I’m never quite sure how to feel about tech demos for the latest and greatest game engines. They’re always amazing to watch, but since they’re not actual games it’s hard to trust that what is being demonstrated will actually be possible in the format of a playable, full-length experience. They’re targets for what is theoretically possible, but rarely if ever do games live up to the hype generated from a tech demo.
I only mention all of this because Epic Games has released a new “Infiltrator” tech demo for Unreal Engine 4. It depicts a masked operative infiltrating some type of underground factory or military base before escaping to the sprawling futuristic cityscape on the surface and doing battle with a flying robot. The visuals are spectacular, as you might expect, with plenty of fancy particles, blooms, lens flares, texture maps, reflections and other game design effects to drool over. It’s also dark and metallic and grey, like pretty much everything Epic makes.
Epic says “Infiltrator” is running 100% in-engine in real time from an Nvidia GTX 680. But is this what games are really going to look like on PS4, the future Xbox and the highest of high-end PC gaming hardware? It’s an ambitious target and an exciting glimpse at future possibilities, but I’ll believe it once I see–and play–it.