Several days ago, Epic Games dropped a mammoth project: The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience available to download for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Lana Wachowski signs the script and directs, and Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss play both Neo and Trinity and themselves. Their digital doubles were created by the 3Lateral team, recording 3D shots of their faces, 4D shots of their performances, all in their Novi Sad studio!
The open-world city environment includes hero character IO, who was the launch character for MetaHuman Creator, as well as thousands of MetaHuman agents, demonstrating exciting new possibilities for high-fidelity in-game characters at scale.
AI systems drive the characters and vehicles, while procedural systems built using Houdini generate the city. Unreal Engine 5’s World Partition system makes the development of the vast environment more manageable.The movement of vehicles, character clothing, and the destruction of buildings are all simulated in engine using Unreal Engine’s Chaos physics system. During the chase experience, because the car crashes are simulated in real time with Chaos, the same crash will never occur twice. It’s unique at every run.
We are proud that our member 3Lateral is such an integral part of a project that has pushed the boundaries of the technological tools on which games and other visual media will rest in the future! Find out more about the project on the Unreal blog.