Translation: real-time ray-traced reflections, shadows, global illumination, and ambient occlusion are all coming to Epic's multiplayer hit Fortnite. Plus DLSS 2.0 for AI-rendering and performance-bumps that will ensure the competitive title remains as smooth to play as it will to look at with RTX On.

And here's that look.

Ray-Traced Reflections: This setting adds beautiful, realistic, super accurate reflections to bodies of water and other suitably reflective surfaces in Fortnite. See game detail, characters, enemies, weapon effects, and more, perfectly reflected throughout the world. And experience improved lighting, as light sources and other illumination will be accurately reflected onto nearby surfaces and objects, making gameplay look and feel even more dynamic.

Ray-Traced Shadows: With ray tracing enabled, Fortnite’s dynamic shadows get a significant upgrade, enabling them to realistically stretch across the scene, with accurate softening as the distance from the shadow source increases. Particularly of note is the enhanced resolution of Ray-Traced Shadows. You can see this clearly in fine detail shadows, such as those created by chain link fences. Furthermore, Ray-Traced Shadows dynamically update as the time of day changes, with effectively infinite precision.

Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion: Where objects or surfaces meet, light is occluded, creating subtle shadows. In games, this Ambient Occlusion (AO) is key to grounding objects and the smallest details. With ray tracing, we can make AO shadowing far more accurate, further improving Fortnite’s fidelity.

Ray-Traced Global Illumination: Fortnite’s maps and worlds are composed of dynamically built and destroyed objects, preventing pre-baked light interaction. Due to this, sky lights provide the only real-time environmental lighting. Ray traced global illumination adds additional bounced light that is otherwise impossible to simulate in Fortnite.

For before/after examples and more info on Fortnite with RTX -- head here. The RTX update is coming soon to Fortnite Chapter 2 - Season 4.

The announcement came as part of As part of NVIDIA's GeForce Special Event which revealed the second generation of RTX cards with the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070 line-up.

"The GeForce RTX 30 Series is a testament to NVIDIA’s dedication to ray tracing and artificial intelligence," said Marcus Wassmer, Engineering Director - Graphics, Epic Games. "Second generation ray tracing, innovative use of AI with DLSS, and a large raw performance boost make the GeForce RTX 30 series a truly impressive powerhouse for graphics technology in gaming."

Of course Fortnite RTX will be supported by the current RTX 20 series (from the RTX 2060 on up) but as NVIDIA is calling its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series its biggest generational leap to date, you'll want to head here for more info.