Epic Games has recently unveiled its new Unreal Engine 5.6, emphasizing enhanced performance as its primary objective. According to Julien Marchand, the Senior Director of Framework Engineering, the goal is to ensure that the engine can handle intricate and expansive gaming environments without compromising graphics quality or frame rates.

For example, they showcased a demo of the upcoming Witcher 4, highlighting its ability to run smoothly with ray tracing enabled at 60 fps on standard PS5 hardware. While the specific render resolution wasn’t detailed, the visuals—featuring complex foliage, detailed character animations, and realistic physics—were impressive.

One of the standout features is the new “Nanite Foliage” system, which allows for realistic rendering of forests without performance sacrifices. This system enables artists to implement vast amounts of foliage and maintain high fidelity.

Marchand expressed, “The only way to achieve such a high-quality environment is to use 3D geometry for all parts of a tree. We achieve this with just 28 modular pieces that are repeated throughout the design.”

Furthermore, Epic has announced improvements to its lighting engine that significantly boost ray tracing performance. This means that developers can now lower the performance impact while enhancing visual fidelity, enabling a smoothing gaming experience on both consoles and PCs.

All these advancements point to a promising future for gaming, especially on moderately powered PCs, making the high-performance gaming experience more accessible.