We have some examples of games running on next-gen consoles, but nothing really that shows off what next-gen consoles can truly accomplish. What we have seen thus far have been enhancements - something like PC Ultra settings. Epic changes all of that today with our first glimpse at groundbreaking new visuals.
I mean, just look at that. Only a trained eye could tell this is a game, and not a photograph! Epic has released a Tomb Raider-esque 8 minute demo to show off these new features. I highly recommend you watch it first in the video embedded below, then check back here for my thoughts.
Immediately, the biggest revolution here is virtual texturing. It's not clear how they have accomplished this, but gone are the days of polygon budgets, blurry textures up close and pop-in. Now, everything is pristine down to the pixel-level. There are no LOD transitions or pop-in at all, it's just that as you move closer to an object, more detail smoothly appears. Peek in right up close, and you'll see the virtual texture at a higher detail, up to 8K resolution. Even more impressive is you can repeat geometry without additional performance hit - in the demo they show hundreds of full detail statues. This is all incredible stuff, though until I know exactly how they have done this, I'll remain somewhat skeptical.
Do note, though, that this is running in real-time on a PlayStation 5, average of 2560x1440 at 30 fps. That may not sound impressive, given we have games running at native 4K and 30 fps on the Xbox One X. Firstly, the graphics here is far beyond anything on X1X. This generation will be different, though, with use of smart techniques like variable rate shading, DLSS-type intelligent upscaling, where the native resolution will not matter anymore. Of course, this is an early demo too, with optimisations to come. Either way, I'm sure by the time UE5 games ship in late 2022 or so, this type of visuals will look pristine on a 4K display too.
The other major new feature is a real-time global illumination system. This works very much like ray-tracing - the light bounces around realistically and dynamically, without the need for manual placement or baked-in lighting. Once again, how they have been able to achieve this with good performance is beyond me at this time, and I do wonder if this will be restricted to only one source of light (i.e. sunlight). Still, it basically looks perfectly realistic lighting.
Other interesting features include the very smooth contextual animation system, and the physics system with realistic debris, and tons of birds and bugs showcased. The demo ends with our character flying through the environment at breakneck speed - something that would not be possible without the fast SSD of next-gen consoles.
Unreal Engine 5 will be released in 2021, so realistically, we should not expect any major titles using these features till at least 2022. Though it's quite likely some big studios have access to early versions of the engine right now. I'd imagine Hellblade II is one of them. While the demo here won't be possible on current-gen consoles, it's worth noting that the engine is compatible with current-gen consoles - just not with this level of fidelity.
Overall, this demo looks highly impressive, and is without doubt the best graphics I've ever seen. What's missing here is showcasing complexity in terms of simulation, worlds, new gameplay opportunities that may be possible due to the much more powerful CPU. Almost everything here is to show off the capabilities of the new GPUs and SSDs. I'm sure they'll talk more about that over time, as we build up to the release.