On May 13, 2020, Epic presented to the world the next version of its famous game engine: the Unreal Engine 5. A new generation engine which aims to flood the next-gen consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series . Unreal Engine games should also land on PC, it remains to be seen when the next games will be released. Only a few games have been announced so far, few attractive productions.
an innovative game engine
Available in early access since May 26, 2021 with an official release in 2022, Unreal Engine 5 aims to make life easier for studios. With Nanite, one of its main features, the engine offers the possibility of importing highly detailed photographic sources into games. On the lighting side, Lumen serves to offer a “fully dynamic global illumination solution that reacts immediately to scene and light changes”. With Lumen, artists and developers no longer need to create a lighting map for a given scene. Light reflections and shadows are now calculated on the fly. With its many features facilitating the work of studios, the Unreal Engine seeks, with this new version, to become one of the most popular engines in the industry. Although recent, the game engine has already
Black Myth: Wu Kong
Soulslike action game that has seduced many curious people with its salient environments and ubiquitous action, Black Myth: Wukong is signed by the Game Science studio. Over the months, several videos of the game have been unveiled, increasing the enthusiasm for its announcement. Eye-catching visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5 allow its viewers to lay eyes on alluring animations, highly detailed 3D models, and photorealistic environmental effects. In Black Myth: Wu Kong, players follow the supernatural adventures of Wukong, aka the Monkey King. On the menu: mythology, powers and gigantic enemies. Black Wukong is scheduled for release in 2023, on media as yet unknown. “Nanite greatly reduces the difficulty of performance tuning for environments“explained Zhao Wenyong, technical director and co-founder of the studio, in an interview.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
After Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in 2017, the Ninja Theory studio will return to the charge in the years to come with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. A title developed under Unreal Engine 5 which aims even more at photorealism. And it may well be that Epic’s game engine helps them a lot on this side. And for good reason, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II goes even further on the cinematic approach to the genre and the absence of HUD. The teams also traveled to Iceland to capture the landscape. A Nordic splendor scanned and used directly in the game engine, just like physical costumes, actually created and then scanned to be integrated into the game. A game that seeks to get as close as possible to pixel-perfect realism, something to promise a slap to lovers of photorealism. The price to pay ? An unknown development time. Although presented last December by Microsoft at the Game Awards, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II currently has no release date.
Redfall:
Developed by the talented artists at Arkane, red fall already has a release date posted: this summer. This cooperative shooter takes us into an open world located in the city of red fallMassachusetts, then overrun by vampires. This is the team behind the excellent Prey and Dishonored who shares here his experience for this title which has yet to reveal its gameplay. And for good reason, only a cinematic of the game allowed us to discover the environment and the characters. Nevertheless, with its bestiary composed of vampires and, one suspects, other nocturnal creatures, red fall will be able to highlight, literally, the Lumen part of the Unreal Engine 5. A title which must be released on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and will be available in the Xbox Game Pass as soon as it is released.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl
Expected as the messiah by some, Stalker 2 was one of the collateral victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With GSC Game World being based in Kyiv, development of the game has been delayed drastically, with a release date shifted from this spring to December. Cutscenes and gameplay phases have already been revealed, enough to promise a game ready to be released. However, the war did not spare the studio, which obviously made the survival of its employees and their families its priority. Let’s hope the studio gets away with it. To note that Stalker 2 can count on the teeth customization tool developed by the developers so that each of its characters can have a unique smile.
Legend of Ymir
Developed by WeMade XR, from WeMade Entertainment, Legend of YMIR is a cross-platform MMORPG (distributed on PC and mobile platforms) from the MIR franchise. A new opus developed under Unreal Engine 5 which will seek to immerse players in a world freely inspired by Norse mythology. To impress its players, the MMORPG intends to offer large-scale PvP clashes. Unfortunately for the most skeptical, Legend of YMIR will incorporate mechanics play-to-earn, the game being integrated into the WeMix platform, used for the marketing of NFT. To announce its title and present it, a technical demo under Unreal Engine 5 has been set up, provided with explanations for Legend of YMIR. Unfortunately for the most impatient, the MMORPG has no release date.
Other games on the menu:
Announced in May 2020, Unreal Engine 5 still has a long future ahead of it. Although the list of projects that have definitively adopted it is not long, it’s a safe bet that other still secret games have selected it. It will still be necessary to wait to have the heart net. Among the other games concerned whose information is thin, we find the Korean MMORPG ArcheAge 2 (scheduled for 2024), as well as the MMO passed by Kickstarter Ashes of Creation. Note that Square Enix has chosen the Unreal Engine 5 for dragon quest 12, a game made official by the publication of a logo. On the side of The Coalition, the father of Gears of Warthe Unreal Engine 5 is adopted, although no project has yet been announced.
