As high-fidelity content gains popularity, virtual worlds now blur the line between what’s real and what’s not. Remember adrenaline-pumping action scenes in The Fast and Furious film series and the eye-catching special effects of The Matrix? People are craving such cinematic experiences in games like never before, wanting to feel like a part of a Hollywood movie.

The growing interest in such experiences pushes game developers to innovate relentlessly, aiming for the pinnacle of realism, especially when high-fidelity content is expected to become the new industry standard in 2025. 

So, is there a way to meet gamers’ desires without breaking the bank? 

There is! Unreal Engine is the ultimate solution here. The engine offers a myriad of tools that streamline game development and will stay relevant for years to come. In this article, we will delve into the topic of realism in games and share some valuable insights from our Unreal experts about meeting the upcoming standard in game development using this technology, Chaos Destruction and Niagara Fluids in particular.

Realism in Games 20 Years Ago vs Now

From humble beginnings to jaw-dropping photorealism and advanced physics, the visual landscape of gaming has undergone a remarkable transformation throughout the years. Do you remember the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) and Resident Evil 4 (2005) and the thrill their releases caused back then? At that time, we considered those pixelated visuals incredibly lifelike and couldn’t imagine how much further they might advance. 

Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Now, when there are games like Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) or the same Resident Evil 4 but remastered (2023) in sight, those ones from the early 2000s seem to lack that realism now, do they? 

Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023)

Today, many of us struggle to envision the future of games striving for realism, much like twenty years ago. Will there come a point when games become completely indistinguishable from movies? Is this even possible?

Here’s the dilemma with realism: while having excelled in crafting unparalleled environments with excellent physics, game developers can’t quite reach perfection in character creation. This dilemma is exemplified by the phenomenon known as the Uncanny Valley (when something resembles a human but doesn’t quite achieve it, evoking eerie feelings in the observer). Despite the characters being meticulously detailed to the point where we can discern hyper-realistic skin pores and a wide range of facial expressions, they still lack vitality in the way they move and speak. 

Horizon Forbidden West (2022)

Will the new tech advancements solve this issue? Will there be a point in time when we look down on today’s photorealistic games with skepticism? Time will tell.

What Helps Game Developers Reach a High Level of Realism Today?

When there’s a need for high-fidelity media content, Unreal Engine is the #1 technology game developers turn to, and for a good reason. The immense power of this game engine allows the production of top-quality, photorealistic visuals without compromising performance. Moreover, its vast set of tools covers the entire spectrum of game development, from sophisticated animation and physics systems to advanced lighting and audio tools.

By the way, Unreal Engine has already introduced a solution that might solve the issue with Uncanny Valley in the future, which is its new tool called MetaHuman. This tool enables the creation of high-fidelity digital humans that closely resemble real people. But that’s the topic for the next time.

In games, a great chunk of attention is directed toward special effects and the dynamic interactions between objects, particularly collisions and their consequences. A ricochet of a powerful spell, sword clashes with sparks, heavy explosions, and the smoke afterward – it all adds to the immersion. Properly thought out, these two aspects significantly increase the level of cinematics in the title, bringing it as close to reality as it can be. This is the subject we will delve deeper into in this article.

You’re probably familiar with Niagara Fluids and Chaos Destruction – the Bonnie and Clyde of digital artistry and game development. This dynamic duo adds spice to game action scenes, making them no less true-to-life than movies. Each of them grants artists and designers more control over content creation, allowing them limitless possibilities to express their creativity in your game.

What’s Chaos Destruction?

Chaos is Unreal Engine’s high-performance physics and destruction system, which comes in like a wrecking ball. Literally. It allows for smashing structures, shattering glass, and leaving a trail of chaos in the wake with super high accuracy, making it so realistic as if you’re witnessing the aftermath of a real-world catastrophe. With Chaos Destruction system, game developers can achieve cinematic-quality levels of destruction, bringing forward the tiniest details, like the bullet damage on walls, glass fractures, wood chips, etc. – all optimized for performance.

Discovery

What’s Niagara Fluids?

Unreal Engine also presents Niagara Fluids, a solution that provides intricate simulations of complex substances, like raging fire and billowing smoke, which will interact dynamically with physical objects near the simulation source. This plug-in also helps craft realistic fluids like water splashes from a puddle under the character’s feet. Fluid simulation methods yield realistic and natural outcomes compared to simpler particle-based setups.

Discovery

Mixing Chaos Destruction and Niagara Fluids for Cinematic Scenes in a Shooter Game 

When combined, Chaos Destruction and Niagara Fluids help developers implement gameplay ideas that were once beyond reach. Their potential is being actively harnessed during the production of an upcoming sci-fi first-person shooter, Discovery, particularly in its VR version. Stepico, a game development company working on the game, uses these UE5 technologies to create its cutscenes and VFX and readily showcases preliminary demonstrations. 

Discovery

For the development of the scene where the boss smashes through an enormous rock to attack the player, the developers used Chaos Destruction to create the rock and its scattering particles. The experts then applied Niagara Fluids to make sand and dust particles that rise into the air at the destruction site. The second example of using these two tools showcases the destructive consequences of a projectile crashing through the stone wall, including intense flames and dispersing smoke mixed with dust. 

Discovery

“What happens in the movies: flying cars, collapsing buildings, cataclysms – it’s all pre-rendered,” says Anton Lomanov, Lead UE Engineer at Stepico Games. “Movies with abundant VFX like The Matrix and Avatar used advanced computer hardware, including rendering farms to create 10-second simulations for the pre-render. With Unreal Engine and its tools, we are able to achieve the same effect in real time.” 

Globally, these Unreal Engine technologies introduce fresh gameplay possibilities and elevate visual quality in gaming. Until recently, achieving such results was technically unattainable due to software and hardware limitations. Now, the accessibility of these technologies paves the way for the creation of exciting new games, pushing boundaries and unlocking innovative possibilities.

Given the growing demands for high-fidelity content and games in particular, game development vendors like Stepico are using Unreal and its diverse technology to achieve a high level of quality at a relatively low resource cost for our fresh titles. 

It’s the perfect time to implement UE technologies, especially Chaos Destruction with Niagara Fluids if you plan on developing a game. What’s more, a skilled Unreal engine game development partner will help you leverage their potential right, hit the mark, and not throw money down the drain. Contact us today to get a game that blurs the lines between what’s real and what’s not with advanced Unreal Engine tech!

Unreal Engine has long earned a reputation for offering a robust suite of tools and features that empower developers to craft stunning visuals, immersive gameplay, and innovative experiences in console (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, etc.), PC, or mobile titles. In fact, in 2023, it was estimated that 80% of the most innovative games penciled for release were powered by UE.

In this article, we’ll explain in detail why so many reputable publishers and game developers use Unreal Engine 4 and 5 to power their games and why you, too, might consider this advanced tool as the backbone for your next immersive title.

Games Made with Unreal Engine – A Powerhouse for Visual Fidelity

The games developed with Unreal Engine are typically thought of as visually striking, but there’s far more to the engine than just being the vehicle for stunning graphics. Let’s go through some of the main UE features, which might be important for you as a publisher.

Breathtaking Graphics

Unreal Engine is renowned for its ability to render hyper-realistic environments, characters, and effects. From sprawling open worlds to intricate details, UE pushes the boundaries of graphical fidelity, making your games stand out visually (think titles like Sea of Thieves and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice).

Real-Time Ray Tracing

Unreal Engine seamlessly integrates real-time ray tracing, creating dynamic lighting and shadows that enhance realism and immersion. This technology allows for stunning reflections and lifelike lighting effects, setting your games apart from the competition (think titles like Fortnite and Bright Memory: Infinite).

Scalability Across Platforms 

Unreal Engine’s scalability ensures that your games look incredible on a wide range of devices, from consoles with expansive widescreen TVs to compact mobile phone screens. This allows you to reach a wider audience without sacrificing visual quality.

Proven Track Record

It doesn’t matter if you want a fighting game, a horror game, a battle royale game, a shooter, a role-playing game, a survival game,, or even a next-gen VR game – Unreal Engine boasts a long and successful history of powering some of the biggest titles and game series in a variety of genres. This proven track record gives publishers confidence that their games will be built on a stable and reliable foundation.

VR and AR Capabilities

Unreal Engine’s robust VR and AR support empowers publishers to explore these exciting new frontiers of gaming. This future-proofing ensures their games are adaptable to emerging technologies and can reach new audiences.

Empowering Features

Currently, the gaming industry is on a relentless march towards hyper-realism. Even titles built with other engines are striving for visuals that push the boundaries. Here’s why Unreal Engine is the perfect partner for publishers navigating this ever-evolving landscape: Unreal Engine includes cutting-edge tech like Lumen Dynamic Global Illumination and Nanite real-time micro geometry. These tools, when implemented properly, empower you to create visuals that rival the latest AAA releases, without the astronomical cost of building your own engine.

But that’s not all. The engine’s Chaos Destruction and Niagara fluids features can make your game feel even more real. 

Chaos Destruction enables highly realistic destruction effects, allowing for the smashing of structures and shattering of glass with remarkable accuracy, mimicking real-world catastrophe aftermath. It emphasizes intricate details in large-scale destruction, such as bullet damage on walls and shards of broken glass, all while maintaining optimized performance. 

Niagara Fluids offers complex simulations of substances like fire and smoke, dynamically interacting with nearby physical objects. Additionally, it facilitates the creation of realistic fluid effects, including water splashes from puddles beneath characters’ feet, with more natural outcomes compared to simpler particle-based setups.

Preparedness for the Future

Unreal Engine 5 and beyond are packed with next-generation features like World Partition for seamless open worlds and Metahuman for creating hyper-realistic characters. Your games will be primed for the future of graphical fidelity.

Overall, Unreal Engine provides a comprehensive solution that minimizes risks, accelerates development, and empowers publishers to create visually stunning and innovative games that meet the demands of today’s players.

10 Games Made with Unreal Engine

At this point, Unreal Engine has a ubiquitous presence in the gaming world, powering a massive range of titles. Here, we’ll give you a glimpse at some of the most popular games leveraging its capabilities, categorized by version.

Games Made with Unreal Engine 4

Fortnite

This ever-evolving battle royale juggernaut offers a unique blend of shooting, building, and crafting mechanics. Its cartoony visuals are a perfect fit for the game’s lighthearted tone, and Unreal Engine 4 ensures smooth performance and large-scale world rendering.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Ninja Theory’s acclaimed action-adventure offers a harrowing, exciting, and unforgettable experience. The game’s use of Unreal Engine 4 is masterful, creating a believably disturbing world and rendering Senua’s psychosis with unsettling detail.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

This action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment puts players in the shoes of a Jedi Padawan on the run during Order 66. The game’s combat is both challenging and rewarding, and the exploration of detailed Star Wars environments is a treat for fans. Unreal Engine 4 brings these worlds to life with stunning visuals and a vast sense of scale.

Sea of Thieves

This shared-world adventure game from Rare puts players at the helm of their own pirate ship. They can sail the vast seas, tackle quests, battle enemies, or just explore and uncover buried treasure. The game’s colorful visuals and open-ended gameplay create a truly unique experience, and Unreal Engine 4 renders the seascapes and pirate ships with impressive detail.

Kingdom Hearts 4

This upcoming action RPG from Square Enix promises to be a visual spectacle, leveraging Unreal Engine 4 to create a vibrant world that blends Disney and Pixar themes with a touch of stylish darkness. Players can expect to wield powerful magic, explore expansive environments, and team up with iconic Disney characters on a brand-new adventure.

These are just a few examples, and the list continues to grow! Unreal Engine 4’s versatility is on full display with this diverse range of titles.

Unreal Engine 5 Games

Unreal Engine 5 is a relatively new game engine, so there aren’t a ton of games out yet that were built entirely on UE5. However, here are a few titles that have either been confirmed to be powered by Unreal Engine 5 or heavily rumored to be using it.

Black Myth: Wukong

This upcoming action RPG is based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. It boasts stunning visuals and a unique combat system that blends martial arts with mythical abilities. Black Myth: Wukong is shaping up to be a showcase for the power of Unreal Engine 5.

Redfall

This upcoming open-world cooperative shooter from Arkane Studios (the creators of Dishonored and Prey) is set in a world overrun by vampires. Redfall promises to deliver unique character abilities, a strong narrative, and stunning visuals thanks to Unreal Engine 5.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 

The sequel to the critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is being developed using Unreal Engine 5. The game promises to take players on a dark and harrowing journey through Senua’s mind, with even more impressive visuals and a deeper exploration of mental illness.

Echoes of the End 

This open-world fantasy RPG from Myrkur Games is also being built on Unreal Engine 5. It boasts a vast and beautiful world to explore, filled with challenging enemies, epic boss battles, and deep character customization options.

Discovery

This upcoming title from Stepico offers players an unparalleled cinematic experience. It combines the sophistication of a high-end first-person shooter with a compelling narrative, expertly utilizing the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5. Expect visually stunning landscapes, including evolved sea life-inspired flora, futuristic vehicles, weaponry, and memorable deadly predators rendered with remarkable realism. The gameplay will be seamless across multiple platforms.

These titles showcase the immense potential of Unreal Engine 5 for crafting the next generation of visually stunning and captivating games.

Top Companies Often Choose Reliable Vendors for the Development with Unreal Engine

Even though Unreal Engine offers a robust set of tools, the way they’re implemented and optimized is what makes an epic game stand out from a marginal one. That’s why top publishers and game concept owners often choose to work with experienced game development vendors for their UE projects. Here’s what a seasoned UE game development company like Stepico can offer.

Mastery Beyond the Basics of Game Design and Development

Optimizing the Engine’s Potential 

Experienced vendors like Stepico possess an in-depth understanding of Unreal Engine’s intricacies. They can leverage advanced techniques and workflows to push the engine’s capabilities further, unlocking its full potential for your game’s specific needs. This expertise translates into superior performance, stunning visuals, and a more polished final product.

Elevating Gameplay Mechanics

Experienced vendors can go beyond the engine’s core features and craft innovative gameplay mechanics tailored to your specific game concept.

Streamlined Process Allowing to Fully Leverage the Power of Unreal Engine

Tried-And-True Procedures

Building a game encompasses more than just using the engine. At Stepico, we have established processes for project management, communication, quality assurance, and team collaboration. This ensures a smooth development flow, avoids bottlenecks, and keeps your project on track.

Specialized Talent and Expertise

Vendors assemble teams with diverse skillset beyond just Unreal Engine proficiency. This includes experienced programmers, artists, animators, and designers who can leverage the engine to its full capacity while bringing their own creative vision to the table.

Reduced Risks and Increased Efficiency of Game Development

Mitigating Technical Challenges

Experienced vendors have encountered and overcome various technical hurdles during past projects. This knowledge allows them to anticipate potential issues with Unreal Engine and proactively implement solutions, saving you time and resources.

Faster Time-to-Market

A vendor’s established workflows and experience with Unreal Engine can significantly accelerate development compared to building an internal team from scratch. This translates to a faster time-to-market, allowing you to capitalize on market trends and capture player interest sooner.

Cost-Effectiveness

Building an in-house Unreal Engine development team can be expensive, requiring recruitment, training, and ongoing maintenance. Partnering with a seasoned vendor eliminates these costs and provides access to a readily available pool of talent, offering a more cost-effective solution.

Focus on Your Core Strengths

Freeing Up Internal Resources

By outsourcing Unreal Engine development, publishers can free up their internal teams to focus on core competencies like marketing, publishing, and brand management. This allows for a more strategic allocation of resources and ensures your team dedicates its expertise where it matters most.

Reduced Management Burden

Managing an in-house development team requires significant time and resources. Partnering with a vendor alleviates this burden, allowing publishers to focus on high-level decisions while trusting the vendor to handle the technical complexities of Unreal Engine development.

Overall, while Unreal Engine is a powerful tool, top publishers recognize the value of partnering with experienced vendors such as Stepico. These companies bring a wealth of expertise, streamlined processes, and specialized talent to the table, maximizing Unreal Engine’s potential while minimizing risks and ensuring a successful outcome for your game.

To Sum Up

Unreal Engine continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in gaming, offering unparalleled visuals, immersive experiences, and a constantly evolving feature set. However, navigating this powerful engine and translating your vision into reality requires a skilled and experienced partner.

Stepico, a prolific game development company with nearly a decade of experience, stands ready to be your guide. We’re not just Unreal Engine experts; we’re passionate innovators, constantly keeping our finger on the pulse of the latest UE technologies like Niagara, Lumen, Metahuman, Nanite, PCG, and others. This allows us to seamlessly integrate these cutting-edge features into your game, ensuring it stands out from the crowd.

Whether you need a full-cycle Unreal game development partner to bring your game to life from concept to completion or a specialized team to handle specific aspects like art production, Stepico offers a holistic solution tailored to your needs. We leverage our extensive Unreal Engine expertise to craft stunning visuals, captivating gameplay mechanics, and optimize your game for seamless performance across all platforms.

Don’t settle for anything less than extraordinary. Contact Stepico today, and let’s use the Unreal Engine to turn your dream game into a reality.