--- title: "This Hyper-Realistic Game Engine Looks Almost Like Real Life" description: "Software developer Epic Games just released a stunning and near photorealistic tech demo of its latest video game engine called Unreal Engine 5." date: "2020-05-13" modified: "2020-05-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/unreal-engine-5-demo" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "epic games" - "unreal engine" - "video game" - "video game developer" --- # This Hyper-Realistic Game Engine Looks Almost Like Real Life ![Software developer Epic Games just released a stunning and near photorealistic tech demo of its latest video game engine called Unreal Engine 5.]() *\Image: Epic Games\* Software developer Epic Games, the company behind "Fortnite," just released the first look at Unreal Engine 5, the next generation of its popular game engine — and it looks genuinely spectacular. Epic Games' flashy new demo, "Lumen in the Land of Nanite," runs in real-time on a PlayStation 5 and looks extraordinarily impressive. The company claims it could "achieve photorealism on par with movie CG and real life." https://vimeo.com/417882964 The demo offers a tantalizing glimpse of the fidelity that next-gen consoles — the long-awaited PlayStation 5 and Xbox One Series X — could offer. Epic highlighted two new technologies in an [official blog post](). First off, "Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry" give**s** artists the ability to create art "comprising hundreds of millions or billions of polygons" that can be directly imported into Unreal Engine. Second, "Lumen" offers developers a "fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes." That means individual rays of light can bounce many times from surfaces, creating "indirect specular reflections in huge, detailed environments, at scales ranging from kilometers to millimeters." Of course, it's easy to be taken in by a showy new demo. Back in 2016, [we were wowed]() by a demo of Unreal Engine 4 that now looks — well, not that impressive. Still, this latest version, at first bluff, is majestic — a step along the way to games that could be almost indistinguishable from reality. A preview of the new engine will be available in early 2021 and will support both next-gen and current-gen consoles, as well as PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. **READ MORE:** [A first look at Unreal Engine 5]() \[Epic Games\] **More on Unreal Engine:** *[The Future of Gaming? Check Out the Remarkable Graphics of Unreal Engine 4]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()