Unreal Engine 5 Is Now Live Alongside Lyra, A New Playable Shooter Demo

Epic Games officially launched Unreal Engine 5 the game engine that it unveiled for the first time in 2020. This is the same engine used for last year’s surprise Matrix demo, The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. 

Now, it’s out and available for anyone and everyone to download and use. Epic Games released Lyra to help people get started with Unreal Engine 5, both for those in development or casually. You can, of course, simply play Lyra – it looks like Splitgate mixed with Fortnite shooting mechanics –  but what makes this demo unique is that it can be completely customized on the development side. You can change lighting and platform locations. 

Epic Games also released City Sample, another Unreal Engine 5 demo, but unlike Lyra, this one isn’t playable. It’s the same city from The Matrix Awakens experience, but in this, you’ll be able to freely view the city, its buildings, its vehicles and pedestrians, and more. 

Unreal Engine 5 is still in its early stages. Epic Games is still working on Unreal Engine 4 and will be continuing to improve Unreal Engine 5 by adding new features, tools, and updates. There are developers out there already using this new engine, including Epic Games itself – Chapter 3, Season 2 of Fortnite, which is what players are playing today, runs on Unreal Engine 5. 

Watch the State of Unreal 2022 video for additional information about Unreal Engine 5