Matrix Resurrections, the fourth installment in the legendary sci-fi series about heroes Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), hits theaters December 23. In line with this, developers Epic Games created a tech demo to run in the Matrix universe. In the new Unreal Enigne 5 – the same matrix, if you like:
Matrix Awakens shows what future games could look like
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The Matrix Awakens – Clips
The Matrix Awakens: Experience Unreal Engine 5
shows what with the awakening
With the new Unreal Engine, it’s technically possible what games might look like someday. The demo embedded above begins with a non-playable sequence where Keanu Reeves can be seen alternately as himself and as Neo.
Meanwhile, the animated and real Keanu continues to switch places. Most impressive on the scene, Keanu Reeves talks about the actors’ quest for eternal youth (around 2:30). Animation and reality are indistinguishable from each other here.
Several other tech demos also show what good games might look like in Unreal Engine 5, for example here in a jungle reminiscent of the next generation of Crysis:
Jungle view in Unreal Engine 5
Looks like the next generation Crysis
It’s hard to believe that the aftermath actually originated in the game engine. This is certainly also due to the cinematic skills of director Lana Wachowski, but what Unreal Engine 5 does here is simply impressive. Especially when you consider that the tech demo doesn’t run on a high-end PC with RTX 3090 but on PlayStation 5.
If you look closely, you will see that the customers are animated, but the city looks as if it has been photographed. From 8:25 am onwards, the camera moves over the virtual city, showing all the technologies used.
The Verge cast spoke to the main cast about how The Matrix Awakens came to be. You can watch the full interview here:
link to YouTube content
Nanite and Lumen make this possible
In order to realistically represent Neo, Trinity, and Niobe in Unreal Engine 5, a 3D scan of the actors was created. In the playable part of the demo (from about 10:00 a.m.) called MetaHuman Creator
, where the playable IO character is created, all the agents and residents are created.
Additionally, the Chaos Physics System, Nanites, and Lumens are the main focus. You can learn more about the techniques in our general article:
Unreal Engine 5
All about technology, nanite, and lumens
How do I run the presentation?
Matrix Awakens is provided by Epic Games for free. However, not on PC, but initially only for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The tech demo has been up for preload for a few days and can be played starting today, December 10.
When will the first real games come in Unreal Engine 5?
To do this, the final version of UE5 must appear first. Release planned for the beginning of 2022. The first full-priced title may be the first-person shooter Stalker 2, which is scheduled to appear in April 2022. There are also other well-known games based on Unreal Engine 5.
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