Unreal Engine 5 is available now, and it looks like it might just be the greatest video game engine of all time. Loads of developers have already announced that their next game is going to be using Unreal 5 for their upcoming projects, and it’s not hard to see why with incredible demos showcasing the unbelievable visual fidelity now possible in Unreal.
Besides actual games being made in Unreal, developers and visual artists are also showing us what they can do with the new game engine. Reddit user PenetratorGod (stay classy, Reddit) recently posted this five-minute video of what Skyrim’s Riverwood would look like in Unreal Engine 5, and I gotta say, the improvements are as stark as they are breathtaking.
Lighting, textures, water animation, and shadows all look so far beyond the original that it’s almost hard to compare. What really stands out are the shadows from trees, which aren’t just hard edges or inky blobs but are realistically fuzzy where light refracts through branches and leaves. And the fog in the distance gives Riverwood the impression that you’re really walking through a Scandinavian village in the cool morning air. I’m not even going to get into the moss.
It looks like part of this video was already posted several months ago. Environment arist Christian Gomm of Myrkur Games used the Unreal 5 demo to recreate Riverwood using photogrammetry--basically scanning the original game assets and then updating them for Unreal Engine 5.
It looks like Gomm has expanded that demo as we get a new look at the abandoned watchtower where you have your first fight against a dragon. The sparse grass looks far more realistic for a semi-arid tundra, while the wind blowing through the flags is far beyond what the original game’s physics were capable of.
Given Bethesda's enduring love for its enduring Elder Scrolls entry, we can't entirely discount the possibility of the next official iteration being a remake in Unreal Engine 5. That said, Bethesda seems to be all-hands-on-deck with Starfield, which recently got delayed into 2023.
In the meantime, there are plenty of new Skryrim mods to try, including this one that adds Elden Ring-style multiplayer messages.