No engine is magically going to turn a game into a graphical beast, but a good engine can obviously be a massive boost to developers that are attempting to hit those standards. Unreal Engine 5 has been widely adopted by many in the industry, to no one’s surprise, and Epic’s game creation toolset has been promising some significant graphical and technical enhancements over the last few years. Now, we’re at the point in this console generation where the games that are able to properly leverage the engine’s capabilities are finally within touching distance. As such, here, we’re going to look at a few upcoming single-player titles built on Unreal Engine 5 that are looking like visual stunners.
SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2
Let’s kick things off with the game that’s closest to launch. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 has looked hugely impressive from a tech perspective ever since it was shown off, and the more that Ninja Theory shows of it, the more it looks like it’s going to be a new technical benchmark for the industry. From its animations to its performance and facial capture tech to its gorgeous environments, Hellblade 2 has already impressed in a number of ways.
MARVEL 1943: RISE OF HYDRA
Skydance New Media recently showcased in-game footage of Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, its upcoming action-adventure superhero romp, and though we’ve yet to see gameplay, the game’s already looking quite promising. Purely from a visuals perspective, in fact, it looks set to be one of the best looking games around when it eventually releases in 2025. Whether it will look just as good in real-time gameplay as it does in cinematics remains to be seen, but there’s every reason to be optimistic.
SILENT HILL 2
Bloober Team and Konami’s remake of Silent Hill 2 has attracted its fair share of skepticism since it was first unveiled, but if there’s one area where it has consistently looked impressive in what little we’ve seen of it so far, it’s the graphics. Bloober Team obviously has a history of making visually outstanding games, and though there’s question marks over whether Silent Hill 2 will be able to live up to the original’s immense legacy in other areas, there’s no doubt that where its graphics are concerned, it’s going to be a huge leap forward.
METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE EATER
Yet another Konami remake that we’ve seen far less of than we would have liked to by now- but again, what little we’ve seen of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has painted a positive picture of how the game’s visuals are shaping up. For the most part, the game’s limited pre-launch footage has been focused on its dense forest environments, swamps, wildlife, and the like, and all of it has boasted incredible attention to detail- which is exactly what you want from Metal Gear.
STILL WAKES THE DEEP
There’s plenty of reasons to be excited about Still Wakes the Deep, from its setting of a haunted oil rig in the North Sea to its promise of a chilling survival horror adventure. How good it has looked graphically in each of its showings is also high on that list. Though The Chinese Room’s horror title isn’t backed by the sort of AAA budget that a few other games on this list are, it’s looking like it’s still going to be one of the year’s most visually striking experiences.
LITTLE DEVIL INSIDE
The wait for Little Devil Inside has gone on far, far longer than anyone (including the developers) would have expected, and though it remains to be seen if the game will live up to expectations whenever it does finally come out, nothing changes the fact that visually, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Going for a heavily stylized look, its tilt shift diorama-esque aesthetic is one that captures the imagination every time the game does get shown off.
INSTINCTION
Capcom may or may not ever go back to Dino Crisis, but others are looking to fill that void in the IP’s absence. Hashbane Interactive’s Instinction is a game that has turned its fair share of heads, though its prehistoric dino-fueled setting is obviously chiefly responsible for that, the fact that the game looks as graphically good as it does has also been a boost. In particular, its dense environments and detailed dinosaur designs have caught the eye, which bodes well for the rest of the game (or so we hope, at least).
PHANTOM BLADE ZERO
Upon its announcement last year, S-Game’s steampunk action RPG Phantom Blade Zero shot up many most anticipated lists, and subsequent showings have only cemented that further. Bringing its fascinating world to life with a strong aesthetic and backing that up with technical polish to patch, Phantom Blade Zero is looking like quite the visual showpiece. A demo is supposedly planned for sometime this year, which means we’ll soon be able to see the game in action for ourselves as well.
BLACK MYTH: WUKONG
Game Science’s Soulslike Black Myth: Wukong has been making waves ever since it was first unveiled in 2020, and even back then, its stunning visuals were among the biggest reasons for that. Coming from what has until recently been a relatively unknown studio in China, Black Myth caught many of us off guard with its graphics, and with each subsequent showing, it has further cemented itself as a game that’s likely to be worth the wait.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: HEART OF CHORNOBYL
GSC Game World has certainly been through the wring during S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s development, which has only served to make just how well it seems to be shaping up that much more remarkable. Not only is the game boasting some of the most insane fidelity we’ve ever seen, it’s also promising to do it on a staggering scale, across a massive, highly detailed open world. Hopefully it’ll be able to make good on its many lofty promises.
UNRECORD
Unrecord showed up out of nowhere when its gameplay footage debuted last year, and it instantly took everyone by surprise. The indie shooter is obviously not being backed by a blockbuster budget, but combining cutting edge tech with a bodycam perspective, it’s achieving near-photorealistic visuals. That alone has been enough to grab attention- now, we wait and watch whether the game will be able to sustain that level of quality across the entire experience.
ILL
Team Clout’s first person horror title ILL has been slowly making waves for some time now. Though not the most prominent of upcoming releases, its showings have looked solid- the same applies to its graphics. Admittedly, it isn’t hitting the sort of polish or fidelity that many others in this list are, but combined with its brooding and unsettling aesthetic, it’s certainly carving out a distinct visual identity for itself.
HELL IS US
Nacon and Rogue Factor’s action-adventure title Hell is Us has been largely MIA since its announcement last year, but we’ve ben cautiously optimistic about the game from what little of it we’ve seen so far. Its war-torn sci-fi fantasy setting is promising all manner of mysteries and awestriking vistas, and thus far, developer Rogue Factor seems to be up to the task of bringing that vision to life. Again, though, we haven’t seen too much of the game yet, so hopefully that will change in the future.
IGI ORIGINS
IGI Origins might not be coming from a big-hitter AAA studio, but developer Antimatter Games has made an excellent impression with each showing of the first-person shooter. Its 1980s Cold War setting seems to be brimming with personality, and a lot of that is down to the impressive attention to visual and technical detail with which the game is bringing that era to life. From the lighting to the environments to things such as its subtle fog effects, the brief snippets of IGI Origins footage that we’ve seen so far have done quite enough to catch the eye.
UNTIL DAWN
Even back in 2015, the original Until Dawn boasted some of the most impressive graphics in a console game, so expectations are naturally high for its upcoming remaster to do justice to the original on that front. While the original was built on Guerrilla Games’ Decima Engine, Until Dawn’s upcoming PS5 and PC release will recreate the game entirely in Unreal Engine 5. How well it’ll be able to recapture the original’s magic remains to be seen, but from a graphics standpoint, it’s certainly made a strong first impression.
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