Unreal Engine 5 is more than just a fancy way to advertise the newest Matrix movie; it’s also meant to power the creation of the next batch of games, and one of the first to integrate the engine’s tech is the PvP sandbox MMORPG Ashes of Creation, as demonstrated in the latest development update stream.
The livestream featured another video from creative director Steven Sharif as he walked through a build that featured UE5’s integration, specifically calling out the engine’s Lumen lighting tech and Nanite LOD tech, all while being interrupted by some aggressive snow leopards and plants, which incidentally allowed Sharif to show off a few of the combat updates that have been worked on as well. The video also offered opportunities to show off a few new locomotion updates, such as the ability to climb up short walls.
Later in the livestream, Sharif talked about other benefits of switching to UE5, noting that the engine has less constraints in building an open world game than UE4 did and has the potential for more characters on-screen at once. Sharif also pointed out that there will be a few months where the dev team has to take stock of things and migrate the game over to the new engine, but also promises that the switch will “significantly improve the development process” in the long run. The full broadcast is embedded below, along with the separate demonstration video.
