Epic Games Reveals Unreal Engine 5

The upcoming version of Unreal Engine promises to make games even more realistic and immersive.

Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is one of the most popular video game engines out there. Originally created for the Unreal first-person shooter back in 1998, Unreal Engine has since been used to create an impressive roster of games that includes Batman: Arkham Asylum, BioShock, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Gears of War, the Infinity Blade series, the Mass Effect series, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

In the above video, Epic Games revealed their upcoming Unreal Engine 5. (Make sure you watch the video on the highest resolution possible.) It’s certainly impressive from a visual standpoint thanks to the new version’s improved handling of high resolution source art and dynamic lighting, and it’s all the more impressive considering the visuals were generated in real-time as opposed to being pre-rendered.

But as jaw-dropping as the visuals are, what really got me was Unreal Engine 5’s improved ability to manipulate and control sound. What I heard — the echoes and rumbles in the cave, the clattering of stones, the rush of wind — was as immersive as anything that I saw, especially when wearing headphones.

Unreal Engine 5 will be released in 2021 and will support next-generation consoles (e.g., PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X), current consoles, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. The first Unreal Engine 5 game will be Epic’s own Fortnite, which currently uses Unreal Engine 4.