Unreal Engine 5 is set to launch in 2021, and recently Epic Games introduced its tech demo on PlayStation 5 titled Lumen in the Land of Nanite. Similar to the Infiltrator demo back in 2013, this demo features dazzling sunlight illuminating fields of golden flowers (well, actually just dirt and gravel), majestic caves, and a scene of an entire city collapsing at the end.
The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, mentioned that not every frame needs to render all 10 billion polygons since some polygons are smaller than a pixel and theoretically cannot be seen; UE5 will calculate this and render the polygon count optimally while maintaining frame detail.
Additionally, UE5 will simplify and streamline cross-platform game development. Developers can just input high-quality images into the engine, and it will automatically adjust to fit various devices. Sweeney also added that the SSD architecture of the PS5 is top-notch, far surpassing current PC SSDs, significantly improving image data load times.
But there’s good news for everyone: current PC hardware is still capable of handling graphics processing to achieve the stunning image quality seen in the above tech demo, although it does require quite a powerful setup.
The UE5 preview is set to release in early 2021, with the official version launching later in the same year. Games currently using UE4 can upgrade to UE5 seamlessly, and Epic will be implementing it in Fortnite.
Source: PC Gamer, translated by Gearvn