A new, free playable demo in the Unreal Engine 5 takes a western city as its theme. Can your computer handle the Next-Gen Engine?
It’s pretty, we’ve known that for a long time. Unreal Engine 5 is wowing gamers and tech fans around the world with scenes that truly seem to promise the next generation of real-time graphics rendering. But what is missing? Ah yes, the games. Really in use for the masses, the graphics engine is only in very few titles, for example Fortnite.
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Free Western Test
If you still want to experience version 5.1 of the engine on your computer in the course of a playable title, you should take a look at this technology demo with a Western setting. If you can’t or don’t want to try it out yourself, you can find a video here. (The download can be found here) and is free, but you can donate money if you like.
What hardware do you need?
| Minimum | Recommended | 4K Ultra DLSS/FSR @Performance |
| 6-core CPU clocked at least 4.2 GHz | i7-10700K / Ryzen 3800 | i9-10900K / Ryzen 3900X |
| RTX 2060 / RX 5600XT – 6GB VRAM & DirectX 12 | RTX 3070 / RX 6800 | RTX 3080Ti / RX 6900-XT |
| 16GB RAM | 16GB RAM | 32GB RAM |
| SSD | SSD | SSD |
What does the demo offer?
Don’t expect a real game. It is and remains a graphics demo, but you can walk around and change various settings. For example:
- The season, summer or winter
- The time of day
- The weather, from rain or fog to a thunderstorm
The demo also offers – apart from the graphics settings, including all conceivable upscaling options – the flagship features of the UE5, namely Nanite and Lumen.
Details for the technical eye
For lovers of small details, the demo also offers a lot, for example:
- Dynamic effects of the wind depending on the weather in trees and on grass
- Footprints in snow or sand
- Water dripping from roofs, both during and after the rain
- Dust collecting on clothes and buildings
The following showcase shows you what the latest version of the Unreal Engine, namely 5.2, can do. Because even though technology has hardly been in the hands of gamers so far, it is already being steadily developed further by Epic:
So what do you think? Is this the first time you’ve heard of it or have you already watched it? Are you impressed by the technology or do you see little difference between the graphics and the performance? In which setting would you like to see such a demonstration interactively? Feel free to write us your opinion in the comments!
