BioShock new-gen remaster released, and you can download free now

BioShock fans can now enjoy a brand new free remaster that adds path tracing and new effects.

BioShock is often considered one of the best games of all time, and considering its narrative, themes, setting and gameplay all feel rather outstanding for its time, it’s probably going to be something we play until the end of time.

With that said, the game has already had a facelift in the form of an official remaster in 2016 titled BioShock Remastered, where it was bundled along with remasters of BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite to form a collection.

Now, modders skurtyyskirts and watbulb have developed a demo for the RTX Remix mod of the first BioShock.

BioShock RTX Mod has a demo out now which you can check out. It features hundreds of new textures and assets, and you’ll be able to see those nifty new lighting effects on show.

The mod delivers real-time path tracing and upgraded graphics running smoothly over the original game, meaning it should still play and feel the same as before, but with better visuals.

Here’s a video showcasing off the remaster, where you can get a look at those fancy new effects in motion as well as a look behind the scenes at how it was developed.

Considering BioShock is a game that runs on Unreal Engine 2.5, lots of work has gone into implementing a compatibility wrapper to help circumvent the shaders that are in the original game.

Simply put, skurtyyskirts and watbulb have created a tool that helps BioShock and RTX Remix work together by fixing any compatibility issues between the two layers.

You can grab BioShock RTX Mod from the mod’s official download page on ModDB. It’s currently in version 0.1, so expect some bugs, unfinished assets, and other weird shenanigans.

Updates are expected to come in the future, which should iron out these issues and make it perfectly playable for any BioShock fans who fancy playing the game with some fresh new visuals.