---
title: 'State of Unreal 2026: All the 4K Gameplay'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=wL8lm7coi4w'
video_id: 'wL8lm7coi4w'
date: 2026-06-17
duration_sec: 503
---

# State of Unreal 2026: All the 4K Gameplay

> Source: [State of Unreal 2026: All the 4K Gameplay](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wL8lm7coi4w)

## Summary

The video showcases the technical advancements in Gears of War E-Day, focusing on the use of Unreal Engine 5's Megalights, Nanite, and Lumen technologies. It demonstrates how these tools enable hundreds of dynamic light sources, massive geometric detail, and systemic environmental reactivity. The developers explain how these features create a more immersive and realistic world, from destructible environments to AI that reacts to light and shadow.

### Key Points

- **Megalights Introduction** [0:06] — Megalights allows hundreds of dynamic light sources, all casting shadows at 60 fps on Xbox Series X, a huge leap from previous limits of 3 shadow casters.
- **Animated Area Lights** [0:30] — TV display wall uses animated area lights with light functions driven by video on the GPU, casting dynamic shadows with soft penumbra.
- **Destructible Assets and Lighting** [0:50] — Destructible assets like tiled pillars cast and receive light correctly, keeping destruction visually grounded.
- **Freezer Lighting** [1:16] — Freezers have multiple area lights inside to simulate realistic lighting of a frozen food section.
- **Glass Destruction Physics** [1:30] — Bullets create dynamic shatter points in glass; pieces collide using hardware ray trace collisions with physically accurate translucent reflections.
- **Light Source Density** [1:49] — Hundreds of light sources exist, from small lights on armor to large spotlights, enabled by Megalights.
- **E-Holes and Volumetrics** [2:15] — E-holes return, with volumetrics and smoke lit perfectly.
- **Muzzle Flash Shadows** [2:37] — Shadows on every muzzle flash, previously unthinkable, adds to dynamic combat and believable firing experience.
- **City-Scale Lighting** [3:19] — The entire city of Colona has tens of thousands of shadow-casting lights.
- **Development Iteration Speed** [3:33] — Hardware ray trace Lumen enables faster iteration compared to baked lighting used in the past.
- **Lighting Freedom** [3:48] — Megalights frees lighters from constraints on real-time shadow casters, allowing real-world lighting complexity.
- **Nanite Geometric Detail** [4:02] — Nanite's micro polygon rendering provides 100 times the geometric detail in assets.
- **Dynamic Lighting Gameplay** [5:09] — Dynamic lighting affects gameplay: players can shoot out lamps, use flashlights, or create darkness, with AI and NPCs reacting to light and shadow.
- **Crowd Simulation** [5:41] — Mass framework drives crowds; density and types shift based on time, region, and weather. Simulates over 3,000 characters at once.
- **Metahuman Character Variation** [6:09] — Metahuman with character randomization and Metahuman Animator generates thousands of unique character variations.
- **Procedural Environmental Effects** [6:25] — PCG and Nagra data channels procedurally populate environmental effects based on wind, weather, and player actions.
- **Physics for Tens of Thousands of Objects** [7:01] — Chaos physics and custom GPU solution support tens of thousands of moving objects simultaneously.
- **Reactive Environment** [7:09] — The result is a reactive environment where smoke lingers, embers drift, and broken glass stays where it fell.
- **Uncompromised Vision** [7:21] — Achieving this level of density, lighting complexity, and systemic reactivity was previously impossible for a studio of their size.

## Transcript

Welcome to the Pay Save Supertore in
downtown Colona. In previous games, a
space like this was limited to three
shadow casters in view. With megalytes,
we now have hundreds of light sources,
all casting shadows at 60 frames per
second on Xbox Series X.
This TV display wall utilizes animated
area lights with light functions that
are driven by the video itself fully on
the GPU.
They each cast eerie and unsettling
dynamic shadows with soft penumbra
across the scene.
The pay and save is a great example of
how we've created environments with
geometry collection destructible assets
like this tiled pillar.
These dynamic objects cast and receive
light correctly so destruction stays
visually grounded exactly the way you'd
expect in the real world.
Let's check out the freezer section.
All these freezers have multiple area
lights inside them to simulate that
realistic lighting effect of the frozen
food section of your local grocery
store.
During combat, bullets create a dynamic
shatter point in the glass. When it
shatters, all the pieces collide with
the environment using hardware ray trace
collisions with physically accurate
translucent reflections.
It's amazing to see how many light
sources there are in here. There are
hundreds of them. From the small lights
on Marcus' armor to the large spotlights
on the ceiling,
there is no way we'd ever be able to
achieve this effect or have this many
rayraced area lights on current
generation hardware without mega lights.
A staple of the Gears franchise, e-holes
are back in Gears of War Eday. So, let's
open some up
without all the monsters in the way. You
can see all the volumetrics and smoke
lit perfectly.
One of the things we're super excited
about that was unthinkable in the past
is having shadows on every single one of
our muzzle flashes.
This is a really great improvement that
adds to the dynamic combat of gears with
a more believable firing experience that
puts you right in the middle of the
action like never before.
Our
game isn't limited to just a single
space. We can explore the entire city of
Colona with tens of thousands of
shadowcasting lights.
Delivering EDAY with this level of
visual fidelity has not been easy, but
we can iterate so much faster with
hardware ray trace lumen compared to the
baked lighting we used in the past.
With Megalytes, our lighters are no
longer constrained by the number of
real-time shadow casters, giving them
the freedom to light our game with the
same complexity as the real world.
And we have 100 times the geometric
detail in our assets due to Nanite's
micro polygon rendering.
Come on.
>> We're all in. Hold tight while I get us
the hell out of here.
No,
>> we're not out of it yet. Incoming.
Eat it. You son of a [ __ ]
>> I lost visual. Anyone see it?
>> Negative. I've lost it.
Stop there.
>> MY BIRD.
>> Once everything is dynamic, it starts to
affect the gameplay in more direct ways.
Players can shoot out the street lamp,
flood a space with a flashlight, or they
can leave an area in darkness and have
the AI and PCs react to light and
shadow,
shying away from glare,
searching through darkness,
>> or escalating when something feels off.
>> Let's see who's GOT THE BIGGER GUN,
[ __ ]
To make the city feel alive, we leaned
on the mass framework to drive our
crowds. MPC density and types shift
based on time of day, region, and
weather. In the slums, a storm clears
the streets, but in the more sinful
parts of Port Desire, even heavy rain
won't slow things down. Mass lets us
simulate thousands of characters at
once, over 3,000 at any given time,
which is also more than the entirety of
the ascent. So, the city always feels
active no matter where you are.
We're also using using Metahuman paired
with our own character randomization
system. Together with Metahuman
Animator, we can generate and bring to
life thousands and thousands of
variations of characters so that the
main characters and the extras in the
background are all unique.
We wanted a world that reacted
systemically to the player without us
having to hand place effects and
destruction. Filling a world of this
density and scale with contextual
effects while maintaining performance
and interactivity was one of our key
challenges. By combining PCG and Nagra
data channels, environmental effects are
procedurally populated where
appropriate. Wherever artists place
trash or leaves, particles will spawn
dynamically based on wind, weather, and
player actions.
Shoot a bullet or throw a grenade and
particles will move out of the way.
We combined chaos physics and our own
GPUdriven solution to support tens of
thousands of moving objects
simultaneously.
The result is a reactive environment
where smoke lingers,
embers drift, and broken glass stays
where it fell.
Creating no law has been the process of
finding where the engine ends and our
custom tools begin. Achieving this level
of density, lighting complexity, and
systemic reactivity was previously
impossible for a studio of our size. By
leveraging UFI's latest tech to bypass
traditional development bottlenecks, we
have finally been able to build the
uncompromised version of the world we
wanted to create for years.
Woo!