An innovative new tech demo powered by Unreal Engine 5.5.3 has been released, offering players an immersive walkthrough of a futuristic cyberpunk city. Developed by the talented artist Sciontidesign, this project draws inspiration from the iconic Samaritan UE3 demo, the visually striking Blade Runner franchise, and the immersive world of Cyberpunk 2077. The demo was showcased running on high-end hardware, featuring an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM (6000MHz), ensuring a seamless and breathtaking experience.
This technical demonstration is a testament to the power of dynamic lighting, showcasing the advanced capabilities of Nanite with Distance Field Meshes and Ambient Occlusion, combined with Screen Space Reflections. It's noteworthy that advanced features such as Lumen, Path Tracing, RTX, DLSS, or baked lighting were not used, highlighting what Unreal Engine 5 can achieve even without its most sophisticated tools. This approach underscores the engine's versatility and potential for creating stunning visuals in a variety of settings.
While the rain effect in the demo may appear somewhat artificial, the rendering of wet surfaces is impressively detailed, adding a layer of realism and depth to the urban environment. However, the demo is not without its flaws; frequent invisible walls detract from the overall immersion, presenting a challenge to the seamless experience. Despite this, Unreal Engine 5 tech demos continue to set the bar high for visual fidelity, although games built on the engine often face performance challenges when implemented in real-world scenarios.
