Skyrim’s iconic starting village just hits different in Unreal Engine 5
Don’t worry, this isn’t another Skyrim re-release.
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Christian Gomm, an environment artist with Myrkur Games, has created an impressive mock-up ofsome early locations from Skyrimrendered in Unreal Engine 5.
Seeing some lower-res stills of Gomm’s work that were making the rounds on Reddit recently, I was wondering what meaningfully differentiated this project from the numerous system-destroying lighting and texture overhauls available over on the Skyrim Nexus mods page, but I have to admit I changed my tune after seeingGomm’s high-res original screenshotsand some video of the demo in motion.
The quality of lighting, models, and materials really makes Riverwoodpopthe way it did when I first saw the village 11 years ago. Gomm has also recreated theWestern Watchtower, where Skyrim’s first dragon battle takes place, as well as theOblivion gate outside of Kvatchfrom The Elder Scrolls 4. Graphics aren’t everything, but there’s something special about seeing these familiar scenes rendered with such high fidelity.
Bethesda remains committed to its own in-house tech for the foreseeable future, with its upcoming space RPG Starfield being built on the same foundations as prior Fallout and Elder Scrolls projects. Another developer behind big open-world RPGs, CD Project Red, recently revealed they would be switching to Unreal Engine 5 for the untitledWitcher 4, despite havingbuilt an impressive reputationwith its RedEngine.
It’s early days for Epic’s latest iteration of the Unreal Engine, but the projects and demos we’ve seen so far have been impressive.The Matrix Awakensdemo in particular was a stunning introduction, and if the company’s promises surrounding UE5’s ease of use prove true, it could provide the foundation for the next generation of great games.
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Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister’s copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he’s not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.
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