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Picture, if you would, the very first video games that were ever made. We’re talking old-school arcades and early Atari titles. Think about what it was like to not only play them, but what it was like to look at them. Back in those days, graphics had to be the simplest possible to allow the game to function. Let’s not forget that one of the first games ever was just two rectangles bouncing a square block back and forth. Fast forward to now, though, and we have something like Unreal Engine 5, which will potentially change how we look at games as a whole. But for those who have never used it or played games that use it, you might not understand why. So, we’ll help break down its importance.
#1 – What Is Unreal Engine 5?
Let’s start with the basics. Unreal Engine 5 is the latest development engine from Epic Games. That’s right, the team that makes Fortnite and continues to dominate the live-service space also makes game engines, and they’ve been doing it for a while now. With each true “jump” in number, the engine gets better, and most argue that it’s always the best gaming engine around.
The engine has a multitude of features that range from level of detail meshes, lumen, dynamic global illumination and reflection systems. That’s also including systems that make use of the hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
That’s a lot of big words right there, but the crux of things is that it leveraged cutting-edge technology to ensure that the engine produced the best graphics possible. In fact, when it released a demo a few years back, the team created a truly “hyperrealistic cave” that players could explore. As if that’s not enough, they literally teamed up with The Matrix to create a tech demo and trailer that was all rendered in Unreal Engine 5, and yet you could hardly tell that it was graphics, especially with the trailer.
So, when you take that at face value, and think about how the gaming industry is almost constantly trying to get “even more realistic” with its graphics, you can see why many are not only excited about this, but excited about what comes next with it. After all, the engine will continue to improve as developers and publishers use it, and Epic Games will add refinements to give even greater performance. As we have seen some games in the past that could use a little more optimization.
In this gaming age, top-notch visuals and processing power are godsends to many, and this engine will provide that. But let’s dig a little deeper into this, shall we?
#2 – The Biggest Worlds Possible
Let’s talk about another key thing that the gaming industry is doing right now: making massively open world titles. No, we’re not talking specifically about MMOs, although some will use Unreal Engine 5 or are planning games around it right now. Instead, we’re talking about things like RPGs, shooters, and so on. For one reason or another, and for better or for worse, the gaming industry is downright obsessed with making video games that have the biggest worlds possible.
Back in previous generations, that seriously wasn’t an option. Or, if you did have a “vast area,” you had to have the simplest of details to make it not seem empty, while not pushing things graphically. Look at things like Hyrule Field on the N64 for examples of that.
Anyway, with the desire to keep making big worlds, you need an engine that’ll allow you to not only do that, but also allow you to have intricate details put all around that world. Unreal Engine 5 not only does that, but it boasts about it.
The engine’s official site breaks down all it can do to make your worlds really pop, including stating:
“Directly import and replicate multi-million-polygon meshes while maintaining a real-time frame rate—even at 60 fps—without any noticeable loss of fidelity.”
In other words, you can make 3D models in as high detail as you desire, then bring them into the engine, and it won’t slow anything down. So now, imagine that across massive city structures or entire worlds? Plus, with the processing power of the engine, you can add other little details via animation to make the world feel “more alive” than ever before, which is another plus that developers and publishers desire.
Add to that all the special lighting effects that the engine has, and you have an engine that’ll make your worlds look as real or as fantastical as you desire.
#3 – Waiting To See What Devs Do Next
We’re going to end this on a unique note, because, if we’re being honest here, the engine is only half the battle. Yes, it’s nice that the technology is “right there” for dev teams to use, but, by that token, they need to be willing to use it “to its full potential” and then see how far they can push things in new directions.
Case in point, while many developers will likely use it to make “beautifully detailed worlds,” that doesn’t mean that their games will be good because of that. We all can think of “visually-stunning games” that lacked good gameplay, stories, etc. The engine is just one part of the puzzle, and it’s up to the dev teams and publishers to ensure that every game they make through it is special and worth the effort put into it.
Plus, as noted before, the engine itself is hardly perfect. There are issues within it that need to be worked out, and there are some publishers who prefer to use their own in-house engine over Unreal Engine 5 because they know how it works and understand how to push it further.
That being said, there are plenty of people who will want to use Unreal Engine 5 and see what they can do with it. To that end, the engine is available to download right now, and you can even get fully prepared demos to get a feel for how things can be in the engine before you dive into your own gaming experience.
If nothing else, this engine highlights the potential that is out there to take games to the next level, and now, it’s up to game developers to see that potential through to its fullest.
