Two years after unveiling its latest engine in 2020, Epic Games has officially released Unreal Engine 5. This is the same gaming engine that a handful of upcoming games will use in the years to come, and was also used by last year's demo, The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience.
For its full launch, Epic dropped photorealistic sample images as well as a breakdown of all the enhancements along with a playable demo.
Unreal Engine 5 was the highlight of the recently concluded State of Unreal event, where Epic Games' founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, stepped onto the stage to explain what makes the company's new engine better than the rest of the competition. More importantly, Epic used this opportunity to give developers a starter kit for their projects. Lyra Starter Game is a downloadable shooter that serves as a convenient learning resource for those who would like to create games using Unreal Engine 5, as well as learn more about what the engine can do.
Another sample project, The City Sample, is more of a showcase of the creation of the Matrix Awakens demo. The "game" comes complete with crowds of NPCs, vehicles, and buildings, as well as everything making up a bustling city.
