Resident Evil 2 and 3's ray tracing options are already back

Update 4/20/23: Capcom has announced that Resident Evil 2 and 3's ray tracing options, as well as the similarly missing 3D audio, have been added back to the games. I popped into RE2 myself to double check and lo and behold: traced rays back where they belong. It's still unclear what sort of error led to their brief departure in the first place, but all's well that ends well, and Racoon City is back to looking all spiffy and next gen.

Original Story: True horror struck Raccoon City last week, as legions of Resident Evil 2 and 3 fans—myself included—who spent far too much money on their graphics cards suddenly found the games' ray tracing tech removed. The sudden and silent withdrawal of RT options seemed to be tied to an April 14 patch to both games, and it wasn't clear if the lighting tech would ever make a return.

But it looks like the removal was a mistake, because Capcom has finally taken to Twitter to calm our nerves. "We're aware of an ongoing issue with the raytracing option not appearing in the graphics menu and presets," said the official Resident Evil Twitter account, promising to "have this addressed in a future update".

Capcom didn't actually detail the events that led to RE2 and 3's ray tracing options disappearing, nor did it provide a schedule as to when they would return, but it's good to know the removal wasn't intentional. 

I've reached out to Capcom to ask when ray tracing will make its return and what caused its removal, and I'll update this piece if I hear back.

Ray tracing wasn't the only tech that fell victim to a sudden disappearance. It looks like RE2 and 3's 3D audio options mysteriously vanished, too. Given that my own audio setup consists of a crumbling set of aged Sennheisers and not much else, I admit I didn't notice the options were gone. But people with more elaborate speakers than mine can look forward to the return of audio in three whole dimensions. Raccoon City will soon be as ray-traced and echoey as ever.