After years of development and early access testing, Epic Games has just released its next-generation game engine for the world to download. Unreal Engine 5. This new entry into the long-running series of game development engines has been made with ease of use in mind, as the developers behind the engine have streamlined the tools to be even easier to use than ever before, regardless of your skill level. Whether users are working in small groups or massive teams, Unreal Engine 5 will have everything needed to make a next-generation video game or video project.
During the half-hour-long “State of Unreal” premiere on YouTube, many of the developers behind Unreal Engine including the founder and CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, explained how many of the new features worked, while showcasing the previously revealed “Matrix Awakens” tech demo and Fortnite to showcase just how efficient the new engine works with stronger visuals and more stable framerates. Many of those key features include Lumen, a fully dynamic global illumination solution for indirect lighting effects that can be manipulated on the fly, to Nanita, which gives developers the ability to create games with massive amounts of geometric detail.
The biggest part of the presentation was the announcement of Project Lyra, a sample game that comes complete with Unreal Engine 5. Project Lyra is a simple team-based third-person shooter with full online play connectivity that can be edited and manipulated all within the Unreal Engine 5 development application. This has been included in the package as a way to introduce developers to the Unreal Engine 5 dev tools, and allow users to redevelop the game however they want. Users can add features, alter the map, and change textures around, allowing them to turn Project Lyra into a completely different game.
As with their previous Unreal Engine 4, anyone can download and develop games and videos with Unreal Engine 5 completely for free, as well as sell their games on any marketplace available. Creators will only have to pay royalty fees when their game makes a considerable amount of profit, which is the perfect way to encourage developers new and old to put their best foot forward with their projects.
Unreal Engine 5 is available now on PC via Windows 10 64-bit, macOS Big Sur, and Linux Ubuntu. Users can download the new engine straight from the official Unreal Engine website.
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