My favorite VR game of all time is Obduction from the wizards at Cyan. I’m also squirming on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the forthcoming arrival of Cyan’s Firmament, which is slated for release… at some yet-to-be-revealed time.

Both of these games are built (or are being built in the case of Firmament) using Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games. In the case of Obduction, the Unreal Engine provides a visual experience that’s as close to actually being in an alien world as one could hope for. At least, that’s what I thought before…

…I just received an email from my chum Charles Pfeil who is retired and now spends his days happily pottering around the golf course (the lucky b…oy).

In his message, Charles said: “Hi Max, I have a friend who told his fiancé that when virtual reality became an environment that one could live in, he would do so. She accepted this and they got married. I don’t know if she thought such a thing would never happen or if she was thinking of joining him. Check out this link to see how much closer we are getting.”

 

This video shows a tempting taster of the capabilities of the forthcoming Unreal Engine 5, which is slated to appear on the scene sometime in 2021. Unreal Engine 5 features a new technology called Nanite, which can handle over a billion polygons (triangles) in each and every frame. In conjunction with the Chaos physics system and state-of-the-art light bouncing, even the shadows are pixel accurate.

You really should watch the above video in which the Unreal Engine 5 is revealed from start to end. My heart still racing after experiencing this 2D version of a flying scene and imagining it in VR. I cannot wait to experience VR worlds created Unreal Engine 5 — how about you?