Technology demo “The Matrix Awakens” impresses with cool graphics and winks for the upcoming movie “The Matrix Resurrections”.
In connection with yesterday’s The Game Awards, the gaming world’s equivalent of the Oscars, was released “The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience” for Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X / S.
The project is described as “an insight into the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment” and was created in the graphics engine Unreal Engine 5 together with several who were involved and worked on the first “The Matrix”, including Lana Wachowski.
The short technology demo begins with an incredibly realistic computer-animated sequence where Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss cryptically talk about how the virtual reality in “The Matrix” from 1999 is getting closer. At first, I’m actually unsure if what I see is filmed actors or game graphics, which really shows the power of Unreal Engine 5.
Suddenly, younger versions of Neo and Trinity are sitting in a car, with the period long coats and sunglasses. They talk about the simulation looking “unreal” and that they miss the good old days, when a stranger with equally cool glasses sits in the back seat from nowhere.
It’s now I get to start playing, when I get to control the tough stranger with a gun in his hands when the murderous agents chase us in the car. What is painted on the screen is extremely technically impressive. When the car drives through the busy highway and the agents’ cars explode in large explosions, it’s just to enjoy – but purely mechanically, it doesn’t really have much to offer. I can barely control how I shoot, I can only choose which target and press the shutter button. This type of game sequences can be enjoyable for short periods of time, as in the cinematic Quantic Dream game “Detroit: Become Human”, but here it mostly shows that Unreal Engine 5 has many years left before really impressive gaming experiences will be realized in the graphics engine.
–
After the sequence, I get to see a presentation that shows what Unreal Engine 5 has to offer, such as dynamic traffic on the streets, nice light effects that are affected depending on the time of day and AI-generated textures. Then I get to explore the city freely as a stranger where I can drive a car, fly over the city as a first-person perspective and be impressed by what is being painted. Here, too, the limitations of the graphics engine are shown. It’s incredibly impressive technically, with beautifully lit streets and skyscrapers, vibrant crowds and richness of detail – but there really are no 60 images per second spinning.
“The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience” is in many ways an impressive vision of the game graphics of the future, but I honestly have a hard time seeing that we will see an entire game with the same level of ambition as this on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X / S.
Technology demon instead makes me more pissed at the upcoming one “The Matrix Resurrections”, which premieres on December 22. It feels like “The Matrix Awakens” gives some sort of hint as to what the film may be about, which makes me excited.
What do you think of the graphics in “The Matrix Awakens”?
–
