Regardless of the gameplay that comes with it, it’s hard to deny that most game developers and publishers strive to have the best possible graphics for their titles. At first, it was all about using pixels to deliver detailed words as best they could. Then it was about learning the 3D space so they could make their worlds bigger and grander and better looking. But now, it’s all about photorealism and making the virtual world feel as much like our world as possible. To that end, the Unreal Engine is arguably the best at pushing the graphics of video games and other products.
One of the reasons that they are consistently among the best in the business is that they’re always pushing the engine to new heights. They’re developing and testing new technologies for it every year and are more than happy to show off any updates they come across. For example, at the Game Developers Conference, a tech demo for Unreal Engine 5.2 was dropped. The video shows the team exploring a world created within the Unreal Editor, highlighting the foliage and terrain they crafted.
As they work through the demo, they note how they’ve made tools that help build upon the world and ensure that things work in a realistic yet “chaotic” way. For example, as they drive over some rocky terrain, the rocks react to being driven upon in different ways depending on how they’re hit.
Another thing they highlighted was the vehicle that was in the tech demo. It’s a Rivian, which is an electric vehicle, and they worked with the company to make an incredibly realistic model. They then revealed a new materials program working within the engine that’ll help make models like vehicles feel even more realistic.
The level at which you can use these materials is up to you. They highlighted how they could be used in cinematics and other rendered scenes to help really bring out the details of a model or help showcase the world around you.
You can watch the full demo below and see the realism for yourself:
The reason this demo is important is that this is the next step in making video games even more realistic and beautiful. While only a few things were highlighted in the trailer, the possibilities are endless. Plus, you know the team will keep pushing forward until nothing can compare to their engine.
