It’s Time to Admit: Unreal Engine 5 Has Underwhelmed in Most Games So Far, Raising Concerns for Major Upcoming Projects

Reflecting on Stalker 2 has made me question if it was a wise move to let Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 become the go-to standard in the gaming industry for the foreseeable future. Indeed, GSC Game World’s much-anticipated return with their FPS/survival game wasn’t the most flattering showcase of an UE5-powered release; it had quite a few issues at launch. However, having spent significant time with various UE5 games over these past four years, I’m beginning to think maybe Epic’s impressive engine isn’t as universally beneficial as we were led to believe following those early demos and the buzz around The Matrix Awakens.

Before I dive deeper into this discussion, I should note that I’m no expert in game engines, programming, or 3D modeling. My dabbling was limited to Bethesda’s Creation Engine once upon a time, and my interests in tinkering with tech don’t go beyond being an ‘advanced user.’ Yet, my curiosity about game development and the process of crafting interactive experiences drives me to explore more. And as someone who plays more games than advisable each year, I’ve started to notice certain trends—both positive and negative. Combine this with a bit of hardware knowledge I’ve picked up along the way, and I’m better equipped to understand performance issues than simply saying “this game’s performance is terrible” and requesting a refund (something I recommend doing more often).

Remember the big Fortnite update toward the end of 2022, when they transitioned everything to UE5.1? It was all about exploiting the abilities of Nanite, Lumen, and other high-tech features. After hyping up their new engine and encouraging developers to move beyond the limitations of PS4 and Xbox One, Epic had its crowning moment—inviting everyone to partake in the dazzling new visuals and the wonders of UE5 in an actual AAA online game.

Things, unsurprisingly, didn’t unfold perfectly. Most Fortnite pros were used to cranking down their settings to maximize their performance. But even those with high-end machines who opted for the upgrade were met with more stuttering than they’d endured with UE4’s latter versions and a performance dip that hardly seemed worth it. Even now, diving into a Fortnite match post-driver updates often means dealing with shaders being reloaded on the fly, leading to suboptimal performance—not exactly ideal.

For those unacquainted with shaders: in essence, each hardware setup needs to optimize them beforehand to ensure smooth gameplay. That’s why consoles usually dodge these performance hiccups and why modern PC gaming can be a bit of a rough ride unless your system has ‘learned’ the latest heavy-hitters in the gaming world. Different engines manage this process differently. In UE5’s case, while well-handled optimization can offer breathtaking levels of detail, the accompanying stutter—especially when navigating expansive environments—and inconsistency in shader compilation exacerbate matters.

Take Remnant 2, for example. Even though it uses UE5 quite effectively, introducing stunning lighting effects and intricate details through Lumen and Nanite, the performance demands are steep, even for those with high-end PCs. Many gamers just want fluid gameplay, especially in intense experiences, without worrying about technical hiccups.

So what has the industry turned to, more rapidly than UE5 itself? AI-powered upscaling and frame generation. AMD and Nvidia are championing this effort, with Nvidia leveraging some of the most robust tech on its newer graphics cards. By essentially creating frames on-the-fly, developers push graphical fidelity to levels that hardware struggles to maintain on its own—reminiscent of Crytek’s ambitions back in 2007.

Yet, even with promising advancements in tech capable of ‘creating’ frames, some games remain plagued with stuttering issues, and UE5 often seems the primary culprit. A case in point is 2023’s Immortals of Aveum—a game still rife with technical flaws despite numerous patches and support from FSR3 and DLSS 3. The game’s instability persists despite these aids. This isn’t an isolated occurrence, either—games like the Lords of the Fallen reboot have their share of performance anomalies, like those random freezes, no matter what settings you use, highlighting ongoing struggles even on consoles.

While there are exceptions, such as the impressively smooth and crash-free Hellblade 2—likely thanks to Ninja Theory’s heavy focus on audiovisual presentation within a linear gameplay format—this isn’t the norm. With big titles like the next Witcher, Mass Effect, and Star Wars Jedi games on the horizon, all poised to run on UE5, I’m apprehensive about major studios migrating from their proprietary tech to Epic’s engine, which, outside tech demos, repeatedly underwhelms in practical use.

Perhaps Stalker 2 is the tipping point. While GSC Game World’s oversight is partly to blame, I’m reminded of how effortlessly Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a seamless experience across various hardware levels, powered by the once-dismissed Frostbite engine, which many thought was only good for FPS games. Could it be we’ve been misled about Unreal Engine 5’s potential? It’s worth pondering.