Epic Games first showed off its game engine way back in 1998 with a look at its first-person shooter game Unreal. The engine's various iterations have been used in a multitude of genres by a variety of developers across the video game industry, from BioShock to Back 4 Blood. Unreal Engine has found its way into filmmaking and has even been used as a virtual reality tool in medical research, showing its true versatility and range. Unreal Engine 5 was first announced back in 2020, with early access coming a year later. Now, Unreal Engine 5 has been officially released for developers to download, and this marks an exciting moment in video game development.
Although Epic Games hasn't been shy when it comes to showing off what Unreal Engine 5 is capable of, the extended State of Unreal 2022 showcase earlier this month gave gamers a proper look at everything the game engine has to offer, as well as some exciting new announcements. The livestream event showed off several big developers that have adopted Unreal Engine 5 for upcoming projects, as well as a deeper dive into what makes the game engine so impressive, with a glimpse at a few of its technical aspects.
Introducing Unreal Engine 5
Unreal Engine 5 has several key features that really help set it apart from previous iterations, as well as show off what the future of video games might look like thanks to its impressive photorealism and cutting-edge technology. Epic Games have called Unreal Engine 5 “the world’s most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool,” claiming that it gives developers the chance to push visual and technological boundaries within video games. This is an exciting time for both gamers and developers, as video games are becoming more and more visually impressive and technologically groundbreaking, and Unreal Engine 5 seems to be at the forefront of this.
With some of the video games industry's biggest and most well-respected names confirming that they'll be using Unreal Engine 5 for their next projects, the more detailed look at just what this engine entails in the recent State of Unreal event was a welcome one for many gamers. Unreal Engine 5 may have been given a few impressive outings, like in Epic Games' The Matrix Awakens cinematic demo released last year. However, the livestream gave fans the chance to learn what the engine was all about.
The State Of Unreal 2022 Showcase
The showcase demonstrated what the development community has been able to create with the use of Unreal Engine 5 since its early access launch in May 2021, showing off more of the impressive visuals that players have come to expect. Epic Games went into more detail about what makes Unreal Engine 5 tick, including its updated and easy-to-use user interface and improved performance. The aspects that really blew gamers away, and what the showcase did a great job of delving into, were the technologies involved in Unreal Engine 5.
One of the foundational features of Unreal Engine 5 is Nanite, which is a “virtualized micropolygon geometry system” that allows games to import highly-detailed photographic source material in order to create worlds that feel both realistic and comprehensively designed. Alongside Nanite is Lumen, which removes the need for designers to create a lightmap for specific scenes and calculates its own real-time light characteristics. Described as a "fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes," Lumen will work out realistic light reflections and corresponding shadows to help give games a realistic depth.
Along with the full release of Unreal Engine 5, Epic Game also showed off its new multiplayer project named Lyra, which is a demonstration tool to show off everything that the game engine is capable of. While Lyra might have started off as a fairly basic shooter with average environments and generic character models, Unreal Engine 5's prowess was really showcased with the in-game editor mode.
Unreal Engine 5's Lyra allowed for detailed light manipulation, scenery changes, and even a quick transition directly into gameplay to test it all out. Unreal Engine 5 is all about "finding whole new approaches to transform the way content is made and experienced," and the Lyra presentation showed exactly how it is achieving this.
Games Using Unreal Engine 5
As well as showing off features and the extensive capabilities of Unreal Engine 5, the livestream also contained a few surprises. Although it's been rumored for some time, Crystal Dynamics officially confirmed that it's making the next installment in the popular Tomb Raider series with the new game engine. Crystal Dynamics was behind the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot and its follow-up Rise of the Tomb Raider, but the most recent installment, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, was developed by Eidos-Montreal. It will be interesting to see what new direction Crystal Dynamics will take the series in for the next game, although it will still be a few years away.
Gears of War developer The Coalition was also featured during the showcase, giving players a glimpse of a new cinematic demo called The Cavern which ran in real time in Unreal Engine 5. The demo demonstrated how the engine can deliver "movie-quality assets," which certainly looked impressive, but fans shouldn't get too excited as The Coalition was clear that it did "not represent a game project" and was merely a look at what Unreal Engine 5 was capable of.
Some games have already made the switch over to using Unreal Engine 5, like Fortnite, which made the transition in December of last year. Other major upcoming titles have declared their intention to utilize the impressive new game engine, like Arkane Studios' Redfall, Ninja Theory's Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, and Game Science's Black Myth: Wukong.
These games have all received trailers or gameplay reveals, so players have had a chance to look at their use of Unreal Engine 5 in action, and it's safe to say they've all been impressive. It seems like Unreal Engine 5 is quickly becoming the go-to for developers looking to take games to the next level, and now that the game engine is officially out in the wild it will be interesting to see how it affects video game development in the coming years.