Fortnite makes the leap to Unreal Engine 5.1 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X / S

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The latest version of Epic Games’ powerful graphics engine will allow Fortnite players on PC and next-generation consoles to enjoy an experience with an ‘unprecedented’ level of detail.

Epic Games has officially presented Chapter 4 of Fortnite: Battle Royale, the new big update to the title that adds much more than a handful of new mechanics and scenarios in which to duel with other players online. Perhaps the great novelty that comes with this fourth chapter is not so much the content, but that Epic Games have confirmed that, finally, the battle royale has been updated to Unreal Engine 5.1 on computers, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S .

The images that you will see at the end of this article are some examples of what Fortnite will looks like after implementing some of the engine’s functionality. The company ensures that the latest version of its graphics engine allows you to create an unprecedented level of detail in the game world. The new generation of Unreal Engine 5 includes Nanite, Lumen, virtual shadow maps and super temporal resolution.

Breakdown of features and their visual impact

– Nanite – Allows you to generate a geometric architecture down to the millimeter. Specifically, buildings are rendered from millions of polygons in real time and every brick, stone, wood plank and wall covering is molded. The natural landscapes also have great detail. Each individual tree is made up of approximately 300,000 polygons and every stone, flower and blade of grass is modelled.
– Lumen – With Lumen you can perform high quality ray tracing reflections on shiny materials and in water. In addition, Lumen allows you to enjoy global illumination in real time at 60 FPS. You will be able to see incredible interior spaces where the light will bounce and, in addition, the characters will react to the lighting of the environment. For example, red carpets will reflect a reddish light on your suit. Also, suits that emit some light (like glow ones) will scatter it onto nearby objects and surfaces.
– Virtual Shadow Maps – Virtual Shadow Maps allow you to create highly detailed shadows. Each brick, leaf and modeled detail will have its own shadow and that of the characters will be extremely accurate. This means that other elements of the characters, such as hats or smaller details, will also have their own shadow.
– Temporal Super Resolution – Temporal Super Resolution is an improvement over temporal anti-aliasing in Fortnite and allows for high-quality graphics even at high frame rates.