Earlier today, the Unreal Engine Twitter account had posted a tweet that mentioned games that were built using Unreal Engine 4. This prompted the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Tweet account to chime in and mention that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl would be powered Unreal Engine 5. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was first revealed during the 2021 Xbox and Bethesda E3 showcase.
I believe this would be the first official announcement of any game that was being developed on Unreal Engine 5.
If you’ve followed the hype behind Unreal Engine 5, it’s going to be a major boost for game developers for various reasons. Up to now, every game in development was still utilizing Unreal Engine 4, which several titles already announced to be migrating to Unreal Engine 5 when the game engine was ready for release. It looks like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 beat them all to the punch, and I’m excited to see the game in action on the new game engine.
Hey @UnrealEngine,
Feel free to mention we're running on UE5 🤝 https://t.co/GLXdLM5YoV— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) August 11, 2021
What is Unreal Engine 5?
Epic Games’ latest game engine, Unreal Engine 5, has been the talk of the gaming development industry for a good reason. The successor of the current and popular game engine, Unreal Engine 4, the next generation looks to push graphical fidelity to the next level. With a new game engine comes new technology and buzzwords, and this engine is no different. Words such as “nanite virtualized micro-polygon geometry,” “dynamic global illumination,” and yes, “Triangles” were tossed around. While some of these words may be lost on casuals, the more tech-savory individuals seem to be drooling at the mere mention of them. In the end, it means one thing; games built on this game engine are going to look amazing.
Going beyond the engine, it’s important to realize that Epic Games is trying to unite developers across the board. With UE5, the goal is to create assets that can be used across multiple platforms. This would mean no more creating assets for a specific platform, requiring developers and designers to double or triple work. Instead, the same asset would be used, as an example on the PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and then onto mobile devices. It’s ambitious for sure, but at the same time, it makes sense. This would be great for smaller developer shops such as indie developers but would benefit AAA developers.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl will be released on April 28th, 2020, exclusively for Xbox and PC (Epic Games/Steam).