Epic Games Reveals Unreal Engine 5

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.