Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 has had a long gestation period. First unveiled about three and a half years ago, the best UE5 efforts – The Matrix Awakens and Fortnite – have come from Epic Games itself, with early third-party releases largely falling short of expectations. There’s a palpable sense that the engine hasn’t gotten a proper third-party workout, or at least one that doesn’t come with certain caveats and reservations.
Enter RoboCop: Rogue City. This first-person shooter from Polish developer Teyon packs the full suite of UE5 features – including Lumen GI and reflections, virtual shadow maps, and Nanite geometry – while targeting 60fps on console platforms as well. Initial impressions are positive, but how do the various techniques come together to produce high-quality final imagery – and do these features scale gracefully to home consoles, from PS5 and Series X to the lower-powered Series S?
I think it’s fair to say that Rogue City packs very impressive visuals, and even ranks as one of the strongest showcases for real-time rendering this generation. To understand it properly, I think it’s worth highlighting each implementation of the key UE5 technologies that it uses so well.