Fortnite received a major graphics overhaul on the PS5 just in time for the launch of Chapter 4. While the game was previously mocked for its colorful comic-style visuals, it has overnight transformed into a beautiful game on the PS5. You can find all the information in this article.
What happened in Fortnite? On December 4, the brand new Chapter 4 of the popular Battle Royale was launched. With the update, a lot of changes were introduced and there’s also a new Battle Pass.
However, for those playing on the PS5, there is another major revision. Fortnite is the first game that you can play with Unreal Engine 5.1 on the PS5. We explain what this entails.
Fortnite now runs on Unreal Engine 5.1
Why does Fortnite suddenly look so much better? Epic has updated the game’s graphics on the PS5 just in time for the launch. With the shift to Unreal Engine 5.1, several absolute next-gen features are now available on the PS5:
- Nanite allows for the real-time display of extremely high-resolution and detailed textures and 3D models. Even individual trees now have around 300,000 polygons according to Epic (via Epic Games).
- Lumen is a specialized lighting technology of Unreal Engine 5. This form of Global Illumination accurately computes light refractions and reflections in real-time over large distances.
- Virtual Shadow Maps allow for the representation of very detailed shadows.
- Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) ensures a high frame rate alongside very high-quality visuals.
You can see how dramatically the game has been enhanced in this comparison image:
However, to utilize all these features, you will need to disable the 120 FPS mode of the game on the PS5.
How to disable the 120 FPS mode: You can read how to disable the mode for Fortnite on your PS5 in this official guide from Epic Games.
However, you first need to activate the performance mode of your PS5. You can read how to do that in this article:
How is the community reacting to the graphical changes? Fortnite is the first console title to run on Unreal Engine 5.1 and fully supports Nanite and Lumen. While the shift to the original version of Unreal Engine 5 took place almost exactly a year ago, it was met with rather less enthusiasm at the time.
It was mainly criticized that there was hardly any noticeable graphical difference at first. However, some users didn’t realize back then that the implementation of the 5th generation of the engine was merely laying the groundwork for future better and more impactful updates – as is now the case.
Accordingly, the reception of Unreal Engine 5.1 is significantly more positive this time.
However, the community is not only excited about the latest graphical improvements but also appreciates the fact that Fortnite has reinvented itself multiple times over the years – for example, with the introduction of the Zero Build mode (via Reddit and Twitter).
This combination leads some users to speculate what might still be possible with the game on the PS5 in the future. For example, one Reddit user writes:
People like to complain about Fortnite, yet the developers keep managing to take the game to a new level.
I have said this before in the subreddit, but I seriously believe that Fortnite could do something great for the PSVR 2. […] There are so many additional game modes, I could easily see the developers creating a kind of “hub” mode that could become the metaverse or the VR chat on PlayStation.
Reddit user WanderWut in the PS5 subreddit.
And other Reddit users have similar thoughts in the same direction:
Sony recently unveiled the new VR headset, PSVR2, for the PS5 a few weeks ago. You can already preorder the device now.
What to expect with PSVR2, what you can look forward to, and what the fun will cost can be read in the following article:
Here are a few more screenshots that illustrate how beautiful Fortnite is now to look at.
Now it’s your turn: What do you think of the graphical changes in Fortnite that come with the switch to Unreal Engine 5.1? Are you as excited as the many users on Twitter and Reddit?
All information regarding Fortnite and the new Chapter 4 can be found in our live ticker here on MeinMMO:
Fortnite: Live ticker for the start of Chapter 4 – Server status, leaks, and information
