A stunning Unreal Engine 5.4 demo that is available for download for free shows how the engine can deliver some impressive realistic visuals.
The Rome demo by Scans Factory, which can be downloaded by going here, is an incredible ultra-realistic recreation of the capital of Italy, complete with rain effects that allowed the team to create some impressive reflections with puddles. Despite not being an exact recreation of the city, having been to Rome over a dozen times, I can say that the demo does an excellent job depicting the city’s unique vibe, possibly even enhancing it by removing the crowds and the confusion that often populate its streets. In case you cannot run the demo, you can check it out in action in the video below, courtesy of Digital Dreams.
Since the launch of the very first version of the engine back in 2022, Unreal Engine 5 has made some impressive strides that have improved it considerably. However, it has not addressed some of the biggest concerns, such as the stuttering issues that plague the vast majority of the games powered by Epic’s latest engine, although version 5.4 did bring significant CPU performance improvements.
While Unreal Engine 5.4 is the latest public version of the engine, version 5.5 is in the works and already available in preview. This version of the engine introduces MegaLights, which allows developers to have a massive number of movable dynamic lights with realistic area shadows and more. More information on this version of the engine can be found here.
