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[Lunatic_Gamer]

As part of a State of Unreal livestream on April 5, Epic revealed the engine is now available to all, including new sample projects you can use to play around with. We also got another good look at what Unreal Engine 5 is capable of and heard from a variety of developers who touted the benefits of utilizing the engine. That even included the reveal that a new Tomb Raider game is on the way that will run on UE5.

Various games and genres are being built in Unreal 5 right now, ranging from licensed mobile titles to AAA blockbusters. We've gathered up all the confirmed titles below that are currently confirmed to utilize it, as well as a look at many of the studios who are lined up to do the same.

ArchAge II​

Not much is known about ArcheAge II yet, but developer XL Games did confirm that the upcoming Korean MMO is using Unreal Engine 5 technology to build the game. Elements of housing, naval warfare, and vehicles with physics simulation will all tie into a core design theme of freedom.

Ark II​

Studio Wildcard's sequel to the popular survival sandbox Ark is in the middle of development right now, utilizing Unreal 5 for its eventual and exclusive release on Xbox Series X|S. The multiplayer game will alsostar Fast 'n Furious actor Vin Diesel as the hero Santiago, with the Hollywood actor pulling a double shift as an executive producer on the game as well.

Ashes Of Creation​

Back in December, Ashes of Creation developer Intrepid Studios confirmed that it had migrated the game from Unreal 4 to Unreal 5. It's still early days for a project that is still in its alpha phase, but unlike many entries on this list, the studio behind the game has been transparent with development so far. To get an idea of how the game is shaping up, you can pay the Ashes of Creation website a visit to see the Unreal 5 improvements.

Black Myth: Wukong​

Revealed back in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong is easily one of the most exciting adaptations of the classic Journey to the West novel since Enslaved. Brimming with action and adventure, Unreal 5 has been used to deliver intense boss battles and impressive particle effects. The Dark Souls-inspired game from developer Game Science doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but you can check out Black Myth: Wukong’s first trailer for more information on what the game looks like so far.

Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate​

While there wasn't much in the way of concrete detailswhen Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate was announced last year, Square Enix did confirm that the next chapter in the long-running RPG series would be shaking up the franchise. With Unreal 5 powering a darker tale of swords and sorcery, Dragon Quest XII series creator Yuji Horii hinted at darker themes, more open-ended design, and impactful decisions that the player will be forced to make.

Dreamhouse: The Game​

While Unreal 5 is expected to be capable of creating epic and detailed worlds for games, the technology is also being used for titles with a cozier appeal. Take Dreamhouse for example, a house construction simulator coming to PC and console in the future. Using Unreal 5, you'll be able to build sturdy structures, set up comfortable living spaces, and eventually call it a day on next-gen beds. Unreal 5 is more than capable of creating impressive particle effects and life-like human characters, but a thread count you can see on gaming linen is what really counts.

Echoes Of The End​

Echoes of the End is described as a single-player RPG from Icelandic developer Myrkur Games, and takes place in a world of myth and legend. As the hero Ryn, it'll be up to you to guide the warrior through large-scale battles in a world that has been described as a blend of cinematic scope and rich narrative themes, all realized with Unreal 5 technology.

Fortnite​

Epic's signature game made a shift to Unreal Engine 5 with the start of Chapter 3 back in December. While the changes seen so far look like modest upgrades, expect the overall visual fidelity to steadily increase as time goes on as Epic improves on its Unreal 5 technology. Small changes eventually add up to something big, and Fortnite will likely continue to be a showcase for the versatility of Epic's software.

Game Of Thrones​

Currently in development at Netmarble, very little is known about this mobile Game of Thrones adaptation other than its usage of Unreal 5 for development. Netmarble has a history of producing solid adaptations of licensed properties for mobile devices, and the studio revealed that it planned to deliver console-level graphics while telling an original story in the fantasy world created by author George R.R. Martin.

ILL​

With a focus on mystery, exploration, and stomach-churning monster designs, Team Clout's ILL is using Unreal 5 to create a disturbing and spooky atmosphere. The devil is in the details, and while not much else is known about this survival-horror game, early previews indicate that Epic's technology is being used to create a uniquely terrifying experience.

Into The Echo​

Described as a unique time-travel MMORPG from developer ETLOK Studios, development on the game has been rocky as of late due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A new pre-alpha session was held recently, and if you'd like to see how Unreal 5 is shaping the visual development of this ambitious game, you can check out an official teaser for Into The Echo that showcases some rich visuals.

Legend Of Ymir​

A sequel to the Legend of Mir series, Korean developer WeMade Entertainment is making use of Epic's biggest Unreal 5 technologies--MetaHuman Creator, Lumen, and Nanite--to craft this MMORPG. Platforms and a release window have yet to be announced, but like Mir 4, you can expect NFT implementation that allows for your game character to be turned into a token for selling and trading.

Redfall​

Coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S in the future, Bethesda's Redfall is an action-adventure that uses Unreal 5 to craft a vampire-hunting experience. Playable in solo or co-op modes, details, and gameplay footage has been hard to come by since Redfall was announced at Microsoft's E3 2021 showcase. If a recent leak turns out to be genuine though, expect this game to use Epic's software to create a vibrant environment with loot-shooter mechanics.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II​

Developer Ninja Theory has occasionally released some development information since Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was confirmed to be in development, and with Unreal 5 powering the sequel to the original Hellblade game, it's shaping up to look like a visual showcase for the technology. The first gameplay trailer was shown off at last year's Game Awards, while development has used a few strange techniques to get the game looking just right.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl​

A sequel that has been long-awaited, Stalker 2 continues to look like a fantastic return to the heart of the infamous Ukraine disaster zone. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine still ongoing though, plans to release the game later this year have naturally been upended as developer GSC Game World looks to find safety and shelter for its staff amidst attacks on the city of Kyiv. What has been seen so far, is a game that uses Unreal 5 to create a uniquely unsettling atmosphere, one that's dripping with grime, radioactive fallout, and European charm.

Quantum Error​

Another horror game utilizing Unreal 5, Quantum Error uses the technology to create stylish graphics and a terrifying atmosphere. It's the lighting that really sells the nightmarish visuals though, and with Unreal 5 capable of creating realistic and spooky illumination, Quantum Error's handle on horror looks immersive and eerie.

The Matrix Awakens​

A free showcase of the potential of Unreal 5 developed by Epic, The Matrix Awakens is a stunning showcase of playable action and exploration. It's available to try out now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 and offers not only a brief highway chase scene that looks like it was ripped straight out of The Matrix Reloaded, but also a detailed breakdown of the various technologies within Unreal 5 and how they're used to create photo-realistic environments.

Untitled Layers Of Fear Game​

Paint and paranoia take the center stage in this return to Layers of Fear. Details on the next installment are vague, but with Unreal 5's ability to create realistic textures and unsettling environments, the end result could be a detailed dip into horror from a studio that has earned a reputation for being a master of that genre.

Untitled The Witcher Game​

In a surprising turn of events, CD Projekt Red announced a new Witcher game in March that would be built entirely in Unreal 5 instead of the company's internal REDengine. The Polish studio will collaborate with Epic's engineers to help make Unreal Engine 5 the best engine it can be for open-world games, with experience and knowledge from the development process informing the evolution of Unreal 5 for future projects.

Untitled RTS Game Developed By Frost Giant​

Founded by StarCraft 2 production director Tim Morten and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne lead campaign designer Tim Campbell, Frost Giant's first game has been teased as a dream project that won't simply be a throwback to classic real-time strategy. The studio has kept details under wrap for its in-development game, but it has let slip that it'll be developing the RTS on Unreal 5 and that it's designed to be more approachable for newcomers to the genre.

Untitled Gears of War Game​

It'll still be a while before a new game in the Gears of War series is properly unveiled, but for now, developer The Coalition appears to have a firm grip on using Unreal 5 to create the title. During a presentation at GDC 2021, The Coalition revealed its first technical demo Alpha Point using the latest tools in Unreal Engine 5, which included application of the Lumen lighting system and Nanite, the engine's virtualized geometry system. In addition to that, the studio also showed off a character render demo within Unreal Engine 5, that was packed with all manner of small details.

The Next Tomb Raider​

Crystal Dynamics has confirmed a new Tomb Raider is in the works. There were no details shared on what to expect from it, but the studio will be moving to Unreal Engine 5 for the project.

And Much More​

A State of Unreal stream on April 5, 2022 highlighted the many studios who are working with UE5. In addition to all of the games outlined above, you can check out the image above for even more names and brands leveraging UE5 in some capacity.

Every Unreal Engine 5 Game So Far

Here's a look at every game currently using Epic's Unreal 5 technology to create the next generation of entertainment.

www.gamespot.com

Major Games Confirmed to Be Using Unreal Engine 5

Unreal Engine 5 is the latest version of Epic Games’ creation platform, and several upcoming games are confirmed to utilize it.

gamerant.com

 

[PSYGN]

Seeing what the engine is capable of it makes a lot of business sense.

 

[SantaC]

DQ12 is UE5? Game of the universe.

 

[kingfey]

Ashes Of Creation

Black Myth: Wukong

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

The Matrix Awakens

These are my anticipated games. Hope they are good, when they are released.

 

[CamHostage]

Maybe there should actually be two categories for this list, now that UE5 is out and projects can be released from it: Games in Development, and Games that are Out.

For games out, not much yet, primarily the Matrix Awakens (a demo, out for PC/PS5/Xbox Series) and Fortnite (on every platform with Fortnite, so PC,PS4/5,Xbox,Switch,Mobile...)

There's also at least one available game (though I'm curious how they were actually able to compile and release it but then nobody else put playables out all this time?), and that's the little demo'ish hidden objects game The Market of Light.

(*There are also a couple demos/games on the Android App store, but they're super shitty IMO and may well be UE4 projects with flags or even logos changed.)

Probably in the next few weeks, there'll be a ton more. Developers for a long time now have been testing/converting their UE4.2X projects or doing early access work with a goal of launching once the system was finalized, and it's finalized.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Take a look at some the biggest games set to use the latest version of Epic's Unreal Engine.

Unreal Engine 5 is the latest version of Epic Games' popular game development software and has been available for use since the start of 2021. A year later, more studios have begun to adopt the software as the foundation for projects that can leverage its versatile power to create detailed games.

As part of a State of Unreal livestream on April 5, Epic revealed the engine is now available to all, including new sample projects you can use to play around with. We also got another good look at what Unreal Engine 5 is capable of and heard from a variety of developers who touted the benefits of utilizing the engine. That even included the reveal that a new Tomb Raider game is on the way that will run on UE5.

Various games and genres are being built in Unreal 5 right now, ranging from licensed mobile titles to AAA blockbusters. We've gathered up all the confirmed titles that are currently confirmed to utilize it, as well as a look at many of the studios who are lined up to do the same.

 

[MightySquirrel]

Official channel has a sweet reel

 

[Fess]

Official channel has a sweet reel

A sweet reel of cutscenes. After seeing the gameplay performance on the Matrix demo on PC the hype has died down for me. But who knows maybe there are better hardware out once these game are released.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Epic's latest and greatest, the Unreal Engine 5 is now available to all developers. The engine offers a wide array of tools and technologies such as the likes of ray-tracing, Lumen, and Nanite, among others which can make current-gen games look absolutely jaw-dropping on a visual level. At the same time, Unreal Engine 5 has also proven to be a flexible tool for game development, which has led to a ton of awesome fan projects by passionate developers. To that effect, here are a few such examples of Unreal Engine 5-based fan projects that will blow your blow.

Please note that most of these fan projects are just concept demonstrations, and are not to be mistaken for upcoming releases of the same. Also, this feature is part 2 of the series - so do check out the first part in the description below. With that out of the way, let's begin.

 

[lostinblue]

DQ12 is UE5? Game of the universe.

just wait for the switch back-port with extra content, and subsequent port that includes that extra content, with worse graphics to other consoles

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Fallout New Vegas Recreation in Unreal Engine 5, A Dream that we Hope will Come True

in this video we are going to imagine Fallout New Vegas Remake, This Concept Trailer has Made Exclusively by us TeaserPlay with high-end graphics features such as Lumen, Nanite, Screen Space Ray Tracing and Global Illumination Shader

We hope that Bethesda will officially remake Fallout New Vegas soon and we really hope that this video will be able to clear the level of expectations of the fans for Bethesda

 

[CamHostage]

Come on, can we not?
Nothing personal, Ibiza, I get that people are excited for UE5 to finally start delivering on its promise, but we really don't need so many shares of things that are not things. None of these "remake" projects by fans will ever be made into anything tangible, and when you look past what they show you realize an actual game remade the way they're building these demos can't really work that way.

Fill up the main channel with these "XX Mind-Blowing Remake in UE5, Can't Wait to PLAY!!" posts if we have to, so they are easier to ignore, but at this point, it'd be better if we did not bump UE5 threads unless it's actual UE5 games or UE5 production demos.

 

[Dr.D00p]

And to think we'll only have to wait until back compat patches on PS7 & Xbox Whatever, for them to run as the developers intended...

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Probably FF7 Rebirth (Remake Part II), considering the first part was UE4 and the sequel is PS5 only.

Releasing Winter 2023 / Spring 2024.

Trailer is very compressed.




KH4 when revealed in Spring this year was shown on UE4, but they stated the game was currently in the process of transitioning to UE5 and the full game would release on that. Release date unknown, but I'm gonna guess later in 2024.

"The full game will be made with Unreal Engine 5, and the quality of lighting and detail will be several levels higher".

 

[Flabagast]

Layers of fear trailer must be showing the first real ingame footage of the engine in a real game no ?
(I am not certain that what was shown from Hellblade II is really "in game" - level of graphics will probably be the same but I am not sure we will see the 1:1 scenes of the trailers in the final product + I am not 100% sure that it was shot in Unreal Engine 5 neither).

 

[Black_Stride]

Layers of fear trailer must be showing the first real ingame footage of the engine in a real game no ?
(I am not certain that what was shown from Hellblade II is really "in game" - level of graphics will probably be the same but I am not sure we will see the 1:1 scenes of the trailers in the final product + I am not 100% sure that it was shot in Unreal Engine 5 neither).

Are we still saying Hellblade 2 was not gameplay?
Epic and Ninja Theory both confirmed that was gameplay....but nope we still have to NOT believe it.

Stalker 2 showed gameplay, but obviously that also wasnt gameplay they even showed the editor, but again nope not gameplay.

Fortnite is currently running on Unreal Engine 5, but that doesnt count because reasons?

Redfall showed gameplay but again thats obviously just CGI and not Unreal Engine 5.

 

[CamHostage]

Are we still saying Hellblade 2 was not gameplay?
Epic and Ninja Theory both confirmed that was gameplay....but nope we still have to NOT believe it.

Stalker 2 showed gameplay, but obviously that also wasnt gameplay they even showed the editor, but again nope not gameplay.

Fortnite is currently running on Unreal Engine 5, but that doesnt count because reasons?

Redfall showed gameplay but again thats obviously just CGI and not Unreal Engine 5.

So, it's complicated when we get into the discussion of crowning the "First Next-Gen Unreal Engine 5 Studio-Produced Project", for a number of reasons...

• UE5 is an update of UE4 (not a total rebuild ala UE3,) and so projects can technically "upgrade" from 4 to 5.
• Several of the features of UE5 have been introduced over the years through UE4, and for a long time UE 4.2X was sort of a waystation where new things like Niagara and Chaos and MetaHumans have been rolling out for use in the previous version.
• The two tentpole features of UE5, Lumen and Nanite, do not have to be used in UE5 games (and are technically still under development.) It seems crazy, when we see these features looking so good and doing so much in demos and fan projects, that a professional developer might not use these, but in another thread somebody made mention that in development, most of the first titles from professional studios who have shifted versions will not use Lumen or Nanite, as they are either too deep into production to shift or have their own systems or third-party systems in place.
• Although the idea of UE5 being an "upgrade", some even calling it UE4+, has some reasons of to say, that's not technically correct; UE5 is its own thing, and there are some things it has outmoded that make UE4 better for certain uses, or for projects already underway in UE4 to not make the jump to UE5 even though it's the engine version that's all the rage.

So, on the specific games you mentioned, Fortnite is the one no-doubt title. It's out, and it's running on Unreal Engine 5 (It's also the demonstration of why the grass isn't always automatically greener on the other side, as UE5 Fortnite has mostly been smooth but not perfect.) That, and Matrix Awakens, of course.

Layers of Fears was announced as a UE5 project, but that's just a teaser so we don't know what it's built on (probably UE5, since that's fairly solid for non-realtime, but then is it a "game trailer" or just a CGI advertisement for a game?) Redfall is said to be UE5 but none of the articles about it being "confirmed" actually link to the studio confirming this? (The gameplay trailer didn't have any engine designation or footnote, so they've shown it playing but still haven't mentioned what that footage was built on AFAIK, correct me if there's more out there.)

The situation with Hellblade and Stalker get interesting... Hellblade 2 was confirmed by Microsoft as a UE5 project in 2020, but in a hazy way of "The team will be building the game on Unreal 5..." Since then, I do not recall Ninja Theory making mention of UE5, even when they showed gameplay the gameplay trailer in Dec 2021. It is unknown when (or even if) Ninja Theory made the jump to UE5 or had access to the pre-Early Access. We at least do know now that the 2019 introduction of Hellblade 2 that people were wondering if it was UE5, that wasn't UE5. (The first anybody outside of Epic had workable versions of UE5 outside of Epic was in November 2020, when The Coaliton and maybe others were invited in for the prototype, before Early Access went public in May of 2021.) So maybe the 2021 Gameplay Trailer (the one with the troll) was UE5, and maybe-maybe the June 2021 A Saga in the Making footage was in UE5, but who knows right now. STALKER 2 was the first major studio production to actually show work inside UE5 editor and to say "we're running on UE5" ...but when did they make that move, and had they moved over fully, or was that half-in/half-out processes working in both UE4 and UE5 tools? The team was shooting for an April 2022 release date and had spent most of its time in UE4, so unless the UE5 conversion was rock-solid and easily compatible with their own custom tools (or just so undeniably better that the effort would be worth it,) it is a question of when it would have fit in for a team in development since 2018 would switch horses on a project with 16 months left to work (or how much "we're running on UE5" really meant under their hood.) Going by the timeline of availability, the December 2020 In-Engine Trailer couldn't possibly have been in UE5, and then the June 2021 Gameplay Trailer, that might fit in that window of upgrading but they didn't say at the time or since. Was that Lumen or Nanite in the video, or just the same great GSC tech they had already been working on for 3 years prior? Of course, since then the development team has had some real-world issues to deal with and the dick-measuring battle of who is and isn't on UE5 lost its fun, but hopefully we'll get some more info on their UE5 integration process later.

...I would say we're still waiting for that one game that comes out all-guns blazing with an announcement that says, "Built with Nanite, lit by Lumen, powered by the next-generation Unreal Engine 5, this is the game delivering next generation game technology..." We've gotten a few tastes of UE5, we've probably gotten a few more nibbles and just didn't know it, and of course we have Matrix Awakens, (which weirdly solves the question and leaves a giant questionmark dangling for UE5 hype-mongers...), but as far as I would call it, we still don't have that first definitive, from-scratch UE5 AAA game unveiled or available.

 

[Black_Stride]

...I would say we're still waiting for that one game that comes out all-guns blazing with an announcement that says, "Built with Nanite, lit by Lumen, powered by the next-generation Unreal Engine 5, this is the game delivering next generation game technology..." We've gotten a few tastes of UE5, we've probably gotten a few more nibbles and just didn't know it, and of course we have Matrix Awakens, (which weirdly solves the question and leaves a giant questionmark dangling for UE5 hype-mongers...), but as far as I would call it, we still don't have that first definitive, from-scratch UE5 AAA game unveiled or available.

Thats a long ass post you lucky i read it all.

Devs are going to use nanite for static meshes cuz it has near no cost and a lot and i mean alot of advantages, however obviously if your meshes are already optimized or are dynamic there isnt much reason to use Nanite. The weird switching done in the Matrix demo seems like more work than its worth so I can see why some devs might not use Nanite.
Lumen is good but is still quite expensive and if you dont need dynamic lighting or have a solution that gets the job done there isnt a reason to use it.
And even on PC I still activate RT instead of relying on Lumen, it isnt a perfect solution just yet.

Saying "must use Lumen and Nanite" to be a true UE5 game is a disservice to the talented devs out there who might have better solutions to some of the issues with Unreal Engine.
Saying project must have "started in UE5" is even worse.

 

[Flabagast]

So, it's complicated when we get into the discussion of crowning the "First Next-Gen Unreal Engine 5 Studio-Produced Project", for a number of reasons...

• UE5 is an update of UE4 (not a total rebuild ala UE3,) and so projects can technically "upgrade" from 4 to 5.
• Several of the features of UE5 have been introduced over the years through UE4, and for a long time UE 4.2X was sort of a waystation where new things like Niagara and Chaos and MetaHumans have been rolling out for use in the previous version.
• The two tentpole features of UE5, Lumen and Nanite, do not have to be used in UE5 games (and are technically still under development.) It seems crazy, when we see these features looking so good and doing so much in demos and fan projects, that a professional developer might not use these, but in another thread somebody made mention that in development, most of the first titles from professional studios who have shifted versions will not use Lumen or Nanite, as they are either too deep into production to shift or have their own systems or third-party systems in place.
• Although the idea of UE5 being an "upgrade", some even calling it UE4+, has some reasons of to say, that's not technically correct; UE5 is its own thing, and there are some things it has outmoded that make UE4 better for certain uses, or for projects already underway in UE4 to not make the jump to UE5 even though it's the engine version that's all the rage.

So, on the specific games you mentioned, Fortnite is the one no-doubt title. It's out, and it's running on Unreal Engine 5 (It's also the demonstration of why the grass isn't always automatically greener on the other side, as UE5 Fortnite has mostly been smooth but not perfect.) That, and Matrix Awakens, of course.

Layers of Fears was announced as a UE5 project, but that's just a teaser so we don't know what it's built on (probably UE5, since that's fairly solid for non-realtime, but then is it a "game trailer" or just a CGI advertisement for a game?) Redfall is said to be UE5 but none of the articles about it being "confirmed" actually link to the studio confirming this? (The gameplay trailer didn't have any engine designation or footnote, so they've shown it playing but still haven't mentioned what that footage was built on AFAIK, correct me if there's more out there.)

The situation with Hellblade and Stalker get interesting... Hellblade 2 was confirmed by Microsoft as a UE5 project in 2020, but in a hazy way of "The team will be building the game on Unreal 5..." Since then, I do not recall Ninja Theory making mention of UE5, even when they showed gameplay the gameplay trailer in Dec 2021. It is unknown when (or even if) Ninja Theory made the jump to UE5 or had access to the pre-Early Access. We at least do know now that the 2019 introduction of Hellblade 2 that people were wondering if it was UE5, that wasn't UE5. (The first anybody outside of Epic had workable versions of UE5 outside of Epic was in November 2020, when The Coaliton and maybe others were invited in for the prototype, before Early Access went public in May of 2021.) So maybe the 2021 Gameplay Trailer (the one with the troll) was UE5, and maybe-maybe the June 2021 A Saga in the Making footage was in UE5, but who knows right now. STALKER 2 was the first major studio production to actually show work inside UE5 editor and to say "we're running on UE5" ...but when did they make that move, and had they moved over fully, or was that half-in/half-out processes working in both UE4 and UE5 tools? The team was shooting for an April 2022 release date and had spent most of its time in UE4, so unless the UE5 conversion was rock-solid and easily compatible with their own custom tools (or just so undeniably better that the effort would be worth it,) it is a question of when it would have fit in for a team in development since 2018 would switch horses on a project with 16 months left to work (or how much "we're running on UE5" really meant under their hood.) Going by the timeline of availability, the December 2020 In-Engine Trailer couldn't possibly have been in UE5, and then the June 2021 Gameplay Trailer, that might fit in that window of upgrading but they didn't say at the time or since. Was that Lumen or Nanite in the video, or just the same great GSC tech they had already been working on for 3 years prior? Of course, since then the development team has had some real-world issues to deal with and the dick-measuring battle of who is and isn't on UE5 lost its fun, but hopefully we'll get some more info on their UE5 integration process later.

...I would say we're still waiting for that one game that comes out all-guns blazing with an announcement that says, "Built with Nanite, lit by Lumen, powered by the next-generation Unreal Engine 5, this is the game delivering next generation game technology..." We've gotten a few tastes of UE5, we've probably gotten a few more nibbles and just didn't know it, and of course we have Matrix Awakens, (which weirdly solves the question and leaves a giant questionmark dangling for UE5 hype-mongers...), but as far as I would call it, we still don't have that first definitive, from-scratch UE5 AAA game unveiled or available.

Thank you, that’s what I was asking.

I did not know about Fortnite, but that one is a special case. The question is thus still very much open.

 

[buenoblue]

Yeah I'm not really hyped for UE5. The trailers and demos I've seen run so poorly it doesn't seem worth.

 

[CamHostage]

Saying "must use Lumen and Nanite" to be a true UE5 game is a disservice to the talented devs out there who might have better solutions to some of the issues with Unreal Engine.
Saying project must have "started in UE5" is even worse.

Sure, I agree for the most part. I'm only making a generalization as far as what line in the sand would be drawn by the general public as far as what would or would not "qualify" as an Unreal Engine 5 project.

"Started in UE5", as in a from-scratch UE5 project, those will still be years away because games take a long time and almost every developer with an eye on UE5 has been in pre-production or even in production within UE4 for a long time now. (And, as I mentioned, many distinct features of UE5 came into being within UE4, plus putting "5" on Unreal Engine doesn't mean this is some magic box where things like World Partition or even Lumen or Nanite couldn't have existed, it's just that that was the demarcation point of the version update.) We might be at the point where we forget about UE4 or any of the special features of UE5 by the time a AAA game actually comes out that spent its first day of existence inside UE5, but it's a frame of reference as far as "how much UE5" is in a UE5 project.

And then as far as developers who have their own solutions, yep, Epic isn't alone out there trying to bring virualized geometry or global illumination to big games; it may not even be the best out there. That's one of the reasons I make the distinction with STALKER 2, that they say, "we're running on UE5", but the timeline doesn't work out for people to look at everything shown of the game and assume it's all UE5. Most of what we've seen, if not everything in preview footage so far, has been in UE4, with all the custom work by the team that they've been creating for years now. "Running on UE5" can mean a lot of things, and even if it doesn't mean what people think, (that it's lit with Lumen and laid out with Nanite and is using every one of the bigly-hyped new features of UE5,) that doesn't mean anything bad for the game. They had their own tools in place the first two times they showed the game, and it looked great, and it's unlikely they would have thrown a lot of that away (assuming it was as good in play as it looked in trailers) to bet on Epic's WIP Lumen or Nanite tech. They may even have their own GI (I would assume so) or virtual geo system in place.

So if STALKER 2 comes out and it uses Enlighten or a custom tool for its GI, that doesn't make it "not a UE5 game". But from a general consumer perspective, we want to see Lumen and Nanite in action and we want to see UE5 features showcased in final-form action as promised back in 2019. If most of GSC's tools are custom, that'll be great to look at and compare to what else is out in its time, but analysist and prognosticators will still have some boxes left to check off on their scorecards.

 

[CamHostage]

Devs are going to use nanite for static meshes cuz it has near no cost and a lot and i mean alot of advantages, however obviously if your meshes are already optimized or are dynamic there isnt much reason to use Nanite. The weird switching done in the Matrix demo seems like more work than its worth so I can see why some devs might not use Nanite.
Lumen is good but is still quite expensive and if you dont need dynamic lighting or have a solution that gets the job done there isnt a reason to use it.

I would have assumed so. I read very little downside to Nanite (none, actually, but I'm not a developer.)

...That said, in a different thread, somebody mentioned to not expect first-gen-UE5 major productions to use Nanite or Lumen, that everybody they knew were still using either custom or legacy systems.

Lumen, that makes sense, it's very heavy and sometimes iffy, plus there are lots of other options out there as well as custom GI solutions. For Nanite, I was and still am confused, but even The Coalition didn't describe Nanite as an outright home-run during the Alpha Point presentation (though ultimately they did say, "Anything that can be Nanite should be Nanite".) I don't know if that's a reliability concern or adaptation challenge for custom work, or if it's a matter of time (seems like it's as easy as flipping a switch on assets, and although I'm sure it gets more complicated/convoluted than that, why would you bother with the challenge and potential headache of UE5 upgrading but then leave your assets as is?), or what would be the hold-up? I'm unclear on why somebody would say that or what the circumstances are behind the scenes.

Either way, you can't get every model to play nice in Nanite (it still has its unsupported functions, plus cartoon low-poly assets are not going to offer any savings, though I don't know if ultimately there's a downside to tag them for Nanite anyway?,) but most-every 3D games has lots and lots of chunks that could be optimized, so it's great to know that it's easy and practically all upsides to using it.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

*UNOFFICIAL FAN CONCEPT TRAILER, NOT A REAL VIDEOGAME.

Would you like to see a sequel to the incredible game Sekiro? Take a look at this GREAT footage from different Unreal Engine 5 reels and projects and imagine how Sekiro 2 might possibly look like.

 

[CamHostage]

IbizaPocholo, we should be done with these "What XX would look like if faked in UE5" posts, no?

The engine has been out since April, it's been in public for a year now... we're well in the phase of talking about real games now, so we should ideally stick to that in threads like this one. This thread was always about actual Unreal Engine 5 productions; bumping it with fan projects (especially fan projects pretending to be real games) is kind of murking up the original purpose of tracking games by studios being made with the engine. Make a thread if you want to highlight fan'makes, but IMO we should either let this thread die out or put it back to tracking in-production UE5 games.

 

[CamHostage]

On the actual topic, for those who didn't catch it, there was a new mainstream UE5 game announced this week. No footage or screens, seems like it's still in early development, and the developer has not yet done a AAA game as far as I would call it (they work largely in the VR/licensed/indie space, having done Puzzle Bobble VR and Creed: Rise to Glory and Walking Dead Onslaught,) but this could be a step up for studio Survios if they harness the tech and the brand right.

https://wccftech.com/aliens-single-player-unreal-engine-5-game-survios-announced-pc-console-vr/

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/new-...e-announced-will-use-unreal-engine-5.1639095/

 

[Hot5pur]

Eagerly awaiting these games and it's crazy that nearly 2 years into this console generation we have such rare examples of what current gen will actually look like.
Even playing CP2077 maxed out, it's nice but...meh. Late 2022 is looking alright and 2023, so we'll see.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

On the actual topic, for those who didn't catch it, there was a new mainstream UE5 game announced this week. No footage or screens, seems like it's still in early development, and the developer has not yet done a AAA game as far as I would call it (they work largely in the VR/licensed/indie space, having done Puzzle Bobble VR and Creed: Rise to Glory and Walking Dead Onslaught,) but this could be a step up for studio Survios if they harness the tech and the brand right.

https://wccftech.com/aliens-single-player-unreal-engine-5-game-survios-announced-pc-console-vr/

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/new-...e-announced-will-use-unreal-engine-5.1639095/

That’s nice and all, but almost all of the fancy tech in UE5 (mostly Nanite and Lumen), isn’t VR ready…

 

[CamHostage]

That’s nice and all, but almost all of the fancy tech in UE5 (mostly Nanite and Lumen), isn’t VR ready…

Yep, I didn't go into it here, but that's exactly what I posted in the Aliens thread. Nanite and Lumen currently are not officially supported in UE5; Nanite for VR is on the roadmap but as of UE5.1 is still not built out, and then Lumen for VR is unsupported and actively discouraged in the UE5 tech docs: "While VR can be supported, the high frame rates and resolutions required by VR make dynamic global illumination a poor fit."

Not that you have to use Nanite or Lumen to call your project a "Creation made with Unreal Engine 5", (or that it's not possible to use proprietary solutions which might beat Epic's tools in a version of an engine on a certain type of game,) but those two techs are what customers are perking their ears up for when they hear "New game on UE5."

(*It's possible that, with PSVR2 projects, Epic or studios have some ways of getting Nanite or other virtualized geometry in the VR development process and it's just not in an official build yet? There's not been much headway though, as far as I know, in VR in UE5; it's officially a function of the software now (Early Access I believe had no VR options) but otherwise it's been quiet on either the official front or even independent development fronts. )

 

[StateofMajora]

Bit worried about how Witcher 4 will turn out. CDPR seems to be in total development hell, then switching engines on top of that.

 

[lostinblue]

Bit worried about how Witcher 4 will turn out. CDPR seems to be in total development hell, then switching engines on top of that.

I doubt they'll walk into a Cyberpunk 2077 situation, but they'll surely grind their staff quite a bit and go through several delays. The engine switch was probably necessary, but the subsystems and scripting are bound to be a problem, which was the main reason they kept going on the old tech.

It's also a bit doubtful it'll be as good as Witcher 3.

 

[samoilaaa]

Bit worried about how Witcher 4 will turn out. CDPR seems to be in total development hell, then switching engines on top of that.

the development should be easier in theory for a couple of reasons
1. Less platforms to optimize the game for
2. easier to use engine with features that can speed up development time
3. they already have a world created unlike cyberpunk where they had to make the story from scratch

 

[StateofMajora]

the development should be easier in theory for a couple of reasons
1. Less platforms to optimize the game for
2. easier to use engine with features that can speed up development time
3. they already have a world created unlike cyberpunk where they had to make the story from scratch

Huh? There's an extra platform to optimize for this time : Xbox series s.

For Witcher 3 it was just xb1, PS4 and pc

Also depending on how long development takes they might add switch 2 to the mix given that it shouldn't be that much weaker than series s

 

[samoilaaa]

Huh? There's an extra platform to optimize for this time : Xbox series s.

For Witcher 3 it was just xb1, PS4 and pc

Also depending on how long development takes they might add switch 2 to the mix given that it shouldn't be that much weaker than series s

i was talking about cyberpunk , they had to make the game work on 4 consoles

 

[StateofMajora]

i was talking about cyberpunk , they had to make the game work on 4 consoles

True, that base Xbox one version was worse than the PS3 version of shadow of Mordor lol.

I feel like that was one time where they could have made a deal with Ms and Sony to not release on base consoles, but only the one x and pro. Of course that alone wouldn't have saved it but it would have given them some breathing room

 

[Lunatic_Gamer]

Major Games Confirmed to Be Using Unreal Engine 5

Unreal Engine 5 is the latest version of Epic Games’ creation platform, and several upcoming games are confirmed to utilize it.

gamerant.com

 

[CamHostage]

It's kind of weird that it's UE5 has been out for over a year with Early Access and yet there aren't a lot of playable examples out there for people to try, but here's one that's been available for a little while:

Low Light Combat is a free-to-play FPS from Wolfire Games (makers of curious stuff like Overgrowth, Receiver, and Lugaru.) It's largely made as a test-case of Lumen, in that it's a FPS played mostly in the dark attacks that create light. It doesn't have bots and the player count is low, but the effects may be worth playing around with.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Unreal Engine 5 might truly bring the heat with these next-generation games for 2022 and beyond.

0:00 Intro
0:28 Project M
1:30 Kingdom Hearts 4
2:35 ILL
3:37 The Invincible
4:31 Layers of Fear
5:15 Redfall
6:11 THe Day Before
7:03 Hell is us
7:51 Ark 2
8:26 Black Myth Wukong
9:30 Quantum Error
10:29 Instinction
11:24 Wronged Us
12:13 Stalker 2
13:03 Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

 

[CamHostage]

Ashes of Creation has an interesting direct comparison of what UE5 brings to the table in real-case terms.

(*Obviously, we've seen the amazing work of Nanite and Lumen in demos, but those are kitbased, mostly non-interactive sample projects. They don't have to work or work well, they just have to look cool. This is a game that is actually being made for you to play.)

Understand what you're going to look at before jumping into comments: Ashes of Creation is ultimately a game that has spent most of its life in a UE4 environment, and also it is a MMO with a persistent, multi-user environment to present (as opposed to a game tailored to cinematic visuals designed for a single player,) also the developer has a lot of custom work and external tool integration put into this which sidelines either UE4 or UE5 comparison since it's doing its own thing. So don't expect the most next-gen thing you've ever seen. But you can see the changes in clarity and subtle reality UE5's Lumen brings to the game in development (...as well as some performance issues.) This is not the most up-to-date footage of the game (the YT channel has better footage of the game's recent progress) but it's a clear snapshot of before-and-after when the team committed to making this a UE5 MMO instead of a UE4 MMO.

UNREAL ENGINE 4 VERSION (posted July 2021)


UNREAL ENGINE 5 VERSION (posted December 2021)



There is also a nice Ashes of Creation UE5 developer walkthrough where a designer plays an area of the game in its updated version and talks about some of the improvements that UE5 brought to the project in the switch. Their dragon wing rendering if nothing else has for sure come a long way since Alpha One...

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Unreal Engine 5 – Epic’s real-time 3D creation tool – is raising the bar for photoreal visuals and tactile, immersive environments. UE5 was released proper last year, with game development studios the earliest adopters of the tech, utilizing early versions to craft incredible looking games complete with immersive lighting and texture effects to unprecedented levels of natural detail.

 

[hlm666]

Nightingale switched over the UE5 mid 2022, so that's another.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Unreal Engine 5 has been in the news a lot lately, between tech demos, the Metahuman Animator stage presentation, and even Fortnite's recent 5.1 udpdate. But how do the Unreal Engine 3 and Unreal Engine 4 games stack up against their demos? We made this comparison so you could decide for yourself.

At the State of Unreal 2023 talk at GDC, Unreal Engine 5.2 was detailed, along with a demonstration from Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 showing impressive facial capture technology. But Unreal Engine Demos have always been impressive for their time, so here's hoping the Unreal Engine 5 games that eventually release will impress just as much.

 

[Supple]

You left out Tekken 8.

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

DQ12 is UE5? Game of the universe

Really looking forward to it. I pray that its not turn based!

 

[Roman Empire]

DQ12 is UE5? Game of the universe.

That caught me off guard. I'm more excited for a new DQ game than ever.

 

[RJMacready73]

Whatever happened to the tomb raiderish tech demo Epic showed off running on PS5 hardware way back when? I'd love them to release that on PS5 purely for a visual walkabout

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Unreal Engine 5 continues to bestow artists Worldwide with the tools to craft massively detailed worlds. It seems, at this stage, the only limit to its capability rests with the artist’s imagination, as UE5’s principal innovations – it’s capability for efficiently rendering huge geometric detail, it’s immersive dynamic lighting, and most recently it’s new framework for animating human emotions – are leading to some jaw dropping demonstrations.

 

[Melfice7]

All these "graphically stunningly" ue5 demos and all i can think of is:

 

[IbizaPocholo]

After a tentative early access period beginning in 2020 before launching proper in 2022, we’re now starting to see the fruits of game developers’ labor, of those studios that have adopted Unreal Engine 5 as their go-to game engine.

The games on this rundown are all graphically stunning, showcasing UE5’s capability for film quality textures, dynamic lighting, and realistic facial animations. It’s still early days for the technology too; as this console generation develops, expect more studios to release games that realize the UE5’s full potential.