Superman has been successful in comics, film and television. However, there is a sector in which he has not been able to consecrate himself, mainly due to technical limitations. I am referring, of course, to video games. For many years we have wanted a superman game at the height of its legend, and with the technology that currently exists, the dream seems closer. Proof of this is this demo of Unreal Engine 5.
During this week, Epic Games released the stable version of Unreal Engine 5 for all the public. Obviously, many developers are already experiencing its novelties, which are many. One of them used CitySamplea free project based on the specular city of The Matrix Awakens, to demonstrate that the graphics engine would allow a Superman game to be created. The result is spectacular.
First, the character we see on screen moves through the air in a very similar way to Superman. This is because they have reused a library of superhero animations that was already available from Unreal Engine 4. The video below, despite being very short, is enough to blow your mind. It is impossible not to imagine a “Man of Steel” video game with this quality of animation and, of course, with a city of Metropolis that has such a level of detail.
Will we see a Superman game thanks to Unreal Engine 5?
No doubt this tech demo will raise hopes of seeing a Superman game in the near future. In fact, earlier this year, a job offer from WB Games Montreal revealed that in addition to Gotham Knights, are also involved in developing a title based on another DC Comics property. Rumors point to the superhero being born on Krypton.
Another interesting point is that the Canadian studio is using Unreal Engine 4 to develop Gotham Knights, then you are already familiar with the Epic Games tool. The same happens with Hogwarts Legacyalso owned by Warner Bros. Interactive.
One of the main novelties of Unreal Engine 5 is precisely its set of technologies to create large-scale open worlds with highly detailed visuals. This is because this type of playable experience continues to gain ground in the industry. Without going any further, the game that currently generates the most conversation is Elden Ringwhich boasts an amazing open world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George RR Martin.
The fact that there isn’t a Superman video game today isn’t because Warner isn’t interested in it, but because the superhero requires a huge stage to be able to exploit his ability to fly at high speed. In previous generations of consoles, the capabilities of the hardware became an obstacle. Now, on the contrary, we have hardware and software capable of making it a reality.