In a behind-the-scenes video, the creators of the long-running YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History revealed that their most recent episode was made using Unreal Engine 5. "Lara Croft vs Indiana Jones" went live on October 25 and received over 2 million views on YouTube within the first two weeks. The comments were mostly positive, as viewers praised the production value and the rap verses.
Epic Rap Battles of History, or ERB for short, was created in 2010 by Peter "NicePeter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The premise of the series features notable figures from the realms of both history and fiction, pitting them in one-on-one rap battles for comedic purposes. Each figure is portrayed by actors, YouTubers, or other media personalities. Through the years, the show has aired episodes such as "Goku vs Superman" and "Theodore Roosevelt vs Winston Churchill" to name a few. The show has featured special guest appearances from celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Weird Al Yankovic, who in turn was portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe in the 2022 biographical parody film Weird: The Al Yankovoic Story.
On ERB's second YouTube channel, Ahlquist revealed that the backgrounds for the rap battle episode were made using Unreal Engine 5. Ahlquist said that the decision to use a video game engine for these scenes was part of a series of firsts for the production. He added that since Lara Croft is among the most iconic video game characters in both games and movies today, he and the production team decided to use a modern game engine to make the scenes look like they could be from an action-adventure game such as Tomb Raider or Uncharted.
Shukoff later demonstrated how one of the backgrounds was made, using the Unreal Engine's editor to add and move various background pieces. Shukoff showed how he was able to move and place rocks and wooden planks around a sandy temple scene, and he demonstrated how cameras could be planted and moved around for specific shots. He added that the team did some video game-specific research and callbacks for the video, including references to the Atari 2600 game Raiders of the Lost Ark. The ill-fated 1982 title was based on the first Indiana Jones movie of the same name. As for the movies themselves, a fifth Indiana Jones film will release on June 30, 2023. It will be Harrison Ford's final appearance as the iconic character.
Epic Games formally released Unreal Engine 5 for developers on April 2, 2022. The release came after a year of early access. Since then, many concept videos and projects were created, including a fan-made recreation of 2007's The Witcher by CD Projekt Red. With many game studios planning different projects with the engine, and production companies following suit, the potential for utilizing Unreal Engine 5 in mass media can only go up from here.