The key takeaway from my experiences with Unreal Engine 5 so far is that the core feature set works.
Lumen reflections similarly help to light glossy and semi-gloss surfaces correctly, giving them good-looking reflective detail.
In broad strokes, the tech works.
We’re going to look at PS5 and Series X first, before moving onto Series S later.
Fort Solis is a good example.
You could also simply increase the amount of rays shot into the scene per pixel.
The Talos Principleis another recent UE5 title that shows off some of the potential issues with UE5 on consoles.
The Nanite geometry is also very dense, and doesn’t present with any LOD pop-in.
Probably the biggest issues are related to the Lumen GI, once again.
Immortals of Aveumpresents certain Lumen lighting issues as well, mostly related to that over-darkening issue with software Lumen.
The results here are mostly decent, but indirectly-illuminated scenes do expose some issues.
With these games I think we see some of the practical limits of UE5 techniques on consoles.
I think Robocop is probably the best-adjusted of the recent UE5 crop on consoles.
Jusant is a fascinating and well-designed recent UE5 game that’s worth highlighting as well.
Light bounces through spaces and pools in crevices, with some terrific-looking imagery as a result.
Software Lumen’s exaggerations work pretty well in this context I think, given the more stylised art.
The Lumen indirect lighting detail looks great here, and mostly resolves without visible noise.
Visual quality is only half the story here though, so what about performance?
With the 30fps games using UE5, frame-rates tend to be quite consistent.
Robocop does throw up some drops in very intense action, but otherwise there aren’t really any issues.
It’s not totally clear what to chalk up to UE5 though.
We see a few approaches to targeting Series S here.
We don’t get the beautiful occlusion and dramatic bounce that we see on Series X. Epic’sFortnitetakes a similar tack, removing Lumen reflections from Series S, and limiting virtual shadowmap coverage as well.
This may prove the more difficult approach, especially if RAM constraints are a factor.
Performance wise, the results are mostly similar to the higher-end consoles.
Jusant runs about the same as its Series X counterpart, while The Talos Principle runs slightly worse.
Upsampling is critical to maintaining good performance in UE5.
This difference is magnified when we do a simple horizontal pan without any motion blur.
I also noticed that the TSR tends to have fewer ghosting artefacts in this game.
Ultimately, I think we are seeing some mostly positive indications from UE5 in console games.
A game like Robocop is delivering top-tier console visuals with the help of UE5, for instance.
Performance in future games will prove more interesting.
Will big-budget games sidestep or overcome the traversal stutter issues often associated with Unreal?
And can they achieve good-looking visuals on Series S while retaining key UE5 tech?
