Square Enix’s Latest Tech Demo Makes Great Use Of DirectX 12 & Four GTX TITAN Xs

Considering the fact that Final Fantasy (outside of its MMOs) has such a massive console focus, I never expected to see an amazing tech demo of the series for the PC. But, lo and behold, we’ve been given one, and Square Enix has pulled out all the stops.

To help show off what its upcoming Final Fantasy XV can bring to the table, Square Enix teamed up with Microsoft and NVIDIA to help deliver a demo that highlights what’s possible with DirectX 12. Inside the PC? Nothing less than four of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX TITAN X graphics cards. That’s one “fantasy” I wouldn’t mind.

This demo isn’t just about pushing polys – although it does well at that – it’s about delivering believable experiences. Mimicking human faces and emotions in real-time has proven to be one of the Holy Grails of game design, and Square Enix’s WITCH – Chapter 0 [cry] demo does well to show us just how far along we’ve come. Watch:

Mentioned in the video, each of the tech demo’s scenes is composed of at least 63 million polygons, which is 6~12x more than the developers would have been able to do with DirectX 11. Many of those polygons are wrapped up tightly on the character’s head – every single strand of hair is its own entity. Further, the ultra-realistic detail in the character’s face and person is made possible with the use of 8Kx8K textures.

Here’s what’s ironic in all of this: Final Fantasy has only been announced for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One – not the PC. Is this a hint that the game is coming to PC, or is this just another tech demo a la Forza 5 to help prove what DX12 can do? I hope it’s the former.