The Matrix Awakens, an impressive display of Unreal Engine 5's capabilities, was a demo released in December for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. However, the demo is leaving stores on July 9th so grab it while it's still available. Once you have the demo, you will be able to redownload it at your leisure.
The original release of the demo roughly coincided with the release of The Matrix Resurrections. Both Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) appear in the demo and show off just how photorealistic Unreal Engine 5 can be. Though astute gamers will probably notice the difference between real and fake, in true Matrix fashion it was intended to blur the line between reality and gaming.
The demo itself is a technical marvel, showing off detailed models, heavy crowd density, and ray tracing. It includes cinematics and an on-rails section where you can shoot it out with agents during a thrilling car chase (naturally). You're also able to explore the open world sandbox and tinker around.
Speaking of tinkering around, many intrepid people have modified the game to add popular superheroes to the game. Most notably, Spider-Man and a Superman were added by modders to allow players to experience what it's like to move around the city as those characters. The Superman clone in particular makes one pine for another Superman game done right.
Epic Games has since released a playable shooter called Lyra alongside Unreal Engine 5. This was yet another demonstration of the power of Unreal Engine 5, allowing developers to get a feel for creating a shooter using Epic's latest game engine.
There's also Lumen, a dynamic global illumination system that allows developers to create realistic lighting scenes, as well as Nanite, which allows developers to import high fidelity visual assets into a game without dropping frame rates.
With developers looking to use Unreal Engine 5 in future games, the technology included will have a huge impact in the games industry. Feel free to check out what actual game developers had to say about the launch of Unreal Engine 5.
David Matthews is a freelance writer specializing in consumer tech and gaming. He also strongly believes that sugar does not go in grits. Follow him on Twitter @packetstealer