There has been a lot of positive buzz concerning Unreal Engine 5 ever since the debut of its demo in 2020. Described by many as the first real glimpse into next-gen video game development, a lot of developers have chosen to build their next project using Unreal Engine 5 and its groundbreaking new technologies such as Lumen and Nanite.Even developers and publishers who have relied on their in-house engines (such as Electronic Arts with Frostbite) have elected to use Epic's software. To name just a few: BioShock 4, the next Mass Effect game, and even the next Witcher game will all be built on Unreal Engine 5. At the State of Unreal event today, Epic revealed that the engine was officially launched and ready for download.While Unreal Engine 5 boasts an improved user interface and enhanced performance, the true shining aspects of the engine lie in the underlying technologies it utilizes to achieve a photorealistic effect. Nanite allows developers to place art assets of movie-quality levels of fidelity into their games without experiencing any significant dip in performance. For all intents and purposes, Nanite seeks to make level of detail (LOD) solutions completely redundant by comparison.
Conversely, the Lumen technology in Unreal Engine 5 is being touted as a dynamic global lighting illumination tool that produces or otherwise mimics real life lighting with both efficiency and fidelity. Epic showcased both of these technologies as far back as its first tech demo in the appropriately titled Lumen in the Land of Nanite.
In addition to making Unreal Engine 5 available to all developers, Epic has also decided to release a part of the city environment its developers built for The Matrix Awakens demo, as a playground for other developers to test the technological capabilities of the engine. In a similar vein to Unreal Tournament, Unreal Engine 5 is also launching with a multiplayer shooter called Lyra. Epic describes the sample game as a hands-on learning tool, allowing developers to customize Lyra to suit their needs and even use it as a good foundation for their own project.
Given that high-budget television shows such as The Mandalorian have started to use Unreal for its digital sets, the lines between video games, movies, and television shows have all started to blur in ways that were practically incomprehensible and foolishly optimistic two decades ago. Kim Libreri, the CTO of Epic, seems to believe that this is just the beginning.