Highlights
- Unreal Engine 5.4 is out, aiming to streamline 3D animation and allow complex geometry work.
- Epic Games used Unreal Engine 5.4 for Fortnite development, highlighting animation upgrades and machine learning capabilities.
- Exciting upcoming releases like Marvel 1943 and Black Myth: Wukong showcase Unreal Engine 5’s potential.
Epic Games has released Unreal Engine 5.4 along with a video highlighting its improvements. Epic has been working on the Unreal Engine for a long time and as the developer has grown, so has the ambition of its engine. Unreal Engine 5 was released in 2022, and this iteration of the engine focuses on streamlining real-time 3D animation even further and allowing more complex work on geometry to be done.
Many are excited about the ability the engine has to make new titles look as stunning as possible. Recently, Unreal Engine 5.4 graphics were shown off in the trailer for Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, and although there is little known about the overall game, plenty of gamers are looking forward to seeing more of it.
Dune: Awakening Reveals How It Is Using Unreal Engine 5
Developers for the upcoming survival MMO, Dune: Awakening, elaborate on their decision to use Unreal Engine 5 to bring the world of Arrakis to life.
Unreal Engine 5.4, which Epic Games has been using internally for development on Fortnite and its additional game modes, is now available to the public. Highlighted improvements to the engine include upgrades to the engine’s animation toolset, which allows animators to rig characters more easily and author animation in-engine. Additionally, a Modular Control rig that builds rigs from modular parts instead of graphs has been included as an experimental feature.
Unreal Engine 5’s virtualized micropolygon geometry system named Nanite has been upgraded with an experimental Tessellation feature, as well as Variable Rate Shading for performance, and added support for spline mesh workflows. Rendering features such as Temporal Super Resolution have been updated for stability and performance, and machine learning capabilities progress as Unreal Engine 5.4 shifts its Neural Network Engine from experimental to Beta. There is a long list of games using Unreal Engine 5, and they may be able to benefit from the way the engine can simplify development.
The Potential of Unreal Engine 5
There are plenty of upcoming game releases to look forward to that Unreal Engine 5 is being used for. Aside from Marvel 1943, one of the most visually impressive games set for a 2024 release is Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese-mythology-inspired game using gameplay similar to popular action RPGs like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the Nioh series. With combat as fast-paced and visuals as dense as previews show, many are hopeful that the final product is reflective of everything they have seen so far.
There are plenty of gamers excited to see the new things made possible by Unreal Engine 5. The engine is recognized by plenty of gamers as one of the best video game engines on the market, and with consistent evolution, the reputation it has for producing some of the most stunning graphics will likely improve. This includes upcoming releases such as the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red’s move to Unreal was confusing to some because the team already had an in-house engine, but other Cyberpunk 2077 fans are looking forward to the potential that the release has. With constantly updating games like Fortnite and upcoming releases like Black Myth Wukong, gamers and developers alike may be able to see more of what Unreal Engine 5 can offer.
