The World Reflected: Water and Puddle Reflections

Water that looked like paint

The original Metin2 water is a flat animated texture. It scrolls, it shimmers, but it doesn't reflect anything. Stand at the edge of a lake and you see blue — not the mountains behind you, not the trees lining the shore, not your own character. It's a surface pretending to be water.

We wanted water you could look into.

Real reflections

Every body of water now reflects the world above it. The sky, the terrain, the trees, the buildings — they're all there, mirrored on the surface. Characters walking near the shore show up in the water. The reflection updates every frame, so it responds to everything happening in the scene.

Puddles on the ground

Reflections aren't limited to rivers and lakes. When it rains, puddles form on the ground — and they reflect too. A wet cobblestone road catches the sky. A shallow pool next to a building mirrors its walls.

Puddles use the same reflection system as water but mirror around ground level instead of the water surface. The effect is subtle, but it grounds the rain in the world. Wet streets actually look wet.

Everything reflects

It's not just the sky. Trees line up with their reflections at the water's edge. A character standing in a river sees themselves looking back. Terrain contours follow through into the mirror image. Buildings, NPCs, other players — if it's above the surface, it's in the water.

What's next

Right now the water reflects the world, but the atmosphere is still flat. We're working on volumetric fog and weather — once that's in, you'll see mist rolling across the water and rain darkening the reflections.