Almost two years after the first announcement, Epic Games has officially released the Unreal Engine 5 gaming engine, now available for developers to download.
The updated engine includes a number of improvements, including increased performance and an updated user interface, but the most significant changes come from several technologies designed for a more photorealistic image.
These include Lumen, “a fully dynamic global illumination solution” for more true-to-life lighting, and Nanite, which Epic says “gives you the ability to create games and experiences with massive amounts of geometric detail.”
While this is the first time the engine is available widely for game developers, a few major UE5 projects have already been released to the public through Epic itself. Last December, Fortnite moved over to Unreal 5, and at the same time, Epic released The Matrix Awakens, an impressive tech demo that merged the likenesses of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss with a large open-world populated by the developer’s Metahuman characters.
As part of today’s launch of UE5, Epic is also making a sample of The Matrix Awakens’ city — sans the Hollywood stars — available for game developers to build off of. “I think we’re going to see some pretty awesome stuff,” Libreri says. Epic is also releasing a sample multiplayer shooter called Lyra, built in UE5, which looks a lot like Unreal Tournament and is something the developer says can be a “hands-on learning resource” for game creators.