-realistic games to watch
- Grand Theft Auto VI: launches on 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. No PC version has been announced to date, see our article GTA 6 on PC: release date and configuration.
- Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra: pushed back to 2027, announcement in June 2026.
- Instinction: a survival game with dinosaurs on Unreal Engine 5, still no date on Steam.
- Project M by NCSoft, presented in 2023, was cancelled in October 2024.
Grand Theft Auto VI, trailer 2, Rockstar Games channel
Which PC to play these games in high quality?
The recommended setups from publishers on Steam provide a good starting point:
| Game | Minimum (GPU, RAM) | Recommended (GPU, RAM) |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | GTX 1060 6 GB or RX 580, 16 GB | RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT, 32 GB |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 | GTX 1060 6 GB or RX 580 8 GB, 16 GB | RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 4070 or RX 6800 XT, 32 GB (1440p, 60 fps) |
| Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | RTX 2060 Super or RX 6600, 16 GB | RTX 3080 Ti or RX 7700 XT, 32 GB (1440p, 60 fps) |
| Resident Evil Requiem | GTX 1660 or RX 5500 XT, 16 GB | RTX 2060 Super or RX 6600, 16 GB |
| Crimson Desert | GTX 1060 or RX 5500 XT, 16 GB | RTX 2080 or RX 6700 XT, 16 GB |
Source: official Steam pages for the games, checked on 29 September 2026. Path tracing modes require significantly more than the recommended configuration.
Our advice for enjoying path tracing at 1440p: at minimum, an RTX 5070, for a comfortable experience an RTX 5070 Ti or an RX 9070 XT, and 32 GB of RAM, already recommended by Kingdom Come II, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Indiana Jones. VRAM also matters: read our point on the VRAM on the RTX 5070 Ti and our comparison 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM. And to see the difference, a good 1440p or 4K screen is essential: our guide which PC monitor to choose helps you find it.
Textures and path tracing quickly fill up video memory: 16 GB of VRAM gives you some breathing room.
Our gaming PCs for the most demanding games
Rivals PC, GeForce RTX 5070
RTX 5070, Ryzen 7 9800X3D and 32 GB of DDR5: path tracing at 1440p with DLSS 4.
Abyssin PC, GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB and Core Ultra 5 245KF: plenty of VRAM headroom for the heaviest textures.
Shadow V2 PC, Radeon RX 9070 XT
RX 9070 XT 16GB and Ryzen 7 9800X3D: AMD’s option, with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s FSR 4.
FAQ: the most realistic PC games
Which is the best-looking PC game in 2026?
Resident Evil Requiem, Death Stranding 2, Crimson Desert and 007 First Light are the 2026 releases most often mentioned. With path tracing, Cyberpunk 2077 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle remain reference points.
What is the most realistic game in the world?
There’s no single answer: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for historical recreation, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 for the atmosphere, Bodycam for the real video effect. Visually, path-traced games are today the closest to photorealism.
Will GTA 6 release on PC?
Not for the time being. GTA VI launches on 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Rockstar hasn’t announced a PC version.
Do you need an RTX for path tracing?
Path tracing runs on recent NVIDIA and AMD cards, but it’s most often optimised for GeForce RTX with DLSS 4 and Ray Reconstruction. Aim for at least an RTX 5070 at 1440p.
How much RAM for realistic games in 2026?
16GB is enough for the minimum setup, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Indiana Jones recommend 32GB.
Sources
- GamingBolt, 10 Best Looking Games of 2026 So Far (8 July 2026)
- GG.deals, The 20 best-looking PC games in 2026 (7 August 2026)
- NVIDIA, Resident Evil Requiem: path tracing and DLSS 4 (26 February 2026)
- PlayStation Blog, Death Stranding 2 on PC on 19 March (12 February 2026)
- NVIDIA, Crimson Desert and DLSS 4 (24 February 2026)
- NVIDIA, 007 First Light: path tracing update
- Deep Silver, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, technical FAQ
- The FPS Review, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 update 2.0 (22 August 2026)
- NVIDIA, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation (30 January 2025)
- Rockstar Games, GTA VI to launch on 19 November 2026
- GameSpot, Marvel 1943 delayed to 2027 (exec explains why it’s taking so long)
- KitGuru, NCSoft cancels Project M (October 2024)
- Official Steam pages for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert and Bodycam (accessed 29 September 2026)
