Game art studio creates photorealistic next-gen environments using Unreal Engine 4

[Polycount]

Eye candy: Next-gen consoles are set to arrive later this year (barring any Covid-19 complications) and they will likely usher in the next era of gaming visuals, thanks to faster hardware, SSDs, and tech like real-time ray tracing. Though gameplay trailers for titles that will take advantage of all those meaty features are still scarce, game art studio Dekogon has shared some beautiful next-gen environments it has created with Unreal Engine 4.

While we're not entirely certain that the level of visual fidelity you'll see in the pictures and videos throughout this article will be possible in next-gen games, we wouldn't be surprised if they come close.

The lighting and reflection accuracy Dekogon has achieved in some of these environments makes them appear ray-traced, so it should be doable for upcoming consoles.

Indeed, the basketball court, in particular, could almost be mistaken for a real-world location -- there's very little that immediately breaks your suspension of disbelief.

Light filters in through the large rectangular windows on either side of the room, and seems to bounce off of the shiny, smooth court floor.

One of Dekogon's other projects, a subway interior, is also stunningly beautiful. The light from the roof lamps casts a dim glow over the various seats, walls, and poles in the subway car, causing it to feel appropriately dark and grimy -- not unlike what you'd see in the real world.

This degree of photorealism is something we haven't really seen in modern video games yet (with a few more recent exceptions), but the power of Unreal Engine 4, combined with the capabilities of consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, could finally make it a reality.

Until those consoles release, though, enjoy pondering the possibilities and consider taking a gander at the rest of Dekogon's work over on the studio's ArtStation page.

If you happen to be a game developer, you can even purchase some of these environments for your own use via the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85091-check-out-next-gen-environments-created-within-unreal.html

 

[psycros]

I want to step into that classroom and start over. I know its says 90's but it could easily be late 80's, too.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Pretty impressed - fruit did not look real - plus no humans on view - which will take a few more generations at least

 

[sreams]

Classroom is 4K YT video, but clearly not 4K source. Would be nice to see this at a real 4K.

 

[SirDigby]

I remember seeing photorealistic renders like this I think as far back as 2013 from Unreal 4, nice to know its still possible but I hope this time round we get a little closer to seeing it in games.

 

[Irata]

That looks really nice. Hoping games will look like this on the next gen consoles and on PC.

 

[Lew Zealand]

It's easy to pile on the visual candy in a small room at 60fps or higher. Let's see how that rendering quality scales on a larger map or open world.

 

[Danny101]

Are GPUs even there yet? A Resident Evil Remake type game or less may be able to swing it, but more action oriented games may still be too much. Cutscenes should be nicer though. They're using software performance enhancement tricks, but that also creates vulnerabilities, at least in CPUs. With those we're just stuck on 4-cylinder turbo with silicon, but we need raw 8-cyliider naturally aspirated performance on a different material, less the vulnerable enhancements. Silicon has been used for all about it can deliver. Granted, there may be more room that I don't see. How long we've been hovering around 4 GHz?