13 May 2020 5:03 PM +00:00 UTC

Unreal Engine 5: Release Date, Lumen, Nanite, Fortnite On PS5 And Xbox Series X And Everything You Need To Know

Game developer Epic Games has revealed a brand-new game engine as part of the Summer Game Fest, an online event showcasing and revealing upcoming game releases and technology coming to current and the next generation of game consoles.

The new engine was showcased on PS5 rather than Xbox Series X.

Unreal Engine 5 is truly an astonishing next step in the world of gaming - let's take a look at what it's all about.

Release Date

Unreal Engine 5, the predecessor of the incredibly popular Unreal Engine 4, is slated for a 2021 release and improves on UE4 with the additions of Lumen lighting and Nanite geometry systems.

Unreal Engine 5 Footage On PS5

What is Lumen?

Unreal Engine 5

The new lighting system allows light to bounce and scale in a limitless number of ways in older game engines, this would have been extremely difficult to achieve.

It also responds to any forms of lighting changes immediately, enabling artists to build new and more accurate lighting systems.

This is extremely exciting news. The new lighting system will increase the levels of immersion, creating some gorgeous new environments in upcoming releases.

What is Nanite?

Unreal Engine 5 Nanite

Nanite geometry has been described as a means “to create as much geometric detail as the eye can see.” Older game engines have had to tone down various graphical elements due to polygon limitations.

Thanks to the new system, it can create images which have a similar level of detail and realism that is found in blockbuster movies using CGI.

Fortnite On PS5 & Xbox Series X

Fortnite Unreal Engine 5

As seen in the tech demo recorded on PlayStation 5, next-generation games are going to look very, very pretty indeed!

The potential for developers to create extremely detailed and photorealistic games has never been higher and thanks to Unreal Engine 5, next-gen games on console and new PC games could be the most realistic titles that have ever been released.

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Alongside the announcement of Unreal Engine 5, Epic also revealed that Fortnite will be releasing on next-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X) at launch and will be transitioned to UE5 when the engine releases next year.

They also revealed the Epic Online Services, which gives developers free access to the same kinds of tools used to support Epic Games’ massive Fortnite player base.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Console News page.

Jon Nicholson

FPS Editor

Call Of Duty Expert

Jon is our Call of Duty expert and our FPS Editor. He's worked with Gfinity since 2014, covering Activision's shooter franchise. When he's not topping the scoreboards, you'll find him on EA Sports FC or sim racing.

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