An innovative new tech demo powered by Unreal Engine 5.5.3 has captivated gamers with an immersive walkthrough of a futuristic cyberpunk city. Crafted by the talented artist Sciontidesign, this project takes inspiration from the iconic Samaritan UE3 demo, the atmospheric Blade Runner franchise, and the visually rich world of Cyberpunk 2077. The demo was showcased on top-tier hardware, featuring an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at 6000MHz.
This technical demonstration is a testament to the power of dynamic lighting, fully utilizing the capabilities of Nanite with Distance Field Meshes and Ambient Occlusion, enhanced by Screen Space Reflections. Remarkably, it does not rely on advanced features like Lumen, Path Tracing, RTX, DLSS, or baked lighting, thereby showcasing what Unreal Engine 5 can achieve even without its most sophisticated tools.
While the rain effect might come across as slightly artificial, the rendering of wet surfaces is meticulously detailed, significantly enhancing the depth of the urban environment. However, the experience is marred by the frequent presence of invisible walls, which can break the immersion for players. Although Unreal Engine 5 tech demos consistently deliver visually stunning experiences, games developed with the engine often encounter performance challenges when implemented in real-world scenarios.
