The world can't stop talking about the next generation of consoles, and for good reason. After reviewing the technical specifications, it's clear that its graphical potential is enormous... but we need more than numbers. Thanks to Epic Games and its Unreal Engine 5, we now have a much clearer idea of what the PlayStation 5 can do. The two videos below contain no cinematic scenes: everything is dynamic and rendered in real time.
After many years, it's necessary to recognize that the so-called "next generation of consoles" has very competitive specs. Some have tried to downplay this by saying they are "camouflaged computers", but beyond technical coincidences, a large number of players wish to have access to that firepower in a more comfortable and less demanding format: pop in a disc (or download its digital copy) and play. No drivers, no malware, no Windows breaking everything with a hotfix.
However, there are requirements to meet, with higher framerates and 4K support at the top of the list. We can read configurations and comparisons until we're tired, but sooner or later, consoles must prove their worth on screen. In the specific case of the PlayStation 5, today we can get a preview, a little taste if you will, courtesy of Epic Games. Its Unreal Engine 5 incorporates several high-end tools, but the most impressive thing is that every moment has been rendered in real time.
One of the tools to highlight is Nanite, which generates "virtualized geometry". What does that mean? In relaxed terms, one triangle per rendered pixel with its shadow. Billions of triangles in a single scene, compressed to much more reasonable values, without loss of quality when moving away from a surface. The developer can escape the classic "polygon budgets", even in minor details like statues and other static objects. The second tool is Lumen, responsible for global and dynamic lighting. Position, reflection, all that can change according to the needs of the developer and the scene. Finally, the Niagara particle system comes into play, which communicates with each other and adapts to the environment with greater precision.
Now, it's true that technical demos represent the "best case" for a graphics engine, and it's very likely that most PS5 games won't present such an extreme level of quality, but at the end of the day, none of this would be possible without the muscle the console has. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney specifically mentioned the PlayStation 5's SSD, confirming that "it is ahead of anything we can buy for PC today", and that conventional solid-state storage will need to catch up.
Once again, both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will hit the market before the end of the year, but Unreal Engine 5 will debut in 2021.
