N※N

Black Myth: Wukong gains improved lighting quality, FSR 4, and more upgrades

  //science-technology.news-articles.net/content/2 .. ed-lighting-quality-fsr-4-and-more-upgrades.html
  Published in Science and Technology on Monday, October 13th 2025 at 11:44 GMT by Neowin
          ^{🞛 This publication is a summary or evaluation of another publication 🞛 This publication contains editorial commentary or bias from the source}

300x168/7520 Bytes

312x156/7626 Bytes

300x168/6895 Bytes

Black Myth: Wukong, the ambitious action‑adventure from Game Science, has received a substantial post‑launch overhaul that is already reshaping the way the title feels on both AMD and NVIDIA platforms. The patch—dubbed “Lighting & Performance Boost” and available in the latest Steam update—adds a suite of visual and technical improvements that make the game’s mythical world look more alive while delivering a measurable lift in frame rates across the board.

Enhanced Lighting Pipeline

At the heart of the update is a revamped lighting system that brings several layers of realism to the game’s already dramatic environments. The developers have overhauled the dynamic global illumination engine to produce more natural light bounce and richer colour temperature. This change is most noticeable in the bustling cityscapes and the sprawling, forested cliffs that the player traverses.

The new lighting system also makes extensive use of AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4.0, a multi‑API upscaling technology that can deliver up to a 2× performance boost on high‑end GPUs without compromising visual fidelity. FSR 4.0 is integrated into the rendering pipeline in a way that allows the game to render at lower native resolutions and then upscale, all while preserving edge sharpness and maintaining the game’s signature gritty, cinematic style.

According to the patch notes, FSR 4.0 was enabled at the core rendering level and now supports a range of post‑processing options—such as adaptive sharpening and tone mapping—to ensure that the upscaled frames stay true to the original artistic vision. For users with NVIDIA cards, the developers have also optimized the game’s use of DLSS 3.0, providing similar performance gains when the latest RTX GPUs are used.

Updated Shader Workflows

Beyond the core lighting changes, the patch introduces a revised shader set that reduces artefacts and improves performance in key scenes. The game’s water shaders now incorporate more realistic refraction and caustics, and foliage shading has been re‑worked to eliminate the “washed‑out” look that was occasionally noticeable in the earlier build. The new shader pipeline is also less taxing on the GPU, cutting the average GPU load by roughly 10% during high‑action sequences.

This optimization is especially beneficial on systems that struggle to maintain stable frame rates. Reviewers who ran the game on a mid‑range NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 found a noticeable smoothing of frame times—especially during boss encounters—once the patch was installed.

Improved Ray‑Tracing Performance

Black Myth: Wukong was one of the first AAA‑style games to support real‑time ray tracing, and the new update tackles performance bottlenecks that were reported by players on lower‑tier GPUs. The patch includes a re‑balanced ray‑tracing workload that reduces the number of shadow rays per pixel in outdoor scenes. This change retains the cinematic quality of reflections and global illumination while freeing up GPU cycles for other effects.

Additionally, the patch adds a “Hybrid Ray‑Tracing” mode that blends rasterized lighting with selective ray‑traced reflections. In this mode, the game will perform full ray tracing for direct reflections on water and metallic surfaces, but will use more traditional shading for background geometry. This selective approach keeps the visual impact of the reflections intact while trimming the load on GPUs that don’t have a high ray‑tracing throughput.

Expanded Performance Optimization

The developers have spent a significant amount of effort fine‑tuning the game’s core engine. According to the update notes, CPU usage has been reduced by re‑organizing task scheduling, resulting in a smoother experience on AMD Ryzen processors that were previously bottlenecked by the game’s multi‑threaded demands. On the GPU side, the team introduced a new “Dynamic Tessellation” feature that automatically reduces tessellation levels in dense crowd scenes. This not only lightens the GPU load but also allows for more complex character animations without compromising frame rates.

In addition, the patch adds a “Performance Mode” toggle that enables a suite of optimizations—including disabling unused particle effects and lowering shadow resolution—giving players an easy way to squeeze extra performance on older hardware.

Community Feedback and Future Plans

The patch was met with enthusiasm from the community, many of whom posted screenshots on Reddit showing a noticeable improvement in the quality of ambient lighting and shadows. A key point of praise was the smoother water rendering, especially in scenes such as the misty river at the edge of the temple. Feedback on YouTube demonstrated that the FSR 4.0 and DLSS 3.0 implementations deliver frame rates that are on par with the most popular titles of the same genre, yet the visual polish remains intact.

Game Science has hinted that this is just the first in a series of updates aimed at expanding the game’s technical foundation. The company has already outlined plans to introduce support for Vulkan 1.3 on Linux and to add an “Ultra” graphics preset that pushes the limits of high‑end hardware.

Where to Find the Patch

Players can download the latest patch directly from Steam by launching Black Myth: Wukong and allowing the client to update automatically. The game’s official website—hosted at https://www.game-science.com/black-myth-wukong—provides additional details about the new features, a full list of known issues, and a FAQ section that addresses common questions about compatibility with older GPUs and operating systems.

For those who prefer to stay on the bleeding edge, the developers also host a beta channel on the https://www.neowin.net/news/black-myth-wukong page, where they post early access builds and gather player feedback before final releases. This community engagement has been a cornerstone of the game’s iterative improvement process, and it continues to foster a sense of shared ownership among fans.

Final Thoughts

The “Lighting & Performance Boost” update confirms that Black Myth: Wukong’s developers remain committed to delivering an experience that balances artistic ambition with technical excellence. By integrating AMD’s FSR 4.0, refining shader work, and streamlining ray‑tracing workload, the patch raises the bar for what a single‑player action‑adventure can look and feel like on a range of modern hardware. Whether you’re a newcomer exploring the mythic realms of ancient China or a seasoned veteran revisiting the game’s epic bosses, this update provides a richer, more responsive, and visually stunning foundation for the rest of the journey.