After the crazy PS5 demo I think: Next-Gen is really Next-Gen this time

The tech demo for Unreal Engine 5 has impressively shown what graphics on the new console generation can look like. MyMMO author Max Handwerk never expected such a leap—and wonders: What else is coming our way?

An impressive demonstration: “Wow!”, “This is really amazing”, “I can’t believe it”. When the tech demo for Unreal Engine 5 was released last night, it didn’t take long for my friends to send me these messages in WhatsApp groups about the PS5 gameplay demo.

Even online, one could read: What the tech demo showed truly looked like a “new generation”, a real evolution.

What was shown? Did you miss the demo? Then in brief:

Scenes from “Lumen in the Land of Nanite” were shown—a tech demo that is supposed to be playable in its form on the developer version of the PS5. Both Lumen and Nanite are names of new techniques: They are intended to elevate the graphics of the next console generation to photorealistic levels.

You can find the technical details here. You can check out how it looks here again:

About the author: Max Handwerk (26) has been playing video games since childhood, joyfully switching between platforms. It started with the Game Boy, then continued with PS2, PC, and Xbox 360 up to PS4 and Switch. And the next generation is eagerly awaited.  

A leap into a new generation?

The new Unreal Engine 5 is supposed to arrive in 2021 and be usable on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, iOS, Android, and Mac. 

Personally, my excitement for the new generation wasn’t that big until yesterday. This is mainly because I just couldn’t imagine how the PS5 could top my beloved PS4.

I mean it like this: If you compare the graphics of the recently announced Tony Hawk remake for PS4 with the original Pro Skater games, it quickly becomes clear how little the graphics today still have to do with images from the early 2000s.

I used to naively think there was some kind of “maximum” to perfect graphics. I thought: How much further can it really go? 

I thought: After God of War, nothing else would come

I apparently lacked the imagination of how graphical masterpieces like “God of War” could be surpassed. I doubted that we would see another so great a leap in graphics as happened between the last console generations. But it seems I underestimated this quite a bit. 

For the tech demo on Wednesday night looked simply like something that truly deserves the name “Next Gen”.

Just imagine how new installments of God of War, Uncharted, or even Horizon: Zero Dawn will look with this technology.

On top of that, there are statements from Epic boss Tim Sweeney, saying that the “world of loading times and pop-ins” will soon be a thing of the past.

Well, and suddenly the hype for the new console generation is here.

What is possible?

That’s why I’m excited for the new graphics: Yes, of course, it’s still to be seen to what extent the next gen delivers on what the demo promises. Great games consist of much more than just pretty graphics. This is demonstrated by brilliant Nintendo games or older games that are still fun today.

But, and this is interesting: The more realistic a game looks, the more immersive it becomes. Sweeney emphasized this in his statements about the new PS5 technology: “This will enable types of immersion that we could only dream of in the past.”

This raises the questions:

• If such graphical leaps are still possible, what does that mean for the broader world of gaming as a whole? 
• What is still possible in gaming?

First, I think of VR technology, which is often referred to as the future of gaming, yet has not quite arrived there yet. Personally, only a few games currently work on VR to an extent that I see a significant added value. “Beat Saber” is one such game—but in large adventures, I always felt a lack of realism. A little bit of technology distracts me 100% from having a clunky screen headset on my head.

Maybe it is the next gen and its new technology that opens up such worlds to explore. Work is definitely being done on this.

If we assume that games will become even more real, even more immersive in the coming years, suddenly concepts like games that want to create a world to “just hang out” in a “Ready Player One” style don’t seem so far-fetched as they did yesterday.

Fortnite has just created an island for players to just spend time with friends. Events like the Travis Scott performance  bring very real experiences like concerts into the virtual world in pretty wild ways. Who knows how real such things will suddenly feel when the next gen is here.

All of this seems “big” and felt unrealistic until yesterday. But the tech demo showed me that I might not have been able to see just how much is technically possible. And that’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if “next gen” really represents a “new generation of gaming”.

I’m certainly more curious than ever about how PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will change gaming.