It’s Time to Face the Music: Unreal Engine 5’s Underwhelming Performance in Recent Games Raises Concerns for Major Upcoming Projects

Reflecting on Stalker 2, I’ve started to wonder if it’s wise that Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 is set to dominate the industry for the next decade.

It’s true, GSC Game World’s much-anticipated FPS/survival game is a prime example of an Unreal Engine 5 title launching with significant issues. Although I’ve encountered my share of UE5 games over the past four years, it makes me question whether Epic’s impressive engine is truly suitable for everyone, despite the initial excitement from early demos and The Matrix Awakens.

Now, a bit of context before I dive into this topic: My knowledge of game engines, coding, or 3D modeling isn’t deep. Sure, I played around with Bethesda’s Creation Engine a while back, but that’s about it. Intricacies of software and professional tools haven’t caught much of my interest beyond being an ‘advanced user.’ That said, I’m genuinely fascinated by the processes and hard work that go into developing video games and interactive experiences.

As someone who spends more time than most playing games throughout the year, you begin to notice trends, both good and bad. Throw in some self-taught hardware skills and an interest in operating system tweaks, and it starts making performance issues clearer than just saying “this game runs poorly” and immediately requesting a refund—which, by the way, I highly recommend doing if you’re dissatisfied.

Remember that major Fortnite update in late 2022 when the entire game shifted to UE5.1? Epic Games was eager to showcase Nanite, Lumen, and all those advancements. After years of hyping their new engine and urging devs to move beyond the limitations of PS4 and Xbox One, this seemed like Epic’s big moment. Everyone, including their mother, got to experience the stunning new visuals of UE5 in a polished AAA online game for free. But, as expected, things didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.

Many Fortnite enthusiasts have been using low settings for years to enhance their gameplay performance. Those with powerful hardware who made the leap soon discovered more stuttering than seen in UE4’s later iterations, with diminished performance that hardly seemed worth the trouble. Even two years later, this issue persists, with updates triggering shader reloads that result in disrupted gameplay—definitely not ideal.

For those unfamiliar with shaders, each hardware setup should ideally prep them in advance to ensure quick loading during gameplay. This is why consoles don’t face these issues to the same extent, and why PC gaming has become somewhat rough lately—at least until your rig ‘learns’ the latest gaming demands. Various engines and developers tackle this differently, but for UE5, the notorious ‘stutter struggle’ becomes quite apparent. Large worlds and levels intensify these issues, and the absence of efficient shader compilation upon launch only worsens the experience.

Even when UE5 is employed well, as seen in games like Remnant 2, where Lumen and Nanite enhance lighting and detail in ways previously thought impossible, the accompanying performance toll, especially on high-end PC setups, isn’t always justifiable. Most gamers want seamless, hassle-free experiences, particularly with intense and demanding titles.

The industry has swiftly transitioned to aggressive AI-based upscaling and frame generation. Both AMD and Nvidia are championing this, with Nvidia monopolizing the more advanced tech for its 40 series and above. Developers are rapidly advancing graphical quality, sometimes faster than current hardware can keep up, using techniques like ray tracing as their guide. Many studios are essentially pulling a Crytek 2007 move, pushing for excessive visual quality that today’s hardware can only handle at high frame rates, thanks in part to tools like DLSS, FSR, and so on.

I have to say, this technology is evolving well, and it promises even more with each passing year. I appreciate that my 4070Ti can seemingly create frames from nowhere. Yet, despite these advancements, some games remain plagued by stuttering and choppy performance, with UE5 often at the heart of the problem. A recent example would be 2023’s downfall of Immortals of Aveum, a game that, even post multiple updates, remains technically flawed. Despite its support for FSR3 and DLSS 3, it’s riddled with crashes and instability. This also holds true for several 2023 releases, like the unexpectedly decent Lords of the Fallen reboot. It has cultivated a fanbase but suffers sudden, lengthy freezes regardless of settings and remains unstable on consoles.

These are just a few examples, yet the pattern is evident. For skeptics, Digital Foundry provides detailed research and data I couldn’t hope to match. Gamers who’ve recently griped about performance issues should scour this list for titles they’ve encountered. An exception, in my view, is Hellblade 2—a game delivering astonishingly smooth experiences, free from stutter and crash, likely owing to Ninja Theory’s attention to audiovisual detail. However, given its linear nature, this is perhaps not the fairest comparison.

Looking ahead to imminent UE5 giants like the next Witcher, Mass Effect, and Star Wars Jedi, I can’t help but feel uneasy about major studios abandoning in-house tech for Epic’s engine, which, apart from impressive demos, seems underwhelming in practical application without dedicated tweaking.

Stalker 2 could very well be the tipping point here. While it’s easy to blame GSC Game World for rushing the release, it’s hard not to think of games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivering exceptional experiences across a range of systems, using an engine like Frostbite—once regarded unsuitable for anything but FPSs. Have we been misled by Tim Sweeney yet again? It’s a thought worth considering.